St Luke’s Church project short of RM300,000

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BIGGER AND BETTER: The front elevation of the new St Luke’s Church, which once completed could accommodate 800 people.

SRI AMAN: The new St Luke’s Church near Munggu Sabun here, costing RM2.5 million is about 70 per cent complete.

This is the second church ever built in Sri Aman town after the first church was gutted by fire on Dec 15, 2002.

According to the Venerable Archdeacon of Central Sarawak, Chimbie Bunsie, the new church is expected to be completed by the end of September 2011.  However, Archdeacon Bunsie revealed to The Borneo Post yesterday that the church is still in need of more funding for its completion and was short of RM300,000.

He urged locals as well as the public from throughout the state to donate kindly so that “the Anglican brothers and sisters can have a proper place of worship”.

At the moment, he said, the Sunday mass was being held at St Luke’s Church Parish Hall, which could only accommodate about 500 people.

“Once completed, the new church will be able to hold 800 people at any one time and it will be a beautiful landmark for this town,” The Vicar of St Luke’s Church Sri Aman added.

According to him, there are 8,686 Anglican worshippers and 16 chapels in Sri Aman town.

St Luke Church, he said, has a colourful history of its own and is among the oldest in the state.

“The first St Luke’s Church was erected in 1837 at Sabu, some 3 kilometres from where it is now, before it was built at the present site of Munggu Sabun in 1937,” he explained.

Earlier, a newly wedded couple Allen Nguling and bride Dr Majorie Ensayan had their holy matrimony conducted at the parish hall.

Allen and his wife were very happy to see a new church being built and hope it will be completed soon so that “more memorable wedding congregation could be held here”.