ICC Note:
In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, many Muslims are coming to faith in Christ, Mennonite World Review reports. Despite persecution—which was seen in the province of Aceh earlier this week when nine churches were forced to close—the church continues to grow in other regions of the country.
By Tim Huber
10/22/2012 Indonesia (Mennonite World Review)- On the island of Java in Indonesia, a “holy stadium” draws tens of thousands of worshipers to services punctuated by charismatic healing and conversions.
Injil Kerajaan (Gospel of the Kingdom Church) in Semarang is part of the Jemaat Kristen Indonesia synod and also a potential site for the Mennonite World Conference assembly in 2021.
The youngest of three MWC member denominations in Indonesia, the JKI branched from Gereja Kristen Muria Indonesia (Muria Christian Church of Indonesia, or GKMI) to explore a more charismatic worship style in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
But the JKI is not limited to Indonesia. As people have immigrated, so has the church, establishing congregations in Austra­lia, the Netherlands and the U.S., with six churches in California.
Maranatha Christian Fellowship in the Northridge area of Los Angeles is one of the two that carry dual affiliation with JKI and Mennonite Church USA.
“Most of the JKI churches in Southern California are small in terms of numbers. We average about 50 to 70 adults,” said Maranatha Pastor Sunoko Lin. “But in Indonesia we have three megachurches with 10,000 members or more.”
Lin attributes the dramatic growth to an array of social services the churches provide in a nation of nearly 240 million. As of 2000, 86 percent of the population practiced Islam, making it the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.
The “holy stadium” runs a kindergarten through grade 12 school serving 4,000 students, and plans are in place to start a university. Free preschool and Arabic Bibles are offered, and groceries are distributed after worship services.
JKI churches also conduct healing services that are open to all.
“One imam came to a healing service and then just during the praise and worship time, God healed the imam’s daughter instantly,” Lin said. “The imam experienced that dramatic encounter and converted his family to the faith.”
The imam now holds Christian worship services in his home. Lin said the churches have developed tremendous success with evangelistic efforts.
“Over time, they have converted 80,000 Muslims, but they are not registered because they don’t want to be persecuted,” Lin said. “So they still go to the mosques, but they don’t pray to Allah, they pray to Jesus.”
Lin said converts are not required to publicly renounce their Muslim faith because they could be harassed, and Christian churches could lose their licences.
In California, JKI congregations employ a similar strategy, emphasizing social services. Maranatha partners with Mennonite Central Committee West Coast helping immigrants with documentation and works at evangelism with the variety of ethnicities at the nearby university.
“We are living in a different context,” Lin said. “With the size of our congregation, I have to work full time to support myself. There’s a limited availability of me and the church to have those social services.”
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