IN MY COUNTRY, I AM NOT PERMITTED TO SHARE MY CHRISTIAN FAITH WITH MUSLIM BUMIPUTRAS. IF YOU ARE ONE, PLEASE BE INFORMED THAT MY MESSAGE IS NOT INTENDED OR DIRECTED TO YOU. THANK YOU.

My Church:
Sungai Nibong Gospel Hall

Allow me to describe the church I attend. If you have just become a Christian and are looking for a church to attend in Penang, we welcome you to ours. If you are not yet a Christian, but are interested to know more, we can help you too, through our Gospel Meetings, which I will explain in more detail below.

The name of our church is Sungai Nibong Gospel Hall. You can visit its website here. Its address is 51A, Jalan Pantai Jerjak 1, Sungai Nibong, Penang, Malaysia.

I am the fourth generation in our family to be worshipping at Gospel Hall, following in the footsteps of my mother, grandmother and great grandmother. My great grandmother and grandmother were already attending church services regularly at the early part of the 20th century, when the Gospel Hall premises was at Mission House, at 35 Farquhar Street. My mother, who was just a small girl, had followed them to church. At that time, my grandmother was living in Air Itam. She would take my mother by tram down to George Town, to join my great grandmother, for church.

At Sungai Nibong Gospel Hall, apart from acknowledging that we are Protestants, we prefer to simply call ourselves Christians, without reference to any denominational differences. Our church is simply called the "Assembly", so when we say the Sungai Nibong Assembly, the Butterworth Assembly, the Burmah Road Assembly and so on, we are referring to the believers assembling there to worship God. Others, in trying to explain who we are, have used terms such as "Plymouth Brethren", "Darbyites", and so on, but we prefer to simply call ourselves Christians. The church building itself is often called "Gospel Hall".

There is no clergy in our church. We follow the New Testament doctrine of the "priesthood of all believers". As such, there is no ordained person to act as a minister or pastor at our assembly. The main spiritual leaders of our assembly are called "Elders", who are assisted by "Deacons". Our Elders and Deacons are not paid a salary. Commended workers are looked after by the Lord according to His gracious provision.

Our weekly remembrance service, held on Sunday, is called "The Breaking of Bread" or "The Lord's Supper". At the Sungai Nibong Gospel Hall assembly, we meet every Sunday mornings at 9:00am to 10:30am, though we usually end only at 10:45am. This is the meeting for believers, but if you are not yet a believer, you are still welcome to come as an observer, although you are asked to refrain from participating in the breaking of bread and the passing of the wine. We usually start arriving at 8:30am, and before 9:00am, the hall is almost fully occupied. You will notice everybody coming in their Sunday best. The women who have been baptised wear a head covering, which may be a scarf, shawl, beret or hat.

An Elder or Deacon who is the announcer for that day starts the meeting at 9:00am with a welcome to the assembly. This is followed by the singing of the first hymn, chosen by the announcer. Today the hymns are sung to piano accompaniment, although a long time ago, we used to sing without the accompaniment of any musical instruments. Unless we are told to remain in our seats, we usually stand up when we sing the hymns. Both men and women join in the singing. Apart from joining in the singing of hymns, women remain silent during the Lord Supper.

After the first hymn has been sung, service proceeds according to no particular plan or order. There is nobody to lead in the singing of subsequent hymns or to lead in prayer. However, the men within the assembly can lead in the singing of hymn or in prayer. Again, both men and women join in the singing, but only the men can stand up to choose a hymn as well as to lead in prayer.

This part of the service continues until around 9:50am. Then we continue to the central part of the service, the Breaking of Bread. In the middle of the hall, or often in front of it, is a table. On the table are the Emblems: a loaf of bread which is the emblem for the body of Christ; three empty goblets, and a canister of wine, the emblem of Christ's blood. Nowadays we may use non-alcoholic grape juice for the wine. The bread is served followed by the wine.

A male member of the assembly may take upon himself to stand up and pray to give thanks for the bread. Thereafter, the elders and deacons come forward to break the bread, that is to say, to break the loaf into three portions, and place each portion on a platter. These are passed around the hall. Baptised believers - both men and women - break a piece off and consume a piece of it. The platters, usually still with unconsumed bread, are returned to the table.

After the bread is passed, another male member of the assembly may take upon himself to stand up and pray to give thanks for the wine. Thereafter, in similar fashion, the elders and deacons come forward to pour the wine into the goblets and pass them around. Baptised believers - both men and women - drink for these communal goblets. The goblets are then returned to the table.

After the two emblems have been passed, a pre-selected male member of the assembly, usually a junior member, pass around the offering bag to collect money for the church, for use in maintaining the building, or to remunerate the full-time workers. The offering is entirely voluntarily, and the amount is a private matter between the giver and God. After the offering bag is passed around, it is returned to the table, and the individual who passed it around lead in prayer giving thanks for the offering.

Once the offering is collected, the Speaker goes to the pulpit to deliver the sermon of that morning. Sermons usually last for 30 minutes, from 10:00am to 10:30am. The usual topics of the sermons are studies of particular chapters of the Bible.

After the Speaker has concluded his sermon, an Elder or Deacon delivers the announcement on the upcoming meetings, events and activities, as well as updating the assembly of particular prayer needs. He then concludes the meeting with a closing prayer.

With the conclusion of the meeting proper, the assembly adjourned to the compound outside for refreshments. The duty of providing refreshments is rotated by a roster among the womenfolk of the church, who also prepare the flower arrangement of the day. Other duties of the church includes being usherers, to give out the hymn books in the morning.

So that is how our rememberance service is conducted, at Sungai Nibong Gospel Hall. In addition to the Sunday morning meetings, there are other meetings throughout the week, including the Prayer Meetings every Tuesday evening, the Sister's Fellowship, which happens once a month, usually in one of the lady's homes, the Young People Meeting, which happens on Saturdays, and the Sunday School, which happens after the Lord's Supper. In addition, Sungai Nibong Gospel Hall also runs a kindergarten, the Tadika SNGH, to provide a well-balance, wholesome and enriching education for the children of the community.

If you are a non-believer, I would encourage you to attend our Gospel Meetings. These meetings, usually held on Sunday evenings, are specially designed to help non believers become Christians. If you wish to have more details about our Gospel Meetings, please feel free to write to me and I'll fill you in.