Borneo Evangelical Church | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Classification | Protestant |
Orientation | Evangelical, Charismatic |
Polity | Interdependent local, regional and national expressions |
Senior Pastors | Chew Weng Chee, Lew Lee Choo, Jerry Dusing |
Associations | National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, Christian Federation of Malaysia, Sabah Theological Seminary, Council of Churches of Malaysia and Melbourne School of Theology |
Region | Borneo (Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia, Brunei), West Malaysia |
Founder | Hudson Southwell (Baptist), Frank Davidson and John Trevor White (Anglican), Carey Tolley (Church of the Brethren) |
Origin | 1928 Sarawak, Malaysia |
Branched from | Borneo Evangelical Mission |
Members | 500,000 |
The Borneo Evangelical Church or SIB (Malay : Sidang Injil Borneo) is an evangelical Christian denomination in Malaysia. The church was organised in 1959 from the work of the Borneo Evangelical Mission with help from the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Indonesia (Indonesian : Gereja Kemah Injil Indonesia), an ethnic Torajan-based Protestant church in South Sulawesi province (also an offshoot denomination of the Christian and Missionary Alliance as a result of its mission work in the said region), which is currently headquartered nationally in Senen, Central Jakarta. [1]
Claiming more than 500,000 members, [2] the SIB is the largest Protestant denomination in Malaysia having evolved from a small missionary presence among the Lun Bawang people of the Kelabit Highlands as well as the district of Sipitang and the Ibans as well as the Bisayas of Limbang and also the Dusuns of Kota Belud and Ranau until it endlessly planted dozens of congregations both in East Malaysia and West Malaysia today.
SIB Sabah and SIB Sarawak were founded by the Borneo Evangelical Mission (BEM) which itself had been established in Australia in 1928. Its pioneer missionaries came to Sarawak in late 1928 to evangelise the tribes of the heart of Borneo which until then had been unreached by the Christian faith. Aware that they would face competition in the cities, the BEM concentrated on interior rural areas and settled near the fringes of the Murut (Lun Bawang) area. In 1937, the work was extended to Sabah (then known as British North Borneo). From the start there were restrictions imposed by government officers, opposition by pagan tribal leaders, and problems of health and needs faced by the missionaries. From the small beginnings of several individual conversions, God brought about a people movement whereby whole tribes turned to Him. Miracles took place as God delivered many tribal people from the bondage of fear and oppression of paganism. The gospel began to spread from one tribe to another, village to village, downstream and upstream.
Sarawak's border areas were exposed to influences from American missionaries in Kalimantan (then known as Dutch Borneo), and most of the Lun Bawangs became Christian through interaction with their kinfolk, indigenous converts on the other side of the international boundary.
The first missionaries to visit the Kelabit Highlands in the Sarawak interior arrived in 1939, but the internment of Europeans during World War II opened the door to indigenous leadership. When missionaries returned to the highlands in 1947 they found that the Murut church had survived and that most Kelabit people had accepted Christianity through the activities of indigenous converts, including a pastor from Timor, Guru Paul also known as Nimang Tepun. Strongly committed to developing indigenous leadership, in 1948 the BEM established a bible school in the Sarawak town of Lawas for training teachers and deacons and translating the Bible into the Bornean languages was made a priority.
By 1958 an important symbolic step was made when it was decided to change the name of the mission to the Malay "Sidang Injil Borneo" (Borneo Evangelical Assembly). With the emphasis on training married couples to extend mission work and Kelabit out-migration to the oil-fields of Miri and elsewhere in search of employment and education, the SIB church spread through Sarawak. Although there was a strong Chinese component in the urban areas, most SIB members were tribal peoples (comprising the Kelabits, Berawans, Lun Bawangs, Kayans, Bisayas, Ibans and Kenyahs in Sarawak as well as Lundayehs of Sipitang, Muruts of Tenom, Keningau and Beaufort and also Dusuns of Kota Belud as well as Ranau in Sabah). Local leadership played an important role in the conversion process; in later years, for example, Amin Gomboting, a native Dusun who hailed from Ranau, a forest ranger who was stationed in various places in Sabah, established a SIB church wherever he went for he was an active pastor cum elder of this church.
BEM had always been a mission with a strong emphasis of building an indigenous church. In 1950, a 15-year policy had been adopted to work toward a church in Borneo which would be sufficiently grounded and instructed to be able to take over the responsibility of Christian witness and evangelism. Translation of the Bible into the native languages a priority in this work. A biennial conference was carried out to elect local leaders for the Combined Executive Council of Sabah and Sarawak. This consisted of the Chairman, the Deputy Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, and representatives from the districts and from BEM. In line with the emphasis of the 'Twin Primary Tasks'[ clarification needed ] of BEM, SIB seeks to be significantly involved in evangelism and to build up churches through Bible teaching and leadership training. The SIB presently has five Bible schools in Sarawak, including the Malaysian Evangelical College (formerly Miri Bible College) and one Bible school in Sabah. BEM, which merged with the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) in 1974, continues to provide advice and indirect assistance, particularly in areas where the local leadership is unprepared. (See Drunk before Dawn by Shirley Lees, OMF, 1979.)
SIB Sabah was formed as a separate body from SIB Sarawak in 1976 in response to political circumstances.
In the early 1970s, renewal and revival continued and the gospel of Christ continued to spread among the interior people. Many young people went to towns from rural Christian backgrounds either for study or in search of jobs and this migration opened opportunities to SIB to build new churches in town areas.
Supported by teaching institutions and ongoing church-planting, SIB membership, reckoned at around 1000 in 1962, rose to 75,000 in 1993, and some interior churches can now accommodate as many as 3000 worshippers. The SIB is also well established in urban centres notably Lawas, Limbang, Miri, Kuching, Sandakan, Tawau, Labuan and Kota Kinabalu where many native villagers have migrated in search of work.
In the early 1990s, Pastor Richard Samporoh and late wife, Pastor Stemmah Sariau, native Dusun church members who are emigrants from Kota Belud in the northern part of Sabah's West Coast Division, started a SIB ministry in their house after noting the increasing number of Sabah & Sarawak natives emigrated to the Peninsular either for study or seeking employment. However for many years, the majority of the members were the natives from East Malaysia who pursue higher education in local and private universities in the Klang Valley. In 1993, the student ministry began to receive more students from Borneo which led to the formation of the first SIB (BM) church in the Peninsula known as SIB Damansara Utama (the church has been renamed to SIB Petaling Jaya in 1997). The following year SIB Kepong (English) began their first service. Over the years, the church began to plant new churches in various locations in Klang Valley and OA. During these years, the planted SIB churches are supervised mainly under the SIB Sabah umbrella before separated and become independent in the administration in the year 2005 and later known as SIB Semenanjung.
The church's leadership was handed over to a married couple, Dr. Chew Weng Chee, an obstetrician-gynecologist from Tung Shin Hospital, and Lew Lee Choo, another doctor who studied in the UK. The English congregation grew from 15 people in 1994 to around 130 in 1998. In 2006, SIBKL rented out three floors in a downtown building called Bangunan Yin (look up the spiritual concept of Yin Yang), and currently, three worship services are held each Sunday to serve over 1500 people. There are now 31 congregations in West Malaysia (29 Malaysian-speaking, 1 Chinese and 1 English), including missions among Christian Orang Asli in Jerantut.
In 2011 there are 600 churches with 150 000 memberships and 450 pastors in Sarawak. In 2014 there are more than 500 churches with 150 0000 memberships in Sabah. In 2021 there more than 800 churches in Sarawak.
SIB is also now expanding to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, and the southern Philippines, where local churches are tapping its experience in working with tribal peoples.
Sidang Injil Borneo Church exists to passionately affect our world with the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ. We do this by worshiping God, proclaiming His Word, and equipping and deploying into ministry fully-devoted followers of Jesus Christ. [3]
The SIB is a registered church. [4] The SIB has been registered with the governments of Sabah and Sarawak. Its Constitution was officially recognised by its governing body in 1961.
The SIB is a multiracial church. Over 15 local groups are represented. Services are held in Malay, English, Chinese and district languages including Iban, Bidayuh, Kadazan/Dusun, Kayan, Kelabit, Kenyah, Lun Bawang, Penan, Punan, Tagal, Orang Asli, and several others. It is an urban and rural church that was originally developed mainly in the interior places of Sabah and Sarawak. In recent years churches have been established in the main towns, e.g., Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Miri, and Sibu as well as several other centres.
The SIB is a growing church. Formerly limited to certain parts of the two states, SIB members and churches are now distributed throughout Sabah, Sarawak, and West Malaysia. SIB is large: The SIB consists of 221 churches in Sabah with a membership of 34,260 and 219 churches in Sarawak with a membership of 59,674. Each church has its own elected leaders. There are only 76 full-time pastors in Sabah but in Sarawak there are 185 pastors. (Statistics are as of 1982.)
The SIB have been independent from its inception as an organisation in 1959. It financially supports its own pastors and workers. It also trains its own workers through its own training program. There are 6 Bible schools associated with the SIB in Sarawak and Sabah.
Christianity is a minority religion in Malaysia. In the 2020 census, 9.1% of the Malaysian population identified themselves as Christians. About two-thirds of Malaysia's Christian population lives in East Malaysia, in the states of Sabah and Sarawak. Adherents of Christianity represent a majority (50.1%) of the population in Sarawak, which is Malaysia's largest state by land area. Christianity is one of four major religions, including Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, that have a freedom protected by the law in Malaysia based on diversity law especially in East Malaysia.
The Kelabit are an indigenous Dayak people of the Sarawak/North Kalimantan highlands of Borneo with a minority in the neighbouring state of Brunei. They have close ties to the Lun Bawang. The elevation there is slightly over 1,200 meters. In the past, because there were few roads and because the area was largely inaccessible by river because of rapids, the highlands and the Kelabit were relatively untouched by modern western influences. Now, however, there is a relatively permanent road route on which it is possible to reach Bario by car from Miri. The road is marked but driving without a local guide is not advisable, as it takes over 11 hours of driving to reach Bario from Miri through many logging trail junctions and river crossings.
Dusun is the collective name of an indigenous ethnic group to the Malaysian state of Sabah of North Borneo. Collectively, they form the largest ethnic group in Sabah. The Dusun people have been internationally recognised as indigenous to Borneo since 2004 as per the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Papar is the capital of the Papar District in the West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 124,420 in 2010, which is divided between Bruneian Malay, Kadazan-Dusun, and Bajau. There is also a sizeable Chinese minority, predominantly of the Hakka subgroup, as well as smaller numbers of other races. The town is located 38 kilometres south of the state capital of Kota Kinabalu, with the Papar railway station in the town becoming one of the main stops of the Sabah State Railway.
The Lotud people are an indigenous ethnic group residing in Sabah, eastern Malaysia on the island of Borneo. They reside mainly in the Tuaran district and also a portion of this tribe's population also reside in the village of Kampung Sukoli located in the Telipok suburban township of Kota Kinabalu city, all located in the West Coast Division of Sabah. Their population was estimated at 5,000 in the year 1985 but now believed to be more than 20,000. They are a sub-ethnic group of the Dusunic group, now also known as Kadazan-Dusun.
OMF International is an international and interdenominational Evangelical Christian missionary society with an international centre in Singapore. It was founded in Britain by Hudson Taylor on 25 June 1865.
The Methodist Church in Malaysia is a body within the Methodist tradition in Malaysia. With approximately 200,000 members in more than 1034 congregations, it is the second largest Protestant denomination in the country after Sidang Injil Borneo. The current bishop of the Methodist Church in Malaysia is the Rev. Dr. T. Jeyakumar.
Ba'kelalan is a group of nine villages at Maligan Highlands of Limbang Division, Sarawak, Malaysia about 3,000 feet (910 m) above sea level and 4 km from the border with Indonesian Kalimantan and 150 km from the nearest town of Lawas. There are nine villages in Ba'kelalan. The villagers here belong to the Lun Bawang tribe.
Bingkor is a small township in Keningau District, Interior Division, Sabah, Malaysia. The majority of the population are Dusuns and Murut, which consists of part of the Borneo Dayak ethnic group. The Dusuns are divided into Dusun Gana and Dusun Kuyau, while the Murut is Nabai or Murut Keningau. Both these sub-Dusun families and the Murut people also represent the image of Keningau as a central district.
Sabah Theological Seminary (STS) is an interdenominational Protestant seminary located in the town of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, East Malaysia.
The Malaysia Baptist Convention is a Baptist Christian denomination in Malaysia. It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance. The headquarters is in Petaling Jaya.
The Lun Bawang is an ethnic group found in Central Northern Borneo. They are indigenous to the southwest of Sabah and the northern region of Sarawak, highlands of North Kalimantan and Brunei.
The Borneo Evangelical Mission is a Protestant Evangelical Christian missionary society that worked among the people of Borneo, Malaysia. It was founded in October 1928 by three Australian missionaries, Hudson Southwell (Baptist), Frank Davidson (Anglican) and Carey Tolley. In 1975 the BEM merged with Overseas Missionary Fellowship.
The National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) is a Christian organization in Malaysia.
The Basel Christian Church of Malaysia or BCCM, formerly known as Borneo Basel Self Established Church, is one of the four Lutheran bodies in Malaysia. In 2009 BCCM had 112 congregations nationwide and 63,000 baptised members. In 2023, BCCM had 64,500 members.
Lun Bawang or Lundayeh is the language spoken by the Lun Bawangs. It belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian family.
Baru Bian is a Malaysian politician and lawyer who has served as Member of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Ba'kelalan since April 2011. He served as the Minister of Works in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from July 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020 and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Selangau from May 2018 to November 2022. He is a member of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), a component party of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coalition and was a member of the Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), People's Justice Party (PKR), a component party of the PH and formerly Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalitions. He has also served as the Vice President of PDP since April 2024. He also served as the State Chairman of PKR of Sarawak from December 2009 to his resignation from the party in February 2020. He became the first ever federal minister of the Lun Bawang ethnicity in the Malaysian history.
Sarawak's population is very diverse, comprising many races and ethnic groups. Sarawak has more than 40 sub-ethnic groups, each with its own distinct language, culture and lifestyle. This makes Sarawak demography very distinct and unique compared to its Peninsular counterpart. However, it largely mirrors to other territories in Borneo - Sabah, Brunei and Kalimantan.
Long Sukang is a Lun Bawang settlement in the Lawas division of Sarawak, Malaysia. It lies approximately 660.7 kilometres (411 mi) east-north-east of the state capital Kuching.
The Ba'kelalan by-election was a by-election for the seat of Ba'kelalan state constituency in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly. The seat fell vacant after the death if its incumbent member, Dr Judson Sakai Tagal in a helicopter crash at Mount Murud. The seat was defended for Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government by Nelson Balang Rining of the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), while an independent politician Baru Bian contested against BN in a straight one-to-one fight.