ST. MARGARET’S PARISH, SERIA

St. Margaret’s Parish, Seria is one of the three parishes in Negara Brunei Darussalam. The Revd. Nelson Ugas Bulang is the Priest-in-charge. He took over from the Revd. Kenny Tan. Father Ugas moved to Seria on 24^th February, 2004 from St. Columba’s Church, Miri. The Chairman of the Parochial Church Council is Mr. Clement Chia. He has been in this position for the last thirty over years. The Parish has three Subdeacons in the person of Mr. Andrew Tay, Mr. Daniel Keasberry and Mr. Humphrey Chin. On the 6^th November this year, the Church will be celebrating her 50^th Anniversary.

The Church building that we can see in this photograph was consecrated on 6^th November 1954 by the Rt. Revd. Nigel Cornwall. The Priests who ministered to the congregation at that time was Father Bowler and assisted by Father Andrew Lee.

The Parish covers mainly the Seria area, with some members residing in the Kuala Belait area, which is about 15 kilometers from Seria. The average Sunday communicant is about 126 and attendance is about 170. We have Holy Communion Service in English every Sundays starting at 8.00 a.m. On the first, third and fifth Sunday we have celebration worship. And on the second and fourth Sundays we have traditional worship. We also have services in Chinese on every first and third Sunday and in Iban on the second and fourth Sunday. Both services start at 10.00 a.m.

Cell church was launched in the Parish on the 25^th February 2001. At the moment we have twenty-one cell leaders cum assistant leaders. There are ten Cell groups meeting in various centers within the Parish from Monday to Friday every week. The other organizations in existence in the parish are the Women’s Fellowship, Parish Youth Fellowship, Sunday School, Boys and Girls Brigade, Senior Fellowship and the Iban/Bahasa Fellowship.