Does the Malaysian Church need the Quake?

In the recent June 30 Newsweek issue, the front cover had this interesting title, "How the Quake changed China". With the 2008 Beijing Olympics just around the corner, the Sichuan quake couldn't have happened at a worse time.

But the Chinese are a resilient people, thanks to its long history of hardship which has built in them the tenacity to thrive in the worst circumstance. Their resolve and optimism can be seen even in their writing.

In their depiction of the character for crisis, they have chosen to combine the words "danger" and "opportunity".

Having gone through the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that flattened parts of Sichuan, the Chinese government saw the opportunity to rebuild the country, albeit with a heavy price in the loss of 69,000 lives and 17,000 missing, not to mention the material loss.

The quake also brought China as a nation to an unusual display of government transparency and openness. They open their doors to receive aid from old rivals such as Taiwan and Japan. It was a humbling experience when, earlier, their focus was centred on the infrastructure for the Olympics and the fast pace of economic growth.

The Word of God in James 4:6 says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." What lessons can we learn?

Pride has its way with many of us. As Christians, we claim that we intentionally do not want to be proud; yet by our lifestyle and preference to remain in our comfort zone, we have given the perception that we are a proud people. Until and unless God does a good shake-up, we will continue to remain in our holy cuddle.

The Sichuan disaster drove many out of their comfort zones. It leveled the gap between the haves and the have-nots, and provided the opportunity for the rich to give their wealth for reconstruction and skills to rebuild businesses.

In their suffering, the people saw the need to work together to restore what had been destroyed by the quake. They showed the world that together, they were shaken but not crushed, pressed but not trodden.

Does the Malaysian Church need such a shake-up? We pray not, for we doubt our preparedness to suffer a fate of this kind, having lived a relatively comfortable and trouble-free existence. Nevertheless, not our will but His be done and should the good Lord sees it fit to shake our Church for our good end, we ask that He will be merciful to us.

Over the next two years, NECF Malaysia will be working out its national agenda on Nation Building through the Local Church (see Pg 3). We are not waiting for a quake or a disaster to happen to us to get us thinking about preparing for future eventualities; we must begin now.

We can't change things overnight, but through much effort and perseverance beginning now, we will be ready to roll up our sleeves when the time comes.

This is a Macedonian call to the Malaysian Church, with the present window of opportunity that we have. We urge all of you to embrace this agenda so that the strong can bless the weak, and the rich can work with the poor.