Malaysia

1
Malaysia
OMF International (UK)
country profile
2
geography

• land and sea area 329,750 square km

3
population

• Population 23,522,482 (2004 estimate, CIA world
  factbook) UK 60,094,648
• Density 71.33 per square km UK 245/square km

4
religion

• Muslim 58
• Buddhist Chinese religions 21.59
• Christian 9.21
• Hindu 5
• Non-religious/other 4.5
• Animist 1.2
• Bahai 0.4
• Sikh 0.1
• Operation World

5
history

• 1400s a Muslim state (previously small
  independent kingdoms)
• Portuguese, Dutch and British settlers
• British control Penang (1786), Singapore (1819)
  and Malacca (1824)
• British brought Chinese and Indian people to work
  in tin mines
• East Malaysia dominated by Brunei until 1888,
  when the area became a British protectorate
• Occupied by Japan in Second World War
• 1963 total independence from Britain
• Today a federation of 13 states with
  democratically elected Federal Parliament.
  Monarch is chosen by rotation from among the
  hereditary sultans.

6
history of christianity

• 1800s British rule meant that churches were
  planted (largely for expat settlers and
  government servants)
• East Malaysia Protestant missions working with
  animist peoples
• 1970s missionaries had to leave change in
  government policy
• Malaysian Church has thrived. In east Malaysia
  there has been significant church growth among
  ethnic minority peoples
• Today increasing number of Malaysian Christians
  working as cross-cultural missionaries

7
OMF work in malaysia

• OMF has a continuing concern for the growth and
  development of the church
• We teach and train at theological colleges
• We encourage the development of Malaysian prayer
  fellowships around the world and provide prayer
  fuel
• We maintain close links with church leaders

8
opportunities with OMF

• Theological lecturing

9
pray for the country

• An extremist Muslim minority has pressed for
  radical Islamic reforms and the formation of an
  Islamic state. This has brought stress to the
  whole country and an acceleration of Muslim
  missionary activities
• Erosion of religious freedoms
• Some Christians forced to leave the country
• Continued ethnic disputes
• Industrialisation and materialism
• Changed lifestyles, migration, loss of family ties

10
pray for the church

• Pray for the lifting of restrictions on church
  meetings
• Malays who have become Christians have suffered
  social ostracism and the loss of legal rights,
  privileges, and jobs some have had to leave the
  country
• Courageous leadership is needed
• Pray for unity to stand up to pressures
• Pray for the removal of the ban on around 60
  Christian books and of the Bible in Indonesian
  (very similar to Malay)
• Pray for more church leaders in East Malaysia

11
pray for evangelism

• Christian witness to Malays is illegal, but
  considerable effort is expended to induce tribal
  and Chinese peoples to become Muslim. The
  constitutional guarantee of religious freedom is
  ignored
• Pray for Malaysians studying overseas to find
  Christ and to maintain their faith back home
• Pray for increased vision for cross-cultural
  mission
• Muslims are missionaries too