HOPE MALAYSIA A3 CONFERENCE
John 14:12-17 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
GREATER, the theme for our A3 Conference this year talks about our desire and conviction to do greater works for Jesus in order to bring forth a greater impact to our local communities. Previously known as Southern Region Church Camp (SRCC), this year’s conference was held in Johor Bahru (JB) from 30th July to 2nd August 2014, which saw the gathering of our family of churches across southern region in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, and Japan, alongside with participants from other countries.
Day one of the conference kicked off with ice breaking activities as well as an event called Global Village. The concept was mooted to strengthen our conviction towards fulfilling the Great Commission. Our brothers and sisters were able to visit exhibition booths of six different countries and regions where we are actively involved in church planting at the moment. Other than displaying pictures and information, there are local delicacies, traditional costumes as well as traditional dance and games prepared by those who were in charge of the booths.
The highlight of the day was none other than the opening ceremony and teaching session in the evening. The opening ceremony was choreographed by Hope Batu Pahat, which saw the vibrant partnership between various homogeneous groups in the church! The message of greater victory was portrayed throughout the performance and was followed by the opening message from the President of Hope International Ministries, Ps. Simon Eng.
The first teaching of the camp was a unique one as it was taught by all three of our conference speakers, Ps. Denis Lu, Senior Pastor of Hope Kuching, Ps Moses Wan, Executive Pastor of Hope Kuala Lumpur and Ps. Simon Eng. They reminded us that our God is an incomparable and infinite God, asserting that the size of our spirit and faith depends on the size of God in our heart! The more we see God’s greatness, the greater the extent we can go.
Day two of the conference started with a testimony from our church planter in Indonesia, Bro. Chung Wai Lup. He shared about his response to God’s calling for him to go to Indonesia. It started with a simple obedience towards a need that God has revealed to him in Indonesia.
Today, we are able to see how it is being transformed into a great adventure. He did not bring anything there in the beginning, but yet he received much blessing today. He was a student in Hope Johor Bahru then, but now serving in the working adult group in Hope Bandung. He was single then, but now married to one of our Indonesian sisters there! Indeed, God is not looking at our ability but availability. Ps. Denis Lu began the second day’s teaching by motivating the church for greater serving. He quoted from the example of Nehemiah who had never learned to build walls but yet was commissioned by God to rebuild the broken wall of Jerusalem as he surrendered himself to God.
Ps. Denis further emphasized that God always wanted to enlarge our heart first before He could entrust us with greater service. He asserted that the overflow of our heart will become the stories of our life. In addition to that, he shared with the congregation some life testimonies from Hope Kuching on their outreach ministry, which has made a difference in the community through serving the people’s needs. Of note is a ministry called Hope Place, coordinated by Bro. Kelvin Wan, which provides assistance to needy and poor in the city of Kuching and beyond.
The evening session started with great excitement built upon activities of the previous sessions. Earlier in the afternoon, the participants were engaged in the Discovery JB tour whereby they were assigned into different teams, all attempting to complete a mission in finding the ‘hidden treasure’ around Johor Bahru old town. In short, the participants had a good time of fellowship as they cooperated with one another during the mission.
During the preaching session at night, Ps. Simon Eng shared about convergence. He shared that all the ups and downs in life will eventually converge at one point of our life for His greater purpose. Through his powerful impartation, we were compelled to believe that God will lead us to greater breakthrough.
Day three of the conference began with a testimony from another church planter, Sis. Thian Xiao Yun. She shared about her decision to further her studies in Mumbai, the challenges she faced in a new environment and obstacles in relating to the locals’ mindset. Despite the initial unfruitfulness, she testified how God has opened a way for her to reach out to the local Indians and also guided her throughout the first year of her study in one of the top tertiary institutions in India, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (IIT Mumbai). Building from his previous night’s sharing and Sis Thian’s testimony, Ps. Simon began the day by exhorting the church to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to do greater works. He reminded the congregations to be clear on their position in Christ and the authority that God has been given to them for greater reach, mobilization and harvest.
Various workshops were held on the third day afternoon in order to provide the participants with spiritual input on some dedicated topics like spiritual activation, salt and light ministry, as well as breaking through our mindset in responding to God’s call. The participants were able to hear from the sharing of, not just the conference speakers but also our pastors and coordinators from different centres. In fact, the participants were divided into smaller groups of 50 people and were able to interact more closely with the speakers through Q&A sessions. We give thanks to God that through these workshops, we were able to learn much more and be inspired by the lives of these experienced servants who have experienced much in their walk with God.
The empowering teachings and the activities for the past few days had set the tone for the Greater Worship on the final night, culminating to the climax of the conference where hundreds of participants stepped forward to make a personal decision to respond to God’s call to go the ends of the earth to plant vibrant and biblical churches. This is in spite of Ps. Kwong Lie, Senior Pastor of Hope Johor Bahru, ‘warning’ on the price that one possibly needs to pay when responding to God’s vision. The session was rounded up by Ps. Simon’s exhortation as well as Ps. Kwong Lie’s personal testimony on how God had led him 21 years ago to start Hope JB, a witness of God’s supernatural pioneering.
On the last day of the conference, Ps. Moses shared on bringing forth a greater impact to our communities. He encouraged the church to continue to abide in Christ, if we want to see the manifestation of His spirit, who works powerfully through us. By sharing the incident at the temple gate called Beautiful in Acts 3:1-10, he asserted that a close relationship with God is the key towards God empowerment to do the extraordinary.
A3 Conference 2014 was indeed a time when all of us were reminded once again that we could do all that Jesus did. Now, we look forward to do even greater things so that His name may be glorified and made known to the people around us. We need to have a greater sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and always be led by Him to bring forth greater impact in our serving. We thank God for all that we have experienced and we look forward to our next conference.
