NAC Malaysia

NAC in Malaysia

The New Apostolic Church‘s beginning in Malaysia goes back to the seventies. Priest Chhabra was the person solely responsible for bringing this wonderful faith to Malaysia in 1971.

He with his family was in Germany, where he came to know of this faith. Upon returning to Malaysia with his wife and daughter he later became a teacher in a government school. Then he, with the help of his wife, began promoting our Church.

The first congregation was founded in Rawang (about 30km from Kuala Lumpur, Selangor), which later spread to the North, Central and also in the South of peninsular Malaysia.

We were since since 1971 to 2008 under the Canadian District. Currently we have grown to about 600 members and 20 congregations in Peninsular Malaysia. All these congregations are made up of Tamil speaking members of Indian origin. Sermons are mainly in Tamil, English and Malay. On the 18th of January, 2009, a new District known as the Southeastasian District was created by our beloved Chief Apostle Wilhelm Leber. Chief Apostle on the afore mentioned Date ordained a new Districtapostle for the new South East Asian district, Districtapostle Urs Hebeisen.

Under his care Sabah and Sarawak (East Malaysia) is also included to NAC Malaysia, which is today mainly taken care of by indonesian Apostles and ministers.

The pioneer missionaries from England and Canada are not to be forgotten. We owe much to all the sacrifices they had to make in traveling long distances to build God‘s work in our country. The first of them was Apostle Erry from England, followed by Apostle Wilbert Vovak, Ernst Vovak (USA), Ernst Horn, Leslie Latorcai, Mark Woll (Canada). Bishop Weber (Canada) is also to be included into these groups of great men of God working in Malaysia.

It is also to be noted that the late District Apostle Michael Kraus too made a short visit to Malaysia and even performed act of Holy Sealing. NAC Malaysia grew under his loving care and prospered to be self supporting. We are multi racial country with Kuala Lumpur as our Capital. NAC Malaysia also had the blessing of 4 Chiefapostle Divineservices in 1992 & 2003 by Chief Apostle Richard Fehr, in 2012 by Chief Apostle Wilhelm Leber and more recently in 2019 by Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider.

Mr. Chhabra- The carrier of the New Apostolic faith to this land of Malaya in 1970.

Mr. Chhabra is a Punjabi (Indian) by birth and formerly belonged to Sikhism. Mr. Chhabra or well known as District Elder Chhabra was the responsible person who was sent and brought the faith of NAC to Malaysia by the grace of the Lord. Here are some important events that took place before and after he embraced NAC faith. 1970: Mr. Chhabra embraced NAC in Germany when he was on a vacation. He was embraced after he got married to Madam Waltraut (his wife) a German citizen who was already a member of NAC. Mr. Chhabra was attached to his teacher training course in Britain that time.

Early Church in Malaysia

NAC in Southern Area 1970: A german apostle, Hermann Schumacher, ordained Mr. Chhabra as a Priest and sent him to Malaysia in order to spread the gospel and the work of God in Malaysia.

After priest Chhabra came to Malaysia he started the work immediately. Soon he met Mr. Somasekaran (who is another important person in the Malaysian NAC history) in Rawang where he was working as a postal staff. Priest Chhabra was working as a teacher in one of the schools in Batang Kali. Both met in a bus one day. Then Pr. Chhabra was invited to Mr. Soma‘s house at once and he went to visit him and slowly he testified the faith of NAC. 

1971: After a few visits Pr. Chhabra witnessed Mr. Soma‘s family and finally Sister Somasekaran embraced NAC first and she was baptized on 6th March 1971 and sealed by Apostle Erry on the 21st June 1971. Along with her, Julia Anberase D/O Somasekaran, Parthiban S/O Somasekaran, Solomon S/O Simon Daniel and an elderly man by the name of Christopher were also baptized and sealed by Apostle Erry from England who was also in charge of few other countries. Basically he was based in Bombay. After that the work of God slowly grew to the area of: Batang Berjuntai, Cheshire Home, Kerling, Trolak, Bukit Rawang and Tanjung Malim.

1971: In this year, Malaysia was transferred to the Canadian District which was under Districtapostle Michael Kraus. 1972: Mr. Somasekaran embraced NAC in March 1972 after his wife and children embraced NAC. Then a brother by the name of George from Batu 16, Batang Berjuntai also was found by Pr. Chhabra and he embraced NAC.

1973/1974: Somewhere around 1973 Mr. George and Mr. Somasekaran were ordained as Priests by Apostle Wilbert Vovak in Rawang. 1973: Some early members were also found in this year. They were Mr. Peter (Districtevangelist), Mr. Rajan (Former Evangelist) and their families.

1974: Districtapostle Michael Kraus came to Malaysia to the Rawang Church in Batu 16 which was the very first visit by the Districtapostle in Malaysia. 1974: The serving Chiefapostle at this time was Chiefapostle Walter Schmidt? 1974: By this year the members increased to more than 100 in Malaysia 1974: Priest Somasekaran was asked by Apostle Wilbert Vovak to transfer to Penang, so he could spread the work of God around the northern area.

NAC in Northern Area

1973/74: Bro Solomon (Mr. Soma‘s Brother in law) came to north and testified to his father Mr Simon Daniel who was staying in Padang Serai. After listening to him the whole family of Mr. Simon Daniel accepted NAC. However Pr. Soma was still in Rawang. Nevertheless he always follows Pr. Chhabra to the northern congregation whenever he goes there. Both went to Padang Serai congregation once a month. Priest Chhabra‘s desire to spread the NAC faith didn’t stop. He decided to spread to Penang as well. So once when he was on the Penang road he met with a passerby coincidentally who was a Christian (Edward Simon). He started to testify and finally he embraced NAC and he introduced his brothers family. Eventually his brother’s family also embraced NAC. Later Mr. Edward Simon and Mr Simon Daniel were ordained as Sub-deacons by Apostle Wilbert Vovak. Sub Deacon Simon Daniel found in Victoria estate in Padang Serai (Mr. Ayyavoo). However this family‘s embracement was disturbed by some staunch fellow Christians around the place. Somehow rather by the grace of the Lord Mr. Ayyavoo‘s family survived and made their stand to be the members of NAC faith.

1976: By the grace of the Lord he got transferred to Penang upon work purposes and also it was a great opportunity for him to spread the work of god there and he really did the work of God. Once again Pr. Chhabra got a person‘s contact in Parit Buntar. The person introduced Brother Anthony Samy who belonged to the Anglican Church initially. Priest Chhabra requested Pr. Soma to contact Borther Anthony Samy in Parit Buntar. They met at the Anglican Church compound fortnehme first time and Brother Anthony invited Pr. Soma to his house. At this time Pr. Soma wasmworking as a postal staff in Sg. Bakap, Seberang Perai.

After some time Mrs Anthony Samy accepted NAC and followed by Borther Anthony and their children. This was the first family which embraced NAC faith in Parit Buntar. Meanwhile Mr. Santhanadass (Cousin Brother of Bro Anthony Samy) also exposed to the faith of NAC when he came to visit his cousin brother in Parit Buntar.

1980: By this year, the number of souls started to grow rapidly and the work of the Lord was done actively by the servants of God. Pr. Soma was attached to his job in Sungai Bakap from 1978-1981. Then he transferred to Permatang Pauh.

1982: On the 1st January Brither Anthony Samy came to spread the faith of NAC to his close friend Mr. Yesaya in Lubok Buntar (Kedah). Then followed by the visit of Pr. Soma developed the fellowship of NAC and finally Mr. Yesaya‘s family accepted NAC. After that, the work of God started to grow tremendously around these areas.

Later on, Evangelist Soma, Priest Anthony, Priest Santhanadass and Priest Yesaya became a very good team and used to go around finding new souls.

The areas which were discovered by these servants of God are:

1. Padang Serai. 2. Gula Estate. 3. Paya Salak 4. Selama Perak. 5. TRP Estate (Taiping). 6. Lubok Buntar 7. Alagar Estate. 8. Buntar Estate. 9. Seberanga Jaya 10. Parit Buntar. 11. Butterworth Sungai Boak 12. Penang (Greenlane, Dewan Sri Pinang 13. Jawi 14. Bagan Serai

Brother Anthony introduced many families to NAC faith and he was ordained as an Evangelist. He was really involved in the ministry of evangelism. Some of the families introduced by him somewhere around 1983 onwards; -Brother Ramakrishnan (Sis Bibian) -Brother Gabriel Dass (Sungai Bogak) -Brother Santhanadass (Bagan Serai) -Brother Yesaya (Lubok Buntar) -Brother Ganit (Paya Salak) -Brother Anthony (Selama) -Brother Andrew (Glory teacher) -Deacon Savarimuthu (Sungai Bogak) -Brother Isaac (TRP), Taiping -Brother Santhanasamy (Alagar Estate), Taiping -Sister Mary Fatima (Sg Jawi) -Sister Anne’ family (Seberang Jaya)

Brother Periyanayagam (Tanjung Malim) was found by Pr Chhabra and he was sent to see Pr Soma to meet new souls in Padang Serai. There he testified to Mr Gabriel Dass. Then Mr Gabriel Dass embraced NAC and the work of God was spread rapidly around the area of Padang Serai. Many souls were found and established in Padang Serai congregation.

NAC in Central Area (Ipoh)

In September 1976 Brother Jayakumar met Pr Soma in Rawang at the post office for a purpose. Then they became friends and they met few times to testify the faith of NAC. Then Pr Soma connected Brother Jayakumar to Pr Chhabra. Both met at the YMCA, Ipoh for the first time. The met for few times and finally Brother Jayakumar accepted NAC and sealed on the 21st. November 1976 in Penang. He is the first NAC member in Ipoh.

Later Brother Jayakumar testified to his brothers and sisters about the faith of NAC. Gradually his brothers and sisters embraced NAC. Then the faith of NAC started to grow around the area of Ipoh. From Ipoh extended to Batu Gajah and its surroundings. Jan 1979- Brother Jayakumar was ordained as a Sub-Deacon in Butterworth. Jan 1982- Apostle Wilbert Vovak and District Elder Latorcai came to Ipoh by train. Sub Deacon Jayakumar was ordained as a Priest. Along with him his brother Mr RajKumar (one of the earliest members) in Ipoh was ordained as a Deacon. 24th July 1983- About 30 souls were sealed by Apostle Wilbert Vovak. The work of God slowly grew to Batu Gajah and Tapah areas. The very first church in Ipoh was in Maxwell Garden where a house was rented for conducting divine services. The early members of NAC in Ipoh; 1. District Elder Hans Jayakumar 2. District Evangelist Michael Raj Kumar 3. Sister Usha Devi 4. Sister Kala Devi 5. Pr Andrew (Vijaya Kumar) 6. Sister Shanti Devi 7. Pr Raphael 8. Pr Guna 9. Pr David 10. Pr Joseph 11. Pr Raj 12. Deacon Krishraj 1991-By this year, about 24 congregations were formed all around Malaysia with the total number of 1700 sealed souls.

THE CHIEF APOSTLES WHO CAME TO MALAYSIA

1991 - 1998 - 2012 - 2019 -

Source: Chief Apostle Richard Fehr Chief Apostle Richard Fehr Chief Apostle Wilhelm Leber Chief Apostle Jean Luc-Schneider