Court Case & Church

So many things happened in the past fortnight that I don't know where to start. Two days ago the High Court in Sarawak allowed a Sarawakian's application to use the word, "Allah". The news brought much euphoria among Christians in the Press as well as group chats but I kind of put a dampener a little (though I rejoiced greatly in the Lord) as it had happened before that a major denomination having won in the High Court but then lost in the appellate Court and as it stands, the Court of Appeal's decision in 2013 seems to be the final say on the matter unless this matter is resolved in the highest Court, the Federal Court or the government and parties involved negotiate for an amicable solution without resort to the judiciary. Much to pray for!

My own local church is starting Friday night prayers in church tonight and last week, being our 2nd week back we already had 83 adults in attendance which is close to the 90-seat-capacity with social distancing. I am going to chair an elders' meeting this Sunday with the full Council meeting the Sunday after. I took a whole month off preaching last month to reflect on a few things and to plan ahead. I had just drafted the May-July 2021 pulpit schedule. I tend to plan for 3 or 4 months ahead of time and not half a year or even a full year like some churches as it gives flexibility to bring in new people in and outside the church to share God's Word. As far as working on a new project, it is put into the back burner, with obvious reasons that I need time to save up. Only the Gospel of John is selling well because I serve among BM speaking churches (the other two books are in English), but often I forgo even the postage (poslaju) and fuel cost travelling to and fro the Post Office, especially for pastors serving in the interior that might be paid less than RM1,000 a month. The Kelas Tunas Remaja (Young Teenage Class) is doing well over Google Meet. We just celebrated its first year's anniversary. The first class started on 8th March 2020 and the following week we were hit with the first MCO. We averaged 15-24 teenagers in attendance.