Inaugural Manggatal inter-church Easter celebration draws 3000

MANGGATAL – The inaugural inter-church Easter celebration held at Manggatal Community Centre here drew a 3000-crowd on 23 Apr 2017.

The historic event was organised by a group comprising the various Christian communities from Inanam, Manggatal and Telipok, who dedicated themselves to foster unity, harmony and peace among people of all faiths. The same group has also been organising Christmas Street Festivals in the past three years.

Lifred Wong, representing the Mayor of Kota Kinabalu City, officiated the Easter event. Present too were Dr Roland Chia who was also the patron of the event,   Father Paul Lo, event Spiritual Adviser from the Catholic Church, Rev Canon Musa Ambai, representative of Bishop Melter J Tais, President of the Sabah Council of Churches, and Pastor Raffles Magadap, a member of the Council of Churches Manggatal.

Unlike the Christmas Street Festival, each church was represented by one choir. The choir from the Catholic Church presented a variety of Easter songs.

The nine participating Christian communities were Basel Christian Church Malaysia (BCCM), Father Loves Community Church (FLCC), International Full Gospel Fellowship (IFGF), Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB), Protestant Church of Sabah (PCS), Baptist, Anglican, Methodist and the Roman Catholic Church. – Michael Guntili