1. How and when did your ministry start?

• My ministry started in 2004. It started at Elder Kalvinto’s home for 8 months. We had about 13-18 people who attended the service. Then we moved to shop houses for seven years (2005-2012). In 2013 we had our own land funded by Grace B-P, Hope B-P and Filadelfia’s congregation.
• My greatest challenge in the ministry is when we don’t have unity and the same vision and mission from co-labourers in Christ. I have thought of quitting from the ministry due to stress and burn-out. But by the grace of God, I have overcome it by much prayer and have kept looking to our Almighty God. Sometimes we also faced financial needs to run the school ministry, church, and orphanage. But we thank God because our God is Jehovah Jireh! He has provided and touched people to provide for us.

2. What is the vision and mission of your ministry?

• Our vision and mission are compassion for man and love for God - to be a missionary church. We have been serving in the orphanage ministry since 2008, so it has been 13 years. The orphanage ministry is a helping hand to reach out to orphans and to the neglected and abandoned children from broken homes. We thank God that some of the children have grown up. Now they are independent. They came back to Batam to help out in the church’s ministry. From their testimonies we really thank God that they did not forget God and the orphanage.
• In 2011 we started the Christian school ministry too. The Christian school ministry is a bridge to reach out to the neighborhood. Now we have 150 students from Kindergarten to Primary 6. We thank God for Grace B-P Church and Hope B-P Church who have supported the building project.

3. How has the Covid19 pandemic affected your church and ministry?

• Due to Covid19 we had to close our church for 3 months in April-July 2020. All the services were conducted online. Then we re-opened the church on July 12th 2020, but we had to close again for two months in July-September 2021 and worshipped via Zoom. In Sept 12th, 2021 re-opened again for our onsite service.
• All fellowship meetings are still conducted online. Some members did not even turn up for one and a half years. So, it has affected our different ministries, especially the school ministry. Some parents have delayed paying school fees, and some paid by installments. Some children have stopped studying and some even quit school.  We have to find sponsorship for the needy students who cannot afford to go to school, especially the kindergarten kids. Our teachers go to the children’s homes to teach them privately. It has affected the teachers’ income too. They couldn’t have tuition lessons in school with the students. All of us had to learn technology. But in Indonesia, it is a problem. This is because only parents have their notebooks or laptops, and so some children have to wait till evening time to use their parents’ laptops. So the teachers have taken the initiative to go to the children’s homes privately.
• In spite of the pandemic, we still continue to serve God in our outreach ministry to the Islands. One of the things we did was to install a pipe from the well to help pump water to houses so as to help the people get water easily. We are helping needy people so as to be a blessing to them. We are learning not to idle and sit still; a lot of people are crying out for help in desperation. We have to understand, share and connect with them, commit and sacrifice, and be a testimony to them. Just as Spurgeon rightly said, “Fear to die? Thank God, I do not. The cholera may come again next summer. Pray it may not. But if it does, it matters not to me. I will toil and visit the sick by night and by day until I drop. And if it takes me, sudden death is sudden glory.” This is our motto in serving the Lord. We are still visiting and helping out others in the midst of the pandemic. Soli Deo Gloria! All glory to God!

Romans 14:8 “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”

Batam, 16^th September 2021,

Preacher Phoa Ang Liang

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14 Bedford Square, Colonel Light Gardens, South Australia 5041