Contributed by Abbey Thangiah • Jun 4, 2024
When I first joined DUMC, DUMC fulfilled my ‘spiritual hunger’ when I attended SOL classes. If you are a new Christian, I highly encourage you to attend all the EQUIP classes chronologically from Level 1 to Level 4. If you are an old ciku or an experienced Christian, you may attend different levels at any time. You may ask your Cell Leader to recommend you to higher or advanced level courses where needed. All the courses have been meticulously prepared making them easy to understand. As I embark in corporate training as a trainer, I appreciate the structure of DUMC classes and how they are designed. As I design my modules, I am inspired by the various training sessions I have attended. I highly encourage everyone to attend the training. I think I finished all levels in 3 to 4 years.
One of the training sessions I attended was Moving in the Gifts of the Spirit. It is a deep dive on the test taken at bit.ly/dumcgifts. I would like to share my 3 gifts listed and how they have shaped my life.
Writing: I have always loved journaling but never thought of writing professionally. I was surprised when writing was listed. As a newbie to DUMC, I shared my findings with Pr. Janan Goh. In 2007, I was working in Johor Bahru. The ‘Engage’ you see today began as a humble weekly email called ‘DUA’ by DUMC and ‘Zest’ sent previously by Pr Janan, Prudence, Loong, and a few others. This email was a labour of love and everyone was just sending the emails faithfully and wonderfully. These emails catered to a small group of leaders and they were edited and published on time before Cell meetings. I was honoured to be given a small part with “Zest”. Zest is no more but it was a non sermon article related to a topic in line with the church. From there, when I returned, I was included in the sermon summary schedule and the rest is history.
Encouragement: I always have a passion to encourage people. One of the ways I define this is “Making people better and happier before they found me”. I am not sure about the better part, but I picked up stand up comedy for this reason. There is a positive energy in laughter (I am not being demi spiritual or something) but it is true. When people attend comedy shows, forget their worries for just 2 hours and just laugh, people leave the venue better than when they came in. I strive to make my material clean so that it is children friendly and everyone can enjoy themselves. I have also taken basic counselling and life coaching classes for this reason too. Honestly, I started taking these courses after my dad passed away so that I know how to cope with myself but it expanded my mind. I had very fruitful counselling and coaching practicals where they really taught me to encourage myself. You know the famous flight announcement. “Put your own mask before you help others”? This is true. There are things you can do to encourage yourself. Prayer and Christian meditation are some of the ways you can encourage yourself. By being a better person, I can be a blessing to others.
Hospitality: I think I inherited this attribute from my parents. As a child, I observed how my parents would go the other mile to serve the church and the people around them. I think I treat people okay. I discovered my passion for hospitality when I volunteered and facilitated national and international government conferences, debates and workshops. I was a Liaison Officer and was the first and last point of contact when International Delegates came for the conferences. I appreciated the time when I took them to the tourist places and food ( I am a foodie). It brings me joy when someone from another country discovers nasi lemak or roti canai for the first time. The joy on their faces makes me want to serve more and more people. I also found this hospitality website called Couchsurfing where I could meet local and International tourists and share my favourite locations and food. I was then selected to be the National Couchsurfing Ambassador for Malaysia. I have organised many meetings and I have made many good friends over the years. During the pandemic, I had the privilege of hosting 10 foreigners because they were stranded and could not go back to their homelands. It is always a joy to serve others.
What are your gifts? How are you using them to expand His kingdom?