Malaysia Missionaries to Offer Testimonies to West Midland Churches

Three young Malaysian Christians who have been serving English churches in Shropshire and the Black Country will be giving their testimonies as Missionaries to the West Midlands this weekend at Lichfield Cathedral.

The three missionaries will be joined by two youngsters from Staffordshire and the Black Country who have spent the past few months working with churches in Malaysia.

The event has been organised by the St Chad's Trust which arranges working exchange visits between young Christians from churches in the Lichfield Diocese and the dioceses of West Malaysia, Kuching and Sabah.

Regina (Reggie) Arumugam, aged 26, from St John's Church, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur Anglican Cathedral in West Malaysia, is currently working as a St Chad's Volunteer in Holy Trinity Church in Hadley, Telford. Reggie was formerly a PR Officer and team leader in a large communications company in Kuala Lumpur.

Julie Tan, aged 27, from the Church of the Good Shepherd in Johor Bahru is currently working as a St Chad's Volunteer in St John's Church at The Pleck in Walsall. Julie was formerly an IT specialist with Hewlett Packard in Singapore.

Sheerah Lee, aged 22, from Ipoh in West Malaysia is currently a St Chad's Volunteer in St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury. Sheerah has worked in the commercial world as a clerk in Malaysia, but was most recently employed as a full-time youth worker in St Peter's Church, Ipoh.

John Sheard, aged 19, from the All Saints' Worship Centre in the Parish of Holy Trinity, Short Heath, returned at the end of August from Sarawak in east Malaysia. He had served as a St Chad's volunteer for eight months in the city of Kuching and in outlying villages in remote forest areas on the island of Borneo.

Joe Willits, aged 19, from St Michael's Church in Penkridge has also recently returned from Malaysia, where he worked in Miri, Sarawak.

They will be joined at the event by Mr James Chee, a senior adviser and assistant to the Bishop of West Malaysia, who is responsible for co-ordinating the St Chad's Volunteer Programme in West Malaysia; and by the Revd Michael Sheard, the World Mission Officer for the Diocese of Lichfield who manages the Lichfield-end of the St Chad's Volunteer programme.

The St Chad's Volunteers event will be held in the Great Hall of Lichfield Cathedral School from 1.20pm on Saturday 23 September.