The Brethren Church

The Move to Bintalu, Sarawak

We have been on the go ever since we moved from Penang to Bintulu, Sarawak. A lot has happened since. Praise the Lord for His protection, our vehicles and belongings reached Bintulu safely without damage after being in the ship for 3 weeks. We managed to get the cars started without any problems.

The house we rented is newly built and the area is fairly quiet. The setback is there are no telephone lines yet. We can use mobile phones but we have problems in going online. We need to go to a hotel to go online. Just as well, we have been out of Sarawak most of the time. We are still waiting on the Lord for His guidance and timing to start the work in Bintulu.

China Ministry

Under God’s leading, He opened the door for us to China in February 2006.David found out from Rev. Ken Hunn last August that the Brethren Church has not started mission work in China yet, even though ATS sponsored a few Chinese graduates during the past years. That gave David the burden to find out how we can help the Brethren church to start a mission work in China.

Through Jenny’s sister, we came to know Rev. Philip Ting who is doing the Kingdom’s ministry throughout the world. He has been training the leaders in China for the past 14 years. The Lord led us to the right person! Rev. Ting has many contacts in China and he knows all the ropes of how to get about in China. We went with him to China in early February for a 10-day mission trip to observe his teaching and to understand more about house churches in China.

It was really an eye opener for us. There are two types of churches in China, the house churches and Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM).We visited the house churches which are also known as the underground churches.

We find that the Chinese Christians have life experience though they do not know much theologically. They are very bold in out reaching to the non-believers. They even risk being caught by the communist police. In fact, many of them have been put into prison a couple of times. Yet, when they are released, they go about preaching the gospel again. This is something we, in the free world, can learn from their examples.

The house churches formed an alliance in November of last year. The leaders from many provinces came together trying to unify all the house churches. We got to meet the top leaders. They planned and started a Bible school in March 2006. David was invited to help teach at the Bible school. He was asked to go in March for the opening ceremony, but he could not make it. He will go to China again to teach at the Bible school students at a later date.

We received word that 35 students and two teachers were arrested and put into prison on March 1. We do not know why they were arrested. Anyway, they have been released since and continue the classes. We also praise God that David did not make it to go to China in March. He could have been among those arrested!

Johor Bahru Church Members’ Weddings

Praise the Lord! We have two weddings recently in Johor Bahru among our church members. Deacon Ng Keok Lai’s son Ng Ting Chen was married on February 18th and his cousin brother Ng See Wee was married on March 25th. David preached on both occasions to their many non-Christian relatives and friends.

Johor Bahru Church Building Fund

The Johor Bahru church has bought a shop front at a newly-developing area. We already paid the booking fee of RM (Malaysian Ringgits) 10,000 (U.S. $2,730). The total cost is RM 273,000 (U.S. $74,400). The estimated renovation cost will be about RM 35, 000 (U.S. $9,500). To date we have raised RM 69,712 (U.S. $19,000 @ $3.67 rate of exchange) during the past years. We encourage the members to give faith promise and we will also raise funds from Penang Brethren church, Christians from other denominations, family and friends. We hope the Brethren in the U.S. will help us as well.

Baptisms in Penang Brethren Church

We are scheduled to go to Penang on April 8 for 10 days. Penang Brethren church has been independent since October 2005, but David promised to help them with Holy Communion and baptisms four times a year. There are five persons confirmed for the baptism on Easter Sunday, April 16.

Our Family Update

Stephen and Pearl were called by God into full time ministry last August. Pearl is our daughter-in-law. They are now very active in serving the Lord in the local church in Taiwan and they have been going abroad (the Middle East in January and Indonesia in April) for short term mission trips. They plan to go to Oral Roberts University, Oklahoma in August. Pearl’s parents were baptized last October.

Rebecca is happy studying at Ashland University. She is working hard to earn extra money to help pay towards her expenses in the United States.

David’s mom is well but less active.

We are keeping fit.

May God bless each one of you!

In His Service,
David and Jenny