It’s Saturday night in Kuching, but in the UK not even the Premier League lunchtime match has kicked off.

At the risk of confirming the impression of those of you who think I’m on a jolly, I’m posting this blog from the poshest hotel room its ever been my pleasure to stay in, in the city’s Crowne Plaza. And I’ve just got in from a surreal conversation with a local priest about church planting in Indonesian Borneo, while eating fresh water crab and prawns. I don’t know which part of the experience has been the more eye-popping and eye-opening.

For those who don’t know, the Anglican Province of South East Asia, consists of four Dioceses (Singapore and the three Malaysian Dioceses to which Lichfield is linked: West [or Peninsular] Malaysia, plus Sarawak and Sabah [Malaysian Borneo]; plus six ‘Deaneries’ [Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam], about which more in due course. Today I’ve travelled from West Malaysia, to Sarawak).

Canon Fred David has been a wonderfully generous host. He drove me to the airport in KL this morning, first thing. The flight was smooth and straightforward and quite short, and we landed in Kuching on time. Baggage came through quickly, I cleared immigration and customs without delay and was met by two priests from this Diocese by 12noon.

The first was Michael Buma, Archdeacon of the south of the Diocese, and Warden of the House of the Epiphany. It felt good to be there in what was still just about Epiphany Week, and especially to broach with him a commission I was given by Bishop Jonathan, to explore ways in which the Diocese of Lichfield might assist with any re-equiping of the House (which functions as the library and resource centre for lay and clergy training in the Diocese). It was obviously a timely offer. The House of the Epiphany sits in the Cathedral complex, alongside St Thomas’ School and the Diocesan Offices, in the original (19th century) missionary base of the Anglican church.

The conversation with Michael was illuminating: the Diocese of Sarawak is made up of 27 parishes. But these cover 125,000 square miles and contain 2.2 million people. Per parish, that’s an average of about 5000 square miles (or an area say 50 miles by 100 miles!) and 700,000 people. These 27 parishes are served by 73 priests. That sounds OK: 3.5 priests per parish – what wouldn’t be possible with that sort of staffing ratio in England? But each parish serves multiple congregations. At St Faith’s, Kuching, tomorrow, for example, there will be 8 services (I think – this is from memory), in three languages. If that isn’t complex enough, in the more rural areas, a single parish might – get this – be nurturing over 200 worship centres, of which at least a dozen would be attracting 100+ worshippers, though some might be attracting as few as 5. There’s a challenge to prioritising ministry…

And the conversation with John Sim (the second of the two priests who met me at the airport) was scarcely less mind-boggling. He has just relinquished responsibility for a local church plant, in order to assist in new initiative, to establish an Anglican church presence in the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. It’s a most inspiring story of God’s grace and the rewards of perseverance in the midst of adversity – the upshot of which is the moving prospect of the imminent baptism of 24 catechumens now in preparation. John’s easy manner and joyful exuberance creates the impression that he is long established member of the clergy. In fact he has been a priest less than a year and we adjourned our conversation in order for him to rush to the vicar of St Faith’s to observe how to perform a baptism! (We were late and he missed it…)

These are wonderful people and it is so encouraging to see the Gospel flourishing in these cultures so different from the ones I know.

But it’s time for bed. I’m up early in the morning, to preach at the two main services in St Thomas’s Cathedral. The times? 6.45am and 8.15am. I’m not sure I’ve ever preached as early as 6.45 before.

Pete