Multiple Authors
John Krishna from the Nepali congregation
Hello to all PJEFC families. I am John Krishna from the Nepali church. Thank you very much for allowing us Nepalese to join the combined service with the PJEFC English church on Sept. 17, 2023. First of all, I would like to wish Malaysians all the very best on this special Malaysia Day. We, Nepalese, had the opportunity to share this special day with you. From the sermon and the Word, I learned that we believers should be united, share the good news and pray. I loved the reception and hospitality of the church and the food. Again, I am very thankful to the PJEFC church family and Ps Indra for giving me the opportunity to share the experience of the combined service.
Loh Yiih Lin from the Chinese congregation
This is the very first time after MCO that we have the brothers and sisters from the different churches joining PJEFC in the combined worship service. From the very start, I was impressed by all the ushers wearing Malaysian traditional costumes. I felt so welcomed by their lovely smiles. I was also touched to see all the brothers and sisters of the different nationalities and races gathering and worshipping our Lord in different languages. It was such a beautiful moment – unity in diversity. I pray that this unity is not only experienced during the combined service or in the church, but happens in this nation. As the Bible says, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.” The combined service also celebrated Pastors’ Appreciation Day. Thank you God for calling these pastors to shepherd PJEFC and the different churches. Thank you to all the pastors. You are a blessing to our churches. Lord, we praise Your name and proclaim that You will glorify Your name in this nation.
Jeannyfer from the Bahasa congregation
I am grateful to be able to serve together with other PJEFC churches during the combined service. I had never imagined that I would stand on the stage and serve with brothers and sisters in Christ who rarely meet and fellowship.
My highlight throughout the combined service was the message itself. God renewed my vision of what it means to reach “all nations.” When the speaker spoke about unity in diversity, my heart was moved because the nature of my ministry is cross-cultural, and it has been a constant challenge. The speaker said we should think about unity in evangelism. Instead, we often stick to our race and pray for people of our own race. We tend to neglect to see the needs of other races. But as we celebrate the 60th formation of Malaysia, we are no longer children but adults. We should be mature in handling diversity, especially in the church. It dawned on me that diversity should be seen as an advantage, not a weakness. Maybe we are too focused on our race that we fail to see what’s more important, and that is unity.
This reminds me of Philippians 2:1-4: “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Verse 4 spoke the loudest to me. The application of appreciating each other and praying for other races (just like the speaker suggested) impacted me the most. When I looked at the whole congregation, we were all of different races, facial features, and languages. My heart said, “This is Jesus’ heart – for us to be in the same love, same spirit and same mind.” Why do we seek our own interest when God commands us to be humble? The churches in Malaysia need to wake up because we aren’t children anymore; we should be mature in handling our differences.
After the service, I did not expect to meet and chat with people from the other churches during the fellowship. Each of their stories was interesting and exciting. I praise God for writing such wonderful stories in their lives.
I pray that our churches will always be like-minded, not pursuing our ambitions or interests but humbling ourselves just like Jesus did. I look forward to seeing more initiatives like this! Thank you, PJEFC.
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