Every Step Forward is for Christ (Part Two/Final)

Embodying a purposeful direction in the Vision Statement to bear fruit for God

Khen Lim

Final Part




Image source: redletterchristians.org

Re-envisioning the Future

Leaders of our church arrived at a mutually-agreed conclusion that a generic vision under the common umbrella of the Great Commission wasn’t specific enough at least for our church and the problems we needed to attend to.

Hence our new chairman proposed the need to revise the church’s Vision Statement with the view to come up with a more appropriate replacement that would, firstly, fall under the general auspices of the Great Commission and secondly, offers better details that carry more relevance for our church. 

Every Step Forward is for Christ (Part One)

Embodying a purposeful direction in the Vision Statement to bear fruit for God

Khen Lim




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For the many decades of my church’s existence, the mandate fleshed out in its Constitution was to fulfil the Great Commission (Mt 28:16-20). Of course, that would probably be no different for many churches throughout the world because this is a broad vision that is well spelt out in the Bible. How the vision is fleshed out will likely, though, be varied, given the different complexions, needs and issues that each church has.

The Great Commission is, of course, a very important cornerstone for all Christians and it goes without saying that it is therefore an inherently vital function of the church. That being said, our church had, over the decades, struggled to understand how to fulfil it beyond a generic understanding of what churches in general are purposed to do. 

Happy Chinese New Year 2016

By Administration



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To our Chinese readers around the world

A very Happy Chinese New Year to you and your loved ones. There will be no Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly for tomorrow. In fact at Hosanna EFC in Ipoh, there will not be any Sunday Service as well since most of our congregation will be spending precious time with the family members who would have returned home. Some have gone interstate where their ancestral homes are.

Tonight is Family Reunion, which is the Chinese equivalent of the American Thanksgiving Day. It is a day (called chú xī and written natively as 除夕) where family members have all returned to their parents’ homes to share their dinner together for that one time a year in a traditional practice that has been staple for more than a thousand years. In an increasing number of cases, reunited families will also be having their reunion bashes in Chinese restaurants for practical and convenient reasons – so be forewarned, this is NOT the day to casually walk into a popular Chinese diner and expect to find an empty table!

The Chinese take their traditions seriously (Parts 1, 2 and 3 here) and Chinese New Year’s Eve is no exception. Family members from abroad are also likely to make their way home, which is why travel-bound Chinese from all over the world will have been busy scheduling their flights home in the last number of days. They may come from America, Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand or Canada but their destinations will be China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Singapore or whichever country that you find an ancestral Chinese population.

In Ipoh (Malaysia), residential streets will once again be clogged up by cars of returning family members including those from our southerly neighbours, Singapore. For that one time every year, these will be days when simply coffeeshops with Ipoh’s legendary noodle dishes will be chockablock full of ‘tourists’ and ‘annual visitors’ and so there will be no places left for locals.

Not just that, prices will skyrocket beyond reasonable expectation. A simple iced Chinese tea drink will go up from 0.50 sen (US0.12/AUD0.17) to anything like RM1.00 (US0.24/AUD0.34) or even more. That’s a minimum of 100 percent price hike, if not more! For some of us, the best places to eat during the Chinese New Year season might be the Indian curry houses where the prices don’t go up at all.

For my family, Chinese New Year 2016 will be an entirely different experience altogether. It will be the very first time, my mother won’t be around. Having passed away only recently in October 2015, we still miss here. That hole in all our hearts will take time to heal. It will also be the first time that we have brand new additions to our family to usher in the New Year. Our newborn twins, Heather and Bridget, will bring us joy while we remember our beloved mom.

I have included a very special video that was sent to me by a relative only a few hours ago. It would provide our non-Chinese readers a very good idea of how the Chinese value the little things in life that bring their families together. For our Chinese readers, the video might be a good reminder of what such values are that we should treasure.

For reasons unclear to me, I have had difficulties uploading the video to the website so that you can view it directly here. This means that the best I can do is to provide you with a link to the video clip, which I have uploaded to MediaFire. Whatever it is - and I apologise for the inconvenience - it is well worth watching.

Here is the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/watch/ms757smact8o03o/VID-20160207-WA0002.mp4

Have a memorable Chinese New Year.

Khen Lim

Happy Chinese New Year 2016

Administration

As Chinese New Year falls on February 8 this year, this means that the Family Reunion day that is its Eve will coincide with what would otherwise have been a usual Sunday Service. So ‘regular programming will resume on February 14 instead.

Discovering Our Roots (Final Part Four)

Defining the Evangelical Free Church in Malaysia

By Khen Lim

FINAL PART FOUR - IDENTIFYING THE NAME 




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Defining the word ‘Evangelical’

Here’s a seemingly harmless word – Evangelical. In the Ancient Greek of Jesus’ times, the original word was εὐαγγέλιον, which translates to ‘evangelist.’ In its English transliterated form, it is ‘euangelion’ and in Latin, it is ‘evangelium.’ This word is abundantly found in all the Gospels, giving rise to many calling their authors, the Four Evangelists, namely, of course, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

According to its Koine Greek origins, two basic stems, εὔ (eu) and ἀγγέλλω (angellō) can be identified. Respectively, they mean ‘good’ and ‘I bring a message.’ When the two are brought together, the common interpretation is, ‘I bring a good message,’ or ‘the person who brings a good message,’ which in the most practical English form, we should consider, ‘I bring you good news,’ which then can be simply contracted to ‘Good News’ as in the Gospel itself. 

However here’s where things get a trifle tricky because the words ‘evangelism’ and ‘evangelical’ can be differently applied. In studying biblical Koine Greek, we learn that the word ‘evangelism’ hardly occurs in the New Testament but if we consider extra-biblical texts, we could find some clues as to the linguistic inter-relationships. Here then we discover the verb εὑαγγελίζω (euangelizō) and κηρυσσω (kērussō) to collectively mean, ‘to proclaim’ (Note: For those who are curious, the latter Greek work is where ‘charismatic’ is derived from). 

Discovering Our Roots (Part Three)

Defining the Evangelical Free Church in Malaysia

By Khen Lim

PART THREE - DEFINING 'FREE' 




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Introduction

In the previous part of the series, we learned the role that Spener played in laying the foundation for the Evangelical Free Church (EFC) movement and then Harms’ contribution to the underlying significance of the word ‘Free.’ Harms was able to offer the definition that we are today familiar with. That the word ‘Free’ is broadly defined as ‘deregulated’ is correct as it underscores the movement’s desire to remain independent of the State Church’s overreach as well as any direct interferences from the government or any government-controlled secular body.

Discovering Our Roots (Part Two)

Defining the Evangelical Free Church in Malaysia

By Khen Lim

PART TWO - THE FOREIGN CONNECTION 

Introduction

As we know, the origins of EFC in Malaysia are inextricably linked to America. The American missionaries who were so integral to many of their formations in Part I (of this series) originated from the EFC of America (EFCA).  

Formed in as late as 1950, EFCA itself has an illustrious history of its own, being a merger of two churches – the Swedish EFC and the Norwegian-Danish EFC Association. Both of them were established during the period of revival in 1884. These two churches lay down important clues to the roots of the modern-day Evangelical Free Church movement. 

Discovering Our Roots (Part One)

Defining the Evangelical Free Church in Malaysia

By Khen Lim

PART ONE - THE MALAYSIAN CONNECTION 

Introduction

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Methodist. Lutheran. Baptist. Anglican. Presbyterian. We’ve heard of them before. Episcopalian. That’s American and chances are some of the better informed locals in Malaysia would have heard of them as well. Southern Baptist. Even that as well. But Evangelical Free Church? If you’re not a keen church guy, your reply would more likely be, “Evangelical what?” And if I were to use its shortened form, EFC, you could think it’s a football club.

Many of us at Hosanna EFC have tried explaining who we are and often, we get blank stares. Very few ever know. Some give up trying to understand because the history isn’t that simple. Or straightforward. Some might think we’re a cult along the lines of the Seventh Adventist or LDS or JW.