Melissa Theng, Deaconess of Holy Trinity Bukit Bintang in the Diocese of West Malaysia and Regional Director of Alpha Asia Pacific, shares her passion for outreach and church planting ahead of the webinar, Exploring the Lambeth Call on Mission and Evangelism.
About Melissa
Based in Kuala Lumpur, Melissa serves and worships at Holy Trinity Bukit Bintang (HTBB), a church plant from Holy Trinity Brompton, otherwise known as HTB. She also serves as Regional Director for Alpha in the Asia Pacific region, a global, interdenominational course of discussion and exploration of the Christian faith and works with local Alpha teams in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Mongolia, South Korea and Pakistan. Melissa is also currently leading the Church Engagement Framework strategy for the region.
In her words, what inspires and motivates her in her position is seeing “lives changed and transformed” and “Christians and churches revitalised.”
Tell us about your work in mission and evangelism in West Malaysia
Melissa explains that the West Malaysia Anglican Diocese has a “vision to plant 1,200 new worshipping communities in the next 10 years. I’ve been asked to head up the Church Planting Centre and will begin our first cohort for lay leaders in September 2025.”
She believes “there are huge opportunities in lay-led planting and bi-vocational ministers, but we still need to envision, mobilise, train and mentor to reach our potential and realise our goals.”
What’s your biblical inspiration for mission and evangelism?
“’LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy’ (Habakkuk 3:2) and also, ‘For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea’ (Habakkuk 2:14).”
Melissa reflects, “I know God loves us, He gave His only son, and I know God is not willing for anyone to perish. I know His Great Commission: that we do our part and He does His. We go, we baptise, we teach; He who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, is with us always.”
She goes on to say, “We have all we need to do this. If we love God, we would love what He loves, and He loves everyone. And therefore, my prayer is that He will reveal Himself to the nations in my time, filling the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.”
What encouragement would you offer Anglicans about the importance of outreach in the life of the church?
“To paraphrase Nicky Gumbel, ‘if a church centres around evangelism, and there are new believers coming all the time, everything else falls into place and has its purpose.’”
“What more encouragement do we need,” Melissa observes, “apart from John 3:16? ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16, NIV). How can one believe if they have not heard, and how can one hear if no one proclaims, and if the church does not do this, then who will?”
What’s your prayer regarding mission and evangelism?
“I pray that every generation will have its own story to tell, a story of how God revealed Himself, revivals and revelations that will forever shape the destiny and future of entire tribes, cities, nations and generations.”
Find out about the Alpha Course.
