KOTA SAMARAHAN, Sept 29: The newly built St Francis’ Anglican Church here has been consecrated with more than 1,000 members of the congregation attending the service this afternoon.
Priest in charge of St Francis’ Church Reverend Canon Dennis Gimang thanked Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) led by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, for its RM1 million contribution to the church building fund.
“The idea of building a new church came about due to the unprecedented population growth in Samarahan. I came here (to the church) in 2011. The capacity of the old church was about 350, and with the building of new housing estates in the area we suddenly realised that there were many people coming to our church and filled the church, and we could not contain them all.
“So we did some kind of extension but still, the effort failed to accommodate the growing number of people coming to church every Sunday,” said Rev Dennis.
The idea of a new church building was mooted in 2015, which has now become a reality.
The new church building, he explained, was able to accommodate 1,000 members of the congregation at one time, and an extra of 200 with additional chairs.
The total cost of the church, including furnishing would be about RM5 million, so the church still needs to raise another RM3 million, he added.
“We have applied to Unifor to assist us in acquiring the additional fund, and we hope they would be able to assist us,” said Rev Dennis.
The consecration service was conducted fully in Iban Language. — DayakDaily
