GOD'S MANDATE
“Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God.”
“The Evangelical voice for churches has to be strengthened through positive and God-inspired responses ...”
Message From Rev. Wong Kim Kong, J.M.N.
Secretary-General, NECF Malaysia
NECF Malaysia, the handiwork of God, was given His mandate to become His VOICE to the nation. It is a call to be like John the Baptist – the voice in the wilderness preparing the way for the Lord's ministry on earth.
As a national body, NECF represents the whole Evangelical Church reaching out with the whole gospel to the whole nation to fulfill its vision of uniting the Church to transform the community.
The fellowship is, indeed, a response to the deep longing nourished by a shared belief to unite Evangelicals of all diverse persuasions. Its ideals are in conformity with the Lord's Prayer that we “... may be one, as You Father, are in Me and I in You that the world may believe that you sent Me”.
Despite denominational differences in forms of worship and governance; despite ethnic, cultural, linguistic and economic diversities, the church-based fellowship has provided a platform for churches to “find oneness in the Holy Spirit that is centred on Christ and embrace one another in love and unity.”
Fulfillment of the Mandate
The fellowship began modestly in 1982 and developed numerically with an enlarged vision that has blessed the Church of Malaysia.
To fulfill the mandate, NECF and churches, together with God at the helm, have translated the vision “Transforming the Nation through the Local Church” into tangible strategic programmes as follow:
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Equipping and assisting churches, pastors, leaders and Christians at large through leadership training programmes on church planting, missions, evangelism, prayer, enhancing Christian values and character, and basic management skills.
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Articulating and disseminating national policies and pastoral guidelines to churches in the cities and rural areas and monitoring problems from the grassroots level to help resolve the problems.
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Voicing and advocating righteousness and upholding religious and social justice on issues affecting Christians in particular and common humanity in general.
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Informing local and international readers, through Berita NECF – the news organ of the fellowship – with a broad spectrum of news on churches, ministries and salient issues and Evangelical expression of issues and position affecting Christians in Malaysia.
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Building harmonious working relationship and unity among the traditional Evangelical, Charismatic and Pentecostal groups through joint efforts in Kingdom building.
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Contributing to nation building by giving input to the Government on issues affecting national unity and integration, development and security.
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Assisting and encouraging churches to provide help and relief in cash and kind to natural disaster victims locally and abroad, and to the needy and disadvantaged in our society.
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Rekindling an Evangelical awakening and spurring church revival and renewal through evangelistic and revival and renewal rallies, nationwide fast and prayer and Merdeka Day prayer rallies.
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Organising nationwide intercession in times of national crises relating to, for instance, national leadership, politics, economy, religious militancy and terrorism, and thereby enhancing the relationship between the Church and the Government.
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Promoting and sustaining regional and global networking and harmonious working relationship, sharing and playing an active role in the Evangelical Fellowship of Asia and the World Evangelical Alliance (which earned us the privilege of hosting the WEF International Consultation on Globalisation and the General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur last year).
Challenges Ahead and Our Response
With continuing church growth in the country and emerging issues confronting the Church, the fellowship expects greater challenges in the coming years. We need to be prepared to respond to issues that may arise, including the following:
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Representation and Nation Building
The evangelical voice for the churches has to be strengthened through positive and God-inspired responses needed in a fast-changing and progressive nation. Christians need to articulate views, suggestions and proposals that are professionally sound, credible and persuasive. Righteousness and justice, demonstrated through Christian contribution to nation building, will make advocacy for issues on land for burial grounds, immigration permits, and religious freedom more readily acceptable.
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Kingdom Building
Churches will have to be well equipped to meet the spiritual challenges ahead, as iniquity increasingly abounds, just like in the days of Noah. Our theme for the 20th anniversary celebration, “Quest for Spiritual Perfection – The Malaysian Church Agenda”, places us in an appropriate position to plan for and generate activities to prepare His people for His coming. Visionary leaders must be developed to become the next generation responsible for transforming the nation through the gospel and the local church.
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Enhancing Research and Planning
Using the latest in information technology, we need to upgrade our capability in research, collection of resource materials and database development. This, coupled with effective networking, ‘brain picking’ and strategic thinking, will help to generate church growth. Professional and spiritual input by Christian leaders, businessmen and specialists in various fields must be tapped through their involvement in the various commissions and other working groups. Churches should also network with other non-governmental organisations, including
human rights groups locally and internationally.
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Developing the Future Visionary
There is an urgency to train and equip the next generation of leaders with the capability and capacity to meet future challenges and achieve the corporate vision. Knowledge without wisdom and experience is deficient, therefore priority must be given to adequate mentoring of leaders, especially the young, with emphasis on servanthood leadership. Looking to our God, the ‘Captain’ of the Ship of the People of the Mandate, the NECF flagship will reach its envisioned destination. It is in meekness and humility that we see God at work. We should therefore cooperate with Him and His people in sharing whatever gifts we have and utilising them in the best possible Christian way to shape the future.
HENG KWANG TIANG
PASTOR OF KANGAR BAPTIST CHURCH
“Our church has gained much from the programmes organised by NECF. For example, the annual prayer wave movement has helped us to be more Kingdom minded. As a member church (of NECF), we have been rallying other local churches to come together to pray for our land.
So far, NECF has organised some big evangelistic rallies and brought many churches to work together. This has helped us to realise that when churches put their various resources together, they can do great things together with and for God.
We are also grateful to NECF for helping us when we ran into problems with the Kangar authority regarding our church premises. We have since learned how to deal more wisely with the state government on such matters.”
DR SONNY TNEOH
SECRETARY OF LIGHTHOUSE, SG. PETANI
“A few years ago, we had some problems with our pastor and being a member of NECF, we contacted them to help mediate. So for three consecutive weekends, the NECF team came up to help us resolve the problems with the pastor, failing which the team then tried to engineer an amicable separation with proper witnesses and proper documentation so that after the separation, there was no recrimination and further problems. The church could continue from there and start growing again instead of being bogged down by things of the past. We are very grateful to NECF for being with us in our time of need.”
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