'Lighting Up Our Nation' – Merdeka 40-Day National Fast and Prayer

The yearly Merdeka 40-Day National Fast and Prayer, that culminates on the country's independence day (Aug 31), is a key event, if not the event, in the Malaysian evangelical calendar. NECF Malaysia started the intercession campaign in 2001 with the conviction that prayers would change the political, social and economic and religious landscape of a nation, according to NECF Secretary-General Rev. Wong Kim Kong.

The campaign kicked off with 40,000 Christians participating and by 2004, it had grown to 90,000 participants. (The figures are based on the sale of the prayer booklets used as devotional guides during the 40-day event.)

The spirited growth within the short four-year period points to a rising prayer movement in the Malaysian Evangelical Church. "The water level of prayer is slowly but surely rising," said a modest Grace Hee, Chairperson of the NECF Prayer Commission, which is directly responsible for mobilising the campaign.

And the movement is not confined to the adults – children and youths too seem to be hopping into the intercession bandwagon, judging from the sale of 20,000 children's prayer booklets that first went on sale last year.

In addition, the yearly fast and prayer movement has gone beyond the evangelical circle, with Christians from the mainline and Roman Catholic churches signing up. Increasingly, Malaysian Christians, irrespective of denominations and theological leanings, are recognising the crucial need to intercede for the country, and the NECF-initiated event provides the platform for them to come together to petition God. In addition, the event is an avenue for Malaysian Christians, who have emigrated or are living overseas, to pray for Malaysia.

As Grace pointed out, "I believe all Christians believe in prayer. It's getting them to pray that is difficult. The 40-day initiative has given them a season and reason during the year to pray for the nation."

Rev. Wong added, "Unless God intervenes in the establishment of a nation, any human effort will be futile in sustaining peace and harmony."

This year, the commission is targeting at least 100,000 Christians to flood the season.

The spirited growth within the short four-year period points to a rising prayer movement in the Malaysian Evangelical Church. "The water level of prayer is slowly but surely rising," said a modest Grace Hee, Chairperson of the NECF Prayer Commission, which is directly responsible for mobilising the campaign.

And the movement is not confined to the adults – children and youths too seem to be hopping into the intercession bandwagon, judging from the sale of 20,000 children's prayer booklets that first went on sale last year.

In addition, the yearly fast and prayer movement has gone beyond the evangelical circle, with Christians from the mainline and Roman Catholic churches signing up. Increasingly, Malaysian Christians, irrespective of denominations and theological leanings, are recognising the crucial need to intercede for the country, and the NECF-initiated event provides the platform for them to come together to petition God. In addition, the event is an avenue for Malaysian Christians, who have emigrated or are living overseas, to pray for Malaysia.

As Grace pointed out, "I believe all Christians believe in prayer. It's getting them to pray that is difficult. The 40-day initiative has given them a season and reason during the year to pray for the nation."

Rev. Wong added, "Unless God intervenes in the establishment of a nation, any human effort will be futile in sustaining peace and harmony."

This year, the commission is targeting at least 100,000 Christians to flood the season.

How it began

Lighting Up Our Nation actually began in the year 2000 when NECF mobilised churches in 14 capital cities to hold combined-church prayer rallies on the eve of Merdeka (Malaysia's independence day). The event was a memorable one with the telephone link-up from Kuala Lumpur to a few major cities. Some 100,000 participants listened in to the conversations between NECF Secretary-General Rev. Wong Kim Kong and representatives from the other cities. The experience inspired a wonderful sense of unity as the churches felt connected as One Church.

Churches were also urged to carry out community work and take part in their towns' Merdeka celebrations or parades on Merdeka day. The 2000 event saw some breakthroughs in church unity in several places where churches from different denominations gathered for the first time for worship and prayer. Churches also reported breakthroughs in reaching out to their communities when they took on community projects on Merdeka Day, from hospital visitations to street clean-ups to feeding the poor to carnivals and fun-fairs.

Introducing the National Fast and Prayer

Spurred by churches' glowing response to the Lighting Up Our Nation initiative, and sensing God's direction to strengthen and hasten the intercession movement, NECF decided to launch a 40-day fast and prayer nationwide that would lead up to Merdeka Day in 2001.

The campaign would be based on Isaiah 58's call to "loose the chains of injustice, untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke." The commission had hoped that the fast and prayer would make a deep impact on the Malaysian Church, which in turn would impact the country.

And what an impact it has since made. But first, let's look at the prayer booklets, produced by NECF and written by its Prayer Commission members, which served as a daily devotional guide for the 40-day fasting period.

Prayer Booklet

The prayer booklet is an integral part of the 40-day National Fast and Prayer. The first booklet published in 2001 was a simple 24-page A5 guide with only the Bible references for the day's reading and prayer pointers. In writing the guide, NECF had to be mindful that Christians from all walks of life and various denominations would be participating in the national campaign.

Hence, the booklet had to cater to a wide range of Christians with varied opinions on fasting. The commission Executive Secretary Ann Low recalls some responses to the commission's proposal on the different kind of fast that participants could choose.

"We listed several types of fast, such as the total fast where the participant abstained completely from solid foods; and the one-meal fast where the day's food intake excluded one meal. We also mentioned the 'Daniel Fast', which ruled out eating meats and other favourite delicacies or favourite foods such as coffee.

"Some people were not happy with our coffee suggestion, which surprised us," she laughs. "But on the whole, this first attempt was a good start as it gave us a better understanding of the Church in the sense that we are different in the way we approach fasting but ultimately, the goal is the same. That is, fasting and praying are simply coming before God with a humble heart, acknowledging our need of Him and dependence on Him."

In addition to catering to the various approaches to fasting, the commission also had to consider the different language-speaking Christians, since a national fast should encompass the whole nation. The commission then decided that the prayer booklets be printed in all the four major languages – English, Chinese, Bahasa Melayu and Tamil.

Forty thousand copies of the first prayer booklet rolled off the press and were snapped up within a short period, mainly by NECF member churches, who paid 50 sen per booklet to cover the cost of production.

The following year, NECF started work early on the booklet and the end product was a 60-page guide with additional information on fasting, a weekly theme for more focused praying, space to record the participant's reflection and short meditation notes.

Encouraged by the previous year's good response, NECF increased the quantity of printing to 60,000 copies. This time round, the booklet came with a charity meals-saving paper box for the participant to put in the money saved from his fast (see inset story on charity).

Once again, the booklet/savings box sets, at RM1 per set, were snapped up by NECF member churches and others, signifying a mounting interest in the prayer campaign.

In 2003, with more experience at hand, NECF strengthened the contents of the booklet by and included a section on praying daily for other countries to reflect NECF's desire to look outwards into the welfare of other countries. This time round, 70,000 sets (booklet and meals-saving box) were sold.

Last year, the figure increased to 90,000, thanks to the new children's edition –published in English, Chinese and Bahasa Melayu – which reached about 20,000 children and young teens. Devotional thoughts for the children's version were written by teens aged 12 to 16 years and the booklet was attractively designed to draw the children to the contents.

Money for Charity

A year after launching the National Fast and Prayer, NECF added the charity dimension by urging participants to donate the money saved from their fast to charitable organisations. The money was collected by their churches and sent to NECF, who then distributed it to selected Christian and non-Christian organisations, both here and overseas.

Rev. Wong said the idea of donating the money saved from fasting came from Isaiah 58:6-7, "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the chords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide wanderer with shelter- when you see the naked, to clothe him and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

This was followed by God's promise in the next two verses, "Then your light will break forth like the dawn…Then you will call and the Lord will answer, 'Here am I.' "

Right from the start, it was agreed that about one quarter of the collection would be given to foreign welfare projects, including those in Muslim countries. Rev. Wong explained that this was by giving to the needy in other lands, "we will learn to look beyond our own needs."

Furthermore, charity should be extended to those in need, regardless of their race and religion. "And by giving to our needy Muslim friends, we hope to defuse the conflict between the Muslim and Christian worlds," he added.

On the average, 300 churches send in their collection yearly to NECF. A cursory glance at the contributing churches shows that a number of them are located in the smaller towns, indicating that the campaign was especially beneficial to smaller churches. This proves an encouragement to NECF as it showed that the campaign was reaching the smaller towns. The amount they gave was smaller compared with the bigger-town churches, but "what little they gave came from their big hearts," observed Ann.

Round-the Clock Intercession

Living amidst a technology-powered environment, it was inevitable that the 40-day Fast and Prayer event hit the Internet sooner or later.

In 2004, it went on-line with the introduction of Praying Round-the-Clock (PRC) on the NECF website, with a sign-up format allowing Christians to log in their prayer time slots and the towns they wished to pray for. Alternatively, they could e-mail their choices to NECF or sign up manually through their churches.

PRC, a 24-hour intercession programme throughout the 40-day fasting season, has its Scriptural basis on Jesus' parable in Luke 18 – men ought always to pray and not lose heart – and Leviticus 24 – the fire on the altar "must not go out".

The programme focuses on praying for towns and regions throughout Malaysia with the hope that this would help change the spiritual, social, economic and political landscapes of the locales.

The first attempt drew over 1,400 people who prayed for 273 towns within the four regions (Central, East Coast, Northern and Southern) in West Malaysia and East Malaysia.

Merdeka Prayer Rally

The combined-churches prayer rallies are the climax of forty days of fast and prayer, a once-a-year occasion for churches of different denominations to celebrate together God's goodness to the nation and intercede for the rulers and leaders of our land.

They are held in cities throughout the country, usually on Merdeka eve, though some places have held the rallies in the midst of the fasting season to accommodate their churches' schedule. Usually, the pastors fellowships of the towns organise the rallies, guided by a standard programme prepared by NECF.

The first prayer gathering of this nature (to pray for the country) is believed to have been held on Merdeka day in 1992 at FGA, Kuala Lumpur.