The Background 

In 1986, Mr. Sam Krishnasamy Subbiah and his wife Julie introduced Mr. James Manoharan to work in the Selayang area. He was appointed as a Church Worker by TMC KL, the mother church. Mr. Sam and his wife were then appointed as co-ordinators. Rev. John Kovilpillai, the pastor in-charge, and Mr. Robert Ananthan the Evangelism Chairman and their team began regular visits. After initial gatherings in a few places, in the year 2000 the ministry moved to Dr Stoner’s clinic, an upper floor Shop Lot at 3A Jalan 11A, Selayang Baru, 68100 Batu Caves. This premise was given free of charge for the church’s usage by Dr Stoner.   

Becoming a Local Conference 

In 1988, Mr. & Mrs. A. Subramaniam were appointed as co-ordinators and were responsible for starting weekly Bible Study and visitation. One member who played a significant role in the early years was Mr. Andrew Doss. He was a faithful recording secretary of the Selayang Outreach Church Working Committee, which had regular monthly meetings under the chairmanship of the pastors from the mother church. Monthly Holy Communion services were also conducted. The work steadily grew and the Outreach was organised as a Local Conference on 28 March 2009.   

The Early Years as a Local Church 

In 2009 the Full Membership was 65. Rev. Reuben Kanagalingam, who served as Assistant Pastor from 1 January, suddenly resigned in June. Rev. S. Jayabalan was appointed the Pastor in charge from 1 August 2009 and served till 2014. Within seven months, the church saw an increase in membership, finance and ministry. There were three cell groups. There was Bible Study with prayer that met on Fridays except the last Friday, of the month when there was a healing service. All the Agencies and Committees functioned well. Kota Damansara Outreach Ministry was started in homes. They started a Parsonage Fund which stood at about RM15,000.   

Ministry Expands and a Parsonage Purchased 

In 2010 the Full Membership grew from 65 to 96. About 15 – 20 adults attended the new outreach in Kota Damansara.  There was a need to rent a shop-lot but cost was an issue. They also had children’s ministry, Bible study and prayer meetings. A parsonage was bought at RM260,000, and the pastor moved in to it. Fund raising work was in progress.  

In 2011 the Full Membership grew to 127. An Indian Cultural and Carnival Nite was held on 20 February. The church raised about RM34,020.30. The Kota Damansara ministry progressed smoothly with about 35-45 adults and children attending. The church explored a possible joint ministry with the Bukit Rotan Sg. Buloh Outreach and Kuala Lumpur’s Sg. Buloh Cell Group. There was a Home for Christian Boys in the former premises of the Selayang church. There were 3 boys. 

In 2012 the Full Membership further grew to 157. The Kota Damansara work progressed smoothly with about 35-45 adults and children. The home for the boys was converted into a half way home for needy families to stay on a temporary basis.  

In 2013 the Full Membership was 153. The half way home ministry was further developed. In 2014 the Full Membership was 154. Rev. S. Jayabalan gave good pastoral leadership, in spite of his own physical challenges. The Kota Damansara Outreach which started with promising numbers, began to reduce in attendance. On 14 September, they moved into a member’s home, with the hope that the attendance would improve in the future. There was regular Friday prayer and also a combined session with members of the Sg. Buloh Outreach, Kota Damansara and Selayang members every last Friday of the month. There were four Cell groups. The church continued to look for a suitable piece of land to build their own church.  

From 2015 to 2017, Rev. David Abraham was the Pastor. In 2015 the Full Membership dropped to 134. Since there was no proper place to worship, the ministry in Kota Damansara was reduced to home visitations and some help through Social Concerns. The LCEC decided to hand over the work to TMC Bukit Rotan, the nearest Methodist church, with the hope of improving their ministry. This effort did not bring any change and the work has since been discontinued. Two revival meetings were organized from 17 – 19 April with Rev. John Ganapathy, and from 24 – 26 July with Rev. David Rasahpandy as the speakers. The Care Groups increased from four to seven areas but there was a shortage of leaders to carry out this ministry. A Leadership Seminar was conducted by Rev. Dr. A.E. Joseph to encourage the leadership and also to identify new and potential leaders for the future. A Family Camp was also organised in July in Pangkor and this helped improve unity and participation among members.  

Members Equipped to Reach out 

In 2016 the Full Membership was maintained at 134. The church formed the Issachar Anointing Group after their participation in the School of Intercessors. A revival meeting by Rev. Vijutal from India was conducted in July. A total of eight home meetings were organised to encourage members. A Leadership Seminar was conducted by Rev. P. Tevaraji on 6 March. The MSF, which was formed in 2015, conducted programs to encourage their members.  

In 2017 the membership dropped further to 119. Rev. David Abraham not only gave pastoral leadership to Selayang but was also appointed to cover TMC Rawang. Rev. David Abraham was also recovering from a heart surgery and was to retire at the end of the year, after 11 years of service. There was a seminar held on soul winning techniques by Pastor John Chidambaran from the Narikurunggu ethnic group from India. The Children’s Sunday was observed in July with Mr. Ponraj Navamani as their speaker. He spoke on the Future Christian Generation and the role of parents.  

In 2018 Rev. Edward Devadason was appointed the Pastor. The Full Membership dropped further to 81. An appraisal was conducted by the PPRC to evaluate the effectiveness of programmes conducted.  A monthly comprehensive bulletin with articles, announcements and themes was prepared and distributed. All Agencies were encouraged to have collective programmes instead of individual ones. The membership was updated and 39 names were removed because they were unidentified or no longer worshipping in the church. In order to strengthen ministry work, five teams were formed (Word, Worship, Witness, Fellowship and Prayer).  

In 2019, Rev. Justin Clarence, the DS of Central District and pastor of TMC Sentul, was appointed the Pastor-in-charge. Rev. Samuel Jacob Manokaran is the Associate Pastor. The present Lay Leader Mr. Alex Albert, is also the LCEC Chairperson. The church celebrated their tenth anniversary on 6 April 2019. Their current Full Membership is 83. Church School has 20 children and 3 teachers. The membership of the Agencies is as follows: MYF (14), MYAF (19), MW (35) and MSF (15).  

Conclusion: TMC Selayang has come a long way over the last ten years of being a local church. From a Full Membership of 65 in 2009, they are now 83. They have their own church building as well as parsonage. All the agencies are functioning. Efforts have been taken taken to strengthen the spiritual life of the members. Greater focus on evangelism would surely help bring growth in membership. The present leadership is challenged to take the local church to greater heights. By the grace of God and with the guidance of the two pastors; Rev. Justin Clarance and Rev. Samuel Manokaran, and with the commitment of the local leadership, the church can move on to the next level. All glory and honour belong to God alone.    

Source:  TAC Journals