Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
“It was like a symphony of voices; the mellifluous tones were breathtaking”
Alpha Workplace Conference is back for its 5th year.
Alpha Malaysia ran the Alpha Workplace Conference (AWC) 2015 from 3-5 September in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
This year’s conference saw 708 delegates participating from all over Malaysia and Singapore, representing 245 companies and 113 churches. There were 22 speakers, who included dignitaries such as Hannah Yeoh, Speaker of the Selangor State Legislative Assembly, Datuk Edward Ong, President of OCK Group, Singapore and Founder of Sutera Harbour Resort, Datin Kathleen Chew, Chairman of Alpha Malaysia, Dr. Philip Lyn, Senior Pastor of Skyline SIB Church and Colin Kirton, Founder Director of Footstool Players.
This year, the Alpha Workplace Conference was just as exciting if not more, as it dwelled deeper into workplace issues and aimed to be more effective in equipping and providing a sustainable process for evangelisation and transformation in the workplace. This annual conference is designed for every Christian who wants to reach out to their colleagues with the good news of Jesus Christ. The biggest harvest field is right next to their workstations where their colleagues are seeking the meaning of life.
The “Engaging the 7 Mountains” theme continued this year, zooming in on the mountains of businesses, churches & public services. The aim is to use the 7 mountains of influence as a means to navigate the vastness of a workplace and to provide a practical, sustainable and transferable process for working believers to bring God to work and to reach out.
Justin Asher Chen, one of the delegates, summed up the importance of the conference nicely, “We’re called to be the salt and light of the world, not to be hidden in the church and most of the world is in the workplace!”
AWC 2015 has sparked a revival in major cities in Malaysia. According to Melissa Theng, National Coordinator of Alpha Malaysia, there are already over 100 organisations running Alpha in the country, with at least 50 more new organisations slated to start soon as a result of the Alpha Workplace Conference. About 200 people from Kota Kinabalu are now ready to be trained to run Alpha in both English and Chinese languages.
Meanwhile the fire has also spread to Kuching, Sarawak. There were reports of workplace prayer meetings that started immediately after the conference and Alpha trainings confirmed for mid-October 2015. As for Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru, trainings will commence in November 2015.
At the end of the conference, the hall was filled with intense and passionate prayers for one another and for the nations. It was like a symphony of voices; the mellifluous tones were breathtaking. The delegates also had fun getting to know each other and meeting new friends.
During the closing speech by Dr. Philip Lyn, all the delegates were aflame with excitement over the same vision, each one of them eager to see their workplace and churches grow exponentially in their own countries and cities, hungry for change in their nations.
“It was like a symphony of voices; the mellifluous tones were breathtaking”
