The Passion of the Minority

One thing I noticed right away and have been inspired by here in Malaysia is the passion of the churches here. Unlike back home in the States, where memberships are flagging and most Christians are highly secularized, the churches in Malaysia keep an evangelical fervor. I believe this comes out of necessity. In America, Christianity remains the majority religion and is accepted by the government. This security makes it easy to become passive or lethargic about faith. In most places, you could safely proclaim your faith without much fear or much conviction. Here in Malaysia, however, Christianity remains a minority to Islam, and Islam is the official national religion. Islamic law, such as caning people for having a beer, is still upheld. Christianity is not illegal, but it is strongly discouraged. To say you are a Christian in Malaysia is a much more significant claim. It is scary to say, so you have to have conviction.

The churches are passionately evangelical. They are constantly reaching out to tribes yet unreached in the interior of the state. They are building new missions, new churches, ordaining new pastors and lay people at an astonishing rate. They reach out to immigrants through worship and through such means as educating the illegal children who are not admitted to public schools. They feel that the government (and this is true to an extent) is using cheap tactics to increase the Muslim population and therefore their demographics and voter base. The government essentially bribes people to convert by giving them job priority, educational priority, cash and all new household appliances (with the reasoning that they had all be tainted by unclean foods, such as pork). Some people also claim they are very lenient on illegal Muslim immigrants and allow them to enter and/or give them permission. I don’t know if this is true, but I do know it is very difficult for foreign non-Muslims to get residency. So the churches combat the government’s Islamization with Christian evangelism.

I also see the passion of the Christians in Sabah in the seminary students that I meet, especially the indigenous and Burmese students. They have all overcome great odds just for the chance to study at a seminary. They are virtually bankrupt and have fund-raised by pleading with friends and family to give them money to attend seminary. Some of the Burmese students have even fled oppression from the Myanmar government. One of my friends from Myanmar hasn’t seen his wife and five kids in years because he cannot afford to travel back home. He has committed to study theology in Sabah and will not be able to go home until he has completed his degree. That is religious commitment that I have rarely seen at home.

I am not saying this to compare and put down Christians in America. I honestly don’t even know if it is necessarily better to be more zealous. But I do know that that is what is required here in Malaysia. And I think we could all use at least little bit more passion in our faith. Just try to imagine for a second if you were in the minority faith and you were constantly being challenged by your own government. Would you stand up for your beliefs like Sabahans?

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