01 Feb 2006

February 2006 - A Snap Shot of Where TRAC is Heading

An Excerpt from the Presidential Address

Rev. Ong Hwai TeikUp to 30 June 2005, our Annual Conference has 39 churches, 13,494 members and a 71% ratio of average attendance over membership.

1. Leadership Development
Over the last 2 quadrenniums, there are 267 who audited our LPL courses, with 16 having graduated in the last 4 years. Currently we have 3 LPL holders who serve as pastors in our churches.

We shall now be moving on to further develop a more comprehensive roadmap for both the clergy and lay Leadership Development Track. In addition this year we had 84 attending the 28-30 July 05 Eagles Leadership Conference in Singapore. At the Youth level, Jeremiah School has made an impact on our youths. So far 53 have attended over the last 3 years.

2. Building Community
The mainstay of this is still emphasis on small groups. Our statistics show that we have progressed from 5083 in 2000 to 5752 attending care groups in 2004.

3. Missions and Outreach
Since our greater emphasis on Missions in recent years, we are able to grow in our focus and work in Myanmar, especially in helping the Lower Myanmar Methodist Church in the work of the Great Commission. The Pray For Myanmar (P4M) monthly meeting was started in December 2004 in KL. A trip to set-up a computer class in Yangon was organized in August. In November, another mission trip will be made by a TRAC Youth Team to minister to the young people there.

A mission trip to Bangladesh (led by the Bishop) was made in October 2005 for training as well as for review and planning for the future with our partners there, the United Church of Bangladesh. Perak District is looking into a monthly prayer meeting for Bangladesh. We shall be concentrating on Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and North Vietnam as an Annual Conference in the new quadrennium

We remain committed to our brethren in the Sengoi Mission Conference. We shall walk beside them as equals in the Kingdom of God, as they continue on their journey to become a Provisional Annual Conference in the days ahead.

4. Discipleship and Spirituality
In pursuing Deepening Spirituality over the last quadrennium, many have benefited from the Prayer Retreat Director's ministry of Rev Dr Chew Tow Yow. Although he is stepping down from this position having reached 70, he will continue to be available as a resource person for this ministry.

We shall be having our 3rd Prayer Conference in Chefoo (unless we can find an alternative venue) on the 17 -19 Feb 2006. (Attendance at 2004 was 94 and 2005 was 127). The TRAC Upper Room Network prayer update/bulletin is published monthly, now having 27 of our 39 churches participating. At General Conference level, there will be a Methodist National Prayer Conference scheduled for 31 August - 2 September 2007 where we are targeting 2500 - 3000 people to come together to pray in KL.

5. Family: Children, Youths and Seniors Ministries
We need to pay close attention to the work among the children and youth as our data for 2000-2004 shows a decline of 0.4% annually in the Sunday/Church School, - 0.2% in the MYF and - 6.7% in the GB. The TRAC BB Companies have shown an increase of 14% in 2004, although if taken against the 2000 figure there is a drop of about 5%. The MIF on the other hand had a 15.6% increase. The annual decline was - 1.6% for youths. In 2004, we have 2302 youths and 2612 in the Sunday/Church School.

As an Annual Conference, we are working towards strong family life, with healthy relationships and spiritual dynamics in each of the household in TRAC.

There will be an appointment of a part-time Seniors Ministry Director for 2006. This, we hope, will further strengthen our MSF ministry.

Rev Ong Hwai Teik
President
Trinity Annual Conference
Methodist Church in Malaysia