Family
FGT NEWSLETTER FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY • January 2009
INSIDE
Moving forward in Faith
in 2009...................................2
Meeting the Needs................3
CAREmart..............................4
Workers’ Conference............5
True meaning of Christmas...
................................................5
365 Camp...............................6
My Hope.................................7
(Personal Testimonies)
Kids Alive:
VBS Japanese experience
(Responsibility).......................8
Pastor’s Address By Eu Hong Seng
M any Christians have a flawed under- Genesis 6 tells the tragic story of the de-
standing of faith. They think for God cline of humanity into sin. But God’s grace
to answer their prayers they need “great triumphed – He saved Noah (Gen 6:8).
faith”. This is not entirely true. The key is In Noah, his faith manifested itself in real
the object of our faith, not just how much works. James 2:26 says, “For as the body
or little is our faith. A person can have little without the spirit is dead, so faith without
faith to walk on thick ice but he is safe; an- works is dead also.”
other person can have great faith to walk on
thin ice and he still drowns. Noah built an ark be-
We must ensure that the (Hebrews 11:6) cause he believed in God.
object of our faith is the But without faith it is Every swing of his axe
Lord Jesus Christ and His impossible to please Him, said “faith.” Every felled
Word, not ourselves. for he who comes to God tree declared “faith”. Ev-
must believe that He is, ery strike of his hammer
In our everyday life you and that He is a rewarder proclaimed “faith”.
exercise faith without re- of those who diligently
alizing it. You get in the seek Him.7 By faith Noah, Faith will make you
car and drive on faith. You being divinely warned of work today. Faith is not
don’t know if you’re going things not yet seen, moved something for the past;
to make it to your destina- with godly fear, prepared for “just trusting” in Je-
tion alive or not, but you an ark for the saving of his sus for salvation and not
go. You have faith that the household, by which he trusting Him for anything
food you buy that is grown condemned the world else. It means that every
by strangers is not harm- and became heir of the day you continue to trust
ful, so you eat it. You have righteousness which is Him and that you contin-
faith that the doctors you according to faith. ue to manifest the fruit of
see are competent, so you your faith: caring, shar-
put yourself in their hands. ing, witnessing, helping,
If you did not have faith, giving, performing good
if you did not trust others and act on that works, etc.
trust, you wouldn’t be able to drive, eat,
or get help in times of sickness. Faith has You cannot dispute that faith is vitally
practical expressions. important in the life of the Christian. It is by
faith that you are saved; you are justified;
Yet, so many believers have so little faith cleansed, and look forward to the return of
in God. I say this because I am hard pressed Jesus. Faith is where you please God, and
to find evidences of their faith. We see that live your present life in dependence upon
faith made Noah work for God. One of the Him.
evidences of faith as gleaned from Heb The faith that saved you also requires
11:7 is that faith works for God. you to have manifestations of it by way of
(Turn to the next page)
 2 Moving forward in Faith in 2009 FAMILY Jan 2009
(Continued from page 1)

works (Eph 2:9). Without the expression of real and practical faith, your
I would like to ask you these questions: “What has faith spiritual life would be very lethargic - maybe even dead?
changed in your life? What are the evidences of faith in Let’s enter 2009 with faith!
your life? Is faith growing in your life?”

Moving forward in Faith in 2009

By CHAN SAI CHOK personally experienced how God solid foundation of a daily personal
blesses in return when I increased relationship with Him. As we do it,

T o attempt great things for God,
we need great faith and must
take positive steps to see the plan
unfold other than just sitting down
to pray. I believe God will give us
necessary skills, resources, support
network and strategies if we dare to
move forward in any faith venture.
We require confidence to make big
steps forward and this confidence
needs to be built up through small
steps of success.
For example, FGT members who
have given RM10K for Jericho land
purchase, should now attempt to
give 10 times or 100 times more for
the EDC or Hebron project. I have
my giving for various church proj-
ects. I have seen how God fulfilled
His promises in Malachi 3:10 for my
business and personal life when I
gave in faith.
We know that God is trustworthy.
He is absolutely sovereign over
every event in the universe, and
He exercises that sovereignty in an
infinite wise and loving way for our
own good. We can trust God. He
will never fail us nor forsake us. The
question is whether you are trusting
Him fully NOW?
To grow in our ability to trust God
in times of difficulties, we must lay a
depending upon the enabling power
of His Holy Spirit, we will be able
to profess more and more, that “ I
CAN TRUST GOD” and am willing
to move forward in faith. God cannot
work miracles for us if we choose to
do nothing. Everyday is a miracle in
progress.
Malachi 3: 10 : “Bring all the tithes
into the storehouse, that there may
be food in My house, and try Me
now in this, “Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the win-
dows of heavens, and pour out for
you such blessing, that there will not
be room enough to receive it.”

FLASHBACK
Sunrise Service on 1st Jan 2009

The prayer theme for FGT in 2009 is ‘The Year of Faith’. Breakfast served after service
Many gathered to pray for the church.
FAMILY Jan 2009
Meeting the Needs of the Hungry
By KATHY LIANG
O n 12th October 2008, FGT
Manila (the sixth church to be
planted within the year), was inau-
gurated at Las Pinas, a small city
located within Metro Manila in the
Philippines. The church has been set
up to reach out and meet the needs
of some of the poorest and marginal-
ized groups of people in the sprawl-
ing suburb of Metro Manila. Pastor
Noel Dieazmo shares his personal
experience pioneering FGT’s out-
reach program in the Philippines.
“It’s been a great privilege to help
the church reach out to people who
are on the very heart of our Lord
Jesus with the Gospel. But when
people are hungry and all they can
think about is how to feed their hun-
gry families, they can get confused
about the love of God that we’re
sharing.
Full Gospel Tabernacle Manila
at Las Pinas
How can the God of love let them
suffer and be hungry? The church in
that kind of situation must respond
practically. We cannot ignore it, as
Jesus also did not ignore the needs
of the people. He did not just preach
and teach the Word of God, but He
fed, healed, and rebuked the cor-
rupt leaders of the temple. Jesus was
there to meet every need and even
correct every sin that could destroy
lives.
Since FGT began its feeding pro-
gram in Las Pinas on 25th October,
we have had the opportunity to not
only feed the children who come
from poor homes, but also to share
the Gospel with these kids and their
parents. We have been able to de-
velop deeper relationships with the
community and even do bible studies
with these families in their homes.
As a result of this outreach, we get
more than 70 worshippers show-
ing up for our Sunday services each
week!
Although we do struggle with
budget constraints to do this work,
God has somehow touched the hearts
of His people to provide the neces-
sary food and school supplies so far.
In fact, I find the church members
are now more committed and seri-
ous in serving. In November, we will
embark on another outreach program
whereby doctors and nurses will pro-
vide free consultation to the poor.
I praise God for giving us the
privilege of running these outreach
programs as I know by doing this,
the community in Las Pinas truly
will know that God is alive and loves
them in real and practical ways!”
Meanwhile, we also caught up with
Chin Chin, wife of Pastor Peter
Cung to find out more on how the
work of God is going at FGT Yan-
gon, Myanmar.
Q: How many children are you car-
ing for presently?
Chin Chin (C): We still have 25
children. They all stay with us in our
house and both Peter and I are like
parents to them. We try our best to
provide them with basic needs and
feed them with the word of God, and
Meeting the Needs 3
sometimes even teach them English.
Q: Do you still face problems with
the government authorities with
regard to your work?
C: Since we moved to a new place
within the same area, we have not
faced any problems with the authori-
ties. However, we still need to be
careful and build good rapport with
them so that they can understand our
Christian work.
Q: What’s the greatest challenge
faced in Bokale?
C: There are a lot of challenges.
We reach out to the poor who went
through Cyclone Nargis, many of
whom have lost their loved ones. We
offer listening ears to the survivors,
giving words of comfort and hope to
them, and try to find practical ways
to help them rebuild their lives and
homes. For example, by distributing
food supplies and installing a water
pump to provide fresh water for the
people. We help them because God
loves them and it has opened the
doors for us to share the gospel and
faithfulness of God.
Q: How can members of FGT sup-
port you?
C: Firstly, we need your prayer. Sec-
ondly, you can consider supporting
us financially so that the funds can
be used to continue this work in the
long term.
The children shelter in FGT Yangon.
(Turn to page 4)
4 CAREmart
CAREmart
By Tan Chin Chin
A s I write this, Caremart has been
in operations for 2 months! It
has been a very busy time getting
the shop stocked up, sourcing for
cheaper suppliers, looking for work-
ers, training workers, ironing hitches
in the computer system, checking
prices from hypermarkets/other mini
markets, testing the security system,
getting feedback, calling people to
take CNY orders, doing stock take
etc.
Have you visited Caremart?
Caremart needs the support of the
whole church to be successful. That
means you and me. Not just 10 or 20
people. Wouldn’t it be better to just
collect money every month and give
it to the poor? Pastor just needs to
make an announcement every month
for the collection. That would be
easy. In fact, that would also be more
convenient. Faster. More efficient.
More flexible. Less troublesome.
Less sweat.
(Photos continued from page 4)
FGT Yangon, Myanmar.
Except that most of us will then
be detached from the cause. We
will drop our money into the collec-
tion bag for ‘whatever it is that the
church needs the money for’. We
may not remember that there is this
family who is not doing well, this
person who just got retrenched, that
other person who needs 3 jobs to
make ends meet. FGT’s vision to do
good works is for everyone to take
a personal interest, feel the pinch
that the poor feels and chip in. “Sikit
sikit jadi bukit”. If each person chips
in a little bit, we would have more to
help the poor.
We have also talked about doing
relief work during disasters. With a
license to purchase controlled goods,
we have the capability to purchase
more rice than we can from shops.
Running Caremart gets us a step
closer to our mission of doing relief
work in the future.
More importantly, with a physical
presence, anyone can walk into the
shop and we have an opportunity to
reach out to the different groups of
people right in our neighborhood.
So how can you support Caremart?
There are so many ways:
• Volunteer your time to man the
shop. Volunteers help us minimize
cost so that more profit is channeled
for the poor.
• Help distribute flyers in the neigh-
bourhood.
• Share and ask your friends to buy
from Caremart.
• Ask if your office would purchase
their supplies from Caremart e.g.
25 children currently live
with Pastor Peter and
Pastor Chin Chin.
The 1st Water Baptism
Ceremony was conducted
on 8th Feb 09 with
Pastor Peter and Pastor
Wah Lok.
FAMILY Jan 2009
paper, milo, tea, coffee, toilet paper.
• Provide feedback through our
surveys.
• Give Caremart gift vouchers as
birthday gifts.
• Bless someone in need with Care-
mart gift vouchers instead of cash.
• ‘Lose’ your change i.e. donate your
remaining change to Caremart.
Finally, the
best way to
help if you
really want
to do good
works is to
CAREmart gift voucher
buy ALL
your
groceries from Caremart. We can-
not compete with the hypermarkets
when they are having a sale. Hyper-
markets sell some products at a loss
to attract customers who will buy
other items at a higher price. But
anyway, here’s the math. If you typi-
cally spend $200 a month on grocer-
ies, even if you have to pay 10%
more, that means $20. Why let $20
hinder you from doing good works?
So, pop by Caremart. We are open
8am-6pm daily. On Fridays, we
open till 8pm and on Sundays from
12:30pm-6pm. You can also order by
phone (8024-3501) and just pick up
your goods!
For those who are supporting us,
thank you so much!
Matthew 5:16 - Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see
your good works and glorify your
Father in heaven.
FAMILY Jan 2009
Strong Ties and Foundations
By YAM PHUI YEE
Nurturing godly friendships and
building a strong devotional life are
essential for every Christian. In the
Workers Conference on Nov 14,
speaker Tan Beng Teong encourages
us to develop godly friendships, like
Jonathan and David in the Bible.
“All God did was bringing Jonathan
into David’s life but they have to
cultivate the friendship,” says Beng
Teong. Godly friendships cannot
be built on law but on grace. Still,
we must use our words carefully to
avoid miscommunications, he adds.
Pastor Francis Gnanasekhar from
FGT Chennai then speaks on build-
ing a strong devotional life.
“Our spiritual strength is determined
True Meaning of Christmas
FGT’s annual Christmas Dinner
welcomed hundreds of families
for a special night of music and
worship on a wet Saturday night
on December 20. Yet again, it was
an event that was enjoyed by all
as there was plenty of good food,
music, warm fellowship and even
the Word of God. Here’s what some
FGTians and their guests who at-
tended the dinner had to say:
Tan Meng Yoe:
The performances
this year by Juwito
and Patrick were
wonderful, and the
kids danced admi-
Meng Yoe rably to the huge
crowd, and the
Hawaiian theme certainly added a
party atmosphere to the whole day.
I mean, how often do you see our
by the strength of our devotional
life,” he reminds us.
Many things may hinder our devo-
tional life - even our church ministry
and familiarity with the Bible, if we
are not careful - but we must build
a solid foundation and gain spiritual
strength to overcome the demonic
and worldly forces that oppose us.
Here’s how to do it:
1. Bible Reading: read it with devo-
tion; looking for new manna daily
rather than an occasional chunk of
‘cake’; read with a daily goal; asking
God to speak to us; read with a plan;
and read with an attitude of medita-
tion and prayer.
2. Prayer: set a time, place and list of
items to pray.
3. Worship: worshipping God daily
changes our personal life.
By KATHY LIANG
pastors in bright green with flowers
round their neck? Most of all, I en-
joyed dinner time with my friends
and guests because you know, it’s
just like one giant family dinner at
the ‘Church you can call Home!
Yap Chin Fui: I
was really quite
eager as this was
the first time my
mother accepted
my invitation.
I’m so glad I
Chin Fui invited her as
it opened the
opportunity for her to mingle with
my Christians friends such as Mrs.
Cheng, and my cell leader’s family.
The Christmas Dinner was great
as it helped my mother who is a
non-believer to recognize that the
true meaning of Christmas is about
“God” showing good will toward
Workers’ Conference 5
Pastor Noel Diezmo from FGT Ma-
nila and Pastor Peter Ngun Za Cung
from FGT Yangon share updates
about the outreach work they have
been doing in their communities:
from running feeding programme to
installing a water pump to provide
fresh water for the people. Tan Min
Ser from the English Ministry in
FGT Johor Baru requests for prayer
that God will bring an increase to
their congregation.
In closing, Pastor Hong Seng adds
that it is important for us to remem-
ber the vision of the church is to
plant churches, so it is our duty to
pray and encourage those on the
field. FGT is exploring the possibil-
ity of starting more churches both in
and out of Malaysia.
man. He did this through the singu-
lar act of sending His Son to us as
the Savior of the world.
Who knows! The Holy Spirit may
bless me with the greatest Christ-
mas gift of all -- the salvation of my
parents.
Mr Chong Ah Loon (Huai Yaw’s
Dad, non-believer): It was a great
night and the presentation was good
with fabulous food especially the
roast pork!
Huai Yaw’s Parents and Kids.
6 365 Camp FAMILY Jan 2009

365 Camp : A Place of Change

By CHIN CAE ME to find God, reconnecting with Him while for others, it
became simply a moment to learn to love ourselves for
365 Camp 2008, God is Able: Survive, Thrive or Revive, the first time.
was not just another camp, another gathering of teenag-
ers excited at the prospect of being away for four days in In the midst of fun, food and fellowship during the four
Port Dickson. We had come, excited and curious, to the days, there were also the still and quiet moments where
Place of Change. The campsite was different. The people many of us opened our hearts and minds to the Word of
were different. Our dorm-mates were different. But in God. When it was first announced that there would be
the end, we realized that The Place of Change wasn’t (optional) morning prayer everyday at 6 a.m.(!), laughs
about the campsite or the people after all – it simply was and gasps echoed through hall, but at our first morn-
the place where God was bringing us to, individually and ing prayer, there were about 60 people and as each day
as a 365 Student Ministry, to believe that God is indeed progressed, more and more came! It was amazing to see
Able to use us to change the world. youths, from the sleepy-eyed to the wide-awake, rising
Our camp speaker, Ps. Terry before it was light to pray. From the young to the (err)
Appel came with a message old, we brought our prayers before God, united.
to challenge, inspire and en-
courage. He asked us on the After this sojourn to the Place of Change , we look
first day: “Is Jesus enough forward to the great transformation and great things that
for you?” a phrase we will God will do in and through us in the year to come!
not easily forget. It was a
hard-hitting reminder that
Jesus is all we could ever
need. Ps. Terry helped us to
come to accept ourselves for
who we are, “be comfortable
in our own skins,” in his
words, because God loves
and accepts us – warts and
all. Then he challenged us
to believe that “God is Able” to work powerfully in us
and through us. For some, the altar calls became a time

FLASHBACK
FGT 28th Anniversary celebration on 4th Jan 2009

Cell leaders Lay Keng, Peng Lum,

Raymond and Abel step up to pray. Ps. Hock Huat leading prayer and
worship.

Hebron collection for 2009,

a good year ahead.
FGT Choir “The Voices”.
FAMILY Jan 2009
What does “MY HOPE” mean to me?
By JULIE TEOH
FGT once again held the My Hope
Christmas Outreach Program during
the Christmas season. This year, we
had 48 homes participating from the
English, Mandarin, Bahasa Malay-
sia, and Tamil works, with almost
300 people hearing the gospel mes-
sage. In total, 67 committed their
lives to the Lord during this outreach
season, 27 of which were directly as
a result of My Hope Program. Let’s
see what ‘My Hope’ means to some
of our fellow FGT’ians:
Esther Tan: “It’s a good opportunity
to invite people to hear the gospel
during Christmas time... in a more
relaxed, informal, and cozy family
environment... especially for non-
Christian friends who may not be
as open to attending church directly
yet.”
Bernard Tan: “The video shown for
this year’s My Hope program offers
a good and meaningful story and
testimony. The localized content is
more effective because people will
be able to identify with it more
easily.
From left : Esther Tan, Sarah Tan and
Bernard Tan.
The My Hope program enables the
entire church, and every church
member, not just the leaders, to
participate together as a family in
reaching out to the lost and also in
helping to hosting the event. It’s not
just the leaders but everyone can
MY HOPE 7
participate and be a part of it. It’s a
‘family thing’. It is also more effec-
tive because some non-Christians
may not be so comfortable in a
crowd, but they may be more open in
a home setting.”
(This is Bernard & Esther’s second
time participating in the My Hope
Program, the first time last year as
hosts, and the second time this year
in helping at the event hosted by one
of their cell members.)
Sarah Tan: “We ordered pizza in From left : Judith and Piao
and after a time of ice-breaker games
and watching the DVD, Ps Jenny Judith Chan: “Bringing friends
shared a testimony and gave an in- together during Christmas is a good
formal altar call. It’s a good program idea. It’s a blessing to be host, to
to have because the movie is easy to open our home, and bless others.”
follow and helps people understand
why it’s great to be a Christian.” Khoo Hsien Piao: “Sharing my tes-
(This is Sarah’s first time participat- timony during the My Hope program
ing in the Children’s My Hope Pro- reminds me of where we’ve come
gram, hosted at Thomas & Christi- from and brings us back to the true
na’s home, and overseen by Ps Jenny meaning of Christmas.”
and Sis Tyan Min.)
(This young couple has participated
Yuen Yoke Ping: “The My Hope in the My Hope program four times,
program is a good start for non- twice as hosts last year, attending
believers. It’s about practical life. one held at another church member’s
There’s a movie that portrays similar home, and as hosts again this year.)
experiences that all of us may go
through... ie the difficulties of life...
and our own hard-heartedness, and
how God uses His power to soften
the hearts of people to come to know
him.”
Piao sharing his testimony at his home
during My Hope
Yoke Ping - first time participating
in My Hope
8 Kids Alive! FAMILY Jan 2009

VBS: The Japanese Experience

By CHEN CHEE HOONG
A total of 170 students
from Subang Jaya,
Puchong, Bukit Ke-
muning, Petaling Jaya,
Damansara and Kuala
Lumpur gathered in
Wisma Eagles from the
1-3 December
2008 for the
annual Vacation Bible School (VBS) programme
which caters to students from 5 to 12 years old.
Many of our children brought their friends from
school for VBS.
Our daily programme com-
prised of live worship sessions
by the Kids Alive! band, audio-
video presentations and quiz
times by our delightful Pilot
Jenny as well as sharing ses-
sions with Samurai-“teachers”
in the classrooms. In addition, once a day, the students
were treated to a humorous sketch by Mr. Terriyaki and
the flabbergasted Tour Guide. Many of their
antics on stage sent the students laughing in
stitches. In addition on Day 2, all the students
and teachers were whisked away to Sushi King
in Sunway Pyramid for an exclusive half-day
hand-on sushi-making (and eating!) session.

This year’s theme was The FGT Vacation Bible School programme is an ex-
on “Responsibility” tremely exciting event for both the students and helpers.
and as it featured Japan However, all these would not have been possible if not,
and its unique culture, for the ninja-“army” of volunteers comprising of the
we saw by far, the larg- youths, young adults and many mothers who sacrificed
est intake of students their time and effort to make sure everything runs like
for VBS in the his- clockwork. Thank you so much to everyone for a truly
tory of FGT. When the unforgettable VBS in 2008!
students arrived on the first day, they were greeted with
chimes of “Ohayo!” by demurely clad teachers and help-
ers, all charmingly donned in summery yukata costumes.
Next, as they walked up the stairs, their eyes were drawn
to the many pink blossoms, cartoon characters and cute
origami that were placed along the pathways. Here and
there were placed traditional Japanese toys and colourful
parasols for the students to admire.

Merry Christmas to our Prime Minister

On 25th December 2008, the children’s church were given the honour to perform a song item to our country’s Prime Minister,
Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi and his wife, Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah. After waiting patiently for the arrival of the Prime Minister,
the children sang two songs, namely Gospel in a Nutshell and Feliz Navidad with great excitement.