Not many things about Indonesia are small. Take the geography. We’re not sure who counted, but we’re told Indonesia is made up of over 17,000 islands. This vast archipelago covers an area the size of Europe and holds the world’s fourth largest population.
And then there’s the economy. For many the financial struggles are huge – over 25 million below the poverty line. Yet according to the World Bank, over the past 20 years, 115 million Indonesians have entered the middle class and the country is a member of the G20, a group of the world’s largest economies.
Sadly, natural disasters are frequent and often on a massive scale – earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions and tsunami’s, such as the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 where 150,000 tragically died.
Nothing is small about the country’s religious population either. Whilst not an Islamic state, Indonesia has the biggest Muslim population of any country in the world. Over 83% of its population – nearly 200 million people – describe themselves as Muslim. Within that number, beliefs range from radical to nominal, from folk Islam to religion simply as a cultural marker.
However strong or weak people’s allegiance might be, this is their default position and all they have to rely on. And yet, in the midst of all of this sits South East Asia’s largest church. Over 20 million profess Jesus Christ as Lord. The potential of the Indonesian church to impact their Muslim neighbours is huge, yet the barriers are great. There are plenty of reasons why the majority of churches here find it hard to reach out with the good news of Jesus. Three stand out:
Christians are a minority
Many feel overwhelmed by the size of the task, a challenge compounded by the legal pressure not to witness to those from a different religious background.
The church has been and is persecuted
Christianity is recognised, but opposition is a reality. At times Christians have been and are persecuted. Fear is, therefore, a barrier to outreach in many areas.
The diversity is immense
With nearly 800 people groups spread across 17,000 islands, speaking more than 700 heart languages, the task cannot be understated.
Nearly 800 people groups, 17,000 islands and 700 heart languages.
And so we can understand why so many churches choose to keep themselves to themselves, and focus on other things. It’s not a problem unique to Indonesia.
The task of reaching the unreached, humanly speaking, is overwhelming. There are 240 unreached people groups*. The largest, the Sundanese of West Java, numbers 38.6 million people, with less than 0.1% believing in Jesus.*
The Indonesian phrase for unreached people is ‘suku terabaikan’, literally ‘a people ignored.’
The Indonesian phrase for unreached people is ‘suku terabaikan’, literally ‘a people ignored.’ Please pray for your brothers and sisters in Indonesia. The work is hard and the opposition is real. Yet God is able. Pray that he will raise up many workers for the unreached peoples of Indonesia, from within and beyond the country, that millions more might praise his name.
Please pray for …
Our national partner asks us to pray for the Indonesian church to:
- reject a sacred/secular divide and live whole lives on mission for Jesus, having a greater impact on society
- work in greater collaboration for the sake of the Kingdom, rather than just looking to grow in their own location
- be active in reaching the many unreached peoples
- continue to grow in its mission sending from Indonesia
*Source: joshuaproject.net Joshua Project define an unreached people group as a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers to evangelise this people group without outside assistance.