Borneo Evangelical Church
| Borneo Evangelical Church | |
|---|---|
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| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | Evangelical, Charismatic |
| Polity | Interdependent local, regional, and national expressions |
| Associations | National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, Christian Federation of Malaysia Sabah Theological Seminary Council of Churches of Malaysia Melbourne School of Theology |
| Region | Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia, West Malaysia |
| Founder | Hudson Southwell, Frank Davidson and Carey Tolley |
| Origin | 1928 Melbourne Australia |
| Branched from | Borneo Evangelical Mission |
| Members | 500,000 |
| Official website | www |
The Borneo Evangelical Church or SIB (Malay: Sidang Injil Borneo) is an evangelical Christian denomination in Malaysia. The church was organised in 1959 from the work of the Borneo Evangelical Mission with help from the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Indonesia (Indonesian: Gereja Kemah Injil Indonesia)
Claiming more than 500,000 members, the SIB is the largest Protestant denomination in Malaysia having evolved from a small missionary presence among the Lun Bawang people of the Kelabit Highlands and the Iban people of Limbang to having congregations both in East Malaysia and West Malaysia today.
SIB Sabah and SIB Sarawak were founded by the Borneo Evangelical Mission (BEM) which itself had been established in Australia in 1928. Its pioneer missionaries came to Sarawak in late 1928 to evangelise the tribes of the heart of Borneo which until then had been unreached by the Christian faith. Aware that they would face competition in the cities, the BEM concentrated on interior rural areas and settled near the fringes of the Murut (Lun Bawang) area. In 1937, the work was extended to Sabah (then known as British North Borneo). From the start there were restrictions imposed by government officers, opposition by pagan tribal leaders and problems of health and needs faced by the missionaries. From the small beginnings of several individual conversions, God brought about a people movement whereby whole tribes turned to Him. Miracles took place as God delivered many tribal people from the bondage of fear and oppression of paganism. The gospel began to spread from one tribe to another, village to village, downstream and upstream.
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