15 Mar 2021
Around 93% of Malaysian Chinese families speak variants of the Mandarin language, including Mandarin itself. With this also being the language of instruction in Chinese vernacular schools and remains to be widely used both in business and daily life, the need for faithful Chinese word ministry has long outweighed the supply of Chinese word ministers. Meeting this need has always been a part of CERC’s ministry plans.
Our latest apprentice, Ruth Voon Yan Wen, is among our first few Mandarin-speaking apprentices. Although Ruth was a pious Christian since young, it wasn’t until her university days that she truly encountered the God of the Bible — through reading and studying Scripture. Convicted of her sins and moved by the gospel to proclaim it to the world, Ruth began serving actively in university Christian Fellowships, evangelizing and discipling others and committed to CERC as a member.
Fast forward 7 years, Ruth has now taken up the call to be trained and tested through our CMA programme. CMA is a 2-year programme run in CERC that aims to test and train individuals to assess their suitability for full-time paid ministry. In the long run, Ruth’s desire is to be a full-time paid minister serving our Mandarin-speaking friends, brothers, and sisters, through CERC’s Chinese ministry.
“It was in 2014 when I first heard CERC’s sermon series on Romans — that’s when I saw how God was working through salvation history, and that was also where I understood His plan to call people to His Son. Since then, I have been fully convicted and committed to being on mission; to be a labourer for Jesus in a plentiful harvest. CERC’s faithful preaching has prepared me for CMA by growing my faith in Christ, my hope in the face of suffering, and my love for the church. This has taught me to read the Bible and has provided opportunities for me to serve in word ministries. Therefore, I see CMA as part of God’s calling — to be tested and trained before heading to theological college — all this in order to minister faithfully. Do pray that I will persevere through challenges ahead, to grow in my understanding of Scripture, and to learn well in this period of ministry training. “
Find out more about Ruth’s testimony of how she came to Christ and her conviction to be trained and tested as an apprentice at her blog.
You can support Ruth by contributing to CERC’s General Fund & keeping her in your prayers. Our prayer as a church is that she will persevere through CMA & use her talents wisely to build God’s kingdom here in Malaysia.
