For more than a decade, the Global Day of Worship (GDOW) and A Day of Praise (ADOP) have been very much looked-forward-to events for the Malaysian Church. The last 2-3 years have not been kind to community gatherings. However, on Friday and Saturday, 28th and 29th October 2022, Malaysian Christians finally got an opportunity to come together for a very much-missed occasion.
The palpable presence of God came mightily upon the congregation for the Friday night (7-10:30pm) and full-day event (9am-9pm) on Saturday. On Friday night, Rev Solomon Bulan, well-known for his book on the Bario Revival, had shared a message on revival. There were corporate prayers on thanksgiving, the exaltation of God, and for the intergenerational relationship within the Body of Christ.
Shamini Ruth, a leading figure of Global Worship Malaysia and the Organising Chairperson of REVEL, gave the opening address for the full-day event. Rev Sean Prasad, Advisor of Global Worship Malaysia, gave the opening prayer for both days.
Besides Shamini and Rev Prasad, the core team of REVEL included Pr Nicky Ling (currently serving as Executive Servant Catalyst of Southeast Asia Prayer Council and the SouthEast Asia Representative in the World Prayer Assembly), Jed Tin (an active member of Prayer United (PU) Youth where he and the team have been hard at work mobilising prayer among the younger generation), and Patrick Leong (a familiar name in worship among locals for many years).
Because this was such a participatory and experiential occasion, it is hard to put in writing all of its nuances. The worship sessions were declarative. Much of it was celebratory. But there were also many more contemplative moments. A lot of inner healing must have taken place on the day as people got deep into their worship and expressed themselves to God, and the worship filled the atmosphere. The songs ranged from Deep Cries Out, Make Room, Worthy, You Are My Father, and King of Glory, to Bahasa Malaysia ones from the East Malaysian worship teams, such as Ajaib Kau Tuhan and Doa Kami.
Pr Jonathan Chandra of Calvary City Church, Johor Bahru, shared in his message that God is changing the paradigm of worship globally. A time will come when our worship will not just focus on the act itself but on the crown and person of Jesus. Such worship is often ‘messy’ and there is no vested agenda in them. Like all relationships, it is organic and unprogrammatic. The worship at REVEL was such as it flowed smoothly and continuously without any interruption for 12 hours.
A regular part of previous GDOW and ADOP celebrations has been Worship Through Art, where prophetic painters and artists express their worship through art and according to the flow of the Spirit during the worship. Here again, it was part of the integral worship. Along with the worship, dancers, banner, and shofar team, there was a massive outflow of creative spiritual expressions.
Though officially announced as a worship and prayer event, REVEL was much more than that. It was also a unity gathering for Christians from the nation, represented through worship teams and intercessory leaders from all 13 states and one federal territory. A highlight of each worship session was the intercessory prayers from prominent Christian leaders from each state for the whole nation and tidings of God’s work in each of the respective states. Besides the 13 states, there were representatives from many churches, including Every Nation Church, Breakthru’ Worship Community Church KL, and Grace (BM) Shah Alam.
It has been a long time since Christians in our nation came together to worship on such a large scale in one place. The combined experience of unity of brethren and just soaking and worshipping in God’s presence was powerful and a much-needed and valued time of refreshing.
This report is based on the writer’s personal experiences at the REVEL event. All photos kindly provided and given permission for usage by the organisers of REVEL. For more pictures and videos of the event, you may visit Global Worship Malaysia’s Facebook page.
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