Speaking to a packed All Saints cathedral in downtown Kota Kinabalu, in the Diocese of Sabah, the soon to retire bishop praised God for the newly ordained priests, their families who had raised them well, their commitment to Christ and to His mission to spread the gospel in and beyond the borders of Malaysia.

"In the context of our solemn and vibrant worship to our Almighty God we gather to ordain eight of our dear brothers in the Lord into the Sacred Ministry. Two of them will be made Deacons and the other six will be priested. What a joy and an encouragement this is for all of us! We praise and thank God for His special blessing by adding these eight brothers to our Church today," intoned Yong.

"In this celebration, we give thanks to God for the offering of the lives of these eight brothers; they will be the constant encouragers and comrades of our workers in ministry. On this joyful, solemn and auspicious day the word God has given me to bring to all of us in this ordination service is Call! These letters, which spell "C-a-l-l", stand for four key ingredients in our Ordination - Christ, Apostles, Leaders, and Life."

"Christ is the centre and the foundation of our ministry. We are called and chosen by Him to enter into His Ministry. The Old Testament lesson reminds us of the Call of God to Isaiah. Isaiah was a regular worshipper in the temple just like many of us in our Churches today. I praise and thank God for all of our faithful and regular worshippers in our churches. But it was in the year King Uzziah died when a national crisis struck home vividly that Isaiah received a vision from God. Suddenly he was face to face with the real presence of God. God spoke to him through a wonderful encounter. Isaiah's spiritual eyes were opened, and he testified."

The archbishop said the clear grasp of the truth of Jesus' true person and real identity is a basic spiritual quality every Christian and worker must have. "This cannot be obtained by studies and training alone, not even in the best theological institutions. It is a deep, deep spiritual relationship with the Lord of the Church, Jesus Himself."

The archbishop said Christ himself calls, chooses and ordains everyone to be His ministers in His church. "It was God's calling that initiated Isaiah's very profound, outstanding and long prophetic ministry. It was Jesus' calling that fueled the ministry of the early Apostles. These men turned the world upside down with the dynamic gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ! In a similar way, our eight brothers have been touched by our Lord. They have been called by the Lord of the Harvest. Today they have answered Jesus' call to them to serve."

The archbishop said their call was also apostolic. "Apostles mean those who are being sent. God calls us! He gives us His vision, His mission and His message. To be an apostle means we hear His call."

"I praise and thank God that our Church is an Apostolic Church. We are a mobile people of God. We always say to God: "Here I am, send me!" When a Church loses this vision of apostleship, when a Church begins to settle too much for comfort, the Church will begin to decay."

Yong praised those who had a clear apostolic vision of the church "in our history".

"Many have been sent to us. They have labored hard and well among us. Their fruitful ministry has made our Church what it is today."

Yong said that in the last 20 years he had learned what it meant to God when He calls and He sends His servants to mission at home and overseas. "We have widened the base for the full-time ministry. We have learned to make full use of our ordained ministers. We have opened our door of ministry to lay ministers as well. We have Pastors, Evangelists, Youth Evangelists, Non-Stipendiary Pastors and Lay Readers who are not ordained but they play a full part in the ministry of our Church."

"My dear brothers in Christ, your leadership is to build the Kingdom of God for the glory of God. He must always increase and you must learn to decrease day by day. The proud and arrogant will have no place in such leadership. Only those who have a big heart, deep faith and humble spirit that will be a successful leader in this partnership with God."

"Today, at this Ordination Service, God invites you to go and give life to many on His behalf through the ministry of our Church. No other job, work or ministry is more noble and important than this."

FOOTNOTE. This reporter had the privilege of visiting a number of churches in Kota Kinabalu. Some were traditional parishes in fairly prosperous suburbs; others were in rented space in downtown shopping malls like D'Stream Centrepoint that focuses on passing youth in the malls. Evangelists and counselors are on hand to hear the cries of young people caught aimlessly in modern culture and drugs.

Another parish called Heritage Anglican Church meets on the second floor of a shop lot, the equivalent of an American strip mall. Here a vibrant young pastor has two full time youth workers who know music and can lead young people to Christ. Logos Anglican Church meets on the ground floor of a shop lot in another part of town where a young pastor and his wife home school their only child, and he spends his days reaching out to the local community.

"We spare no effort to reach people for Christ," said the archbishop. "We use all and any means to bring people into a saving knowledge of our Lord. We go where the people are; we don't expect them to come to us. We have a message to tell the people of Malaysia with all its myriad languages and cultures and we will take it wherever it needs to go and in a way they can understand. The timeless story of Jesus needs to be told over and over to whosoever will."

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