Indonesian House Churches Closed and Boarding House Damaged

In two separate incidents, house churches on the island of Java were closed by Muslim mobs in late July, according to VOMC sources in Indonesia. In a suburb of Semarang, a city on the north coast of the Indonesian island, a mob dismantled the building used by the Isa Almasih Church.  The church had not met since the building was sealed earlier that month.  Until recently, the church had met for twelve years without any problem.

 VOMC sources also report that six house church congregations were closed in the Permata Cimahi House Complex in the city of Bandung, after the village head met with Muslim leaders and decided to close all Christian places of worship in their area.  On July 27, the village head gave notice to each congregation that, effective on July 31, the houses could no longer be used for worship. On the morning of July 31, a mob of forty to fifty Muslims, armed with machetes, clubs and sickles, marched to each house church and painted on the door, "Forbidden to Use for Christian Sanctuary."  The pastors all managed to flee before the mob arrived.

Headmaster Matheus Mangentang Photo from www.litindo.org/nl/effect/contacten/setia.php

In earlier July, a boarding house for the Arastamar Theological School in east Jakarta was also attacked on two separate occasions.  Members of the militant Islamic Defender's Front accused the school of building a worship center.  On July 6, a mob of around 100 people stormed the building, which was still under construction.  According to a July 29 report from Compass Direct, a government official accompanied the mob.  The building was still under construction at the time.  A week later, a large group returned again to finish the destruction, but was warded off by students from the school.  Damage to the building is estimated at 100 million rupiah (over $12,000 CDN).  Headmaster Matheus Mangentang told Compass Direct that his school has a total of 1,219 students. "Many of them are poor and can’t go anywhere else," he said.  "Now around 300 of them will have to sleep in a building with temporary walls until we can afford the repairs." The school management has decided to forego legal action.

Muslim leaders in Indonesia met last week and expressed concern about the rapid growth of Christianity in the nation.  Presently 85% of the Indonesia's 220 million people are Muslim. Pray for Christians throughout Indonesia who are facing opposition from Islamic groups determined to stop the spread of Christianity. Pray that the believers will continue to share Christ boldly and without fear.

For more information on persecution facing Christians in Indonesia, click here. A twenty-minute video presentation on difficulties experienced by the Church in Indonesia is available through VOMC's multimedia website, https://www.vomcanada.com/.