The Diocese of West Malaysia is an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

which covers the entire

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. The Diocese of West Malaysia (DWM) was founded on 8 April 1970, as DWM together with Diocese of Singapore split from

Diocese of Singapore and Malaya Diocese of Singapore and Malaya was an Anglican diocese which covered Singapore and West Malaysia (which was also called Malaya). It was renamed from Diocese of Singapore on 6 February 1960. On 8 April 1970, the diocese was dissolved and split i ...

. As a result, Diocese of Singapore and Malaya was dissolved.

History

Anglicanism Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

came to the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

following the establishment of the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

's administered settlement on

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

island in 1786. The local magistrate, a

George Caunter George Caunter (c. June 1758 – 25 December 1811) was a British administrator who governed Prince of Wales Island (Penang Island) as Acting Superintendent from 1797 to 1798 and again from 1798 to 1800. As First Assistant under Lieutenant-Gove ...

, was appointed a Lay Clerk/Acting Chaplain to provide spiritual ministry to the settlers. Under his ministry the first entry into the Church Register was made in 1799. The See of Calcutta provided episcopal supervision for the chaplaincy work on Penang island and the first Anglican Church building, the Church of St. George the Martyr, was built and consecrated by the Metropolitan,

Thomas Fanshaw Middleton Thomas Fanshawe Middleton (28 January 1769 – 8 July 1822) was a noted Anglican bishop. Life Middleton was born in Kedleston in Derbyshire, England, the son of Thomas Middleton, Rector of Kedleston and educated at Christs Hospital. He then w ...

, in 1819. The See of Calcutta extended from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and was thus practically unmanageable. As a result, in 1855, a Diocese of Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak was created by

Letters Patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...

for the better administration of these outlying areas. The new diocese became a missionary diocese of the

Archdiocese of Canterbury The Province of Canterbury, or less formally the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces which constitute the Church of England. The other is the Province of York (which consists of 12 dioceses). Overview The Province consist ...

. In 1867 the whole of Penang island came under direct British rule, precipitated by the foreclosure of the East India Company. Consequently, the chaplaincy of the Madras Presidency in Penang ceased. Meanwhile, a major shift in mission outlook took place with the Society for the Propagation of Gospel in Foreign Parts taking an active role in procuring ‘chaplains' for the Crown in its colonies. This led to a time of great missionary activity in the new Diocese and a period of Chinese and Indian immigration. For better administration in-line with the political changes taking place in the region, the Diocese of Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak was further reorganised into the Diocese of Singapore in 1909 with the See located in Singapore. After 120 years, the Anglican church in South-East Asia was finally positioned to take responsibility for its own mission and growth. Church life and ministry was drastically affected by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the Japanese Occupation of the peninsula between 1941 and 1945. In the midst of great hardship and war-time atrocities, Christian witness continued to thrive. Bishop Wilson, the incumbent, proved a great example of godly leadership in times of great distress. Without the benefit of its expatriate clergy who had been interred, the work of the church fell on Asian shoulders. These Asian workers operated with surprisingly responsible independence. The War and the loss of its expatriate leadership precipitated a sense of self-determination among the local Christian community, and an urgent need for training Asian leaders for this developing part of the Anglican Church. This need led quickly to the establishment of

Trinity Theological College, Singapore Trinity Theological College (TTC), Singapore, was founded in 1948 as a union college between Anglicans, Methodists, and Presbyterians for theological training. The Lutherans joined the union in 1963. Academic programmes are offered in both Englis ...

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

gained her independence from British rule in 1957. Following this, in 1960, the Diocese was renamed the

to give due recognition to the political importance of Malaya. In 1963, Malaya became the Federation of

with the inclusion of

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

and

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

under one central government. Ten years after the creation of the Diocese of Singapore and Malaya, in 1971, a new and independent Diocese, the Diocese of West Malaysia, was incorporated by an Act of the Malaysian Parliament. In 1996, the

Church of the Province of South East Asia The Church of the Province of South East Asia is an autonomous member of the Anglican Communion, created in 1996 with the four dioceses of Kuching, Sabah, Singapore and West Malaysia. There are approximately 98,000 Anglicans within the pro ...

consisting of the dioceses of Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore and West Malaysia was created by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

, thus making the Anglican Church in the region self-governing, self-supporting, self-propagating and truly indigenous. In 2015, a decision was made by the Diocesan Synod to further divide the diocese into three separate dioceses and in 2016, two area dioceses were created, the Area Diocese of the Northern Peninsula and the Area Diocese of the Southern Peninsula, in preparation and two suffragan bishops were licensed to oversee the area dioceses. Provisional approval of the Provincial Synod for the creation of the new dioceses by 2020 has since been obtained.

Organisation

The diocese of West Malaysia is overseen by the Bishop of West Malaysia. The area dioceses of Northern Peninsula and Southern Peninsula were created in 2016, each overseen by a suffragan bishop. The diocese is further divided into

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

ries.

Past Diocesan Bishops

Episcopal supervision of the parishes within the Diocese of West Malaysia can be traced back to the oversight of early Anglican chaplaincies in the Malay peninsula from the metropolitan Bishop of Calcutta since 1814.

Education

Affiliated Seminaries

Diocesan Mission Schools

The Anglican Mission Schools’ Board overseas the diocesan

mission school The Mission School (sometimes called "New Folk" or "Urban Rustic") is an art movement of the 1990s and 2000s, centered in the Mission District, San Francisco, California. History and characteristics This movement is generally considered to have ...

s and runs the Bishop Tan Sri Roland Koh Teaching Scholarship for Malaysian Anglicans from the Diocese of West Malaysia who desire to pursue a teaching career.

Diocesan Anglican Care Homes and Centres

*Wellspring Retreat Center, Rawang *St Nicholas Home, Penang *Ray Of Hope, Ipoh *St Mark’s Cozy Home, Sungai Buloh *Beacon of Hope, Sri Manja Petaling Jaya *St. Paul’s Day Training Center & Bethel Centre Early Intervention Programme *Pushpa Nesam Children Home, Johor *House of Delight (Community Centre), Ipoh *Rumah Damai (Senior Citizen Home), Kuala Terengganu *St Barnabas Home & Community Centre, Klang *Rumah Shalom, Gopeng

Diocesan Seminarians

*Allan Selvadas *Kelvin Cheah *Samuel Das *Davina David *Emmanuel Nickson *Mah Kar Men *Paul Muthukrishnan *Aaron George Anthony *Dante Lum *Darry Lucas *Noel Nickson

References

{{reflist Anglican dioceses in Asia Christianity in Malaysia