We’re delighted to partner with MYReaders, a community-led group that seeks to address illiteracy in the Bangsar low-income community! In its first week, MYReaders made contact with students from SMK Bangsar to ascertain their current literacy level.
Find out more about their first week:
Please consider supporting the great work that MyReaders is doing. Follow them on Facebook or email them at team[at]myreaders[dot]org[dot]my.
Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
– 2 Timothy 3:12
This week, we were blessed and challenged to hear from Rev. Benedict Muthusami, Director of Open Doors Malaysia, a ministry dedicated to serving the Persecuted Church. He preached from 2 Timothy 3:10-16.
Rev. Benedict’s sermon was a powerful reminder about the “bullied” people in our midst and the power of prayer.
We sometimes forget, we are one church that stretches across the world. Whenever one part suffers, we all suffer.
While the message highlighted solidarity and awareness, through it all, there was also a tone of hope: hope in the awesome power of God in the midst of great evil.
We also heard a powerful story of prayer across the world that made a real difference.
Sometimes we get so caught up in the smallness of things that we miss the bigness of God.
So what should we do when we are “bullied”?
We need to respond in love and prayer:
Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. – 2 Chronicles 7:14.
That’s a call to us.
***
As part of his visit with us, Rev. Benedict also shared that Open Doors is celebrating its 60th Anniversary this year.
He also shared with us the World Watch List, published annually by Open Doors International. The watch list ranks the top 50 countries with Christian persecution.
We were dismayed to find out that Malaysia has climbed to #37 from #40 the previous year, due to issues of religious freedom and the use of Bahasa Malaysia bibles.
In support of Open Doors’ ministry, we dedicated our missions offering this week to them.
We thank Open Doors for visiting us and sharing their heart with us. We also especially pray and thank them for the important work that they do for the Church as a whole.
This coming Sunday, we will have the privilege of hearing from Open Doors International, the world’s largest outreach to persecuted Christians in the most high-risk places.
Open Doors has visited BLC before. We look forward to a time of being blessed and challenged as we hear about the challenges facing the Persecuted Church from around the world.
Our missions offering for this coming Sunday will also be in support of Open Doors International.
See you next week!
9th October 2014
We refer to the written statement made by the de facto Minister for Law in Parliament yesterday stating that there would be no prosecution of Ibrahim Ali over his Bible-burning statement as he was “only defending the sanctity of Islam”.
The Christian Federation of Malaysia on behalf of Christians in Malaysia is outraged at the fact that threats to burn our Holy Bible is considered an act in defence of Islam.
The CFM feels strongly that this position is irresponsible as it gives carte blanche or free rein to other extremists to do likewise not just to Christians but to any other religious community that is not Muslim.
By no logic or rationalisation and under no circumstances whatsoever can a threat or call to violent action, desecration of another Malaysian citizen’s sacred text be considered defensive.
We strongly protest against the obviously inexcusable position adopted by the Government. We call upon all right thinking members of Parliament, irrespective of their ethnicity, religious background or political affiliation to join in passing a motion of censure against the Minister for making such a scandalous and irresponsible statement.
Yours sincerely,
Signed
Rev. Dr. Eu Hong Seng,
Chairman and the Executive Committee,
The Christian Federation of Malaysia
The International Society of Urban Missions recently held its 2014 summit in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur – which was also attended by a few of our church members.
In fact, one of their summit keynote speakers, Rev. Dr. Jayakumar Christian, was our guest speaker at BLC.
ISUM has just issued a several videos to showcase some of what happened throughout the summit.
More videos, including keynote sessions by various speakers such as Jayakumar Christian, René August, Dr. John Perkins, Seeta Gurung and others, are available here.
For more ISUM:
Enjoy!
This Sunday, 29 June 2014, we are very blessed to welcome Rev. Dr. Jayakumar Christian as our guest speaker at Bangsar Lutheran Church!
Rev. Dr. Christian, the National Director of World Vision India, has become one of the majority world’s most articulate theologian-practitioners on the role of the church among the poor. His book “God of the Empty-Handed: Poverty, Power, and the Kingdom of God” is essential reading in today’s urban mission settings. Dr. Christian received his Ph.D from Fuller Theological Seminary and was named alumnus of the year in 2002.
Rev. Dr. Christian and is in Kuala Lumpur as one of the Keynote Speakers at ISUM, the International Summit for Urban Missions, held in MCKL, Brickfields, 28th June to 1st July 2014. More details of ISUM at www.newurbanworld.org/summit.
Follow Rev. Dr. Christian on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrJChristian
Here’s a preview of Rev. Dr. Christian and some of this thoughts:
