Sarawak Blessed Church: Creating an Engaging Worship Experience.
For Sarawak Blessed Church, worship has always been about more than sermons and music. Apart from the actual presence of God which is the most crucial part of worship, it is also about creating an environment where people feel emotionally connected, spiritually engaged, and fully involved from the moment they enter the sanctuary.
Sarawak Blessed Church under the leadership of Pastor GT Lim since 1995 branched off from Good News Fellowship which was founded in 1978 by New Zealand missionaries together with local pioneers. Since then, Sarawak Blessed Church has grown into one of the largest and most influential churches in Sarawak with the congregation expanded from around 70 members in 1995 to more than 3,500 worshippers today.
As the church continued to grow, it embarked on a vision to create a new sanctuary capable of supporting future generations. Construction began in 2021 and culminated in the official opening of the new sanctuary in January 2025. Spanning approximately 5,440 square metres with seating for more than 4,500 people, the four-storey building was designed as a modern worship environment equipped with advanced audiovisual technology.
For Pastor Lim, the sanctuary represented more than simply a larger building. It was about creating a space that could connect with modern generations while remaining true to the church’s spiritual mission.
“Young people today are very connected to music and live experiences,” he explained. “While we are spiritual, we also have to be practical. When people walk into the sanctuary and feel spiritually as well as emotionally uplifted through the sound, music, and atmosphere, it opens their hearts and allows them to connect more deeply with the message.”
To realise this vision, the church worked with Audio, Video and Lighting Consultant Dominic Koh, d&b audiotechnik together and d&b’s Malaysian sales partner as well as system integrator Search Music Sdn Bhd to design and implement a professional audio solution centred around the d&b KSL Series.
The Challenge: Supporting Modern Worship in a Large Sanctuary
The church’s requirements extended beyond simply achieving high sound pressure levels. The sanctuary needed to support a diverse worship style ranging from intimate ballads and spoken ministry to high-energy contemporary worship influenced by concert productions and EDM-style musical arrangements.
According to Koh, understanding the church’s worship culture was critical in developing the right system design. “From watching their worship, I realised they have a lot of energy,” he explained. “The system had to support concert-like performances, dramas, and musicals while still maintaining the clarity needed for spoken word and worship ministry.”
The architecture of the sanctuary also introduced acoustic challenges. Its large seating capacity, high ceilings, and balcony sections created reflective surfaces that could impact speech intelligibility and musical clarity if left untreated. The church wanted the worship experience to feel engaging and enveloping without becoming overwhelming, ensuring sermons and music remained clear throughout every seating area.
For Jaydon Joo, Sarawak Blessed Church’s music director, achieving this balance was especially important because music plays a central role in shaping the worship experience.
“We wanted to provide the best possible musical experience not only for the musicians on stage, but for every person in the sanctuary,” he shared. “When the sound is clear, natural, and fills the space evenly, the congregation is able to engage more deeply during worship. At the same time, when the pastor speaks, everyone can remain fully focused and clearly receive the message.”
Another challenge came from expectations around investment. The church’s previous venue was already regarded as having one of the better sound systems in Kuching, leading some to question whether upgrading to a premium solution was truly necessary. However, once the new system was experienced, the improvement in clarity, coverage, and overall engagement quickly became evident.
The Solution: d&b KSL for Concert-Grade Worship
Following a detailed venue study and acoustic evaluation, Search Music recommended a complete d&b KSL System as the ideal solution for the sanctuary. According to Dennix Yeow, the KSL system was selected for its ability to deliver powerful output while maintaining precise directivity control and exceptional clarity throughout a large worship environment.
The installation features 24 d&b KSL loudspeakers together with flown KSL subwoofers, ground-stacked SL-SUBs, T-Series front fills, Y-Series side fills, and M4 stage monitors. The system was carefully engineered to achieve balanced coverage and tonal consistency throughout the sanctuary.
A defining characteristic of the KSL system is its cardioid design, which significantly reduces unwanted rearward energy and improves low-frequency control. To further address the sanctuary’s acoustic challenges, the project also utilised d&b ArrayProcessing technology to precisely control sound dispersion and frequency response across different seating zones, particularly in balcony areas where reflections could become problematic.
“When we have a balcony and the speakers are covering those areas, reflections can become an issue,” explained Yeow. “With d&b ArrayProcessing, we were able to control those reflections very effectively. The result is excellent clarity and much higher speech intelligibility across the sanctuary.”
Koh also highlighted the relationship between system size and performance. “This is a very large venue with a high ceiling, yet the KSL delivers fullness and clarity from a relatively compact system,” he said. “I really enjoy how controlled and natural the system sounds.”
The Result: Raising the Benchmark for Worship Audio in Malaysia
Since the opening of the new sanctuary in 2025, the impact of the audio system has been immediately noticeable to both church leadership and congregation members. Across the sanctuary, the system delivers highly consistent coverage, allowing worshippers to experience the same tonal balance, clarity, and connection regardless of seating position.
Music feels powerful yet controlled, while sermons remain highly intelligible even during quieter speaking moments. The combination of clarity and spaciousness has transformed how the congregation experiences worship services, helping people feel more engaged and connected throughout the service.
For Joo, one of the most impressive aspects of the system is the level of clarity and depth it delivers. “After using this sanctuary for several months, when I visit other worship venues, I sometimes feel like something is missing,” he said. “What stands out most here is the clarity. The sound feels natural and surrounding, yet every detail remains very well defined. I’m personally very satisfied with the result.”
The project has also become recognised as a significant milestone within the Malaysian church market. According to Yeow, the installation has already established a new benchmark for worship audio in the region. “This church has set a new standard for worship audio in Malaysia,” he stated. “The combination of power, clarity, and control creates a completely different level of experience.”
For Pastor Lim, the new sanctuary and audio system have reinforced the church’s long-term vision of creating an environment capable of serving future generations. “At first, some people questioned whether such a high-level system was necessary,” he reflected. “But after experiencing the clarity and atmosphere for themselves, the difference became obvious. It has completely changed how people experience worship and connect with the message.”
