History
The National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) Malaysia was birth in response to the religious liberty challenges in the 1980’s. The partial ban on the Alkitab (since 1981 only Christians are allowed to own a copy of the Malay-language Bible), the prohibition of certain Bahasa Malaysia words in Christian worship, the limiting of the number of sites for worship which mainly affected the evangelicals who consisted of small groups meeting in homes and shop-lots and the outlawing of public gatherings of five or more persons (amendments of Section 298A of the Penal Code).
On March 21, 1982, 41 people from various churches gathered at Luther House in Petaling Jaya to form a “friendly society” and named it the “National Evangelical Christian Fellowship Malaysia.” Mr David Boler was unanimously appointed the first Chairman.
In May the following year, NECF Malaysia was formally registered with the Registrar of Societies.
Three years later, in 1986, the Christian Federation of Malaysia was formed comprising the Roman Catholic Church, the Council of Churches of Malaysia and NECF Malaysia.
Within a short span of 10 years, the NECF office moved three times until its present permanent office in SS2/103 was purchased in 1995.
Aims and Objectives
In its inception, NECF was form to serve four main objectives.
- To provide a platform for fellowship among churches especially in missions, evangelism, Bible teaching and social action,
- To assist in spurring, under the hand of God, renewal and revival in Malaysia,
- To provide a medium for safeguard and spread of the Christian faith, and
- To represent the Christian community on issues and matters affecting the Church and society at large, in consultation and joint action with other Christian and religious bodies in the country.
Then in 2001, NECF adopted the vision, “Transforming The Nation Through The Local Church” after hosting the World Evangelical Fellowship International Consultation On Globalization in January 2001. The aim of this vision is to see Christians within the nation living out their purpose and calling as nation builders and agents of transformation in various places and spheres of influence that God has placed and called each one to be in.
Today
Today NECF has grown and constitute about 60% of the total number of churches in the country.