Agape- Bringing Light to the Blind

17 March 2013 by James Hoh CM-

 

AGAPE is the only Christian fellowship for the blind in Malaysia. All its members have their own home churches which they attend faithfully on Sundays, but members usually go to Agape’s fellowship services which are in Bahasa Malaysia , Chinese or English. They find ‘light’ and meaning through AGAPE fellowship.

In interviewing David Gip, Agape’s  full-time administrator whom I came to know last Christmas at a charity event, I found that the blind have a kind of peace which perhaps none of us have. What I mean is not only do they have the real inner peace from Jesus Christ but they also lead a serene lifestyle while we (the sighted) live a hassled live.  

David is also visually impaired.

 

 

Besides fellowships every week, AGAPE also holds evangelistic meetings, organizes camps and outings to places such as Malacca, Penang and Cameron Highlands.

The Bahasa Malaysia service which is on Fridays holds their service from 1pm to 2pm. “It is more for new comers who come for skill training. The majority of them are Sabahans and Sarawakians,” David said.

“AGAPE ministry is mainly supported by the members’ tithes and offerings without any church supporting us monthly. However, when they need special funds to buy equipment or organize a camp or an outing, we will write to churches. Coincidentally, we have 20 members for each of the language group, ” David added.    

 

 

“There are also others who come occasionally for our special events like Easter and Christmas Service too because they stay quite far away and transportation can be quite difficult to find.”

David’s work involves running errands which include banking besides attending various meetings by the different language committees.

“We also go for missions. Rev. Wong from St. Gabriel church usually leads us because he knows most of the churches in Penang, Perak, Sabah and Sarawak. Normally we will take up the whole worship because we can play keyboard and lead worship sessions. Then, we will either share testimonies and presentations in the church. People from the churches usually are very touched by our lives when we share our difficult lives.” David said.

The mission team which usually makes up of 10 active members will be going to Kota Baharu and Kuala Trengganu for mission this year.

He said there are also those who need direction and advice and they normally give them some form of counselling. 

 

 

Having plenty of time for fellowship

“There are three degree of blindness: B3 – good partial: they still can walk without sticks and able to read books, sometimes people won’t even notice they are blind at all. B2 – partial: some still don’t need sticks when they walk. They are slow in reading books. B1 – totally blind: almost 100% darkness but some see faint light. They definitely cannot travel without a stick,” said David who belongs to B1 category.

How are they able to make a living? “Some are stenographers, tele-marketers, door-to-door sales men, masseurs and telephone operators.”David said.

        

 

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