Borneo Evangelical Church

Borneo Evangelical Church
Classification Protestant
Orientation Evangelical, Charismatic
Polity Interdependent local, regional, and national expressions
Associations National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, Christian Federation of Malaysia Sabah Theological Seminary Council of Churches of Malaysia Melbourne School of Theology
Region Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia, West Malaysia
Founder Hudson Southwell, Frank Davidson and Carey Tolley
Origin 1928
Melbourne Australia
Branched from Borneo Evangelical Mission
Members 500,000
Official website www.sibkl.org.my

The Borneo Evangelical Church or SIB (Malay: Sidang Injil Borneo) is an evangelical Christian denomination in Malaysia. The church was organised in 1959 from the work of the Borneo Evangelical Mission with help from the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Indonesia (Indonesian: Gereja Kemah Injil Indonesia) [1]

Claiming more than 500,000 members,[2] the SIB is the largest Protestant denomination in Malaysia having evolved from a small missionary presence among the Lun Bawang people of the Kelabit Highlands and the Iban people of Limbang to having congregations both in East Malaysia and West Malaysia today.

History

SIB Sabah and SIB Sarawak were founded by the Borneo Evangelical Mission (BEM) which itself had been established in Australia in 1928. Its pioneer missionaries came to Sarawak in late 1928 to evangelise the tribes of Central Borneo which until then had been unreached by the Christian faith. Aware that they would face competition in the cities, the BEM concentrated on interior rural areas and settled near the fringes of the Murut (Lun Bawang) area. In 1937, the work was extended to Sabah (then known as British North Borneo). From the start there were restrictions imposed by government officers, opposition by pagan tribal leaders and problems of health and needs faced by the missionaries. From the small beginnings of several individual conversions, God brought about a people movement whereby whole tribes turned to Him. Miracles took place as God delivered many tribal people from the bondage of fear and oppression of paganism. The gospel began to spread from one tribe to another, village to village, downstream and upstream.

Sarawak's border areas were exposed to influences from American missionaries in Kalimantan (then known as Dutch Borneo), and most of the Lun Bawang groups became Christian through interaction with their kinfolk, indigenous converts on the other side of the international boundary.

The first missionaries to visit the Kelabit Highlands in the Sarawak interior arrived in 1939, but the internment of Europeans during World War II opened the door to indigenous leadership. When missionaries returned to the highlands in 1947 they found that the Murut church had survived and that most Kelabit people had accepted Christianity through the activities of indigenous converts, including a pastor from Timor, Guru Paul, also known as Nimang Tepun. Strongly committed to developing an indigenous leadership, in 1948 the BEM established a bible school in the Sarawak town of Lawas for training teachers and deacons, and translating the bible into the Borneo languages was made a priority.

By 1958 an important symbolic step was made when it was decided to change the name of the mission to the Malay "Sidang Injil Borneo" (Borneo Evangelical Assembly). With the emphasis on training married couples to extend mission work and Kelabit out-migration to the oil-fields of Miri and elsewhere in search of employment and education, the SIB spread through Sarawak. Although there was a strong Chinese component in the urban areas, most SIB members were tribal peoples. Local leadership played an important role in the conversion process; in later years, for example, Amin Gomboting, a forest ranger who was stationed in various places in Sabah, established an SIB church wherever he went.

BEM had always been a mission with a strong emphasis of building an indigenous church. In 1950, a 15-year policy had been adopted to work toward a church in Borneo which would be sufficiently grounded and instructed to be able to take over the responsibility of Christian witness and evangelism. Translation of the Bible into the native languages a priority in this work. A biennial conference was carried out to elect local leaders for the Combined Executive Council of Sabah and Sarawak. This consisted of the Chairman, the Deputy Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and representatives from the districts and from BEM. In line with the emphasis of the 'Twin Primary Tasks' of BEM, SIB seeks to be significantly involved in evangelism and to build up churches through Bible teaching and leadership training. The SIB presently has five Bible schools in Sarawak, including the Malaysian Evangelical College (formerly Miri Bible College) and one Bible school in Sabah. BEM, which merged with the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) in 1974, continues to provide advice and indirect assistance, particularly in areas where the local leadership is unprepared. (See Drunk before Dawn by Shirley Lees, OMF, 1979.)

SIB Sabah was formed as a separate body from SIB Sarawak in 1976 in response to political circumstances.

In the early 1970s renewal and revival continued and the gospel of Christ continued to spread among the interior people. Many young people went to towns from rural Christian backgrounds either for study or in search of jobs and this migration opened opportunities to SIB to build new churches in town areas.

Supported by teaching institutions and ongoing church-planting, SIB membership, reckoned at around 1000 in 1962, rose to 75,000 in 1993, and some interior churches can now accommodate as many as 3000 worshippers. The SIB is also well established in urban centres, notably Lawas, Limbang, Miri, Kuching, Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu where many interior people have migrated in search of work.

In 1993, a small group of East Malaysian Christians, largely Chinese, began meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Peninsular Malaysia and SIB Semenanjung (Sidang Injil Borneo in the Peninsula) was inaugurated in November of that year. Here the English congregation grew from 15 people in 1994 to around 130 in 1998. In 2006, SIBKL rented out three floors in a downtown building and currently three worship services are held each Sunday to serve over 1500 people. There are now 31 congregations in West Malaysia (29 Malaysian-speaking, 1 Chinese and 1 English), including missions among Christian Orang Asli in Jerantut.

SIB is also now expanding to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea and the southern Philippines, where local churches are tapping its experience in working with tribal peoples.

Beliefs and practices

Mission statement

Sidang Injil Borneo Church exists to passionately affect our world with the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ. We do this by worshiping God, proclaiming His Word, and equipping and deploying into ministry fully-devoted followers of Jesus Christ.[3]

Statement of faith

Structure and organisation

The SIB is a registered church.[5] The SIB has been registered with the governments of Sabah and Sarawak. Its Constitution was officially recognised by its governing body in 1961.

The SIB is a multiracial church. Over 15 local groups are represented. Services are held in Malay, English, Chinese and district languages including Iban, Kadazan/Dusun, Kayan, Kelabit, Kenya, Lun Bawang, Penan, Tagal, and several others. It is an urban and rural church that was originally developed mainly in the interior places of Sabah and Sarawak. In recent years churches have been established in the main towns, e.g., Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Miri and Sibu as well as several other centres.

The SIB is a growing church. Formerly limited to certain parts of the two states, SIB members and churches are now distributed throughout Sabah, Sarawak and West Malaysia. SIB is large: The SIB consists of 221 churches in Sabah with a membership of 34,260 and 219 churches in Sarawak with a membership of 59,674. Each church has its own elected leaders. There are only 76 full-time pastors in Sabah but in Sarawak there are 185 pastors. (Statistics are as of 1982.)

The SIB have been independent from its inception as an organisation in 1959. It financially supports its own pastors and workers. It also trains its own workers through its own training program. There are 6 Bible schools associated with the SIB in Sarawak and Sabah.

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lees, Shirley (1979). Drunk Before Dawn. Kent, TN: OMF Books. ISBN 0-85363-128-X.
  2. ↑ "SIBKL: A brief history". Sidang Injil Borneo Kuala Lumpur. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
  4. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
  5. ↑ Brief History "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 April 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-21.

Further reading

External links

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