Answers to Prayer

Praise God for the thrilling growth of the Church over the past 40 years

1 The Communist coup of 1965 and its bloody aftermath, in which maybe 500,000 Communist sympathizers perished, also led other sympathizers to become Christians

2 Fierce Muslim reprisals on the Communists offended many – especially in Java

3 The harsh extremism of Islamists has repelled many moderate Muslims and the legalisms of Islam, such as forbidding the eating of pork, has made Christianity more attractive to animists

4 The government mandate that each citizen adhere to one of five recognized religions impelled many animists to consider the claims of the gospel

5 The lives of committed Christians and their vibrant witness has made an impact on a society influenced by the power of the occult

6 Outpourings of the Holy Spirit brought revival in the 1960s in West Timor, in the '70s in East and Central Java, and in the '80s and '90s in some major cities

7 Great people movements to Christ have occurred in many animistic peoples,

8 The multiplication of evangelistic prayer meetings has been accompanied by the rapid growth of Pentecostal and charismatic denominations and fellowships

9 Rising levels of persecution in the 1990s has fuelled greater unity among Christians, the growth of a National Prayer Movement and commitment to cross-cultural outreach in Indonesia and beyond

Geography

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Area 1,919,317 sq.km. The Republic’s 17,000 islands (4,000 inhabited) stretch 6,400 km of land over 9.5 million sq.km of the Indian/Pacific Oceans, with 23 provinces, 2 special regions and the capital district.

Population (2000) 212,991,926 +1.44%AGR

Capital Jakarta 12.2 mill.

Peoples

Major peoples – using preferred Indonesian spelling. See under regions below for more detail.

Indo-Malay 94%.

Chinese 4%.

Papua peoples 1.2%.

Other 0.8%.

Literacy 83.8%; rising steadily. Official language Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia). Its increasing use is both unifying the nation and lessening the importance of smaller languages to the younger generation. All languages 726; 18 spoken by more than one million speakers; 247 spoken in Papua. Languages with Scriptures 20Bi 38NT 77por.

Economy

Increasingly diversified economy based on oil, gas, forest products, agriculture and textiles, with large reserves of many minerals. HDI 0.681; 105^th/174. Public debt (2000) 99% of GNP. Income/person $450 (1.4% of USA).

Politics

Colonial rule by Portuguese (1511-1605), Dutch (1605-1942, 1945-9), British (1807-1815) and Japanese (1942-45).

Religion

Monotheism and communal peace are the basis for the stated government ideology of Pancasila.

Churches in Indonesia

Missionaries from Indonesia

an est. 3,000 of which over 70 are in 22 foreign countries.

Expatriates in Indonesia

an est. 1,000+ in over 100 agencies.

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