Peter Tumbelaka wasn’t in a hurry to become the pastor of Jakarta’s largest Pentecostal churches where many Muslims convert to Christianity. “I thought I could remain an architect and an engineer. But God had different plans,” the 52-year-old preacher told BosNewsLife in Indonesia’s bustling capital.
The Indonesian Baptist Church of Tlogosari has resorted to legal action in fighting local opposition to the construction of its church house. Referring to pressure being placed on the government to block his church’s legitimate building work, Pastor Wahyudi told Beritasatu.com: “We will continue to fight for this, because if left unchecked it will set a bad precedent for freedom of religion and worship in Semarang.”
The married-father-of-three has come a long way since he nearly blew up a Protestant church in Jakarta. Author Ahmad Quraisy, which isn’t his family name, was a commander of the feared Islamic State of Indonesia (NII), an Indonesian militant group. But the former Islamic terrorist now leads an underground movement in Indonesia converting Muslims to Christianity or, in his words, ‘personal faith in Christ.’
Indonesia has seen 40 anti-Christian attacks in the first 5 months of 2019, a two-thirds jump from last year, and a quadrupling of the rate from 10 years ago.
A controversial government decree on the construction of places of worship has led to the closure of a Pentecostal church in Indonesia.
Wycliffe Associates is working to accelerate Bible translation in Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world. Christians there face daily persecution, and many are still without the Bible in their language.
Wycliffe Associates, an international organization involving people in the advancement of Bible translation, wants to begin Bible translation in hundreds of languages in Indonesia in the next six months.
An Indonesian court sentenced a Protestant pastor to four years in prison and slapped him with a hefty fine on Monday simply because he shared his faith with a taxi driver.
Islamic extremists in Indonesia, including a family of suicide bombers that targeted three churches, launched multiple attacks yesterday and today that reportedly killed at least 12 people not including the assailants.
Indonesia reduced the sentences of over 9,000 Christian prisoners on Christmas day, including the sentence of a Christian governor jailed on blasphemy charges.
CSW’s new report on freedom of religion or belief in Indonesia warns that religious minorities are increasingly fearful of intolerance.
Authorities in Indonesia opened fire on a peaceful meeting in Timika, West Papua, as thousands of protesters gathered to pray for an independence referendum on April 5.
Hundreds of Indonesian Muslims in Java’s North Bekasi District have protested the construction of a church for the district’s Catholic community.
Official church closures have not stopped the growth of Christianity in Indonesia.
Last week, a mob of about 750 Muslims armed with axes set fire to a church in Indonesia’s Aceh province that Muslims alleged lacked the proper building permits.
Two churches in Indonesia have been protesting the wrongful closing of their buildings by holding joint services just outside of the presidential palace in Jakarta.
Christians in Indonesia’s most eastern province are facing an Islamization program that is changing the demographics of the formerly Christian-majority region, according to Barnabas Aid.
Under pressure from Islamic extremist movements authorities in West Java, have ordered the closure of seven Protestant churches for ‘alleged irregularities in building permits’ according to AsiaNews.
On Friday, hundreds of armed Islamists led by local Muslim leaders forcibly occupied a two-acre plot owned by the Indonesian Christian community of Huria Kristen Batak in the village of Talang Kelapa, South Sumatra, according to Asia News.
Church closures in Indonesia that peaked during the Christmas holidays have spilled over into January as Islamist groups continue to target Christian congregations, according to International Christian Concern.