10th Session General Conference; 17-22 September 2012, The Methodist Church in Malaysia

(This is an amended version for wider circulation within the church.)

1. Greetings and Thanksgiving

i. Greetings to all delegates and guests
Warmest greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ! May the grace and peace of God be with you all, especially to our honoured guests, some of whom have travelled from afar! 

On behalf of the Methodist Church in Malaysia (MCM), I welcome you to this 10th Session of the General Conference (GC) of our church. Whether you are a delegate or a fraternal guest from one of our sister Methodist Churches, I pray that God will bless you richly in your time of conferencing with us. And may you be a blessing to our conference also!

ii. Thanksgiving
As I come to the last few months of my time in the bishop’s office, there are many things for which I am thankful, both to God and all members of the MCM, including:

• For the unity that the Presidents and members of the General Conference Executive Council (GCEC) shared at the highest levels of the church’s leadership, and the support they have given me and to the church as we seek to advance the work of the MCM
• For the abundant material, financial and personnel resources God has given to our church.
• For the continuing signs of renewal and spiritual growth throughout the MCM, including the greater emphasis on prayer, the numerical numbers in church membership, and the expansion of local ministries and overseas missions.
• For the growth in Christian discipleship and deepening awareness of our Christian socio-political responsibilities.

I would also like to add a personal word of thanks to all in the MCM at large for all the love, welcome, and support they have showered upon my family and me. I am deeply privileged to have been given the opportunity to serve God and all of you in my present office. I therefore wish to say like Paul to all that your love and support in many ways have been ‘like a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.’ (Phil 4: 18f)

iii. Outline
Allow me to briefly outline what I propose to do for the rest of my address. I will not try to give an overall summary of the work of our church…

What I would like to do is to draw attention to some highlights of the work of our church. I will then look at some of our statistics and briefly look at their implications, before going on to discuss some things concerning our Discipline. I will finally close my address with some thoughts about our future directions. 

2. Some Highlights in the Past Quadrennium, and Trends

Let me begin with sharing some highlights and overall trends.

i. Some major events at the GC level
The following are some of the major GC events in the past quadrennium:

12.8.2010 - 125th Anniversary Thanksgiving Service of the MCM, Kuala Lumpur, at which the Road Map next 10-20 years was launched.

18.2.2011 - Launch of Youth website (http://www.methodistyouth.com.my), Miri

23-24.2.2011 - Signing of MOU with The Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT), Chiengmai, for trusteeship of our property in Thailand for the purpose of ministry & mission.

30.4-2.5.2011 - 2nd Methodist Prayer Convention, Sibu; attended by some 3000 from the whole church, and with about 10,000 on the last night in Sibu City Square.

15-16.8.2011 - Ministry to Indigenous Peoples Forum, Sibu; for the purpose of discussing how the work of various ACs can be coordinated.

12-15.10.2011 - GC Special Session, Port Dickson; to deal with revisions to the Discipline.

23-25.2.2012 - Bahasa Malaysia Ministry Forum, KK; organised by SCAC but attended by members of all ACs. This served as a continuation for the Sibu meeting on 15-16 Aug 2011. 

12-14.4.2012 - Mission Consultation, Kuala Lumpur, to share the work being done by each AC in overseas missions, and how these can be coordinated.

14-16.7.2012 - Methodist Women General Conference, Kuala Lumpur.

20-21.7.2012 - Laity Conference, Kuala Lumpur, with the theme ‘The Christian & Nation-Building’; attended by lay leaders from all ACs. 

ii. Our building programme
The second thing I wish to comment on relates to the building programmes at the various levels of our church.

a. First, over the past four years, forty three new buildings have been erected as sanctuaries for worship, either completely new structures or major renovations. They are as follows by ACs: CAC, 13; SCAC, 10; SIAC, 2; SPAC, 2; TAC, 6; and TRAC, 10. If we add all the other buildings for Christian education, kindergartens, etc., you probably have to add at least another 20-30 major buildings or more. The cost of these new structures varies from a couple of hundred thousand ringgits to some twenty million each. Simple mathematics will tell you that the total amount spent is a lot of money, amounting to some RM150-200 million at least!

b. You may be interested to know that some of the building programmes do have special significance. 

• Hoover Memorial Square, Sibu, dedicated on 16 Aug 2009: This is now a major landmark in Sibu City, commemorating the contribution of James Hoover for his significant contributions to the Methodist Church in Sarawak, as well as to the whole economic development of Sarawak.

• New Block for Methodist College, Kuala Lumpur, dedicated on 21 Aug 2010: this has now become the flagship of the Methodist educational enterprise in W Malaysia, with enrolment in excess of 1100 today. 

• Iban Methodist Church, Bintulu, ground-breaking on 26 May 2012: Whereas SCAC already has a number of churches in Bintulu, the first Iban Methodist church is being built there. Right at the end of the service, to everyone’s delight, a ‘rainbow’ or aura suddenly appeared, surrounding the sun. What that signifies, I leave it to you to theologise!

• Methodist Centre, Port Dickson: This centre which holds special memories for many Methodists is being rebuilt and scheduled for completion by the end of this year. We hope that many of our future conference sessions will be held there.

c. Like most in the church, I am aware that buildings are absolutely necessary for the on-going ministry and mission of the MCM. But I also think that we need to be brutally honest with ourselves and ask whether ALL our buildings are really necessary for the advancement of God’s work. It is important to note that both in British and American Methodist history, too much money spent on buildings at the expense of ministry and mission was one major cause for the gradual decline of Methodism. Is that not a warning that we should seriously note?

In our Road Map¹ there is a recommendation that we should make it a policy to spend at least 50% of the budget of every local congregation on evangelism, social outreach and missions. I would like to challenge every Methodist church in our country to make this our goal—the sooner the better! This may well help save the MCM from suffering a gradual decline in the next generation. 

iii. The Road Map
Four years ago, we set aside more than a day to discuss some of the vital issues confronting the Malaysian church as a whole, and the MCM in particular. Subsequently, further deliberations and work was carried out and the result was published as our Road Map. This was launched at our 125th Anniversary worship service two years ago. The Road Map is not a set of completely formulated plans, but rather a set of guidelines for action at various levels of the church. It is gratifying that many of the concerns raised there are being addressed at the local church and Annual Conference levels.

For our purposes, I just want to draw the attention of the GC to the following issues in particular: 

a. The need to build strong bumiputra churches in the country, especially in E Malaysia is an urgent matter. Although much effort has already been made in that direction, we must continue to pray and work for even greater momentum in this area. I take this opportunity to thank all churches and ACs for their interest and support of the Iban and various BM ministries. And the agreement of the GCEC to respond to the request of SIB Sabah to help with the building funds for their training college in Ranau is most encouraging. But finance is only one aspect of their total needs. Let us continue to do and give whatever we can.

One question that we must address in the next quadrennium is whether we need to set up a separate body to oversee this whole area?

b. The Council of Missions’ report draws attention to the challenges before us if we are serious about reaching those who do not know Christ around us. Among the issues raised is how we can better coordinate and synergise the efforts of all the ACs. This must be taken seriously. The classic example of our lack of coordination is that we have three ACs working within 100 km of each other in the Golden Triangle, where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and China meet—but all independently! The MCM now have ministries in 16 different countries throughout the world.² It would be great if there could be more synergy in our overseas missions. 

c. On the school front, the Councils of Education (COEs) and Area Executive Councils (AECs) in both E and W Malaysia need to address a whole series of urgent questions. These include:

• How far and wide do we wish to expand our private school network, i.e. the number of Wesley Methodist Schools (WMS) in both E and W Malaysia? And should we do it as two separate COEs, or together?

• How can we continue to strengthen our schools in the government system? How can we take advantage of the newly announced government policy to expand the ‘trust school’ system to 500 schools? This would give us much better control over our own schools.

• How do we expand our ministry in the whole area of meeting special needs (for those physically handicapped and intellectually weaker, autistic children, vocational education for those from economically disadvantaged background, etc.) through our schools? 

d. We need to continue to keep watch over our churches, and their health and growth in the context of changing socio-political realities and increasing pressures upon the Christian community in this country. Among other things, we need to ensure that we have a steady supply of good and godly men and women for the ministry so that the pastoral oversight and mission can grow and prosper under faithful ministers of the gospel. I will come back to other related matters later.

3. Reflections on National and Church Statistics

i. Christian population in the country 
The following is the best statistics that I can get for the moment. It has not been possible to get hold of official figures for 1970, hence they cannot be confirmed. But they seem in the right order.

a. Christian population from 1970 to 2010 

Although the total number of confirmed members (over 16 years) is given as 114,065, the 2010 edition of Operation World⁴ estimates that the total number of people affiliated⁵ to the Methodist Church (with three other churches for comparison) as follows:

Roman Catholics 855,000
Methodists 304,000
Anglicans 250,000
SIB 242,000 

These figures are good estimates and no more. My personal assessment is that the figure for Methodists is too high—but I hope I am wrong.

iii. Some comments of our statistics:

a. Membership Growth based on confirmed members from 2005 and 2011:

2005                97, 509
2011                114,065 

This gives an approximate Annual Growth Rate = 2.8% This compares favourably with the official Annual Population Growth Rate of the country for 2000-2010, which = 2.0%

b. Weekly church attendance =             71%
Sunday School attendance =             20,474
Youth Group (ca. <25 yrs) =               6,069

Based on the above, the question that needs asking is whether we are in danger of having an aging church? Are we giving sufficient attention to the work of children and youth?⁶

4. The On-going Work of the Discipline Review Council (DRC) 

i. The role of the DRC
The DRC was first set up by the action of the General Conference in September 2000. Its main task over the 12 years was to review the whole Discipline and to propose changes based on the following considerations:

• To bring its contents up to date so that the Discipline enables the church to address the concerns of today’s world in our national context.
• To tidy up a number of contradictory provisions that came from the original Discipline, or, more likely, from improperly thought-through revisions since 1968.
• To get rid of provisions which are no longer applicable and which may be holding the work of the church back through burdensome bureaucracy. The goal was to make the church structures more relevant and nimble.
• To bring greater clarity to the Discipline and make it user-friendly.

A lot of hard work has been put in by a substantial number of persons in the past 12 years of its existence. And on the whole, I believe the DRC has done a great job. In particular, I just wish to take this opportunity to thank Mr Gopal Sundaram and his team for all their good work over this past four years. As we deliberate over the proposals they are bringing to the GC, let us ask God for wisdom to work together with them in making the Discipline a better and more helpful document for our church. In light of this, I would like to add a further detail comment by way of reminder.

ii. The Discipline should never be our master; rather it should be our servant for the advancement of ministry and mission

We must never forget that the Discipline should never be our master. It is not the Bible of the Methodist Church and should never be treated as such—because it never had that authority!

It is meant to serve as guide to the whole church for proper governance and accountability within the church. And let us thank God that because of it we have been delivered from many problems afflicting many other churches around us.

Further, the Discipline is for the purpose of enhancing and advancing the ministry and mission of the church, and should never be an obstacle or hindrance to it. In fact the Encyclopedia of World Methodism puts it even more strongly: ‘Basic to Methodist doctrine is the idea that polity should be subordinate to mission.’⁷

I was strongly reminded of this same point at the United Methodist Church GC earlier this year. Bishop Peter D. Weaver of the Boston area drew attention to what happened at the first Methodist Conference called by John Wesley. He asked his friends, five clergy and four laity, to give ‘advice respecting the method of carrying on the work of God.’ In other words, Bishop Weaver pointed out, the question was ‘what would be the method for the Methodists?’ He goes on to argue that, therefore, every piece of legislation that was accepted at the UMC GC should address the question, ‘What is the “best method of carrying on the work of God” for United Methodists today?’ He summed up his point with the simple question, ‘Can we focus the Discipline on discipling?’ He ended this point by urging the GC to reduce the size of the Discipline, ‘while expanding its focus on discipling.’⁸

I am making this point as an appeal to all of us so that we will never allow the Discipline to force upon us a bureaucratic mind-set and mode of action. This will protect us from tying our own hands by rules and regulations that were never meant for that purpose in the first place. Let us therefore remember always that the purpose of our Discipline is to enhance and advance ministry and mission, and not hinder us through restrictive rules and regulations!

5. The Road Ahead
Having taken a brief look at the church, I would now turn to ask how we are to respond to the context in which we find ourselves today.

i. Our national context

a. The national situation: Despite all efforts by the government and the opposition, and by NGOs, religious groups, and concerned individuals, in the eyes of many citizens, things have gradually deteriorated in the country. The problems include: 

• Ethnic tensions: These are not just among Malays, Chinese, Indians and others in W. Malaysia, but involve all races throughout the country. Most agree that tensions have increased.
• Political problems: Apart from the unresolved issues arising from the dissatisfaction on the part of Sabah and Sarawak over the 18- and 20-point agreements respectively, there have never been so much politicking by and bickering between political parties before.
• Social class divisions: There exist vast gaps in wealth between the haves and have-nots, and between the rich and poor, within the same racial groups.
• Corruption or alleged corruption: Certainly the perception is that this problem has gone from bad to worse amongst politicians, and in the civil service, judiciary, private sector, etc.
• Declining education standards: The report that came out last week on educational reform is the first public admission of the overall decline, with PISA scores of the country ranking in the bottom 1/3 of all countries taking part in the tests.
• Brain drain: The extent of this became absolutely clear from the World Bank Report (April 2011).
- As of 2010, approximately 1 million have left the country for Singapore, Australia, Brunei, UK, US, Canada and NZ, in that order.
- Estimated 1/3 are highly skilled workers, hence the brain drain.
- About 570,000 have moved to Singapore; of these 180,000 constitute part of the brain drain.
- This is the strongest indication of the loss of confidence and faith in the government!

b. The Islamisation factor: The above is now also been seriously compounded by the religious factor, as many Muslims have become increasingly assertive about the position of Islam in the country. Hence the increasing pressure towards Islamisation at all levels of society, beginning with the rereading of and the amendments to the Constitution from an Islamic perspective, to the increasing efforts at the Islamisation of the civil service, the judiciary, banking, education and so forth. All these have been made worse by the politicisation of Islam, both by the government and the opposition.

But side by side with these efforts are direct and indirect efforts at conversion of non-Muslims, aimed especially, though not only, at the indigenous people of the country. This is clear from the figures on the Christian population in Sabah and Sarawak in section 3.i.a above, plus other government-sponsored initiatives which many of us are aware of.

Over and above all these are the efforts at restricting the religious freedom of non-Muslims, of which restrictions on the use of the word Allah and importation of the Al-Kitab are only the most blatant of such efforts directed at Christians. The MCCBCHST and the CFM have both been drawing attention to these issues for more than two decades!

ii. The challenge of Islam and the international context
The international context in which we find ourselves is complex and I do not pretend to understand lots of it. But some trends are clear and they will have clear implications for Christians living in Malaysia.

a. First, increasingly we live in a multi-polar world. The west is no longer dominant as it once was, politically, economically and culturally. As other nations or groups of nations (especially China, Islamic world, and Russia) assert themselves, the limits of western dominance is gradually becoming obvious.

There are many implications. But for the church living in Malaysia, one of the most serious implications is that we can no longer look back to our national Constitution and assumed that nothing has changed since 1957 because the main tenets of the Constitution appear to have remained unchanged. When we achieved independence, the British left the country with a Constitution which guaranteed a secular state, in the sense that the state is neutral towards religion and everyone’s religious freedom is guaranteed. At the same time, it provided Islam with a privileged position as the ‘official’ religion of the country. That is fine so long as everyone thinks like the British! But the emergence of Islam as an increasing influence in the world today means that many in this country no longer think like this. The position of Islam as an ‘official’ religion has now been changed to ‘state’ religion in the perception of many Muslims. For them, that means Malaysia’s laws must be defined by and brought in line with Islamic law. Hence our present conundrum!

b. Second, with respect to our difficulties, we cannot expect to get much help from churches or governments in the west for a number of reasons. Often western governments are restricted in what they can do because of their declining political influence. Moreover, at times they are driven by economic interests and will not speak up for persecution of Christian minorities in order to protect their oil supplies, multibillion arms deals, and the like.⁹

Furthermore, within the western church there is relatively little understanding of the true nature of Islam. On the one hand you have right-wing extremists whose provocations of Muslims have led to violent reactions, including riots, murders, etc. On the other, you have ecumenical leaders who keep stressing dialogue when the fact is that in a Muslim majority country like ours, Muslim leaders representing the government usually have no interest in dialogue at all!

Over and above all these, in some circles there is a distinct reluctance to do anything—because the western churches are often weighed down by their own problems.

c. But thirdly, it has to be noted that Islam itself is undergoing tremendous ferment in the world today. Often we only hear about the radicals, Al-Qaeda and the like. But at the same time, there are Muslim leaders who are serious wanting to live at peace and harmony with peoples of other faiths. Within Malaysia, we have such groups like the Sisters-of-Islam and the Islam Reformation Front. And most significantly, Al-Azhar University, the oldest and most prestigious Islamic university in world, just at the beginning of this year came out openly with a public statement insisting that freedom of the religion, including the right of choice, is consistent with Islam.¹⁰ All these represent a genuine window of opportunity for Christians to enter into serious engagement with Muslims in our country.

d. To sum up, with respect to the problem of Islamisation, the church is in a difficult, though not hopeless, situation. Historically, every church that has existed under majority Muslim rule has weakened and many have been wiped out. But the world of the 21st century has changed fundamentally in many ways, and history does not need to repeat itself. Moreover, as the Al-Azhar statement implies, many serious Muslim leaders are aware that Islam has to come to terms with modernity. The question before us is whether the Malaysian church will end up like one of the dhimmi¹¹ communities of the past, living under the Shariah with limited religious freedom and second-class citizenship status, or will it become God’s instrument of transformation in our nation and become a blessing to all, irrespective of religion or race? I believe that the answer to this question depends a lot on how the church responds NOW!

iii. What is the way forward?

a. The Malaysian church today is reacting generally in one of two ways. The more conservative takes the traditional line. Don’t rock the boat. Just play safe. Stay on the side of whoever is in power and make our money while we can. If things turn bad, we just pack up and leave. But can we who are called to be the ‘salt of the earth’ and the ‘light of the world’ (Mat 5:13f) live with integrity in this manner? Can we act with such callous indifference and still be true to our calling to be Christ’s ‘witnesses … to the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8)?

The other way in which many Christians are reacting is to jump on the political bandwagon, often in support of the opposition—on the assumption that if PR comes into power, all our national problems would be solved. Even if that is true, do we think that the Islamisation issue will automatically disappear? The answer is plain.

b. As I prayed about the present situation, increasingly I have been forced to a simple conclusion. The Malaysian church is worried about the country; but could it be that God is more concerned about the church? Allow me to explain.

Many are concerned about the way corruption is seriously destroying the nation. But how can the church speak up with real moral authority against corruption when the church itself is not known for holiness and integrity? We are aware our country is terribly divided by race, religion and class. But can the church bring reconciliation to it when our own churches are so disunited and so often thrive on competition against one and another? Malaysia has been slowly (but now thoroughly) messed up since Merdeka in 1957. How can the church which is so relatively weak bring transformation to the nation when we have not learn to turn to God in prayer to seek power from on high?

c. Yet, has not Jesus Christ, our Lord, promised His church spiritual authority and power to bring transformation to the world? Consider, for example:

To his disciples he said: 'I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it' (Mat 16:18).

In his letter to the church of Thyatira, He tells those that have remained faithful to the things of God, ‘Only hold fast to what you have until I come. The one who conquers and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations (Rev 2:25f).

Do we believe that these promises are real? Do we really have the authority to bring changes? Do we take the message of the Bible seriously? I can only say that as Methodists that we not only should—indeed we must because both our Methodist tradition and our Christian beliefs demand that!       

Four years ago, in my sermon at the beginning of the 9th Session of the GC, I quoted David Martin, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics. He has carried out much sociological study of Christian churches in history, including Methodism in the early years and Pentecostalism today. And his clear conclusion is that history demonstrates that people at the margins of society can effect major socio-political changes at the centre! In his book, Forbidden Revolutions, he writes: 

‘One of the main themes …is how those things and those processes that lie at the social margin can, nevertheless, be powerful sources of change. In the case of Pentecostalism in Latin America, I tried to show how poor and marginal people could initiate a revision of consciousness amounting to a cultural revolution. This revolution takes place in a social space that they have devised for themselves as a carefully bounded and protected enclave against the corruptions of the outside world. In the case of religion in Eastern Europe, I want to show how a church, banished to the margin and officially confined to a restricted social, could become a major conduit of symbolic opposition and, eventually, a major channel of revolution once sufficient cooperating circumstances were present.¹²

d. Given the above realities, I have therefore come to the conclusion that we need to plead with God to bring new life into the Malaysian church once again. Or, to use an old fashion word, we need a revival from God. Such a revival must so deeply touch our churches that it will lead to true holiness, unity and prayer throughout the church in the nation. Only then can we speak against corruption with real moral authority. Only then can we help to bring reconciliation to our deeply divided nation. And only as the church really knows what it is to pray can we reach up to God so that the power of heaven can be poured upon earth to renew it once again!  

If this happens through the grace of God, then the Malaysian church will become a source of blessing to the whole nation and to all its people. But if the church fails, we will end up as one of the dhimmi peoples in Islamic history, with limited freedom to worship God and living as second-class citizens in this land. How then shall we live?

e. It is important that I make myself clear. I have only drawn attention to the socio-political issues before us because we need to understand the context which the Malaysian church is in. And my hope is that understanding this context will enable us to come to a greater a sense of seriousness and urgency about the challenge before us.

Certainly I am not urging the church to forget about our primary task of proclaiming the gospel and building God’s church in this nation, and instead give priority to politics. That is not what I am saying! In fact that is the exact mistake many in the church are making today: by jumping on the political bandwagon we are forgetting to focus on our primary task of witnessing to Christ, and building a church that is ‘one, holy, catholic and apostolic’¹³ in our nation! When the church remembers this and begins to act and live as God’s people once again, when the church learns afresh to be truly holy, united and prayerful, then God comes in His power and glory. He will revive the church and through the church bring transformation to the world! We must put first things first.

iv. How will we in the Methodist Church respond?
How then will we as the Methodist church respond to all this? We are one of the three largest Protestant churches in the country. In terms of organisation and resources, we are probably overall better off than all others. God has been good to us. Jesus in one of his parables reminds us that ‘Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required’ (Luke 12:48). What does this mean for us?   

Wesley once wrote this statement in a letter to one of his assistants: ‘Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth.’¹⁴

There are gathered at this conference eighty-four voting delegates, plus a few more without voting rights. We are roughly equally divided between clergy and lay. But will the ninety plus Methodists gathered here be counted among those ‘who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God’? If so, then I believe we can make a difference in Christ’s Name. If not, I fear for the future of the church in this beautiful land of Malaysia!

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?' 

Bishop Hwa Yung
The Methodist Church in Malaysia
18 September 2012

Footnotes
1. A Road Map (Petaling Jaya: The Methodist Church in Malaysia, 2010), pp. 18f.
2. Australia, Bolivia, Cambodia, UK, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, plus a few others.
3. I have not included the category of ‘Preparatory members’ (i.e. those who have been baptised as children but not yet confirmed) because there is some confusion here. Some ACs have given cumulative figures which may need some tidying up; others have given figures for the current year only. I have also left out the figure for those who have been baptized and above 16 years of age but not confirmed as adult members. We do not know where these people are and what their present status is.
4. Jason Mandryk, Operation World, 7th ed (Colorado Springs, CO: Biblica Publishing, 2010), p. 556.
5. The term ‘affiliated’ generally includes adult members, children, and any who would identify themselves as Methodist if asked census time.
6. Many of our churches have strong BBs and GBs, and these have not been taken into consideration.
7. N. B. Harmon, ed., The Encyclopedia of World Methodism, Vol. I & II (Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House, 1974), p. 780.
8. Bishop Peter D. Weaver, ‘The Resurrection Revolution,’ in UMC GC, Daily Edition, Vol. 4.3 (Apr 26, 2012) pp. 1928f.
9. Ronald Boyd-MacMillan, Faith That Endures—The Essential Guide to the Persecuted Church (Lancaster: Sovereign World, 2006, p. 335) tells of a specific case in which attempts to stop churches being burnt in Indonesia in 1996-7 were stonewalled by American government officials because of the concern to protect some huge arms deal with Indonesia. One of those trying to help told him: ‘We set out to fight persecution in Indonesia; we ended up fighting it in Washington, D.C.’
10. See ‘Al-Azhar Document: Statement about the future of Egypt’ by Egypt: State Information Service (SIS) at http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/Story.aspx?sid=56424 (Accessed: 28 Aug 2012). The original statement is in Arabic. An unofficial English translation is available.
11. The term dhimmi means ‘protected people’, meaning that non-Muslims historically in Muslim-majority lands were not full citizens but given recognition as being protected in return for accepting a subjugated status and payment of extra taxes.
12. David Martin, Forbidden Revolutions—Pentecostalism in Latin America and Catholicism in Eastern Europe (London: SPCK, 1996), p.66.
13. The phrase ‘one, holy, catholic and apostolic church’ comes from the Nicene Creed, the one summary of the faith accepted by all three major branches of the Christian church, Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant. ‘One’ refers to our unity, ‘holy’ to our moral purity and being set apart for God, ‘catholic’ means universal, including all of every race and language, and ‘apostolic’ means that the church is faithful to the Apostles’ teaching.
14. Letter to Alexander Mather, 1777; cited in Richard P. Heitzenrater, Wesley and the People Called Methodists (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995), p. 266.