Report by Eugene Yeoh

Given the religious and ethnic tensions prevailing in our nation the past several months, the last ECCM Pastors’ and Leaders’ meeting held on 28^th March appropriately addressed topics that offered practical approaches for Christian leaders to counter the deteriorating state of the country’s social, political and spiritual environment.

Rev. Dr. Eu Hong Seng kick-started the sessions with a prudent warning of the menacing Haman spirit that is clearly alive in our nation. With reference to the Al-Kitab issue, Rev. Eu believes the fiasco that we see in the physical realm has more spiritual implications than we may ever know. Drawing parallels from the book of Esther, he pointed out that wicked people will always utilise all resources to destroy the people of God. Esther and Mordecai were raised to preserve the people of God during their time. In the same context, the Christians in Malaysia have been raised for such a time as this.

The way to do this battle is to have Esthers who know how to love the king. Esther was married to a non-believing and party-going king. Yet she knew how to love her king. Today, the church knows how to attack, but do we have the Esthers who know how to love and respect the government? Tragically, too many of us want to do the work of Esther without wanting to be an Esther. Instead of working for change, more are likely to choose migration over staying, and most would choose to work in cushy private corporations than slog to make a difference in the public sector service.

Pastor Dr. Chew Weng Chee continued the next session where he passionately shared from 2 Kings 9. He shared that it is imperative that pastors and church leaders go back to their respective churches to sound a clear call to “fight back”; “then those who are in the caves will come out, those who never crossed the Jordan River will cross, and only then we can throw out wickedness from the land.”

Dr. Chew believes the windows of opportunity for revival in the country, particularly in East Malaysia, are opening. Thanks to the various strategies implemented in the past two years to strengthen the spiritual leaders of Sabah and Sarawak, Dr. Chew reported that “the morale and ‘semangat’ of the leadership and pastors of SIB had moved up by leaps and bounds”. With the strong lending the weak their strength, various backsliders, labourers who had left the harvest fields, and those who were hurt and rejected have started flocking back in droves into the churches in East Malaysia.

Finally, Dr. Colin Hurt concluded the meeting by sharing practical ways on discipling the church. He highlighted four main requirements for effective discipling, namely:

1. Immersion – disciples must be baptized as baptism literally buries our old sinful nature, giving us a life free of sins in Jesus Christ.
2. Instruction – disciples must be well-taught on Jesus’ commandments and teachings.
3. Impartation – leaders need to invest in selected disciples, empowering and enabling them to do the work of the Gospel.
4. Inspection – disciples must be held accountable, be teachable and open to correction.