50 Years Building His Kingdom - Far Eastern Bible College

Life
Bible-Presbyterian
Church
Page 116
From Life Book Centre
to FEBC Bookroom
“Give instruction to a wise man, and he
will be yet wiser.” (Prov 9:9)
TWO YEARS AND eight months before
our going to teach in America,
we reopened a Book shop at the L-
corner of the FEBC Annexe, which was
named Life Book Centre. This was January
1976.
The idea of operating
a Church Bookshop
was with us from
the very beginning.
Soon after pastoring the
English Service, I became
a self-appointed
colporteur. I took both
English and Chinese
Bibles from the Bible
Society and sold them
with a view to spreading
the Word. In fact we
had a rubber stamp
made with the name,
“Malaysia Christian
Bookroom”, intending to use one of two
small rooms at the entrance of the old Life
Church at Prinsep Street for a start.
When the Church and College Complex
at Gilstead Road was completed early
1963, we had the end room of the L-Annexe
furnished for a proper bookroom,
small though it was. It is now our Computer
Room.
We stocked the Bookroom with Bibles
and as many good Christian books as
we could get. An FEBC student, who was
assigned this book-selling, on a small scale,
could earn enough to pay for her board.
Whenever the pastor went on his up-country
preaching to Batu Pahat, to Temerloh,
he would bring along a box of Bibles and
Christian books to sell. He got good sales,
which helped the book business to carry
on, while catering to the spiritual needs of
the up-country brethren.
For a business enterprise to succeed,
however, there must be one who is fully
dedicated to it, like a soldier engaged in
warfare. So, it is often seen in Chinese calligraphy,
“May Your Business Thrive by
that Martial Spirit,” ( ) etched
on gift-mirrors for presentation at the inaugural
of a trading company. This is a
Chinese social custom. As we did not have
a full-time manager, the little book business
eventually folded up. For long years
it sat idle.
Now, I wanted a person who would
be willing to work with me without any
conditions, inasmuch as such a book business
is sacred unto the Lord. I found such
a man in the person of Stephen Kuan who
graduated with a diploma from FEBC. As
our capital was small, we could pay him a
humble salary for a start. This he gladly
accepted. With the concurrence of the Session,
we took over the L-Annexe corner
which has a three-room floor area of 660
sq. ft. While making orders abroad, we
went out together to bring in whatever
stocks we could get locally. We took a good
lot from Operation Mobilisation and, of
course, Bibles from the Bible Society. All
the books published by me up to now also
went up the shelves. The business was governed
by a committee appointed by Session,
with the pastor as ex-officio.
Upon our return from the States, we
were informed that Life Book Centre had
come to the end of its tether, after three
years and seven-and-a-half months.
Stephen regretfully had to leave us, but we
must acknowledge the part he played.
Stephen was zealous, nevertheless, in tract
distribution, so while he managed Life
Book Centre, he imported free tracts from
abroad on his own initiative for dissemination.
He himself was saved by reading a
Gospel tract. After Stephen left Life Book
Centre, he joined the staff of Mount Carmel