Growing by the Margins

From 24 Sep

MMP Seminar: 'Winning By Love, Leading By Example' - Sep 2009

"What is so funny here is that this policeman . . . he is also our caterer."

This coming after one of Malaysia's finest pulled into camp in a little red Proton full of nasi,ikan, and ayam.

While the food was carried from car to table the eyes of the sixty or so Nepalese men present darted from badge to ground to one another. As migrant workers in a foreign land, some of whom were present with a questionable visa status, these men were all too familiar with the temperamental whims of government officials. In a country ruled with an iron fist, many have had encounters with individuals in power far less charitable or gracious than our cop turned caterer. . .

As for him, after depositing the food and puffing on a cigarette, he and his Proton went puttering back to the kampung and off into the night without a moment's pause.

The Migrant Ministry Partnership (MMP) is a joint effort sponsored by local Lutheran, Baptist, and Brethren congregations. Their work has two main areas of focus. First, they provide social services and advocacy for migrants and immigrants (primarily from Nepal) who now live and work in the greater Klang Valley, assisting them with classes, training, fellowship opportunities, and legal advice.

Given the way in which these young men (they are almost always young and almost always men) are at times used and discarded by the Malaysian economic engines and service industries, invited into the country and then left hanging in legal limbo as employers fail or refuse to file the necessary paperwork for visas and work permits, this is a life-giving ministry to an incredibly vulnerable population.

Secondly, and they might say more importantly, the MMP functions as a vehicle for evangelism and bringing the gospel to peoples and populations far beyond the national borders of Malaysia. While participation in Christian worship is not compulsory for those receiving assistance, many are curious about the faith that inspires such acts of love and in following that line of inquiry find their lives to be transformed.

As one leader of the organization told me, himself a student from Nepal, "Hindu strangers come to this predominantly Muslim land and in the process find Christ is there for them. This is a true 21st Century Miracle."

Using KL's location as one of the crossroads of Asia, a handful of local congregations are having a direct impact on the expansion of the Church all throughout the region. As these young men return to their countries of origin, they become evangelists in their own lands - places like Nepal and Myanmar that are all but closed to outside missionaries.

While in doing so they face many challenges, not the least of which is the reaction of their own families, if the increasing number of students coming from those countries to pursue theological training in Malaysia is any indicator, they are certainly part of a growing Christian community.

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Thinking about folks back at home in the states, I'm wondering what lessons we might be able to learn from our partners here in SouthEast Asia. Where do our interests align and what opportunities exist for mutual collaboration in this expressing of faith through both deed and word? What of the strangers in our own midst? How might the earth be reformed if we sought out and attended to the migrants and immigrants on the margins of our own society?