Visit to Sabah“What do the students do after theyfinish Seminary?”

Ten JELCW members visited Sabah in October
2013 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sabah
Theological Seminary (STS) and attend theGraduation ceremony.
The day after we arrived in Malaysia, we went toBasel Christian Church of Malaysia (BCCM) tomeet Bishop Dr. Rev. Thomas Tsen. He told us
about the history of the church and the support
system for the students

They engage in ministry either at church, orschools/kindergarten attached to the church. Inaddition, the Mission Center in Sabah extends its
work beyond national borders.
It sends
missionaries abroad, including to China,
Madagascar, France, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, andHong Kong.

Rev. William Loh distributes
the scholarship fund from Japan.

BCCM Kota Kinabalu Church stands on a large property,
Where the kindergarten and the library are also located.

About the STS
Population Increase in Malaysia

The seminary has a similar curriculum toJapanese seminaries, but the STS covers thetuition for those who want to study there. Inreturn, the students have to serve as pastors for atleast five years after graduation. If they quit inless than five years, they have to repay the fullscholarship amount. The STS provides rooms
for the students’ families if he/she is married, sothat the students need not worry about leaving thefamily behind while studying there.

As the economy keeps growing at a rapid rate,
more and more workers migrate from near-by
Indonesia or the Philippines, causing a surge in
Malaysia’s population. When it became
independent from the UK in 1963, the population
was 600,000 but now it has reached 3.5 million.
There are many Muslim migrants because thestate religion is Islam and welcomes Muslim
migration accordingly.
When it won
independence from the UK, Christians
outnumbered Muslims. state of Sabah. Now itis vice-versa. Christian population accounts
for about 35% in the state of Sabah.

Ballooning Malay Christians
In spite of the surge of Christian population, there
is only a limited number of pastors. Therefore,
one pastor ministers to 3 or 4 churches.

Bishop Tsen spoke fervently
Entrance to the STS; the venue of Anniversary
concert and graduation ceremony.

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“JELCWmission”

memberspartnerintheBishop Tsen and Rev. Dr. Pang Ken Phinextended their gratitude saying, “We are really
thankful for your support. The donation given
by JELCW has supported the church and thetheological students greatly. Our heartfelt
gratitude goes to you. The awardees, after
having graduated, are engaged in mission indifferent countries or cities. You take part in themission by nurturing pastors.”
Commemorative photo taken after the graduation ceremony.

Pastor Yen Se Veg and his wife. He oncecame to Japan with the STS Principal.
At the concert; The students are dressed in the traditional
clothes of the Asian countries to which the missionaries aresent.

“This year BCCM sent 10 students tothe STS. They calculate the tuition
needed for each seminarian anddetermine the scholarship amount.”
BCCM allows some people who have served as a
pastor for certain years, to reenter the STS to get
degrees if they want to study theology further.
After the dialogue, we looked back atourselves as Christians living in the same part ofneighboring countries, “Yasukuni issues” forexample, we felt the dialogue was God’sblessing for having such a precious partnershipfor mission established firmly between Japanand Malaysia.

We attended the English worship service at BCCM Kota
Kinabalu Church. The service is composed of hymns andtestimonies and led by youth leaders.

7Four Students Graduated

JELCW Supports SabahL;

Lee Swee Tin; She ministers at Telipok
Congregation after graduation.

Liew Chui Chu; She works as missionary
at Kuching Mission Center after graduation

Ishak Bin Johniusu (left)
Soulus Jeffrin (right)

The FY2014 Scholarship Students
Thomas Voo Chung Hew
Program: M. Div. (2nd year)
Department: Chinese
Race: Chinese

Jeremiah Lo Siong Yen
Program: B.Th . (2nd year)
Department: Chinese
Race: ChineseThomas grew up as a 3rdgeneration Christian. At theage of 12, he lost his father due to brain cancer.
Since then he had been depressed but in 2001, he wasrenewed and baptized. After that he took part invarious church activities including Student Mission
Camp as a University Malaysia Sabah student. After
graduating from UMS, he took a pre-seminary
program and enrolled in STS in 2012.

Jeremiah grew up as a 5thgeneration Christian. From ayoung age, he took part in various church activities
until he went to further studies at KL. Due to financial
problems, he had to return home despite being in thelast semester of the diploma course in architecture. He
had struggled through a big turbulence in his life
before he finally served full time at the church for twoyears and took a year to equip himself at a 1-year
church course.

Rev. Deen Angkorou
Program:B.Th.(1st year)
Department: Malay
Race: Murut

Pilihan Sungkiat
Program: CTS (1st year)
Department: Malay
Race: Murut

Rev. Deen Angkorou comes froma non-Christian family in theinterior Sabah, Pagalungan parish.
Even though he has a family, thatnever was a hindrances for him to go to STS in 1992
to study theology to equip himself to be a servant of
God and preach His Word to the indigenous people in
the interior of Sabah.
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Pilihan comes from Pagalungan
parish, in the interior of Sabah.
He was enrolled at STS four years
ago and studied for 2 years. He needs to further hisstudy to equip himself to serve God more efficientlyand effectively.

┅┅ ┅┅ ┅┅ ┅┅┅┅ ┅┅ ┅┅ ┅┅ ┅┅ ┅┅┅┅┅┅ ┅┅ ┅┅ ┅┅✠Notice: Addressee Change✠
We thank you for your cooperation in shipping used clothes to Brazil for the church yard sale. Rev.
Tokuhiro requests to address your parcel not to the church but to the pastor personally, by adding either“Pastor Hirotaka TOKUSHIGE” or “Sr, Hirotaka TOKUSHIGE.” There is no change in the street
address as is indicated in the Church Directory.

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