Borneo Malaysia Anglican Diocese Set to Send Missionaries to England

An Anglican diocese in Borneo, Malaysia, which was first pioneered 150 years ago by missionaries from Britain, may soon be sending their own missionaries back to England. The Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill, the Bishop of Lichfield, has recently been in Sarawak to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Diocese of Kuching.
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The diocese of Lichfield in England and the diocese of Kuching in Malaysia have been linked together since the Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops in 1988. But the two were linked before that when the second Bishop, the Rt Revd Walter Chambers (1870-1881) who was ordained as a priest in Lichfield Cathedral by the Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Revd John Lonsdale, in 1849 moved to Borneo to assist Bishop Thomas McDougal, the first bishop of Borneo.

Walter Chambers was appointed Archdeacon of Sarawak in 1868 and was made Bishop of Sarawak and the Straits Settlements upon McDougal' resignation in 1870.

Bishop Gledhill has toured a number of parishes in Kuching Diocese this week. "It has been a wonderful experience to meet people in parishes in rural villages here and to see people who in living memory were head-hunters and animists in the jungle now converted to Christ," he said.

"Just as the Church united the various kings and tribes in Dark Age England and persuaded them to lay down their arms and become one nation; so the Gospel has changed the people of Sarawak.
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"The Gospel was brought to Borneo 150 years ago by Missionaries from England. And in that time the situation in our two countries has become reversed: many people in England do not know the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet this same Gospel is bringing hope to large numbers of people here in Sarawak - both in the developed cities and the still-developing rural villages.

"I hope that in the very near future the church here in Kuching will be able to send missionaries to England to help us in our task of making Christ known once more.

"One of the features of life out here is how all ages, in particular young people, are a noticeable feature of the church here. In many of our churches back in Lichfield Diocese that isn't the case, so I hope very much some of the young people will come over and encourage our churches and our young people to playing an active part in the community again."

His opinion was backed by the Rt Revd Datuk Made Katib, Bishop of Kuching. Bishop Katib confirmed that discussions have already started about the possibility of sending missionaries to England and said his diocese is now looking to beyond its traditional mission fields of Sarawak and Brunei.
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He said: "Of course there is still room for evangelism and mission in our diocese, but we should not be inward looking. Rather we should be forward looking. There is no church without mission."

The theme for the Diocese of Kuching's 150th anniversary celebrations is "launch deeper", taken from Luke 5:1-11.

On Saturday, around 2,000 people gathered at St. Thomas' Cathedral in Kuching for a celebratory communion service which was held in four languages - English, Mandarin, Iban and Bidayuh. The Bishop of Lichfield delivered a message of congratulations and encouragement from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the congregation.

Bishop Gledhill preached at a communion service in the Cathedral on Sunday morning. "Malaysians have got a thing or two to teach the English about different ethnic groups living in harmony together," he told his congregation. His first visit to Kuching ended yesterday and he will fly to Kuala Lumpur today to a meeting in the Diocese of West Malaysia.