A Lasting Legacy

I spoke about establishing one's legacy, especially when one reaches the grand age of 60 and we have a decade ahead of us to truly make a mark and establish one's legacy. All theology is contextual. In light of the challenges in Malaysia for those who have eyes to see, we need to have a godly response and prepare for what lies ahead. In the past couple of months, a number of issues came out that would be a challenge for the Malaysian church. The Protestant and Evangelical Church as a whole at the most make up 4-5% of the total population with close at least 3.5% of that number coming from the indigenous churches in East Malaysia. One may conclude that in Malaysia, the Bahasa speaking churches make up the majority of evangelical Christians in Malaysia. Chinese and English congregations make up at most 25% perhaps, but three-quarters of the Church is Malay speaking. If such vast majority Christians are Malay speaking, one's focus must then to strengthen these Bahasa/Malay speaking churches.

As for me, my strategy is two-fold. First, to minister to the seniors especially those between 50-80 years old. Most of my contemporaries are in their sixties and seventies. As the population ages, likewise the average age of church members including the indigenous churches also rises.  There is a great need to minister to the seniors most of whom have served the Lord for decades and are elders and deacons of the Church. 

My second focus is the youths, the next generation. I was awakened by the fact that 98% of the 500 youths to whom I preached to three weeks ago have not heard me preach before. There is a whole new generation that I need to reach and minister to these young people. Soon in a decade most of the 2nd generation Christians would have retired from ministry and return to the Heavenly Father. What should I do? I need to be among them, living in their midst and preaching to them in their churches. Every soul needs the feeding and watering of God's Word. The truth of the Gospel needs to be established again among a new generation of Christians. Biblical literacy is a huge challenge. It is a challenge in any generation to teach the people of God the truth of His Word.