Together with two students from Apeldoorn Theological University, Dr Jan van 't Spijker travelled to Indonesia. He went there to teach at the Theological University in Jakarta and participate in an evangelisation tour on the island of Ambon. For both students, this was a great opportunity to get to know Indonesia and get a taste of the cross-cultural proclamation of the gospel.
Jan Willem Klaassen, one of the students, wrote an extensive reflection report. We share a brief summary of that report here.
Restrictions
In the context in which the church in Indonesia finds itself, it is very difficult to share the gospel with other people in an organised context. If it is suspected that you are evangelising, your rights as a church can be curtailed just like that.
Ignorance
During the trip, I experienced that there is still a lot of ignorance among ordinary church people. Teachers in the Christian schools I visited sometimes hardly know the Bible message themselves. Sometimes Christianity is a thin layer of varnish over a life that is still full of animism or other superstitions. Much value is placed on our intercession, for example. We are close to God in their eyes, so our prayers will be more powerful and effective than those of someone in their own environment.
Freedom
What particularly surprised me was the frankness with which the people I hung out with talk about their faith. Believing is almost a matter of course in Indonesia, but believing in the God of the Bible is much less obvious. Yet in restaurants, people pray boldly at the table and conversations are often simply about faith.
Do Christians in the Netherlands also dare to speak so openly about their faith or is that more something we keep to ourselves or only live out in our own (Christian) circle?
Sincere conversations
Real contact is the best way to talk to Muslims about the faith. In Indonesia, you cannot escape that contact. In the Netherlands, Christians and Muslims mainly live side by side and there are hardly any intensive contacts, let alone easy friendship with someone from a Muslim background. Precisely because there are so few contacts, it is difficult to have a good conversation with each other. And if conversations take place at all, it can just happen that we as Western Christians and Muslims are not on the same wavelength. Our way of thinking is quite different from that of many of our Muslim neighbours. Indonesian Christians have an advantage over us in that respect, because they live in the same cultural circumstances and can often understand their Muslim neighbour's views much better than we can.
So evangelising in an organised way is quite difficult, but as an individual you do have the opportunity to share the gospel with others. In conversations with friends or acquaintances, or by travelling to another place and trying to get in touch with people there who have not heard the gospel yet, or have hardly heard it at all.
Contact
If you want to know more about this visit and visitors' experiences, send an email to the Services Office: zending@cgk.nl.
Want to learn more about Islam and how to pray for Muslims? A wonderful booklet has been published entitled "Praying for Muslims, how to do it". You can order it by sending an email to the Services Office.
