The 2007 nationwide Celebration of Hope Malaysia (COHM), which culminated with the *Matthew and Friends (MAF) programme at Christmastime last year, yielded an interesting peek into the state of evangelistic fervour among Malaysian evangelical churches.
Over 2,000 churches underwent the COHM training for the MAF programme, but barely half acutally participated in the end (see right table).
Of the 1,526 churches that signed up to participate, only 58 per cent actually ran the programme in the end.
Equally appalling is the figure for individual Christians who signed up to host the MAF programme. Less than 40 percent actually opened their doors came Christmastime
Elisha Satvinder, COHM Director of Mobilisation, said the situation accurately reflected Malaysian Christians "romanticised" attitude towards evangelism. He lamented the "plenty of talk and not much action" attitude of many Christians, but was nevertheless encouraged by those who did participate. Still, much needs to be done to make evangelism a lifestyle for all Malaysian Christians, he said.
*Matthew and Friends (MAF) was a programme held near Christmastime where Christians invite their friends to their homes for a meal followed by a film show of the gospel and concluded with a short discussion and altar call. The programme took the name from the gospel story of Matthew the tax collector who invited his friends to his home to listen to Jesus immediately after he became Jesus’ disciple.
MAF was a programme of COHM, which was endorsed by most churches and denominational leaders. NECF Malaysia was the official partner organisation. Fully funded by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, COHM took a year to mobilise and train Christians to host MAF.
Churches
No. of churches which signed up to participate: 1,526
Actual no. of churches which participated: 887
MAF homes
No. of MAF homes which signed up to participate: 15,447
Actual no. of MAF homes which participated: 6,167
Individuals
No. of people invited to MAF events: 43,525
No. of decisions for Christ (as reported by participating churches): 9,792
No. of rededications (as reported by participating churches): 7,007
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