Our Story
The Oasis SIB was given full autonomy as a local church when it became a registered member of Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) Semenanjung on 1st January 2012. We are thus also a registered member of the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF).
Why the name “The Oasis SIB?”? An oasis is a welcome sight to desert travellers. It means shade from the insistent desert sun, and more vitally, water. Desert travellers recognize the significance of water to life itself. When desert travellers find an oasis, they could feel the shade of the date palm tree branches, and cup up water with their hands onto their dust covered faces, lips, and tongues. In an oasis, travellers are refreshed, rejuvenated and re-energized.
Thus, The Oasis SIB serves as a dwelling place of God where lives can be touched, impacted, refreshed and renewed.
Our Roots
SIB Beginnings
In October 1928, three Australian missionaries, Hudson Southwell, Frank Davidson and Carey Tolley set sail from Adelaide and arrived in Sarawak a month later. Together with a timber merchant by the name of Alexander Henderson, they established a base on the little-known island of Borneo and started the Borneo Evangelical Mission, now known as Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB).
In the early years, the three pioneering missionaries had to adapt to a massive cross-cultural shift besides tackling snake-infested jungles and mountainous terrains. They also had to contend with the steamy, hot tropical climate as well as tropical diseases such as amoebic dysentery and malaria. In spite of all these obstacles, the three missionaries pressed on.
After mastering the Malay language and the local native dialects, the missionaries began sharing the love of Jesus to the indigenous people of Sarawak. For many years, the labour was hard and the fruits were scanty. It was said that Carey Tolley prayed so much on his knees over the map of Borneo that calluses began to develop on his knee caps!
As the years passed by, God rewarded their perseverance and hundreds and thousands of natives turned to the Lord, first in Sarawak and later in Sabah. They forsook their old ways of head-hunting and getting drunk on tapai (rice wine). The change was so dramatic that it even caught the attention of the Raja Brooke of Sarawak. Previously, they were drunk before dawn with tapai, now they are drunk before dawn with the Holy Spirit.
To date, SIB has over 500,000 members in Sabah and Sarawak making it the largest Christian denomination in Malaysia next to the Roman Catholic Church.