Pr Kong Sing Soon
Kota Kinabalu Bible-Presbyterian Church (KKBPC) was inaugurated on 15 March 2015 and we thank God for His sustenance all these years. It is by God’s sovereignty and providential leading that this ministry was started. Starting a ministry was never my plan. After graduating from Far Eastern Bible College (FEBC), I was supposed to serve in Sarawak. However, “a man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” (Prov 16:9). Things did not go as planned and God was gracious to lead me to KK, Sabah to start a ministry.
I thank God for the privilege and honour to serve Him. With many churches deviating from the truth today, I see a great need for biblical truth to be taught everywhere and Sabah is only one of them. However, there is a limit to what a person can achieve in a lifetime. I hope I can do something for God with my life, conforming to Jesus’ teaching in John 9:4, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” I have structured the story of KKBPC under the headings of (1) The Calling, (2) The Marriage, and (3) The Work.
Calling
After I became a Christian, I felt compelled to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others. As a young Christian, I faced difficult questions I could not answer. I also did not know how to help young Christians grow in faith. This burden made me realise that I needed to be better equipped. Therefore, I was determined to go to FEBC after I finished high school (Form Six). After graduating from FEBC, I should be back serving in Sarawak.
However, there was an issue—that is my relationship with Su Shiang whom I met in FEBC. It is an unusual relationship because of our age gap. We had decided to seek God’s will to proceed further through parental consent only after my graduation. Su Shiang graduated two years before me. During the period of separation, I stayed in contact with her, praying for her almost daily through Skype. The only time I saw her briefly was when I visited her dying mum.
After I graduated, I was trained by a pastor in Singapore before I served in Sarawak. During that time, the pastor was informed about my relationship. I was told to end it because of our age difference. At that time, I was immature in dealing with the situation. I flipped-flopped on my decision and struggled between continuing to seek parental consent for the relationship or disappointing the church that supported my study. I regretted my indecisiveness. In the end, I decided to continue seeking parental consent instead of terminating the relationship immediately. I was asked to call my parents to seek their consent. My parents disagreed over the phone because they were concerned for my future.
When I returned to Sibu, I was dismissed by the church that supported me. I was in Sibu for more than seven months seeking God’s direction. As I am sure of God’s calling to serve Him full-time, I want to contribute something to His Kingdom. My family advised me to serve in a Methodist church. I knew I could not join a church of other denominations because I believed in the B-P doctrines. So, it narrowed down to starting a B-P ministry. I was considering Penang and Sabah because my eldest sister lives in Penang and my brother was working in Labuan near KK. There were no B-P churches in these two states. Since my eldest sister was not supportive of me starting a ministry, I knew it was not God’s will for me to go to Penang. By God’s providence, I went to KK, Sabah instead. The Bible verse that encouraged me to go was Isaiah 6:8, “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” I thank God for giving me the courage to start His ministry in KK. I thank God for Su Shiang, who was willing to be my co-labourer in the ministry.
Marriage
In the seven months of seeking God’s direction, Su Shiang and I were in constant contact again. We thank God that after more than a year of my coming to KK, my parents finally gave their consent. Su Shiang’s father also gave his approval, but he asked me to think it over carefully. I knew Su Shiang was God’s will for me. Our parents’ consent only affirmed it. After obtaining parental consent, I wrote to Rev Koa Keng Woo and asked him to officiate our wedding. We thank God that he agreed to come to KK and marry us. Special thanks to the late Mrs Koa who presented a surprise item—her wonderful singing in our marriage ceremony. We are thankful to God for those who helped to organise the wedding and all the people who witnessed the matrimony. I thank God for blessing me with a great wife. Indeed, “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.” (Prov 18:22).
Ministry
Before Covid-19 (2015-2019)
Our first assignment from God soon after I arrived in KK was to minister to a cancer patient. It lasted for a few months until she passed away. We visited her almost every day, encouraging her with God’s words, hymns, and prayers. She and her daughter’s family attended the ministry’s inauguration service. It was before her condition worsened. We invited family and friends to attend the inauguration service. Those who are Christians did not continue to attend our church, as they are already settled in other churches.
In the early days, we also had the opportunity to minister to an autistic child who is the cancer patient’s grandson. We started helping him every Friday when he was not yet 5 years old. This continued until he went to a normal primary school. Now he is in secondary school and he comes with his brother to the Sunday School once in a while. The paternal grandmother of the autistic boy worshipped regularly with us in the beginning. She stopped when her knees deteriorated, and the doctor told her not to climb the stairs.
We do door-to-door evangelism in the nearby neighbourhood to invite people to church. Although very few people responded, we thank God for the few families that opened their doors to us. With the contacts we have, we visit them on rotation. Early in the ministry, a student from a nearby college came to our worship. She found us through the tract we gave to her friend who was not a Christian. The student came from the interior of Sabah. At the weekends when she was in KK, she would worship with us. She also joined our weekly Bible study. However, she stopped after graduating from the college.
We thank God for every opportunity to minister to the people He sent us. There were many Sundays when only two of us were worshipping God. Sometimes, it was discouraging, but I would always remind myself that it is about the work of God, and not the number of people. Indeed, God was gracious to always keep us busy with people to minister to. There was a widow we met during evangelism who had four grandchildren. Two of her granddaughters came from a broken home. The widow attends a charismatic church. We thank God that she was willing to let her grandchildren attend our Sunday Service and Sunday School. Occasionally, she would join our worship. Later I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with her son-in-law. He is from an idol-worshipping family. For a while, he and his young family attended our Sunday Service. On one visitation, he prayed the sinner’s prayer after a short Bible study. Unfortunately, he denied his faith afterwards. To date, the widow has moved further from the church and two of her grandchildren come once in a while, especially on special occasions, such as children’s programmes, birthday celebrations, and Christmas. The other two granddaughters from the broken home were relocated to Johor to live with their paternal grandmother.
Another family we met through evangelism was the two sisters’ family. The youngest girl was not yet born when we met them. The two sisters have an elder sister. The eldest sister attended our church frequently with her younger sister when she was in secondary school in KK. Later she was transferred to Sibu’s secondary school. Before she left for Sibu, she wanted to receive Christ. Su Shiang prayed the sinner’s prayer with her. Although we had introduced her to the preacher and his wife of the Sibu B-P Church, she had only attended once there. Now she is married to a non-Christian. We can only pray that God would have mercy on her. The second sister and the youngest sister have also prayed the sinner’s prayer. They attend Sunday Service and Sunday school regularly until today. To encourage them to read the Bible, I have started giving Bible quizzes after the worship. The second sister had completed the book of Matthew. This year, I have also started the youngest sister on the test for the book of Mark. Sometimes, we also had visitors from various places attending our worship. This summarises our work before Covid-19.
During and After Covid-19
(2020-2024)
During the Covid-19 lockdown, our work was greatly affected. Initially, all our in-person activities came to a halt except for the online Bible study. We could not do evangelism and visitation. People were unable to attend the church. Although we still had our worship service, there were only two of us. During the lockdown, we began recording the worship service messages and uploading them to YouTube. The restriction of Covid-19 was completely lifted in May 2022. Before that, some of the restrictions had been loosened, so the children could attend the church. Despite Covid, the Lord had ensured we could still have our in-person gathering during special occasions, such as church anniversary service, Good Friday service, Easter Sunday, and Christmas service. During that time, we also helped the children with their studies as it was hard for children to study online.
In May 2023, a Korean missionary Rev Kim and his wife came to visit our ministry. They are from the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Korea. They are evangelistic-minded and joined us for evangelism and visitation on Tuesday. This encouraged us, as we had been doing evangelism ourselves all these years. When Su Shiang’s father came over to KK for the long term, we were thinking of having the Lord’s Supper. We asked Rev Kim about his belief in the Lord’s Supper. Thankfully his position is the same as ours, that the Lord’s Supper is not just a symbol but a means of grace for believers to renew our devotion to Christ who died for us. So, we invited him to conduct the Lord’s Supper for us monthly since October 2023. Our previous Lord’s Supper was conducted by Rev Koa in October 2016.
In January 2024, we had our first Gospel rally, helped by Rev Kim’s team from Korea. The Filipino woman we met in the evangelism came with her two children. Her husband, who is not a believer, came also during the dinner. Now she and her two children attend the church quite regularly. This summarises our work during and after Covid-19.
We thank God that Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo and his family visited us in early September 2024. It was a great encouragement to us. Thank God for the fellowship we had in Christ. Now there is a new challenge for our church. A pentecostal church moved in next door in early August 2024. Their noise level affected our worship, though we have told them twice to lower their volume. We pray that God will help them to be more considerate. We believe that nothing is by chance and God had allowed them to be here for a reason. We need the wisdom from the Lord to deal with them. This is the summary of the story of KKBPC. Please remember this ministry in your prayers. God bless.
Ed: True Lifers are encouraged to attend KKBPC for worship if they are in Kota Kinabalu on the Lord’s Day. Pastor will be there on 16 March 2025 for its 10th Anniversary Thanksgiving (DV).
Church Address: Lot 33-2, 2nd Floor, Block C, Bundusan Commercial Centre, Jalan Bundusan, Penampang, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
Email: kkbiblepresbyterianchurch@gmail.com.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KKBPChurch.
