Thank you so much, church, for your undivided support and commitment in Missions 2012.
Hooray!! The cell groups – mainly from PJ – made 44 local mission trips to the three new Orang Asli churches in Kepong, Tapah & Bidor, taught and preached 18 messages from the books of Genesis (Kejadian) and Exodus (Keluaran) in BM. Rev Jeremiah Yap, Pr Park, Pr Rubil and I baptized many new OA believers. The 360 Orang Asli believers witnessed with delight the completion of three simple church buildings in Tapah, Bidor and Tanjung Malim. Some still need toilet facilities & ceiling fans 🙂
The 15 international trips in 2012 cover India, Japan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, China, Philippines & Cambodia. We preached the word of faith, conducted pastors training, youth camps, encouraged new believers, brought medical aid to the poor and needy, played games with children, prayed for the downcast, healed the sick, celebrated Christmas with prisoners, painted a church premise to give it a fresh outlook. Then the BtN teams toured and shopped till they dropped prior to our departure – true to our shout ‘Bless the Nations’.
On Missions Sunday, 6th & 7th April in Petaling Jaya, we reported a combined missions fund (English & Chinese) of RM757,000-00 as gifts received and RM700,000-00 as expenditure – better classified as spiritual investment – in year 2012.
That same weekend, some 100 pastors, elders, missions and ministry leaders representing all NLRC churches (English, Chinese, Myanmar, Bahasa speaking) gathered for mission training. Rev Dr Jeremiah Yap, our Group Senior Pastor, launched the course. I had the joy of equipping these leaders, using the revised Impacting Nations mission handbook as my syllabus, sharing my first-hand and candid mission experiences in the four-hour session.
These annual mission events in most NLRC churches – over the month of April – raise the awareness of missions with biblical preaching, training, videos, slides, songs of worship, financial reports and a fresh collection of gift and pledges for 2013-2014.
In short, NLRC churches are experiencing a fruitful season of local church planting and a harvest of souls. The number of believers among the Orang Asli and Chinese communities have reached a new high. As a result, six new churches – four Orang Asli and two Chinese speaking congregations – were planted last year. On the missions’ front, NLRC churches have increased their support to 13 nations comprising 73 mission churches and congregations, 50 mission pastors, church planters, 10 mission agencies, six training schools, 29 community and welfare centres and two national prayer networks.
All glory and honour to the Lord! Hallelujah!
With the growing network of God’s influence, we approach the next few years with the awesome responsibility coupled with His divine enablement of winning even more, nurturing these believers, making them disciples of Jesus, building these churches and teams of dedicated pastors and leaders. In this way, the church will fulfill its mandate to disciple the family (oikos) with a strong influence of Godly values, build the church (ekklesia) and future generations (genea) and bless the nations (ethnos) Matthew 28:18-20.
The Lord placed on my heart a desire to start regional hubs for mission resource, church planting and pastoral training to effectively implement discipling in the family, church, generations and nations. This big vision demands equally extensive resources, which ultimately points to our GOD of heaven and earth!
Again, I thank you for sowing into His big plan, your precious mission gifts given to the Lord. They speak loudly of your love and sacrifice, your faith and seeds of blessings to the unreached peoples.
You are indeed a partner of His life-transforming Gospel. Ribuan terima kasih!
Some of you, local and abroad, may have missed our exciting messages, training sessions, slides, and may not have received a copy of revised Impacting Nations or Channel M Issue #7. Others may have missed the opportunity to give towards our missions fund and make your mission partnership pledges.
It’s not too late. You can email us (mail@newlife.org.my) to request a copy of the mission handbook, DVD, CD, and make your gifts to New Life Restoration Centre Bhd, marked out to Missions 2013.
May the Lord’s favour and blessings be upon you always. Amen.
Rev Lawrence Chen
Group Executive Pastor