TAC News
01 Mar 2016

A Report on 40th Session TAC

TAC 40th Session Report

Grace and Peace to all of you. As a conference we are moving onwards into the 40th year in 2016 and I would like to highlight some of the thoughts and directions I shared in my address at the 40th Session of TAC on 20th November 2015.

Our Heritage
We have a remarkable Methodist heritage. John Wesley was instrumental in ushering a tremendous awakening in the 18th Century when the Holy Spirit moved powerfully and the church grew. I desire a similar move in our midst.

However, for revival there must be repentance and reconciliation. There must be a complete turning to the Lord and surrendering to Him. There is an urgent need for all of us to prepare the grounds so that we can experience God’s presence and glory in a powerful way. Our Theme: Bringing in the sheaves with Prayer and Perseverance.

Prayer and Revival
There is a need to pray desperately for a fresh move of God in our midst. The 24/7 prayer chain is a major emphasis in this direction. Along with this our hearts must truly desire God’s mighty presence in our midst in an authentic manner. Pastors and leaders must fear God and seek to please Him only. All members are urged to observe a 40 day fast and prayer in the Lenten season and in July/August. Total surrender, holiness and unity on our part and 2016 will be a year of revival.

Strengthening the Focus
Over the past years, churches have focused on the 4 key areas of Prayer, Evangelism, Social Concerns and Discipleship. This is indeed commendable. However in 2016, we want to further strengthen these 4 key areas. One new move is to have 4 teams and every member in the church should be part of at least one team so that the entire church is involved in ministry. We also want to invest in more full-time workers especially for Social Concerns, Evangelism, and Youth Work.

Further Expansion – Evangelism
All Pastors and leaders must take up the challenge to toil in outreach mi- nistries and be in the front lines. All churches are also urged to form evangelism teams that reach out weekly or fortnightly. The Board on Evangelism plans to start another 3 new outreaches in 2016. The areas identified are Manchis near Bentong, Putra Jaya and Kuala Kangsar.

The ‘GO’ (Each member ‘get one’) challenge should be recharged and there must be continuous motivation from the pulpit for members to pray and witness to at least one person in a year.

FRI – Nehemiah Project
This project was initiated 4 years ago with the objective of raising funds for many causes and needs in our conference. Some of these are to assist in establishing a new HQ, retreat centre, skill training centre and also to support the social ministries of our conference. As such, we want to raise RM 1 million this year.

On our 40th year the plan is to raise RM1 million using the following strategy:-

100 members to give RM4,000.00
500 members to give RM400.00
5,000 members to give RM40.00
1,000 children to give RM4.00

Well-wishers to give a total of RM200,000.00 

A brochure has been prepared and distributed at our last annual conference.

Easing the ‘Burden’
It was generally felt that there are too many programmes at district and conference levels and hence this year we will limit to the following programmes only:

Church School Teachers Training – April
40th Anniversary Celebration – 30th April
Training in Family Counselling – July
Evangelism Institute – modular course (2016/2017)
Missions Conference – August

In 2016 we will have only one local conference in September 2016.

Grounding in the Word
There is an urgent need to recover our younger generation - our youths and our children. The sway towards the world is so strong and unless they are well grounded in God’s Word they can become easy victims to the many attractions of the world.

For far too long they have waded comfortably in shallow waters. The Board of Christian Education plans to introduce a systematic curriculum for all our Church schools. I want to urge all pastors and leaders to cooperate and ensure that this is followed. 

WISMA TAC – New Headquarters
By God’s grace and provision, we have bought a piece of landed property which is ideal for our Headquarters and is strategically located in Petaling Jaya. We plan to renovate and design the building to meet our various needs.

40 Years of TAC History Book
The 40 year of history of TAC has been published in the form of a book. This book was diligently and faithfully written by Rev. Victor Vethamani.

God’s will for us is to be a movement. So as people of God, let us move with new vigor into the 40th year and appropriate God’s abundant blessings. 

“Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God”. – W. Carey.

Rev. C. Jayaraj
President, TAC

THEME : BRINGING IN THE SHEAVES WITH PRAYER AND PERSEVERANCE 

The 40th session of the TAC was held on nov 20th to 22nd, 2015 at the Port Dickson Methodist Center. The Organising Committee was the Southern District under the able Leadership of Rev. James Ravinderan and Rev. Silvester Martin. There was a launching Ceremony of the 40th Session on Nov 21st 2015  which included a launch of our TAC History Book entitled  “40 years of TAC – Remember the Wonders He has Done” authored by Rev. Victor J. Vethamani.

The following are some of the decisions/focus points of TAC for 2016 

1. The 4 key areas of Prayer, Evangelism, Social Concerns and Discipleship will continue to be the thrust in all our churches. 
2.  Prayer and Revival - The 24/7 prayer chain will be the major focus.
3. Board on Evangelism will start 3 new outreaches next year while sustaining the present Evangelism frontiers of Karak, Tebong/Selandar, Pantai Remis/Bruas and Kuching.
4. BoE to assist the Tebong evangelism work financially for 3 to 5 years. All churches and individuals to come forward and support this initiative.
5.  All churches urged to form Evangelism teams that go out weekly or fortnightly.
6.  The ‘GO’ challenge should be recharged with continuous motivation from pastors.
7. Rev. Raymond Raj appointed as part time Social Concerns Coordinator to consolidate all Social Concerns activities of TAC.
8.  Through the Nehemiah Project a number of social ministries have commenced and are progressing well. In 2016 the plan is to raise a further RM1 million.
9. The Board of Christian Education will introduce a systematic curriculum to be followed by all Church schools in order that our children and youths are well grounded in the Word of God.
10. There will be no district programmes in 2016 but all churches to be involved in these programmes organized through the Conference-Church School Teachers Training (March), 40th  Anniversary Celebration  (30th April), Month of Evangelism (July - fasting for 40 days), Training in Family Counselling  (August), Evangelism Institute (modular course), Missions conference (August).
11. Next year there will be only one local conference which will be in September 2016. All churches are urged to have their planning meetings in November or December of 2015 or the latest by January 2016. More information on this change will be sent to churches soon.

Rev. C. Jayaraj’s final word of advice in his Presidential Address:

“May we, the generation that is moving into the 40th year of our conference see and experience once again the golden era of Methodism. God can do it and is willing. We need to be ready. We must be united.

There must be a radical change in our mindset. We must release forgiveness. The self must decrease and God must increase. The fruit of the spirit must be evident in all of us. Leaders must be deeply zealous in pleasing God. There must be the fear of God amongst all our members and pastors.

Let us then, lay hold of the promise of God in Zech. 4:6 “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit.” Yes, by God’s Spirit alone can 2016 be a year of revival.

By BRO. MICHAEL RAJA,
CONFERENCE SECRETARY