It was a power-packed two days at the Sabah International Convention Centre, where the first-ever Borneo Workplace Conference (BWC26) brought Malaysia Day and marketplace faith together under one roof.
Held on 15 and 16 September in Kota Kinabalu, BWC26 drew over 800 registered participants from more than 160 churches across Malaysia.
The conference carried the tagline “My Work Is My Worship,” built around the line “Sunday worship prepares us. Monday worship proves us.” It grew out of something already underway. For the past two years, a series of Workplace Connect Borneo Gatherings had been bringing believers together across the region, and BWC26 was framed as a significant moment in that longer journey rather than a standalone event.
Running alongside the main programme was a workplace expo and artisan market with more than 50 businesses, along with food and drink vendors as a way of sowing back into the local economy.
Why the workplace?
Pastor Helga, General Manager and co-founder of SM Health Care and one of the catalysts behind the event, explained the vision behind it. “This is not about building another program. It is about forming a movement of integrated believers who understand that every sphere belongs to God and every workplace is a mission field, where churches and workplaces walk together. Where believers are equipped, sent, and sustained, where the Gospel shapes culture and all glory returns to Him. Then the marketplace will not merely survive. It will flourish.”
Table talk about living our calling in the workplace
The conference opened with a table talk between Pastor Dr Philip Lyn of Skyline SIB and Leon Jala, Group CEO of PEMANDU Group. Leon asked Pastor Philip how believers can become fruitful in their calling in the marketplace without getting swept up in the hustle and pace of the working world.
He told the audience that before anyone builds “audible leadership” – the kind with a platform and a following, they need to build “quiet leadership”. He challenged the audience: “Do you practise what you preach? Your competency, character, conduct in crisis, core values and consistency.”
One of the defining lines when it comes to sustaining one’s calling in the marketplace was to “Think Big, Start Small, Build Deep.” He explained that building depth means not neglecting devotional time even when things get busy, since that discipline is key to sustaining a calling over the long run.
Wired and assigned to impact the workplace
Business coach Goh Thian Aun, CEO of Innowake Asia, led a session on how understanding the way God has wired a person can bring clarity to their purpose at work. Participants were guided to reflect on three questions: what gives me energy, what gives me a deep burden, and who has God placed around me to invest in.
Through an exercise called “3 Seeds,” participants named specific people and areas where they could intentionally give their time, gifts and influence. Goh summed up the framework this way: “Wired, what has God put in me. Assignment, what has God put before me. And Impact, who has God put around me.”
The four panel sessions running across the two days brought together a wide mix of voices across sectors and stages of life where each of them shared openly about how they discovered their calling, how they try to live out their faith in practical terms, and what it has cost them to obey.
Built to bless
Paulus Bambang, an Indonesian business leader who rose through the ranks of the ASTRA Group before moving into mentoring and advisory work, led a session titled “Built To Bless,” structured around five points. Believing that God owns it all, which he said produces humility and stewardship.
Understanding God’s plan, on the basis that if God is not a business partner in the planning room, he should not be expected to show up in the boardroom. Integrating work and worship, so that when love becomes labour, work becomes worship. Leading with financial integrity and living to bless others. And treasuring a good name, which he described as what God says about a person, not what others say.
He closed the session with a line that stuck with many in the room, “Big problem, big miracle. Small problem, small miracle. No problem, no miracle,” pointing to the fact that God is ever ready to move in the workplace, even in the midst of issues and problems – urging participants to invite God into their business.
“Sabah, you are key to unlocking the riches in Malaysia. Sabah, your time is now.”
Tribal Gathering led worship on both nights of the conference, ushering in the presence of God and setting the stage for a spiritual shift.
Pastor Rachel Bulan, Lead Pastor of Cornerstone Borneo Churches, with campuses in Miri and Kuching, led the people into a time of consecration and response. As a fourth-generation Christian whose family played a role in the 1973 Bario Revival, she carried a particular weight into the evening sessions.
“This is the time for revival in the marketplace, outside the four walls of the church,” was repeated as a central theme of the evening.
Pastor Rachel also addressed the land directly: “Sabah, you are key to unlocking the riches in Malaysia. Sabah, your time is now. You are called to reveal the glory of God.”
She spoke about Sabah, a state rich in resources and abundance that has nonetheless stayed among the poorest in the country for as long as most people can remember. Her challenge to the room was to stop seeing Sabah through an orphan or victim mentality, and start seeing it the way she believes God does.
The teaching that followed centred on doing business God’s way. “Make business with God first before we make business as with others,” she said. “God’s economy is not built on currency but on covenant.”
She continued: “When you make covenant with God, you have nothing to fear. He watches over those who make covenant with Him.” She referenced Deuteronomy 8:18 to 19: “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.”
In the commissioning segment that followed, the next generation of bumiputera, thirty and under, were called to the front. Prayed for. Anointed. Sent out. Young men and women walked to the altar to rededicate their lives, and the atmosphere in the hall was palpable with many surrendering and dedicating their lives unto the Lord.
Across the two nights, more than 1,000 people gathered each night to declare goodness over Sabah, echoing a conviction that ran through the whole conference: that Sabah and Sarawak are called to walk together in ushering the glory of God into Malaysia.
On the final night of BWC26, the night rally ended with a prophetic declaration of blessing between Sabah and Sarawak. Sarawakian representives extended a blessing over Sabah declaring: “Sabah, we love you. Sabah, you’re not an orphan. Sabah, we will not leave you behind. Sabah, the Lord redeems you!”. Leaders from Sabah answered by faith, declaring the same over their own land: “Sabah, we love you too. You are not forsaken. You are not desolate. We are His delight!” Then, as one, both states turned and declared blessing over all of Malaysia.
BWC26 marks the start of a new season for Sabah, and the organisers shared that they will continue to lean in to discern what’s coming next.
