The yearly 40-Day National Fast and Prayer that culminates on the country’s independence day (Aug 31), is a key event in the Malaysian evangelical calendar. It is one rare occasion that draws together churches throughout the country – West and East – to do one thing: fast and pray for the nation.
NECF Malaysia started the intercession campaign in 2001 with the conviction that prayers would change the political, social and economic and religious landscape of a nation, according to NECF Secretary-General Rev. Wong Kim Kong.
The campaign kicked off with 40,000 Christians participating and by 2004, it had grown to 90,000 participants. (The figures are based on the sale of the prayer booklets used as devotional guides during the 40-day event.)
The spirited growth within the short four-year period points to a rising prayer movement in the Malaysian Evangelical Church. “The water level of prayer is slowly but surely rising,” said Grace Hee, Chairperson of the NECF Prayer Commission. The commission is directly responsible for mobilising the campaign.
And the movement is not confined to the adults – children and youths too seem to be hopping into the intercession bandwagon, judging from the sale of 20,000 children’s prayer booklets that first went on sale last year.
In addition, the yearly fast and prayer movement has gone beyond the evangelical circle, with Christians from the mainline and Roman Catholic churches signing up. Increasingly, Malaysian Christians, irrespective of denominations and theological leanings, are recognising the crucial need to intercede for the country, and the NECF-initiated event provides the platform for them to come together to petition God.
Furthermore, the event is an avenue for Malaysian Christians, who have emigrated or are living overseas, to pray for Malaysia.
As Grace pointed out, “I know all Christians believe in prayer. And the 40-day initiative has given them a season and reason during the year to pray for the nation.”
Rev. Wong added, “Unless God intervenes in the establishment of a nation, any human effort will be futile in sustaining peace and harmony.”
This year, the commission is targeting at least 100,000 Christians to “flood the season”.
 “...40-day initiative has given them a season and reason during the year to pray for the nation.” – Grace Hee |
2002 Merdeka Prayer Raly in Kuala Lumpur
Light-UP: Church representatives at the first ‘Lighting Up Our Nation’ Merdeka rally for the Klang Valley region in 2000.
How it began
Lighting Up Our Nation actually began in the year 2000 when NECF mobilised churches in 14 capital cities to hold combined-church prayer rallies on the eve of Merdeka (Malaysia’s independence day).
The event was a memorable one with the telephone link-up from Kuala Lumpur to a few major cities. Some 100,000 participants listened in to the conversations between Rev. Wong and representatives from the other cities. The experience inspired a wonderful sense of unity, as the churches felt connected as one Church.
Churches were also urged to carry out community work and take part in their towns’ Merdeka celebrations or parades on Merdeka day.
The 2000 event saw some breakthroughs in church unity in several places where churches from different denominations gathered for the first time for worship and prayer. Churches also reported breakthroughs in reaching out to their communities when they took on community projects, such as hospital visitations, street clean-ups, feeding the poor, carnivals and fun fairs.
Introducing the National Fast and Prayer
Spurred by churches’ glowing response to the Lighting Up Our Nation initiative, and sensing God’s direction to strengthen and hasten the intercession movement, NECF decided in 2001 to launch a nationwide 40-day fast and prayer that would lead up to Merdeka Day.
The campaign would be based on Isaiah 58’s call to “loose the chains of injustice, untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke.”
NECF had hoped that the fast and prayer would make a deep impact on the Malaysian Church, which in turn would impact the country.
And what an impact it has since made. But first, let’s look at the prayer booklets, produced by NECF and written by its Prayer Commission members, which served as a daily devotional guide for the 40-day fasting period.
Community Contribution: Kuantan Christians
helping to clean up the Kuantan beach on Aug 31, 2000.
Prayer Booklet
The prayer booklet is an integral part of the 40-day National Fast and Prayer, for besides being a daily devotional guide for the fasting period, it indicates the number of Christians taking part in the event.
The first booklet published in 2001 was a simple 24-page A5 guide with only the Bible references for the day’s reading and prayer pointers.
In writing the guide, NECF had to be mindful that Christians from all walks of life and various denominations would be participating in the national campaign. Hence, the booklet had to cater to a wide range of Christians with varied opinions on fasting. Prayer Commission Executive Secretary Ann Low recalled some responses to the commission’s proposal on the various types of fast that participants could choose.
“We listed several types of fast, such as the total fast where the participant abstained completely from solid foods, and the one-meal fast where the day’s food intake excluded one meal. We also mentioned the ‘Daniel Fast’, which ruled out eating meats and other favourite delicacies or favourite foods such as coffee.
“Some people were not happy with our coffee suggestion, which came as a surprise,” she laughed. “But on the whole, this first attempt was a good start as it gave us a better understanding of the Church in the different way we approach fasting but ultimately, the goal is the same. That is, fasting and praying are simply coming before God with a humble heart, acknowledging our need of Him and dependence on Him.”
In addition to catering to the various approaches to fasting, NECF also had to consider the different language-speaking Christians. Since a national fast should encompass the whole nation, NECF decided to print the booklets in the four major languages – English, Chinese, Bahasa Melayu and Tamil.
Forty thousand copies of the first prayer booklet rolled off the press and were snapped up within a short period, mainly by NECF member churches, who paid 50 sen per booklet to cover the cost of production.
The following year, NECF started work early on the booklet and the end product was a 60-page guide with additional information on fasting, a weekly theme for more focused praying, space to record the participant’s reflection and short meditation notes.
Encouraged by the previous year’s good response, NECF increased the quantity of printing to 60,000 copies. This time round, the booklet came with a charity meals-saving paper box for the participant to put in the money saved from his fast (see “Money for Charity’).
Once again, the booklet/savings box sets, at RM1 per set, were snapped up by NECF member churches and others, signifying a mounting interest in the prayer campaign.
In 2003, with more experience at hand, NECF strengthened the contents of the booklet by including a section on praying daily for other countries to reflect NECF’s desire to look outwards into the welfare of other countries. This time round, 67,000 sets (booklet and meals-saving box) were sold.
Last year, the figure increased to over 90,000, thanks in part to the new children’s edition – published in English, Chinese and Bahasa Melayu – which reached about 20,000 children and teens. Devotional thoughts for the children’s version were written by teens aged 12 to 16 years and the booklet was attractively designed to draw the children to the contents.
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Illustrations, drawn by children, filled the inside of the children’s prayer booklet.
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Money for Charity
A year after launching the National Fast and Prayer in 2001, NECF added the charity dimension by urging participants to donate the money saved from their fast to charitable organisations. The money was collected by their churches and sent to NECF, who then distributed it to selected Christian and non-Christian organisations, both here and overseas.
Rev. Wong said the idea of donating the money saved from fasting came from Isaiah 58:6–7, “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh?”
This was followed by God’s promise in the next two verses, “Then your light shall break forth like the morning...Then you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am’.”
Right from the start, it was agreed that about a quarter of the collection would be given to foreign welfare projects, including those in Muslim countries. Rev. Wong explained that by giving to the needy in other lands, “we will learn to look beyond our own needs.”
Furthermore, charity should be extended to those in need, regardless of their race and religion. “By giving to our needy Muslim friends, we hope to defuse the conflict between the Muslim and Christian worlds,” he added.
On the average, 265 churches send in their collection yearly to NECF. A cursory glance at the contributing churches shows that many are located in the smaller towns, indicating that the campaign was especially beneficial to small-town churches. Though the amount they gave was smaller compared with the bigger-town churches, “what little they gave came from their big hearts,” observed Ann.
To date, about RM1.675 million (as at Dec 16, 2004) has been collected and RM1.014 million has been distributed. The balance will be given out as and when the needs arise.
CHEERFUL GIVERS: Some participants brought the money they had saved from fasting to the
Klang Valley Merdeka Prayer Rally in 2003. NECF Finance Executive Kathryn Tan (seated)
“Different approaches, same goal.” – Ann Low commenting on fasting. |
Round-the Clock Intercession
Living amidst a technology-powered environment, it was inevitable that the 40-day Fast and Prayer event hit the Internet sooner or later.
In 2004, it went on-line with the introduction of Praying Round-the-Clock (PRC) on the NECF website, with a sign-up format allowing Christians to log in their prayer time slots and the towns they wished to pray for. Alternatively, they could e-mail their choices to NECF or sign up manually through their churches.
PRC, a 24-hour intercession programme throughout the 40-day fasting season, has its Scriptural basis on Jesus’ parable in Luke 18 – men ought always to pray and not lose heart – and Leviticus 24 – the fire on the altar “must not go out”.
The programme focuses on praying for towns and regions throughout Malaysia with the hope that this would help change the spiritual, social, economic and political landscapes of the locales.
A total of 257 towns were listed in the website for prayer. The first attempt drew over 1,500 people who prayed over the towns within the four regions (Central, East Coast, Northern and Southern) in West and East Malaysia.
Merdeka Prayer Rally
The combined-churches prayer rallies are the climax of forty days of fast and prayer, a once-a-year occasion for churches of different denominations to celebrate together God’s goodness to the nation and intercede for the rulers and leaders of our land.
They are held in cities throughout the country, usually on Merdeka eve, though some places have held the rallies in the midst of the fasting season to accommodate their churches’ schedule.
Usually, the pastors fellowships of the towns organise the rallies, guided by a standard programme prepared by NECF. Where there is no pastors fellowship in the town, NECF would organise the rallies with help from the representatives from various churches there.
More than just an occasion for churches in the same location to come together for prayer, the Merdeka prayer rallies have become a unifying point for the churches.
In some towns, the prayer rallies were the first occasions where churches in the towns assembled for worship and prayer. Banting and Batu Pahat were two such towns. The rallies therefore represented a breakthrough in church unity.
 In recognition of the evangelicals’ effort in promoting nation welfare during the Merdeka season, the Government in 2003 started sending its representatives to the Klang Valley Merdeka Prayer Rally. Above pix shows the then Minister of Energy, Communications and Multimedia Datuk Amar Leo Moggie reading a message from Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the 2003 rally, while left pix shows Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili and Tan Sri Bernard Dompok (2nd and 3rd from left respectively) at last year’s rally. |
Chinese-speaking participants show their love for the nation at
the Klang Valley Chinese Merdeka Rally in 2003.
Flags are an important part of the Merdeka prayer rallies.
Below pix shows NECF staff-members at the prayer rally preparing the jalur gemilang for
distribution to participants. With flags raised (above pix),
participants would shout “Merdeka, Jesus is Lord” at the stroke of midnight. |
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