Christians in Malaysia will have a different focus on Christianity than Americans in the United States. Malaysian Christians live in an environment where the country’s Constitution restricts the propagation of religions other than Islam to the Muslim community. While American Christians live with a Constitution guaranteeing the freedom of religion. Christian apologetics where Christian theology is defended against objections would be greater in Malaysia than in the United States. Muslims praying within a church would be more of an alien idea in Malaysia than in the United States. Due to the cultural segmentation the needs and response of Christians would be different from ethnicity and nationality.

1. The Cultural and Generational Segmentation of Christians
Between Malaysia and United States
By Shamim Ziyaaudhin, MBA
On July 30th
2016 the Economist article “Drawbridges Up” wrote that 2015 was the first time
white Christians became a minority in three centuries. What does this mean for Christians
around the world? It means white culture may have less of an influence on Christianity
going forward than others. There will be a cultural segmentation on how Christianity is
presented.
Christians in Malaysia will have a different focus on Christianity than Americans in the
United States. Malaysian Christians live in an environment where the country’s Constitution
restricts the propagation of religions other than Islam to the Muslim community. While
American Christians live with a Constitution guaranteeing the freedom of religion. Christian
apologetics where Christian theology is defended against objections would be greater in
Malaysia than in the United States. Muslims praying within a church would be more of an
alien idea in Malaysia than in the United States. Due to the cultural segmentation the needs
and response of Christians would be different from ethnicity and nationality.
Between 1960 and 2000, the global growth of Evangelicals grew three times the world’s
population rate according to Know the Truth: A Handbook of Christian Belief. The Baby
Boomers were responsible for the exponential growth of Evangelicals. In 2014 the youngest
Baby Boomers turned 50 which bring us to the early stages of a generational segmentation
of Christianity. Baby Boomers focus on the proclamation of Christian faith through verses of
the Bible and living according to it. Both Generation X and Millennials grew up in the advent
of the Internet Age where the proclamation of the Christian faith can be accessed with a
click of the mouse. Now these generations focus on the demonstration of Christian faith
rather than the proclamation.
The term obedience at church is used many times to justify actions. During the Malaysian
Bersih rallies, where citizens took to the streets seeking reforms for the electoral process,
some of the churches considered participating in them as a form of Christian disobedience.
However when Bersih had its most recent rally in 2014, the pastors of those same churches
who considered the previous rallies as Christian disobedience now considered them essential
for the Christian journey. One can only conclude that the overuse of the word obedience
prevented them from progressing further in their spiritual journey.
During the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, the Reverend Martin
Luther King Jr. was the activist and leader promoting nonviolent civil disobedience based on
Christian beliefs. The major differences between the Malaysian Bersih rallies and the
African-American Civil Rights Movement was one was more focused on the proclamation
than the demonstration of the Christian faith. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. clearly
demonstrated his Christian faith during the Civil Rights Movement especially during his “I
Have a Dream” speech.
Eventually there will be reconciliation between the cultural and generational segments on
how Christianity is presented. It will begin by asking the question whether we need more
Christians in the world or better ones. This will allow Christians to focus on what is
important rather than continuing justifying their actions through proclaiming their Christian
faith instead of demonstrating it.