GNF, Biatah Congregation at Batu Kawa

Today we visited Brother Ridom and our sister church at Batu Kawa . We had an amazing time of worship and fellowship . The church began with 20 members and now are expanding such that when we went in, there were only enough chairs for the early birds and those who came late made themselves comfortable on the floor !

This is the Biatah language congregation. Most of their members originate from Simuti and have decided to create a city church to facilitate those dwelling in the city of Kuching . Their worship team comprises of ex-youth from Simuti who are now in their late 20's and 30's. And what a team this is... they have some mad skills for the stringed instruments and they sing well but what stuck me the most was how the entire congregation really opened up their hearts to worship. It was'nt the song leader or the songs.. but the entire people lifting up their hearts and voices to praise and worship the Lord. Their opening song was in Biatah and I don't know how, but I was worshipping along lost in the oblivion of the words which sounded different and yet so meaningful that it moved me to tears.

A simple heart's desire, a simple faith, a simple longing to worship Him . It was good to be reminded that our Lord dosent ask for the frills... He just desires a heart of worship.

MJC Tuition Open Day - 29th August

The MJC free tuition programme was initiated by Irene Ng some nearly 7 years ago to help children from less privileged homes to cope with studies in school.

Today Louisa Wong and her team of teachers, Uncle Dunstan Lee and Teo Shiok Ngor carry on this wonderful ministry. This team comes together every Tuesday and Thursday to teach, mentor and provide an environment for the kids to do well in their studies. They initially started with around 25 children but have seen the numbers increase to around 60 or so kids! Every Tuesday and Thursday the children are driven from their housing area to the church. Currently we are looking for volunteer drivers as the number of children attending the Free Tuition Programme is increasing !

This Sat we had an " Open Day" to enable the parents ( mostly all mothers ! ) to visit the church . They were able to speak to the teachers and ask questions about their childrens 'progress. The session ended with a tea and a Handicraft session for the mothers! It was a great occassion to build relationships with the children and their mums !

Parents checking out the work and progress of their children. Uncle Dunstan Lee with Hinly encouraging the mothers to watch over the studies of their children and some of the kids who attend classes !

Louisa Wong ( in red ) our resident " Guru Besar " and all the mothers who attended the Open Day

HIGH TEA

There was great merriment and excitement around the food table !

HANDICRAFT TIME

Madelyn Tai and Wendy Chen taught the ladies

after tea to make some necklaces! The mothers had a great time exploring their creative nature !

There was a lot of laughter and banter from all !

Wendy looks like the Art Professor !

Hard at work to create something new !

All the mothers wearing the new creations ! Continue to pray for Louisa and her team as they give their time and talents to these wonderful children and their community !

30th Anniversary Celebrations at Simuti

We had a fantastic time of open air worship and festivites to celebrate our 30th Anniversary as a church up at Simuti. There were nearly 400 people gathered from the nearby churches and city church who came up early Sat morning and stayed till Sunday afternoon to praise the name of the Lord ! It was an amazing time of fellowship ... lots of fun, makan -makan and of course a tremendous outpouring of worship and praise on the mountain top that day !

One of the highlights during the event was to see the ex-youth of Simuti return to the village to organise and lead the worship that night. I recognised each one of them as being the "gang" who followed Pastor Graeme and Lucy whenever they visited Simuti. They were passionate, excited young people for Christ back then . This time round they are married, some of them are expecting and they are the next generation of leaders raising up another generation of young people to worship the King ! Awesome !

LET THE GAMES BEGIN......

Pastor Naris flagging off the events of the day

The games used ONLY nautral stuff like bamboo, dried palm leaves and coconuts!

Different skills were learnt that day... Jeff denies walking on water but will try walking on stilts! And Pastor Jerry gives looking after Sunday school kids a go !

MAKAN-MAKAN TIME.

These are the HEROES who fed 400 hundred over the weekend at Simuti !

We thank you Simuti for the excellent food and wonderful hospitality !

NIGHT AND DAY WORSHIP !

We celebrated Him! We celebrated each other ! We celebrated His goodness! We celebrated under a canopy of stars and the light of the blazing sun!

Ex Youth leading worship ! Now they are mothers and ffathers of a new generation !!

The night ended in a blaze of fireworks and people kept shouting for more and so we carried on worshipping till nearly mid-night!

SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP

Despite the magnificent sun ( we all prayed for good weather and the Lord provided!! ) many withstood the heat during the Sunday morning service !

Nature privided some shelter and respite !

It was an exhilarating and amazing time both in Pentik and in Simuti... the count down now begins for the big bash in Kuching on Sept 25th -27th ! Hope to see you there !