Diocesan Clergy / Pastors Retreat & Conference 2005

BISHOP’S   CHALLENGE

Theme:      Mission Today and Tomorrow

1]    BIBLE PASSAGE - Philippians 3:4b-14

Philippians 3:4b-14  If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

2]   GREETINGS

                I greet you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!  I praise and thank God for the Ordination of our eight (8) brothers earlier this evening.  It is a real honour and privilege for us to celebrate with our eight (8) brothers the very solemn offering of their life to God.  I have asked my office to make a copy of my Sermon at the Ordination Service for each one of us.  I hope this will be useful material to remind all of us what God has in mind for each one of us when we respond to His Call and offer our life for the full-time ministry of the Lord!

3]   I PRESS ON

Paul's dramatic encounter with the Living Christ on the way to Damascus had given him a new life and changed the direction of his life totally.  He realised that to be a true and effective Servant of the Resurrected Christ, he could not "put confidence in the flesh" any more.  All the credentials that he inherited, worked so hard to build up ie

Philippians 3:5-6 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,

a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; As for zeal, persecuting the church;

as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

has to be put aside.  These had to be considered as loss and as rubbish.  To replace all these earthly credentials, his ultimate ambition and passion for life now was

Philippians 3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings,

becoming like him in his death,

This new direction of life and new impetus to become like Jesus in His Death propelled Paul from within.  He became zealous missionary for Christ.  His whole passion was directed to the Mission of God.  He became an "all out missionary" for Jesus.  Hence nothing was too hard or too strenuous for him.  He lived for Mission and he would willingly die for Mission.  Just listened to what he said:- 

Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect,

but I press on to take hold of that for whichChrist Jesus took hold of me.

Philippians 3:14 I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

What a challenge and what an inspiration this is!  Praise the Lord!

In ten (10) months' time, I will reach my 65^th birthday.  I will officially retire from the office as the Bishop of Sabah.  I am glad that the process for nominating my Successor is progressing well.  I hope by September this year, through prayers and thoughtful process, according to our Constitution, we can find the Man after God's Own Heart to be our new Bishop.  Thus, this will probably be my last official Annual Clergy/Pastor Conference and Retreat as your Diocesan Bishop of Sabah.  As I plan for my farewell around the Diocese, I think it is right and most appropriate for me to start the farewell at this Conference and Retreat.  To all of you who have been working and ministering with me as fellow workers, I want to praise and thank God for your prayers, support, fellowship, partnership and hardwork with me all these years.  Together we have built up our Diocese and taken our Diocese to what it is today.

It has been a real joy and pleasure to serve our Diocese together with you.  I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you who are my closest comrades in the ministry of the Lord.  You have meant a lot to me and my wife.  I cannot find any better word to express my deep and sincere gratitude to all of you apart from repeating Paul's words to the Philippians - 

Philippians 1:3-6 I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you,

I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

The time-table for saying farewell has been set in motion.  I will have a very busy year.  But the momentum and the ongoing strategy, plan and work of the Church for the next season should not and must not be slowed down.  The next ten (10) months will have many urgent matters to deal with in our Diocese, our Province and our Communion.  I will take God's clear instruction for us as expressed by Paul seriously.  I will press on as the Bishop of Sabah and the Primate of the Province of South East Asia until the day I retire.  I know I must plan a smooth and progressing handover.  I need to prepare a good solid ground for my Successor.  Please pray that I will have the health and stamina, the will and wisdom from God to run the last lap of a long race of more than thirty-five (35) years in ministry.

May all Glory, Honour and Praises be to our Almighty God!

4]   FAITHFUL SERVANTS OF GOD

(a)   Archdeacon Emeritus Arnold Puntang and Canon Martin Yuen - we want to record our deep appreciation for the long and faithful ministry of the late Archdeacon Emeritus Arnold Puntang and Canon Martin Yuen.  Archdeacon Emeritus Arnold Puntang and Canon Martin Yuen returned to their heavenly Father on 29^th October 2004 and 11^th November 2004 respectively.  Both funerals in the Cathedral were attended by big crowds of people showing their love and respect for these two (2) Servants of God.  They have "fought the good fight"; "finished the race" and "kept the faith". [1 Timothy 4:7]  They now form part of the "great cloud of witnesses" [Hebrews12:1] in heaven to cheer us to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us." [Hebrews 12:2]

(b)   Mr David Wong, who had served our Diocese as our Chancellor for 28 years had stepped down at the end of June 2004.  His service to the Diocese is both thorough and outstanding.  We are grateful to God for his long, faithful, dedicated and exemplary best to God for his service.  No word can be adequate to express our grateful thanks to him.  Mr David Wong will continue to be the Provincial Chancellor until I retire as the Primate of the Province of South East Asia on 20^th February 2006.

(c)   Rev Canon Fred David felt the Call of God to take up the post of National Director of Alpha Malaysia.  He needs to be released from the parish responsibility to do this job fulltime.  After consultation and careful prayers, I have decided to grant him "Leave of Absence without Pay" from the Dioceses from 1^st July 2005 to 4^th January 2007.  When he reaches the age of 60 on 4^th January 2007, he will take early optional retirement provided for by the Diocese.  In this way, he will retain his retirement benefits and continue to be under the spiritual cover of the Bishop of Sabah until he takes optional retirement.  It is a great loss and sacrifice on our part to facilitate this movement.  But we are grateful to God for choosing one of ours to do a job for Him.  We also want to appreciate Canon Fred's contribution to the ministry and growth of our Dioceses in the last 24 years.  We want to thank him for his faithfulness and hard work.  I will pray for him and send him off officially at the Synod Meeting in June 2005.

(d)   Mr Kenneth Thien, a meteorologist turned lawyer has accepted my appointment as the new Diocesan Chancellor.  Mr Kenneth Thien is a young lawyer who knows and loves the Lord.  He serves the Cathedral well as Youth Leader, PCC, Preacher, Interpreter and a wide range of ministry.  He is also a member of the Provincial Synod and PYNET.  We praise and thank God for raising him up for us.

(e)   Newly Ordained - We congratulate those who were ordained Deacons and Priests earlier this afternoon.  We welcome them to this Retreat and Conference as Clergy of our Diocese.

Priests

·          The Reverend Jeniol Tuaty

·          The Reverend George Kok

·          The Reverend Norman Sham

·          The Reverend Clarence Chin

·          The Reverend Lin Khee Vun

·          The Reverend David Wong

Deacons

·          The Reverend Jackson Araman

·          The Reverend George Chong

(f)    First  Timers - With great pleasure and thanksgiving to God, I like to welcome the following Clergy and Pastors who attend our Annual Clergy/Pastors' Retreat and Conference for the first time:-

                                1.             Reverend Ray Pearce

                                2.             Reverend George Chong

                                3.             Pastor Grace Chau

                                4.             Pastor Roland Chia

                                5.             Pastor Susan Tan

                                6.             Pastor Henry Olorosisimoi

                                7.             Pastor Alice Olorosisimo

                                8.             Pastor Michael Wong

                                9.             Pastor Ho Kee Chung

                                10.           Pastor Janet Lee

                                11.           Pastor Maradin Kapong

                                12.           Pastor Alice Liau

                                13.           Pastor Lim Heng Loong

(g)   Bishop Chen Fah (& his wife Mida), is taking his Sabbatical Leave from 29^th March to 18^th May 2005.  They are in Moore College, Sydney for the whole duration of his Sabbatical.  We are grateful to the Reverend & Mrs Ray Pearce for their willingness to come back to Sabah to help the Church of the Good Samaritan at this time.

(h)   Our Special Guests - I am so glad that we are able to create three (3) half-hour Sessions for Mr David Virtue and Ms Flora Chong to speak to us.  I am sure both of them will contribute to our overall theme for this Conference. 

i.     Mr David Virtue is a cyber journalist.  His web-site, Virtueonline has been a persistent and clear voice to expose all the unorthodox practices of ECUSA.  I have invited him to visit our Diocese and be our Guest at the Ordination and the Clergy/Pastors Retreat & Conference so that he can observe first hand how we live, work and minister as a Church in our context.  I have arranged for him to go round the different parts or our Diocese to have a feel of our Diocese.  He wants to do an in-depth report of our Diocese. 

ii.    Pastor Flora Chong - She is one of ours.  At the moment, she is under the Parish of St Patrick's, Tawau as a Missionary Pastor looking after our work in Gereja Kristus Batu Penjuru, Tarakan, Indonesia.  I have invited her to speak to us on her work in Tarakan.

5]    THE OVERALL DESIGN 

This four-day Retreat and Conference was designed for active participation by every Clergy and Pastor who attends this Meeting.  It is important that you have read through thoroughly the papers and materials sent to you in the booklet.  Please participate fully in the Small Groups discussion to help the Diocese to formulate a good and sound strategy for the coming years.  May I share with you my rational of making the design as according to our Time Table. 

(a)   Biblical Foundation of Mission

This is the most important element in our Retreat and Conference.  The four (4) Morning Sessions and Bible Studies can be regarded as the Retreat part of our Conference.  It is time that we as a body intentionally put down everything and quietly listen to God speaking to us through His Words. 

Four (4) Senior Clergy have been assigned the responsibility of doing Bible Study for us each day.  We want to be challenged to go in-depth into the Bible to discover what God says as the basic foundation of Mission.  They have been asked to do the studies on the subject of - 

·          The Vision

·          The mandate

·          The Leadership

·          The Strategy

I hope these studies will make clear God's heart for Mission for us.  May God through His Holy Spirit continue to steer us on the path to Mission that will be pleasing to God Himself.  Indeed, these Biblical Foundations of Mission will anchor us firmly so that we can explore other Mission Issues without being carried away.  I want to thank - 

·          Archdeacon Albert Vun ;

·          Reverend Canon Moses Chin ;

·          Archdeacon Lidis Singkung ; and

·          Dean Koo Tuk Su 

for helping us on this venture of faith. 

(b)    Mission Today & Tomorrow

The theme of this Retreat and Conference is to pick up God's own breathtaking desire to reach out to the lost souls.  As the Spiritual Leaders of our Church, we need to be concerned and must be totally committed to the Mission God has given us.  The whole Conference is designed for us to explore, recommend and implement what we have discerned as God's own heart for us.

i.     The Evaluation & Projection

Clergy and Pastors are the top Spiritual Leaders of our Church.  It is right that we take the opportunity of the Annual gathering of all our Clergy and Pastor as an appropriate and opportune time to take stock and evaluate the spiritual progress of our Church.  We want to see "how are we doing" as a Diocese in the last fifteen (15) years.  I am grateful to Bishop Chen Fah for taking the trouble to complete his paper before he left for his Sabbatical on 29^th March 2005.  He has asked Mr Alfred Yong from the Church of the Good Samaritan to help him to deliver his paper. 

ii.    Strategies for Planting New Churches

       The following people have been requested to look into the strategies for new Church Planting in Sabah - 

       English Speaking Church

·          The Reverend John Yeo

·          The Reverend Clarence Fu

Chinese Speaking Church

·          The Reverend Chak Sen Fen

·          The Reverend Chan Peng Wah

BM Rural Speaking Church

·          The Reverend Arun Kuak

·          The  Reverend Canon Lidis Singkung 

BM Urban Speaking Church

·          The Reverend Melter Tais

·          The Reverend Canon Lidis Singkung 

These Groups of colleagues can be classified as our younger group of Clergy.  I know as they mature in years, they will move onto more prominent leadership position.  The future belongs to them.  I was very excited to read through their thoughts and ideas when these paper(s) were sent into my office.  The verse of Scripture that comes to mind is: 

Acts 2:17 'In the last days, God says,I will pour out my Spirit on all people.Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

 your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

May I ask all of you to stand!  Let us hold hands together and pray together that this promise and prophecy of God will be fulfilled in our Diocese!

iii.      Discussion and Recommendations

All the five (5) papers will be presented during the First Day.  On the Second Day, we have two (2) Sessions with a total of 2½ hours for Small Group Discussion.  Please refer to page 25 for details. 

May I request the leader of each Group to take leadership for these discussions.  You need to appoint a Secretary who will report the findings of your Group to the plenary session on Tuesday night.  Please look at each paper carefully and make appropriate response to each paper.  Please suggest implement-able recommendations for the Diocese and Parishes/Mission Districts/Churches to do.  

We praise and thank God for the indication of our Statistics of a good and healthy growth of our Diocese for 1990-2001 (Average Sunday Attendance - 6366 to 17730).  But we must also admit that we have had negative growth from 2001 to 2004.

It is important that we find out the reasons for this negative growth and make helpful and positive plan to arrest the decline and reach for higher ground again. 

The BSL [Bishop's Senior Leaders] had looked at Bishop Chen Fah's paper and encouraged the Clergy Conference to make input as much as possible.  Any church planting venture that fits into the present movement of the Diocese should be implemented as soon as possible.  But BSL also looked at the proposal for changes [pages 51-54] and advised that we move with caution.  It is hoped that this Conference will make suggestions to revise this Paper to be tabled in Synod for information only without discussion.  Only with the approval of the New Bishop, this revised paper will be tabled in the next Synod for discussion and implementation.

iv.   Finance

The Standing Committee has approved the revision made by the Finance Committee on the Salary and Working Conditions for our Clergy/Pastor/Evangelist & Youth Evangelist.  We have taken a moderate revision in term of the stipends of our workers.  We have also made some amendments of the conditions of work as according to the feedbacks from Clergy and others.  We hope our Diocesan Income will be able to cope with these revisions.  Mr Paul Chong, our Diocesan Treasurer will be here to explain to us the impact of the revision to the financial position of our Diocese.

6]   CONCLUSION 

I hope the other agenda items will cover most issues we need to deal with as we minister in our churches.  Mission and Ministry are intertwined as we continue to be God's Church here in Sabah.  As we focus on Jesus and the heart of God, we earnestly pray that the Holy Spirit will renew us day by day. 

May our Spiritual Eyes be opened to see God's Glory!  

May our Spiritual Ears be opened to hear God's Voice!  

May our Church respond to God's desire to reach all the lost souls in our land and beyond!

Let Us .....

 press on towards the goal

to win the prize for which God has called Us

heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

Philippian 3:14

 The Most Revd Datuk Yong Ping Chung

10^th April 2005