Source/Author: By Pastor Peter Ong

Reflections of the GC Pastors’ School at PDMC dated 13-16 April 2015

Once in every 4 years, the Pastors’ School (PS) is organised under the auspices of the Bishop’s Office and this year, from 13 – 16 April, some 500 pastors from the 6 Annual Conferences gathered at Port Dickson Methodist Centre as one big family for PS 2015. Our Methodist family was so big this time that some had to stay at Golden Sands Baptist, but thanks to the Planning Committee, headed by Rev Dr T Jeyakumar, the President of Trinity Annual Conference, who worked so tirelessly in ensuring the smooth running and success of PS 2015, not forgetting the many people who worked behind the scenes as well as the interpreters who volunteered their services in interpreting into Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin for those who are not conversant in English.

PS 2015 commenced with Holy Communion Service where Bishop Dr Ong preached on 2 Corinthians 4:1-18 and exhorted us not to lose heart in “Faithful Shepherding in Turbulent Times,” which was the theme of PS 2105. He reminded us that we are God’s people called Methodists are placed in this land, we are committed to serve and minister in this land that was experiencing turbulent times then, and we are appreciated by God’s people whom we serve in the Methodist Church in Malaysia. As a concrete response to this message, a “Batik Pledge” was made whereby every pastor was presented with a piece of batik cloth to be tailored into a clergy shirt/blouse that could be worn for dinner and other appropriate functions.

During the morning worship sessions, our PS speaker, Dr. Iman Santoso drew many lessons from the wealth of his experiences in faithful shepherding in the turbulent times in Indonesia. Among them were the lessons that we need authority from heaven and on earth, evil can only be overcome by good and we need fresh revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. On another day, he reminded us as good shepherds, we need to know, protect, feed and lead the sheep.

The GC Affairs sessions in the late mornings were undertaken by different speakers. Rev Dr Sivin Kit, an Anglican lecturer at STM, shared on “How to Connect with the Majority of our Country” and challenged us to think about “Who is the face of Christianity for Malaysia today.” Rev Ong Chin Hin spoke on land matters and legal issues concerning land held by the Methodist churches. Mr Michael William shared on the 3 temptations faced by young people today and challenged us to disciple them through intentionally loving them and setting aside funds for youth work. Mr John Ling spoke on the importance and rationale behind the setting up of the Indigenous Ministry Task Force (IMTF) whereas Ms Tay Choon Neo shared on the CG’s vision of 1 Church 1 School and encouraged pastors to mobilise the churches under their care to partner with the schools nearest to them to reach out to and meet the needs of the poor and needy students.

After every sumptuous lunch, there was a time for free networking with one another. Some intentionally took this time to meaningfully connect with old and new friends whilst others just resorted to taking the much needed rest especially after the stressful Holy Week and Easter celebrations.

After dinners, we had interesting workshops. The first one was led by Rev Dr Francis Ngoi who spoke on the topic of “Finding Healing from Wounds and Stresses.” Drawing from many vivid examples of his own ministry as well as those of other ministers, he taught us that a pastor that has not been hurt has never left home. He warned us to be aware of comparison, competition and expectation of the people. The second workshop was undoubtedly the highlight of the PS 2015 as indicated by the great anticipation and the rousing welcome given by the pastors to the panel of famous speakers consisting of Mr Eugene Yapp, Mr Lim Heng Seng and Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan (who was invited through the help of Rev Hermen Shastri, the General Secretary of Council of Churches in Malaysia). Each speaker took turns to speak on the legal and socio-political issues and the current affairs of our beloved country, culminating in an interesting session of Q&A with Rev Dr T Jeyakumar as moderator.

Every night, before we retired for the day, there was a time of Community Prayer led by different Annual Conferences where PS participants prayed together as a family, bringing the issues facing our country and churches to the throne of grace.

In the Closing Session, the Bishop once again reminded all PS participants not to lose heart in leading and co-working with God’s people as a Methodist Church that is after God’s own heart. He also urged all pastors to remember the 4 key issues, namely, (1) if God can do it in Indonesia, He can certainly do it in Malaysia; (2) the journey of connecting with our majority neighbours; (3) the pursuit of M24/7 growth because prayer is necessary to knowing and “seeing what the Father is doing” (John 5:19); and (4) blessing the nation with our active civil involvement in the national life, commitment to the IMTF and the 1 Church 1 School strategies. Lastly, the Bishop exhorted us to remember that our competency as ministers/pastors comes from God (2 Corinthians 3:4-6).

Beside the many wonderful lessons and the fun times together, many pastors went home with grateful hearts for the books written and given free by Dr Lee Bee Teik, the wife of Bishop Emeritus Dr Hwa Yung. On a personal note, I went home with fond memories of quality time spent reconnecting with other pastors of kindred spirit, and in particular with my roommate, Rev Cheong Ee Sin from the Chinese Annual Conference where we spent many wonderful moments together, sharing the joys and challenges of our respective ministries and spurring each other on in the work of the Lord. This was definitely one of the highlights of PS 2015 for me as we are still in touch with each other long after PS 2015 has ended and I believe this rooming arrangement should be carried out whenever possible in the years to come to foster closer ties with pastors of another Annual Conference. I now look forward with great eagerness and anticipation to PS 2019!