Updated : 03/03/2005

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The name of Dr Peter Tong looms large when one speaks of the Charismatic Revival of the English-speaking church of the late 1970s to 1990s in Malaysia.

Dr Tong himself had just been revived when the mighty wind of the Holy Spirit swept through Kuala Lumpur in the mid-1970s. Sis Mary Goddard brought the first taste of the miracles when she prayed for Mrs Maureen Tong (as she was then known) and she was healed of endometriosis, migraine headache and haematuria. The Spirit of the Lord touched Dr Tong through this event and changed his life.

When I first met Dr Tong in 1977, he came across as a firebrand full of zeal for the Lord, pouring his entire being into the charismatic movement with a consuming passion that became his hallmark. He had the gift of drawing people together and infecting them with his enthusiasm. He reached out to his close friends -- Elder Ang Chui Lai, Elder Koh Eng Kiat, Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng, Lee Gee Koon, Moses Soo and, in later years, Dr Stephen Goh and many others -- either introducing them to salvation and/or the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Dr Tong invited us to the lunchtime meetings in his clinic (then known as Chong Dispensary at No. 69, Jln Ampang, Kuala Lumpur), every Wednesday and Friday. We worshipped, prayed, and heard testimonies of healing, deliverance and miracles. God sent various pastors and businessmen to the meetings to prophesy, pray, preach and encourage.

The Lord blessed the meetings with the presence of pastors Colin Hurt and Cho Yonggi, evangelists Roy Durman and Dr Rosy Leong, the obstetrician Dr Don Tredway, Dr Joy Seevaratnam and the lawyer Bill Subritzky as well as others who came from all over the world. The lunchtime gathering of office workers, housewives, retirees and students outgrew itself and had to move from the clinic to AIA Building and then to Crest Book Center and finally to Abundant Life Center in Hwa-Li Building. The meetings sowed the seed for the birth of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship, Malaysia. Businessmen from Singapore, namely, Khoo Oon Theam and others, encouraged the inception of the FGBMF in Kuala Lumpur.

My husband, Dr Paul Nah Seang Hoo, and I had just returned from our postgraduate research and examination in England in 1977. We had just been baptized in the Holy Spirit in Europe during a summer mission trip and were hungry for more of God. Dr Tong persuaded me to forsake further specialist training in the subspecialty of Dermatology to serve the Lord. I joined the clinic subsequently. The Lord prospered us -- we grew from one to four clinics. Dr Leow Kok Ming, the other doctors and I released Dr Abraham Peter Tong with our full blessing so he could have the liberty to serve the Lord while we managed the clinics. We also started regular daily morning group devotions and continued to be witnesses for the Lord in our tent-making in the marketplace. The doctors take turns to share from the Bible and pray.

The Lord anointed Dr Tong (with the close support of his helpmate Mrs Sarah Tong) and other brothers to build up the FGBMF from scratch to more than 100 chapters today. The FGBMF has been instrumental in stoking the fire of the charismatic revival and growth of the English-speaking church in the late 1970s to the 1990s, the Chinese-speaking church in the 1990s and now the Punjabi-speaking, Bahasa Malaysia-speaking as well as Tamil-speaking churches.

We have to declare that we have seen the mighty power of God move in Malaysia to fulfil God’s purpose through Dr Tong’s life work and ministry.

(The FGBMF Malaysia acknowledges the pivotal contributions of the partnership of Drs Tong, Leow, Chiam and Partners to the development of the marketplace ministry. The doctors came together in partnership with the grand vision to extend God’s kingdom through medical treatment and the message of salvation. To enable Dr. Tong to pursue and fulfil the mission full time, the partnership graciously released him for the work of the FGBMF ministry as well as providing financial support and encouraging the leaders to expand the Kingdom. The leadership thanks the Lord for the partners’ oneness in vision and mission of the FGBMF Malaysia. - Editor)