PELITA - The Methodist Church Newsletter
Listed below are articles abstracted from past issues of PELITA
Sept/Oct 2007 - A Milestone in the Methodist Church
MPC 2007: 31 August - 2 September
31 August 2007 finally arrived! And the Methodist Prayer Convention 2007 has gone underway. It was the culmination of more than one and half years of planning that began in early 2006. The registration of 3900 participants surpassed the 3500 that was the targeted.
Methodists from the Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak gathered for the first time across the Annual Conferences in such a manner. It was an event that brought Methodists together as one body, across the geographical, linguistic and ethnic grouping, to give expression to our unity in a common heritage, history and hopefully a common direction for the future.
It posed a great challenge for the Planning, Logistic and Programme Committees. But the efforts taken to accommodate all groups as far as possible were indicative of the desire to make this event a meaningful one for everyone. Translations into Tamil and Iban were provided through headphones; different language versions of songs were provided in the booklets. Cooperation and sharing of responsibilities across the Conferences before and during the Convention was one of the good outcome in itself.
MPC 2007 was divided into two parts. From 31 August to 1 September participants met at Sunway Convention Centre. Then on 2 September they were joined by another seven thousand Methodists for a time of celebration at Stadium Malawati Shah Alam. This was another first for the Methodist Church. (See the report on the back page).
MPC 2007 was first and foremost concerned with prayer. It was a call to come together and ask God to do a work of renewal and revival in ourselves and within the Methodist Church. This was to be the basis and thrust for the church if it was to be the salt and light in society. Prayer was therefore given time in each of the plenary session. A leader led the gathering in intercession. We prayed together, aloud and in silence, in small groups, two by two. After each hearing of God’s message we responded with our prayers and petitions before Him.
It was significant, by coincidence (or perhaps providence?), that our nation was celebrating its 50th Anniversary of Merdeka. In the Biblical idea of the Jubilee this was a time of freeing the slaves and restoration of their land, a general renewal, liberation and blessing of the people through the grace and abundant goodness of God.
The two mornings were given to address the issues of unity, reconciliation, repentance and revival, matters we must deal with individually and as a church. The two evenings turned our attention outward to our responsibility in the nation and beyond in the wider world in missions.
Both the morning speakers, Rev. Dr. Sam Kamaleson, Vice-President-at-large of World Vision International, and Rev. Morley Lee, General Secretary of CCCOWE, addressed fundamental issues of our relationship with the Lord Jesus. Dr. Kamaleson, speaking as a fellow
Methodist, asked very hard questions of us. We are like the man boasting that he turned down a partnership with Bill Gates because he did not want to give up ownership of his company although it was bankrupt and an utter failure. Methodists have rejected God’s invitation to be His partner and let Him be the president. Are we still holding tightly to things still precious to us, unwilling to give them all
up to Him?
In a very incisive and penetrating way Dr. Kamaleson exposed some of the ways division can come into the church - competition, sectarianism and ambition for position. We need to repent of these.
Likewise, Rev. Morley Lee brought us “back to basics.” Revival is to be touched again by the Lord, to be freed and healed by the power that flows from Him to us, like the woman who was healed through contact with Christ. Christians are “mini-Christs” revealing God to the world as we grow in Christ-likeness who is the image of God.
The evening sessions were both stimulating and challenging. On the 31st evening it was fitting to have two Christian politicians, and Methodists, share their thoughts on our country. YB Dr. Tan Kee Kwong, the MP for Segambut, and YB Ngeh Koo Ham, State Assemblyman for Sitiawan, called Christians to be the salt and light to the nation.
They shared their minds and concerns on the state of our nation and drew attention to some of the crucial issues before us – corruption, crime and drug addiction, good governance and accountability in all levels of government. They called for greater involvement of Christians in different levels of the political process. It was a sobering evening for everyone.
The second evening Dr. Patrick Fung, the first Asian Director of Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) challenged the convention to see missions not just as an activity of the church but as the way of life under Christ’s Lordship for all God’s people. Missions is God’s work in the world through His people in His time.
The first part of the Convention came to a close that evening. But it was not meant to be an end but the beginning of things for the Methodist Church. As Bishop Hwa Yung said to everyone in the hall, “I desire to see three things happen after this Prayer Convention:
(1) that God will raise up leaders in every Annual Conference to start a prayer movement,
(2) that every individual will be devoted to their personal prayer life, and
(3) that small groups of prayer meetings will sprout spontaneously in every local church.”