The evangelistic work of the Methodist Mission in Malaya has grown with considerable rapidity in recent years. In the first years of this work, attention was given principally to the establishment of strong congregations in the large centres. This has been carried out to a very large extent, until now in all of the larger cities and towns we can point to beautiful and well-built edifices in which well-attended services are conducted for the various racial groups of the country. In most of these Churches each Sunday three services, or more, are held: one for the Indian congregation (Tamil), one for the Chinese (vernacular), and a cosmopolitan service in English for those from any racial community who can understand English. These congregations have acquired considerable influence in their respective communities.

In more recent years the evangelistic effort has gone farther afield. Malacca is still the banner district for this type of work although in other districts the work is expanding considerably from the centres. Penang has a number of small churches in Province Wellesley and into Kedah. Ipoh has the beginnings of such outstation work and greater possibilities ahead. Sitiawan has been pressing this work with considerable success. But in Malacca the idea seems to be in the air. People breathe it in, soon the possibility of opening new work is reported, a temporary house is rented until the congregation is strong enough to go ahead with a building, and then a building is erected with very little other than local help.

As a result of this infectious idea of building out from the centre, ten village churches have already been built, and several others congregations wait only for better times to start their buildings. Of the latter places, Tampin is a good example. It is at a railway junction as well as at the junction of important highways. For ten years Mr. Wong Eng Leong has laboured here, teaching and preaching in rented buildings because no suitable site for the church-building could be found. Now an excellent site has been obtained, but building in these days is out of the question. Once the slump has lifted and money can be collected. Tampin will have its church.

The most outstanding example of what has been done and may be done, is seen at Jasin. This is a small town situated 18 miles from Malacca in the centre of a large district where the Court, District Office, and Hospital are located. Our Church is strategically located on a hill overlooking the village. An up-to-date parsonage is situated behind the church which is the only Christian place of worship in the village. The Superintendent of the Sunday School is also a teacher in the local Chinese school, so that the influence of the church goes out into other institutions. The Church is a vital force in the life of the community. The pastor has trained several Exhorters who not only assist him with the work in Jasin, but also conduct services in surrounding villages. Once an outstation of Malacca, it is taking on outstations of its own. The pastor, Mr Lim Khiong Eng, preaches three times in different village churches each Sunday and has a service every day during the week in other places. From Jasin the following have places of worship in which regular services are conducted: Bemban five miles away, Selandar, Bekoh, Asahan, somewhat farther away. Tangkah ten miles distant where the leading men of the village are on the official board of the church, and Serom with its school-building close to the church, the school being under the direction of the church. “The pastor, Mr. Lim, ministering to these seven churches”, says the Rev. M. Dodsworth, District Superintendent, “is a Local Preacher full of the spirit and energy of John Wesley. He has had to take on added responsibility due to lack of support in the smaller places, but has done so gladly and willingly. His larger parish with Jasin as a centre is one of the finest pieces of rural work I know of anywhere. Mr. Lim brings life to any church he touches and is a power for Christ in the whole Jasin District.”

Sungei Rambei and Merlimau on the road to Singapore, and Sungei Baharu to the north, complete the picture of the outstation work at Malacca. Each is provided with a church-building and a pastor. These village churches around Malacca are here to stay, and are filling a long-felt need. Methodism has always been at its best in the villages and small towns, and this work around Malacca is no exception. We may add that the work of the pastors is ably supplemented by the lady missionaries. Miss Pugh and Mrs. Dodsworth, with their Bible Women, and this work gives added solidarity to the church.

In Seremban, the Rev. J.A. Supramaniam writes of similar expansion of Tamil work: “A good number of members are living in outstations throughout Negri Sembilan and North Johore. Our work has a radius of fifty miles. We have at present six regular preaching places with three assistant pastors. We also have an Evangelical Band which holds Open Air Services and distributes tracts and Scripture Portions among the people.”

Our Clinic Work
This work has not been long established, nor does it exist in many places, but the results show how fruitful the work may be, and the success already attained makes possible the suggestion that it be tried in other places. One worker writes, “The clinics have given a wonderful opportunity to make friends and spread Christian truth. In Kampong Koh the pastor, his wife, and the Bible Woman have had devotional meetings preceding the daily clinics. Women have joined the Pioneer Church through these efforts. The pastor at Third Road has held a devotional meeting preceding the Wednesday morning clinic.”

4,959 patients were treated in a year at Third Road, Kampong Koh, Hok Chiang Yong, Pasir Panjang, and Ayer Tawar. 841 patients were treated in the Malacca clinic. Many patients have been taken to the hospital and many visits have been made in the homes of the sick.

The Malaysia Message
July 1933
Vol. 43 No. 7