HISTORY OF TRUE JESUS CHURCH IN SABAH

The truth was preached to Sabah then North Borneo through a copy of the “Holy Spirit Times” published by the General Assembly of the True Jesus Church in Nanking, China sent by Dn. John Voon of the Singapore Church to his friend, Mr. Tsen En Fook of Jesselton in early 1926. Mr. Tsen, a Chinese community leader then was preoccupied with his business and did not have time to study it and instead, he sent it to a friend in Sandakan called Lee Siak Lin, a member of the Seventh Day Adventists Church with a note written “A True Church has arisen”. After reading the “Holy Spirit Times” and found Biblical truth in it, Lee Siak Lin was deeply touched and the desire to seek the truth was burning in his heart. He boarded a ship to Singapore on the first day of the Chinese New Year in 1927 to look for the True Jesus Church there. While he was looking for the True Jesus Church he came upon a man and asked him the location of the True Jesus Church and that man was Dn. John Voon who later took him to the TJC. After studying the Truth for some times, he received water baptism on 11 January 1927. Three days later, he received the Holy Spirit. With their consent, Eld. Tan Chien Sing, Dn. John Voon and a few others traveled  with him to Sandakan to propagate the truth there. Thus, the True Jesus Church was first established in Sandakan in the year 1927. Before Eld. Tan and Dn. Voon were forced to leave Sandakan, they ordained 2 brothers and 1 sister as deacons and deaconess viz. Dn. Mark Chin, Dn. Philemon Ho and Dns. Phoebe Kong and Bro. Lee Siak Lin was appointed as Secretary to jointly administer the church’s affairs.

At that time, the headquarters was at Nanking and the church here called itself ”The Branch Board of North Borneo” with the Sandakan Church as the coordination centre. Dn. Philip Tyan was sent for the first time as delegate to attend the 8th Delegates Conference of the General Assembly held at Shanghai in the year 1932.

Propagation Of The Truth To The Indigenous Hill Tribes

After the dedication of the Tuaran Church in 1936, the truth was spread to the hill tribe in Wangkod through the first seed of the indigenous believer, Sis. Lumbihan Gimpit and thus the first church for the Dusun community was established. An indigenous brother was later ordained as Dn. James to pastor the church and at the same time established several places of worship followed by the construction of churches.

In early 1958, a Murut by the name of Sahoh was gravely ill and incidentally, Dn. Philip Tyan was at that time spreading the words in the interior. He preached to him the gospel and after praying and laying hands on him, he stopped vomiting blood and was completely cured after a few days. Thus, a prayer-house was set up at his house and the grace of God came upon the whole village with miracles and signs. The number of believers increased gradually. With the help from some ten brethren led by Dn. Thomas Chew of the Sungei Paal Church, the church at Sungei Apih was completed and dedicated to the Lord on 17 April 1961 and thus the first Murut church was established. Thereafter, the propagation of the truth continued to flourish and many churches and prayer-houses of the Murut community were thus established.