A Mass Evangelism and crusade oriented agency
Malaysia Evangelistic Fellowship (MEF) was formed in 1960 in Singapore. Singapore was then part of Malaysia.
During this era, Dr G D James conducted evangelistic rallies in churches, public places and even in open air areas in Singapore and Malaysia.
Later, city-wide crusades and rallies were held all over South East Asia and South Asia. Men like Mr Tan Kok Beng were identified and encouraged to hold public meetings in Singapore, Malaysia and all over South East Asia. Soon other men like Mr Leong Mok Chow, Lai Yong Thai and K. T. Han joined the MEF ranks and preached at church rallies and small scale crusades in English and various Chinese dialects.
An Indigenous Missionary sending agency
As MEF’s ministry grew, the Macedonian call came from the surrounding regions. Mr Peck Hock Cheng was sent to Sarawak, Malaysia to do pioneer work among the Kelabit people. Mr Herbert Woon was sent to Brunei, as the first Asian Missionary to work in the Muslim nation.
This was also the time when local literature was published in a big way. An offset printing machine was given to the fellowship and no fewer than 10 million copies of Gospel literature were printed in various Asian Languages during this era.
A fledgling, Indigenous Mission agency (with mission branches in Malaysia, Indonesia and India etc.)
As the vision and mission of MEF expanded to Malaysia, India and Indonesia, the name of the fellowship was changed to Asia Evangelistic Fellowship (AEF). AEF donor branches were established in New Zealand, Australia, USA and Canada. The first AEF International conference of Directors was held in 1980 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The Tamil Bible Institute was established in Johor Bahru (Malaysia) in 1977.
The Lawang Training Centre was established in Lawang, East Java, Indonesia in 1981 and the Singapore School of Missions and Evangelism (SOME) was established in 1982.
This was also the era when significant and strategic conferences were organised such as:
Overseas Indian Congress on Evangelism (OICOE) in 1978 and the Conference of National Evangelists (CONE) in 1985. In 1987 AEF India was challenged, with the help of AEF Singapore to organise an India-wide Conference of National Evangelists (CONE) in Bombay, India.
By the end of this era mission bases were established in Hong Kong, Philippines, Nepal and Burma (Myanmar).
Another significant event was the Love UK mission with Dr G D James and 10 other Asian evangelists who undertook a month-long campaign in the UK.
The leadership mantle fell on Dr James’ son Jonathan in 1989 when he assumed the twin roles of Director for AEF Singapore and AEF International.
AEF Singapore and AEF International operations were separated with AEF Singapore focussing on outreach to migrant workers. An AEF Regional Director (for South Asia) was named in the person of Bro. K J Joseph.
A thriving and expanding Indigenous Mission agency (with work in 11 countries of Asia and the Pacific)
AEF International was formalised and the International office moved from Singapore to Perth, Australia in 1995. An AEF International Council was formed in 1997. Regional Directors for South Asia and East Asia were named.
Asia College of Ministry (ACOM) was formed to provide effective, on-site theological education in Nepal, Myanmar and Malaysia in 2000.
The death of the founder, Dr G D James in 2003 marked the end of an era for AEFI.
AEFI expanded its operations to North East India, Vietnam, Solomon Islands Cambodia and China.
Destiny Communications, an arm of AEFI, with a radio ministry to reach Asia was established in 2007. The G D James Training Centre and Destiny Newspaper ministries were launched in 2008.