Resource heralds new season for Malay-speakers

In 2020, LCA International Mission appealed to members of the LCANZ to financially support the translation of the Lutheran discipleship book Seasons from English into Malay. (Read that story here.)

With great joy and thanks, LCA International Mission announces that the translation, publication and printing has been completed. Donations from LCANZ supporters arrived just in time for the translation to be completed in 2020. One thousand copies of the Malay version of Seasons are now available through Gladsounds, the bookshop and publisher of the Lutheran Church in Malaysia (LCM).

Seasons was published in English by the LCM in 2017 as a contribution to the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. A year later, a Chinese translation followed. ‘Both versions have been well received by members and congregations of the four Lutheran church bodies in Malaysia and those in other parts of South-East Asia’, says Rev Grieninger Wolfgang, one of the pioneers of the project.

The resource goes beyond the basics of the Christian faith, he says. ‘It considers the context of South-East Asia and distinctive features of Lutheran beliefs and practices in relation to the commonly shared Christian faith. The units of the book are related to the seasons of the church year and focus on topics specific to these periods.’

When Malaysia gets back to the ‘new normal’ after the pandemic, Rev Wolfgang will meet with the Malay-speaking pastors of the LCM Orang Asli District and introduce the book to them. He will help them to understand its contents as well as options for using the resource in their pastoral work, in congregations and in small groups.

Having a discipleship resource in their own language will be a tangible benefit and real encouragement to the Orang Asli people in West Malaysia and also the indigenous groups in East Malaysia served by the Basel Christian Church of Malaysia (BCCM) and the Protestant Church in Sabah (PCS).