SIB stands for
Sidang Injil Borneo (Borneo Evangelical Church). In early 90s,
Pastor Richard Samporoh and his wife
Stemmah Sariau started the 'home based' ministry among students from University Malaya, Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (now Universiti Putra Malaysia). Initial stage was not very encouraging where number of groups were opposing them. In 1992, the effort was paid off when SIB 'officiated' at Kolej Damansara Utama (KDU) attended by people from Sabah and Sarawak who came for 'Come Celebrate' at Dataran Merdeka. In 1993,
Daily Bread opened their hand for SIB to use their premises which located in Damansara Utama. The service was held in Bahasa Malaysia although the congregation was comprised of Sabahan, Sarawakian, Chinese, Indian, and Indonesian.
After few years, the congregation was growing. Some of them came from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), UPM, UM, Institut Teknologi Mara (ITM-now UiTM), and other nearby places. At that time, the growing church was synonym to "Student Church". Names like
Alfred and
Jouslly among others were the faithful chauffeurs who fetched the students from ITM and UM for sunday service.
Many interesting events happened in 1993, for few weeks, Sunday service was held in KDU's lecture hall. Music instruments brought from Campus Crusade for Christ. The first Christmas was held at
Faith Charismatic Church (FCC) of Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur.
In 1994, again the congregation moved to new premises in Damansara Utama. Both president SIB Sabah and Sarawak came down to officiate the new premises and the new leadership.
Pastor Chew Weng Chee elected as the president while Pastor Richard was the secretariat of SIB Semenanjung. In that year, Pastor Richard and his wife formed Persekutuan Pemuda Pemudi (PPP) committee to hold the first youth conference. Jacob Kulleh from Sarawak was the first chief. Mini conference was held in SIB Damansara Utama prior to the national conference at New Life Restoration Center (NLRC) church later that year.
At the same year, SIB Pusat Bandaraya or also known as SIB Chow Kit was officiated (now known as SIBKL BM). The first service only attended by 15 plus people. The notable leader at the time was
Edwin Agung who later became the Ketua Pelayan. Meanwhile, the Chinese congregation was settled down in Kepong and shepherded by
Pastor Kenny Tham.
In 1995, SIB Damansara Utama (DU) was hardly handle the number of congregation as it growing very fast. The leadership was decided to plant more satelite churches such as SIB Serdang (
Sister Anne Tuah), SIB Klang, and SIB Kepong (BM). SIB Serdang mainly attended by UPM and UKM students.
Martin, Stanley, Magdeline and others were among the notable leaders. Later in that year, SIB Kajang was formed to ease the crowd in SIB Serdang.
The first four years was the crucial events happened in the history of SIB Semenanjung. It continues to grow by expanding its ministry among aborigine (Orang Asli) in Tanjung Malim, Cameroon Higland and Jerantut.
Today, although the church planting has slow down notably but other area is growing specially amid aborigine. Let us continue to support the leaders in prayer and donation.
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Names like Walfter, Saun, Jeevan, Junin, Peter, Susani, Pendy, Juil, Anthony (SIB Kajang), Alfred, Jously, Fenny, Walley, Bianus, Jason, Martin, Magdeline, Stephanie, Jacqueline, Andrew Yakin, Nathaniel Woon, Krishnan, Andrew, Malloy, and others whom I may forgotten are the core people other than Pastors who had worked very hard behind the leadership in the early years.
