Bishop's Page

Although I have written two articles on prayer in the last few months, I have been led to write one more for this issue of the Pelita. This time I would like to focus on the needs of our own church. Three months ago, I asked in my article in the May issue of Pelita, ‘Given that our church is one of the largest churches in the country, what does God expect of us, the people called Methodist? Although we do not have hard figures, the clear indication is that the growth of our church has lagged behind some of the smaller churches in the last two or three decades. How can we order our personal lives and that of our church so that God can use us again in a more dynamic and effective way to build His church in this nation?’ Certainly part of the answer is that we must begin with prayer!

Writing to the Ephesian church, Paul reminded them that ‘our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against …the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm’ (Eph 6:12). In other words, we are dealing not merely with sinful and rebellious humanity but with satanic opposition and demonic powers. Hence Paul goes on to urge us to ‘pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints’ (6:18). What are some of the issues that we should be bringing before God in prayer?

First, in the May 2006 issue of the Pelita, I shared some thoughts on the statistics on the Methodist Church. They draw our attention to some problem areas. For example, although we have 97,509 adults on our register, average Sunday adult attendance at worship is only 74%. Further, we note that some 25,000 persons have gone through our membership classes and baptism, without going on to actually take on membership vows and responsibilities in our churches. These mean that there are areas where our discipling and training processes, and our pastoral oversight of those who come through our churches need serious improvement. Can we therefore pray that the leadership of each Annual Conference (AC) will face up to the implications seriously?

Thirdly, I have been rereading recently the history of some of the great movements of God in the past. For example, Billy Graham and some co-workers first began really to have widespread impact through the ministry of Youth for Christ (YFC) in the 1940s and 1950s. John Sung first came to national prominence in China in the late 1920s through his work with the Bethel Band, a group of evangelists mostly in their 20s. Sadhu Sundar Singh committed his life to be an itinerant evangelist even before he was barely 18 years old. Even earlier still the great Protestant missionary movements in Britain and America were spearheaded by young men and women. These include such as Hudson Taylor of the China Inland Mission, Ida Scudder who built Christian Medical College, Velore, into one of the best medical schools in India, the Cambridge Seven, those missionaries sent out through the Haystack Movement, and the like! Many of these gave up brilliant careers and prospects by the standards of this world to serve Christ instead. And how God used them to proclaim the Gospel and built His church in the world!

Pray . . . that God will begin a real stirring in the hearts of our young people to give them a longing to give their lives totally to Christ and His service . . . . Pray that out of this stirring of the Spirit will emerge thousands and thousands of Christians whose lives and careers will transform our churches, our nation and the world.

I believe this may be just the right time for the church in Malaysia, and the Methodist Church here in particular, to ask God to raise a similar movement among our youths. Pray therefore that God will begin a real stirring in the hearts of our young people to give them a longing to give their lives totally to Christ and His service. Pray that they will dare to take the initiative to lead a revival movement within the church, and especially among their own age group. Pray that out of this stirring of the Spirit will emerge thousands and thousands of Christians whose lives and careers will transform our churches, our nation and the world.

Fourthly, the Council of Education (COE) in Peninsula Malaysia had a retreat at the end of July to map out a new education policy for the Methodist Church in this country. Currently we have within the government school system 24 Secondary schools, 35 Primary schools and 3 SJK Tamil schools. Further, we also have 5 private secondary schools, as well as the Methodist College, KL. These do not include Pilley Institute and a few other government-assisted schools in Sarawak which is under the COE in Sarawak. Up to this point we have been largely working with a policy framed in the early 1970s after the government took over the running of our schools. But with each passing year, the inadequacies of this policy become more and more apparent. At the recent retreat we discussed the need for a renewal of vision which can be summed up as ‘Impacting lives and nation for Christ through holistic education.’ We resolve that we will seek to work at making our Methodist schools, both government-run and private, the best schools in the country once again. Will you please pray for the members of the COE as they work hard at drawing up the details of a new policy? Pray in particular that this new policy will make possible the renewal of the educational mission of the Methodist Church in this nation again.

Therefore the last thing I would urge you to pray for is that the people called Methodists in our country will once again seek to live holy lives before God and the world, as our forefathers did. Pray that God in His mercy will pour His Spirit on His people so that we will know His cleansing fire and transforming power in our midst once again.

Finally, there remain many issues that our church needs to wrestle with. There are still areas where the different ACs sometimes find it hard to work together. Further, within each AC there remain pockets of disunity, which sometimes result in unhealthy politicking. Pray that the Methodist people will learn to truly to be one in Christ! Then there are churches which continue to struggle with financial weaknesses and even financial dependency due to various reasons, including inadequate giving. Pray that the Methodist churches will excel in generous giving, wise stewardship of resources and responsible accountability.

Of the marks that distinguish early Methodism, perhaps holiness in personal and public lives stands out most prominently. Wesley defined the one clear goal of his ministry as, ‘to revive the nation, and especially the church—and to spread scriptural holiness through the land.’ Asbury Seminary where I did my doctoral studies used to be referred in a condescending, or even derogatory, manner as the ‘holy hill’ by those less concerned with holiness. In fact, Wesley and his friends at Oxford were first called ‘Methodists’ because they were mocked and ridiculed for seeking to be methodical in holy living. Methodists in Malaysia would probably not have the same problem today—and that, however, would be to our shame! For without holiness, revival will not come to our church or our nation. Therefore the last thing I would urge you to pray for is that the people called Methodists in our country will once again seek to live holy lives before God and the world, as our forefathers did. Pray that God in His mercy will pour His Spirit on His people so that we will know His cleansing fire and transforming power in our midst once again. When that happens, then like Wesley, we too will seek passionately ‘to spread scriptural holiness through the land’!