On the evening of Dec. 24, 2025, roughly 70 members of the GMII Church Bethlehem Jonggol congregation in Sukasirna Village, Bogor, Indonesia, were banned from celebrating Christmas.

Christmas services scheduled for the evening of Dec. 24, 2025, and the morning of Dec. 25, 2025, were prohibited by the Sukasirna Village government in Jonggol. The ban was also enforced by the Public Order Unit (Satpol PP) and the local Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).

GMII Bethlehem Jonggol Bogor was also prohibited from holding New Year’s Eve services on Dec. 31, 2025, and New Year’s Day services on Jan. 1, 2026.

The Sukasirna Village government did not provide alternative places of worship, either temporary or long-term. Under pressure, Pastor Rudy was ultimately forced to comply with the local government’s directive.

The pastor was powerless to refuse due to the immense pressure. Pastor Rudy stated that the reason they banned Christmas services was that they were told there would be attacks from outside or from Islamic extremist groups, although they did not explicitly specify what type of attacks.

“We were asked to suspend services because there would be attacks from extremist groups, so they asked us to suspend services on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, 2026,” the pastor concluded.

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