Malaysian Nurses Christian Fellowship
Newsletter
November 2008
For Private Circulation only
Our Mission: To encourage Christian nurses in their Christian walk and witness.
A NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE
I have been to four continents, but not Africa. So it was
exciting to represent Malaysia NCF as a delegate at the
NCF International Quadrennial Conference and 50th.
Anniversary celebration in Nigeria from 14-18
September, 2008.
countries, the national representatives, in national
costumes, came forward carrying their national flags,
accompanied by loud applause from the 400
participants, 300 of whom were from African
countries.
After almost 16 hours of flying time, it was a relief to
arrive at our destination. Smiling faces and words of
welcome greeted us as we arrived at the airport in
Abujah, the federal capital of Nigeria. Sam Mbok,
the president of the Fellowship of Christian Nurses
(FCN) was among those who received us: Goh Swee
Eng (Singapore), Alicia Banas (Philippines) and I.
Conference programme
From Abujah to Jos
We stayed overnight in Abujah at a retreat center and
were driven the next morning to JOS, where the
conference was held. I was privileged to travel in
Sam’s car with Kamalini (NCFI president), David
Parfitt (NCFI Administrator) and his wife, Barbara.
Another group had to squeeze into a van.
The journey by road took 3-4 hours. Along the way,
there were women and youths carrying trays on their
heads selling bananas, yam, maize, oranges and
peanuts. Whenever the car slowed down, the traders
would rush towards us to sell their produce. Roadside
markets and shops gave the impression that people in
that area were mainly petty traders and farmers.
The conference was held at the Hill Station Hotel in
JOS, the state capital located on a plateau in central
Nigeria.
Interestingly,
the
early Christian
missionaries gave the town the name JOS, an
acronym for “Jesus Our Saviour”.
The weather was cool with occasional rainfall. The
grounds at the hotel were spacious with lovely trees,
shrubs and rockeries. I occupied a single room with a
king-size bed meant for the average Nigerian.
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony was a
event, graced by the presence
Plateau State, Da David Jonah
pastor. During the roll-call
grand and colourful
of the Governor of
Jang, who is also a
of NCFI member
The overall conference programme was well planned
and balanced. Each day began with personal/group
bible studies and a time of praise and worship before
the bible expositions. The plenary sessions addressed
the theme of the conference, “Strengthened to Serve:
a Christian response to global health needs”.
Participants were given a choice of concurrent
professional workshops and seminars in the
afternoons. The evening sessions included an NCFI
evening, an African evening and the NCFI 50th.
birthday celebration.
Bible expositions
The bible expositions on ‘Biblical values in
professional contexts’ spoke to the hearts of nurses.
Gbile Akanni, the bible expositor, made some
pertinent points regarding nursing as a profession.
From Exodus 1:12-22, we learnt that midwifery was
a recognized office in biblical times. As nurses and
midwives, God has placed us at the gates of life
where people enter life (at birth) and exit to eternity
(at death). In these two states, people are helpless and
we are in a position to do good or evil. The Egyptian
midwives feared God and didn’t kill the male babies
as ordered by the king. Do we have the fear of God
in our hearts when performing our duties? Who are
we when nobody is around? God, who is invisible,
sees. He rewarded the midwives because they feared
Him.
From the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke
10:25-37) Gbile reminded us that nursing is a
profession of compassion. Nurses are positioned to
show compassion to our patients (‘our neighbour’).
Let us not be like the priest who passed by on the
other side – uncaring, irresponsible and negligent
towards the helpless victim, but rather, let us be like
the Samaritan who deliberately came to the man, had
compassion and was equipped to render first aid.
However, if Christian nurses have left Jerusalem (the
holy city, God’s presence) and are going down to
Jericho (the city of sin, the Jericho of this world), like
the priest and Levite, they will be in no position to
help others with the healing balm of God.
In addressing the many challenges that nurses face,
Gbile stated that only a nurse who has Christ in her
heart could make a difference. From 1 Thessalonians
2:3-10 he reminded us that patients entrust their lives
and welfare to us, and God entrusts us with the
gospel in action. With such a trust, we are to carry
out our work as pleasing God, not men. This means
expressing the love of Christ, touching lives and
being a servant. To enable us to face such challenges,
we need to be strengthened in the inner man so that
Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith (Eph. 3:14-17).
what Christian nurses have been and are doing in
various parts of the world.
50th. Anniversary celebration
A special presentation highlighting 50 years of NCFI
brought back wonderful memories and thanksgiving
to God for His faithfulness. I was one of four
veterans who went on stage to receive a souvenir.
The others were Mary Thompson, Pat Ashworth and
Micah Tswabki. We sang “Happy Birthday” to NCFI
around a huge cake that could be cut into 400 pieces.
As participants came forward to have a look at the
cake, there was song and dance. The Africans really
know how to light up a party!
Personal bible studies on Integrity of heart (Psalm
51), Stewardship (Matthew 25:1-30), Servant-hood
(John 13:1-20) and God’s chosen people (1 Peter 2:125) complemented the challenges of the bible
expositions.
Plenary sessions
In the plenary sessions, we were given an overview
of the challenges facing health practitioners in the
21st. century, especially in Africa. The statistics for
HIV/AIDS, malaria, and maternal mortality are
mind-boggling. Poverty is the root cause of many
other problems such as malnutrition, infectious
diseases, tuberculosis, illiteracy and violence. These
problems are compounded by natural and man-made
disasters such as war, corruption, exploitation and a
‘useless’ government. What can nurses do under
such circumstances? It is natural to feel helpless and
hopeless, but every Christian nurse has the resources
to make a difference. Even though it is like a drop in
the ocean, the participants were challenged to equip
themselves with competencies to care, to engage in
advocacy,
counseling,
health
education,
entrepreneurship and evidence-based research in
order to know what to do and how. Together, nurses
could organize themselves into corporate groups with
the purpose to change and do something on the
ground. God has called us to love and compassion
and He will give us the strength and power to change
if we are willing and obedient.
Workshops & seminars
The concurrent professional workshops and seminars
offered a wide range of subjects from which
participants were free to choose their topics of
interest. It was a time of sharing and learning about
Regional & international forums
‘Business meetings’ in the form of regional and
international forums were held to review the previous
years’ activities, to thank God for His work in
various national NCFs and to pray for future
directions. We renewed our commitment to
communicate more regularly, to work together and to
share resources.
On the last day, we went for an outing to the zoo and
museum. The organizing committee who were
mostly male nurses (with 6 staff workers), worked
hard to ensure that the conference ran smoothly. We
accepted the occasional electricity power cuts and
water disruption as part of our Nigerian experience.
The joy of Christian fellowship and being one in the
body of Christ in the nursing profession despite our
cultural differences outweighed the physical
inconveniences. We came away from the conference
re-affirming our calling as Christian nurses to make a
difference wherever God has placed us.
Chan Kum Sum
We wish all our members
a joyous Christmas and
a meaningful New Year
“I bring you good news of great joy that will
be for all the people. Today in the town of
David a Saviour has been born to you; he is
Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10&11)
COMING EVENT!
NCF Christmas Gathering
Date: 12 December 2008 (Friday)
Time: 6.30pm
Venue: P J Gospel Hall,
1-A Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya
Programme includes singing, door gifts,
games, sharing & refreshments
For more information, please call:
Ho Pei-Shi (0162217501) or
Angeline Koay (0122267735)
SENDING MONEY TO MNCF
To facilitate the payment of subscription and
gifts to MNCF, you may now credit to:
MNCF Public Bank Account No:
4394156111
Please send the bank slip to:
Lee Hong Lean
15 Jalan 5/39
46000 Petaling Jaya.
For further enquiries, please contact Hong Lean
Tel No. 017-632 7335
A ‘NEAR-DEATH’ EXPERIENCE
Hi, I am Angeline Koay, currently working in Nurses
@ Home. I have been a nurse for nearly 9 years. I
want to share my ‘near death’ experience.
I had a bad accident on 9th April 2008 while I was on
my way for private nursing in Puchong. I took the
Shah Alam Hicom road that day from Kesas. It was
8.30pm when I was on the Shah Alam road, waiting
to turn right. As there was a long queue, I decided to
put on my hand brakes. Within a few seconds, an
Iswara car rammed into me from behind, and the
impact made my car knock the front car, and the
front car knocked another car. The impact was so bad
that I initially thought there were two cars knocking
me from behind, as I was thrown forward and
backward twice. So I had a little concussion. Due to
the impact, my seat was flattened and I slid to the
front near the pedals. For a moment, I thought I
would be squashed and people would need to pull me
out; I even thought I was in heaven!
When I opened my eyes, my seat belt was above me.
I slowly went back to my seat, sat for a while and
quickly turned off the car engine. Then the front car
driver came and knocked on my window asking me
whether I was alright. When I got out of my car, I
noticed that it was really badly damaged. I asked the
Indian man who rammed into me, what happened. He
said he was a diabetic and had a sudden blackout for
a moment. He himself didn’t know what happened. I
had bad bruises on both my shins and my neck
couldn’t turn the next day. When I did a CT scan, it
was normal - just a muscle pull. It is really by God’s
grace that I am still alive today and moving around. I
was really afraid.
So, a lesson that I learned is that accidents can
happen, no matter how careful we are. God may be
testing us to see how much we appreciate HIM.
When I got out of the car, I kept thanking God that
I’m alive and walking about. I was able to think and
figure out whom to call first. I did not panic even
though I was shocked. Let us be thankful and
contented with what we have. Life is precious.
There is only one life
It will soon be past
Only what’s done for God
will last.
GRACE ONG WRITES:
October will be a busy month for me. The seniors
started meeting again after the summer break. We
had our annual singing competition on 3rd October
for the old folks from the 3 areas.
On 13th October, we will celebrate the first
anniversary of our Stroke Support Group. It will be a
family occasion. They have been faithfully meeting
every week. I have also included them in the social
gatherings of our seniors.
Praise God for the many opportunities to continue the
anti abortion talks in high schools. Whenever I teach
in the high schools and look at the young beautiful
faces of the teenagers, my heart is filled with love for
them. They need to learn the right values of life.
Because of their culture, people do not talk about
abortion. What I teach is very new to them. I am
impressed with the students; they listen very
attentively to my talks. Through the talks, I testify
that our God created life. Man did not originate from
evolution. The theory of evolution is commonly
taught in schools. Pray that many will want to know
the creator God.
The Mongolian population is young - 70% are young
people and children. Teaching life skills to young
people are important tasks. Christian parenting to
bring up their young in the fear of the Lord is also a
much-needed ministry. I would like to invite people
who can teach these topics to visit next year. I will be
happy to help organize these seminars.
Thanks for being the team to support and pray for
me.
Prayer Request
1) Salvation of the stroke survivors and senior
groups.
2) An increase in the stroke support group
members.
3) Open doors to teach anti abortion talks in high
schools and churches.
4) Good health and protection.
Prayer Points from Yeoh Lay Bee






For the peace and stability in Thailand.
For revival and transformation.
B.S. (Barn Sukniran) committee – unity and
wisdom in decision making.
B.S. family –where Jesus Christ is Lord in
each life; for good health.
- Fon and Muk in their studies.
Former girls - Nong will return to God.
- For protection for Fa in Japan and she
will find fellowship with believers.
Home School – Children and their
mothers/teachers will be blessed in
different ways according to their needs.
NCF International & PACEA Region
News & Prayer Points

Barbara White & Tove Giske, the new NCFI
President & Vice-President – for wisdom to
lead the organization.

Goh Swee Eng (Singapore), Chieko
Fukushima (Japan) and Dawn Capaque
(Philippines) – to be effective NCFI board
members representing PACEA.

Planning of the 2009 Staff & Leaders’
Training to be held in Bali, Indonesia.

Planning of the 2010 Regional Conference to
be held in Japan.

The NCFI-PACEA region community health
project in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The formation of NCF in Indonesia.

God’s blessings on those who read “The
Nurses’ Bible”, a new publication of NCF
Australia.
The October-December NCFI Prayer Guide is
available online at www.ncfi.org
5) Salvation of my family in Penang
(Extracted from Grace’s October newsletter)
MNCF Newsletter, April 2009
MNCF Newsletter via E-mail
If you have news, testimonies or words of
encouragement for nurses, please send them to:
kumsumchan@yahoo.com by 1 March 2009.
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