Berita NECF Newletters

From 'Supermarket Fellowship' To Church

Description: An English-speaking church bravely took up the challenge of starting a Bahasa Malaysia fellowship specially for supermarket workers who finish work after 10pm. Today, the fellowship has grown up – it is now a church.

What do you do with Christians who cannot attend normal church meetings because of their odd working hours? That was the question posed in 1998 to Kuala Lumpur’s Bangsar Gospel Hall (BGH), situated near the bustling TMC Supermarket where many East Malaysian Christians worked.

The solution: it started a weekly late-night Bahasa Malaysia (BM) fellowship at 10.30pm in the church premises. (BM is the most widely spoken language among East Malaysians.)

It was the church’s first foray into the BM ministry and lacking the experience, it sought the help of the NECF Malaysia BM Commission to start the fellowship. At the first Wednesday meeting, some 30 workers promptly showed up, tired after a long day’s work but excited nevertheless. Most of them have not been to church for a long time.

News of the fellowship spreaded quickly to other East Malaysian Christians working in the TMC Supermarket branch in Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya, and they too wanted to attend the night meeting. Another problem cropped up: they had no transport to BGH.

Again the church stepped in. Church members volunteered to drive the workers from Kelana Jaya to Bangsar and then send them home. It was no small sacrifice for these volunteers considering that they had to be at the supermarket at 10pm and send them home in various directions after the meeting. Often, by the time they dropped off the last passenger, it was way after midnight.

Soon after, East Malaysian Christians working in the Giant Supermarket at USJ, Subang, heard about the meeting and asked to attend. (All the three supermarkets are owned by the same company.) More volunteer drivers were recruited to ferry the workers to and from the church.

At the weekly meetings, members were provided with, not only spiritual food, but physical food as well, thanks to a group of ladies from the church who figured that the workers must be famished since their last meal was many hours ago. Thereafter, the involuntary growling of empty stomachs ceased.

Today, in addition to the Wednesday meeting, members also meet on Mondays and Thursdays for Bible Study. Sunday Worship Service is held from 7am to 8am to allow those working in the various supermarkets enough time to get to work.

Last October, BGH officially designated the fellowship a BM church and re-located all meetings to a rented shop lot within walking distance to the Kelana Jaya TMC Supermarket.

Now called Pusat Injil Kelana Jaya (PIKJ), the ‘supermarket fellowship’ has outgrown its sector to include workers from a nearby car accessory shop and university students.

As the mother church, BGH financially supports PIKJ. Overseeing the church is BGH deacon Dennis Lee, a pioneer and prime mover of PIKJ.

According to him, the congregation has remained the same size because of the high turnover of members who leave for further studies or better jobs. "What is important is that we keep them in the family for the six to 12 months that they are with us. At the same time, they are spiritually fed so that when they leave, they are strong enough to stand," he says.

Dennis shares that the fellowship started from the urgings of his church members, a husband-and-wife team – both East Malaysians – who worked as supervisors in the Bangsar TMC Supermarket.

"Douglas and Ruby were facing problems with the East Malaysian workers, problems such as absenteeism and alcoholism. As their supervisors, they had to counsel them and occasionally sack the unrepentant workers. Most of them were churchgoers before but had stopped because of their odd working hours.

"God impressed on their hearts to start this fellowship and that’s how we began."

Douglas and Ruby have since left their jobs and are now pursuing theological studies in America.

Running PIKJ demands a great deal of sacrifice for Dennis and his BGH team, who attend all the meetings (three late nights and one early morning a week). Their commitment springs from their love and compassion for these workers, and backed by their church (BGH), they have found the ministry very fulfilling indeed.



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