This past Saturday we headed out with several youth from the church in order to do street evangelism. It is always stretching to go out to talk with strangers about the gospel. As we boarded the bus, I sat next to Olives (Pastor Sam our contact’s daughter). I learned that it had been several years since they had tried to do something like that as it had not gone well.
Olives then proceeded to explain some of the challenges of sharing the gospel in Malaysia. I was blown away at how little I knew about the political and spiritual climate in Malaysia. I knew from research prior to my arrival, that Malaysia is a Muslim country with about 70% of the population being Muslim. About 12% of the population is Hindu and then the percentages get smaller from there. Most Malays have Chinese or Indian roots.
The law in Malaysia makes sharing the gospel with a Malay illegal. But, it goes further. It is illegal for a Malay to enter a church. Olives discussed how a few people had become Christians and began going ot church. They would sneak and take alternative routes in order to not be detected. But, the police still found out and began to harass them. They would show up at the church and enter to see if anyone who should not be there was there. To be caught converting means you can be imprisoned or kicked out of the country. The penalty is stiff. For the church, it can be fined for talking about Christianity, for giving out Christian literature, or for having people in church who are not allowed.
Each flyer we handed out must have written on it that the flyer is intended for non-Malays and if they are Malay they should not read it. As we walked around China town trying to hand out invitations to church, we worked to identify non-Malay people in order to comply with the law. I was thankful to have Olives with me as there is no way I could have identified a Malay from a non-Malay. We had to be discreet as we passed police officers so as not to draw attention and risk being detained or having our materials confiscated.
In the end, we had some success giving out the tracts and talking with people. It was faith-stretching for us all. In our last 10 minutes, we were stopped by security and told we could no longer distribute the materials, but thankfully they did not involve the police.
I wrestle with what it looks like to live and do evangelism in this country. The people need to hear the gospel and have an opportunity to respond. For those who do, most choose to keep it a secret in order to avoid persecution. What would I be willing to give up for the gospel? What am I willing to give up for the gospel? Is it worth getting kicked out of a country? Imprisonment? I am not in any danger of that here, but I do ponder whether I really view the importance of sharing the gospel with every person highly enough.
