10 E Q U I P G O S P E L MIN I S T R IE S
Equip Gospel Ministries in Malaysia Andrew Cheah / Dean, St Mary’s Cathedral in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
MO O R E M AT T E R S A U T U M N 2 0 2
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quip Gospel Ministries1 began more than a decade ago—initially as a way of making the Moore Preliminary Theological Certificate materials accessible to people in Malaysia. Since then, it has, by God’s grace, taught Biblical Theology to just over 2000 Malaysian Christians using the Bible Overview course,2 used the other certificate level courses to further strengthen Biblical literacy across churches, trained believers in other ministry skills, and begun to work in the national language. Equip seeks to develop into a tertiary level Christian training institution that is reformed, evangelical, and centered on the gospel. Its mission now is to help prepare Christians in Malaysia for gospel-centered ministry, in partnership with local churches, through Biblical, theological and ministry skills training. 1 Equip is seeking to develop its theological education program as a gospel-centered, Biblically faithful and academically rigorous training provider. It seeks to produce graduates who love God and his Word, whose lives are centered on Christ and his gospel, and who handle Scripture in a humble and faithful way, being well informed by Biblical Theology. 2 Bible Overview (known in Australia as ‘Introduction to the Bible’) is the first course in the Equip-MBS Certificate in Theology. The materials for the whole Certificate are generously supplied by Moore College’s Centre for Global Mission (CGM). We are currently getting about 500 subject enrollments in the certificate course each year. Students access the materials through the Moodle that is kindly hosted for Equip on Moore’s servers. We are also thankful for theological graduates from Moore as well as local graduates who help mark our exams.
Equip’s ministry can be illustrated by how God has used it in the life of one student. Dinesh Natorajan is a Malaysian Christian who now pastors one of the congregations at his local church, St Mary’s Cathedral in Kuala Lumpur. Dinesh came to Christ from a Hindu background after being invited to church by a friend. A few months after his conversion, he did the Bible Overview course with Equip that was being run at his church. This early introduction to Biblical Theology enabled him to see how the whole Bible fits together and is centered on Christ and his gospel. As he continued to grow in his faith, Dinesh was involved in various church ministries and training. He learnt to share his faith with others and to help nurture believers through speaking the truth in love. He also did more subjects in the Certificate in Theology to equip him to do this better. Eventually, he was asked to consider doing an apprenticeship at his church. He left behind his job as a scientist to serve Jesus in this role. During his apprenticeship, Dinesh continued to grow. In addition to the practical training he received, Dinesh continued with his certificate level studies using the Moore PTC materials throughout his apprenticeship. He also trained in expository preaching through the Centre for Expository Preaching (a
