Integrating Faith, Family, and Business
Integrating Faith, Family, and Business: Dato’ CC Ngei, Founder and MD of Feruni Ceramiche Sdn Bhd.
by Christopher Quah
Note: This testimony by Dato’ CC Ngei was part of a series of weekly Webinar Talk on 3F (Family, Finance, Fitness) by Christian Leaders organized by Family First Malaysia @ www.facebook.com/FFM4U.
When it comes to the business of tiling in Malaysia, Feruni Ceramiche is no stranger in the industry. It was the brainchild of Dato’ CC Ngei founded in 2010. Dato’ Ngei who is very successful in this field, explains that his success is not just due to his natural abilities or strategies. He leads it back to God and Jesus Christ whom he had come to know in 2009.
He explains that since coming to Christ, God has been the Person who has guided him not just in business but in family and ministry too.
The father of two daughters, he explains that it is thanks to the persistence of his wife, whom he knew since primary school that he came to Christ.
“When my wife came to Christ, she kept pushing me to accept Him too. But I kept ignoring it. Only after 21 years did I finally accept Christ into my life. And it has changed my life for the past ten years,” he explained.
“Firstly, God has blessed me in my life and business. He gave me a new perspective on how to run a business and live my life. Thanks to His guidance, I have learned that life is not about balancing faith, business ministry, and family but integrating them all so that we will be able to give God’s glory to God,” he said.
“When I began my journey in Christ, I started serving in the ministry. At the start it was enjoyable. But slowly more and more demands came from the ministry. Things became challenging soon after. Adding to that, I had my growing business to handle with a lot of overseas trips and family life to take care of. I felt very stressed,” he said.
“It was only when I met a good friend who shared the fundamentals of the Christian focus on the word of God, could I overcome this hectic lifestyle. He taught me how we should spend time with our Lord and to listen to the things that He has for us. Because when it comes to prayer, I have been asking Him for so many things that I want to do. But I never asked about what He wanted,” he added.
“When I started serving it was from a very simple motive to glorify God but after a while, I started to become the priority instead of Him. I wanted the recognition and started to take all the credit. I began to work on my own strength. Serving became a way to feed my pride and ego. It became about my own ability. No more for God,” he explained.
Dato’ Ngei explained that he began to reevaluate himself based on his friend’s help.
“I asked myself that with everything I do being busy, whose plan is it? Mine or God’s plan? So, I started putting more effort into devotion and having a deeper relationship with God.
‘What is the thing and plan you want me to do?’ I asked God. Instead of planning everything, I asked God to plan my business. After beginning this devotion, I started changing my perspective; to start with prayer first and to ask God for the plan. Then I find out all the things I want to do is not 100% God’s plan but my own desire. It is for my pride that I did a lot of things to get recognition and significance from the marketplace,” he said.
He explained that he had to go back to the Creator to get balance in his life.
“Building intimacy in my relationship with God.. it became a priority for me. It helped me understand what God wants me to do. The reason why I didn’t have enough time was because not everything I was doing was needed for the day. By seeking God, He guided me to use my resource to point out what He wanted me to do to build God’s kingdom. And then I realized I had the time to do what was needed by Him in the day.
“In the past, I asked people – consultants – to give me direction and solutions. But interestingly the best advice and solutions are always from God. No matter how small or how big, He will give us all the answers. And for me, He showed me how to integrate Business, Ministry, and Family. Business is not standalone. God sees it as part of my ministry.
“A Hong Kong pastor once told me I am a pastor. I said I am not a pastor. He said you are a pastor in your organization. So then I understood that business is only a platform for me to learn the values and the principles from God. This is done by applying God’s values and principles in the way I run my business. I am able to minister to my employees and others,” he said.
Dato’ Ngei added that his journey to Christ was not an easy one as when he became a Christian there was resistance from his parents.
“In 2011, my parents got to know that I started going to church and was getting baptized. They got very angry and wanted to disown me. They even told me not to come back home. For almost 6 months I didn’t get any food from my mother. However, she cooked for my children. That was how tense my relationship was with my parents. But over 9 years, I continued being filial and visiting my parents. Over these 9 years, the relationship has been changed and transformed. As my parents saw how blessed my business and family life was, they changed their minds. At first, they were afraid that my business would be affected because they believed in idol worship and that the gods were the ones who blessed their business. They believed that my business would fail. This was proven untrue. Another thing they worried about was that if they died who was going to feed their spirits by putting the joss stick at their graves?” he explained.
But due to the changes and blessings in his family, Dato’ Ngei’s parents began to change their perspective.
“I am very happy that last year when I went to DUMC to share on stage, I was able to invite both of my parents to come. They came for the first time with my brothers and sisters. I feel that God is working with my parents and I hope that one day they will know Christ,” he shared.
He added that besides his parents, his relationship with his two daughters has also improved.
“Before I came to Christ, in the past, our conversations were always around 3 minutes. I would ask them whether they have finished their work. ‘Have you enough money to spend?’ ‘How are you today?’ ‘Is your homework done?’ It was an either a yes or no conversation. Conversations that lasted about three or four minutes.
“After I became a Christian our conversations started to change. I started to be more vulnerable and I began to share about my challenges, etc. When I started to share and be more vulnerable like a friend to my children, my children also started to share their burdens with me. So, I was actually very happy during the time when my eldest was studying in the UK and we had a conference call. We had face time for up to 1 hour 45 minutes and could share a lot of things. Our relationship has grown much better after I am a Christian compared to before,” he added.
He shares that all this could not have been achieved if he had not trusted God and learned to hear His voice. Now before making any big business decisions, he would consult God first. He adds that even in the current pandemic of Coronavirus, God has been there to protect him and his business.
“I have over 200 employees and 12 showrooms. That is a lot of cash flow and money to pay. So, first thing first, I went back to the Lord for wisdom. I had to learn how to depend on God instead of depending on myself. I asked God for wisdom about what He wanted me to do as it was extremely tough for me during MCO, especially on rental, etc. But God led me step-by-step. When my CFO projected the cash flow, we were said to be going to have a big negative cashflow. But I tell you, after two months, it has been far beyond expectations. From this, I learn that you can’t control negative news but only the Creator can determine the outcome. God will open the door and He will make the way,” Dato’ Ngei adds.
His advice, in conclusion, is to depend on God no matter how big or small the decision is.
