News > Asia

Indonesia Mission Report

^“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1).

Thank God for his abundant blessings upon the Indonesia UBF chapters in 2011: Jakarta, Cawang, Salemba, Depok, and Unas. 

I. 2011

In the beginning of 2011, I had a sense of problem regarding the leaders, including myself, because we lost spiritual desire and became complacent. I think it was because we put solving our practical matters as our first priority and it led us to lose our spiritual direction. God had mercy on us through his word from Joshua 1, Psalms 37, and Hebrews 11, which greatly encouraged us to make small decisions to put God and his words as first priority. When we did so, God blessed us abundantly in both body and spirit in many ways.

1.    Abundant words of God in ministry 

God blessed our Hebrews Bible study for 35 weeks. We learned that Jesus became our high priest who reconciled us to God and also learned about the faith of our ancestors through chapter 11. We studied the book of Judas, which taught us how to live a victorious life in this secular world.

2.    The work of God through conferences

1) Easter conference

It was held from March 22-23 at Depok UBF. Prior to the conference, we had prayer meetings three times a week for a month. In the last week, we had a special Bible study based on Ezekiel 37. It enabled us to see that the words of God are living and have the power to raise many dried bones into a strong army of God. We prayed for our conference with this vision and God blessed our conference richly. On the first day, John delivered the opening message based on Isaiah 53 with the title, “Jesus Who Died for Our Transgressions.”

Janus, Akaria, and Iman delivered three messages consecutively based on 1 Corinthians 15. After that, there was a Bible memorization contest based on 1 Corinthians 15. The final main message was delivered by John based on John 11 titled, “I Am the Resurrection and the Life.” We all wrote and shared life testimonies based on this message. Through this conference, some of our leaders restored their faith completely. We praise God who blessed us to experience the power of his words to raise dry bones into a strong army of God through this conference. 

2) UBF's 50th Anniversary and Missionary Seminar in Korea

In May, Peter, Joshua, and Iman attended it and we received much grace. The conference reminded us of our true identity as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Through the missionary seminar, we envisioned the continuation of the great work of God in and among us. God has been doing such a marvelous work and will do it continually without hindrance. 

3) Summer Bible Conference  

The 2011 Indonesia United Conference was held from September 1-4 at Cipanas. The title of the conference was “Those Who Hope in the Lord,” and a total of 135 attended (Cawang-9, Salemba-21, Depok-105).

The conference was held during Indonesia’s biggest holiday, Lebaran. Lebaran is a week of vacation that follows right after Ramadan, the month of fasting. During Lebaran, most restaurants and markets are closed and it is hard to buy food. Many students wander around without knowing what to do during this time. This is why we usually plan for the conference during Lebaran to help wandering students with God’s word. For this conference, we had a prayer meeting three times a week on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 7:30 pm. Especially, during Ramadan, we prayed for the brothers and sisters who were struggling to obtain salvation through fasting and prayed for the rescue of their souls. We also prayed for our leaders and co-workers who had been having uphill struggles to keep their life of faith in this secular world. We prayed for them to receive much grace and strength to overcome the world and live like soaring eagles in this generation. God accepted our sincere prayers and blessed our conference abundantly with an overflow of his life-giving words through nine Indonesian messengers. Vernandes served the opening message with the title, “Those Who Hope in the Lord,” based on Isaiah 40:27-41. In the evening of the first day, Donald also delivered a message titled, “Sanctification and Eternal Life.” In the morning of the second day, Agus also served a message with the title, “Go into Deep Water,” based on Luke 5:1-11.  The first main message was served by Kefas with the title, “Jesus, the Living Water.”  In the morning of the second day, Sudarman served a message with the title, “Do You Want to Get Well?” based on John 5:1-9. In the morning of the third day, Wisma spoke on John 8:31-36 with the title, “The Truth Will Set You Free,” and in the evening, “It Is Finished,” based on John 19, was spoken by Iman. In the evening, Abe also delivered, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” based on John 20:19-24. The final main message of this conference was served by Yusuf. based on Luke 19 with the title, “Work Until I Come Back.” The Holy Spirit worked mightily through God’s words, helping many of us to receive much grace and strength through this conference.

4) United Christmas Worship Service

Jakarta UBF hosted a united Christmas worship service and the Cawang, Salemba, Depok, and Ounas chapters joined us. Peter from Jakarta delivered a message with the title, “A Horn of Salvation.” God blessed his message as well as the programs presented by each UBF chapter. May God continue to help us to depend on Jesus, who is the horn of our salvation, so that we may win victories over this dark and perverse generation to reveal the glory of God in 2012.

3. Thanksgiving topics

1) Thank God for sending William’s family from the US to join the Jakarta ministry last year. It was big news to Jakarta UBF since they did not have any new co-workers join the ministry for a long time. We pray that God may bless his mission life in Jakarta to bear much fruit.   

2) Thank God for sister E’s marriage after being single for a long time. We pray for her family to yield much fruit as a source of blessing for the ministry. In Indonesia UBF, there are not many brothers who are ready to marry, but many sisters who are. We pray that God may raise brothers so that we may establish godly families as a foundation of the Indonesia ministry.

3) Thank God for newborn babies among many families in the Indonesia ministries. May they grow as children of God and future disciples of Jesus.

4) Thank God that sister Inang could attend and share her life testimony and mission report at the 9^th Founders Day in Chicago.

5) 2011 is the 40^th anniversary of Korean mission in Indonesia. We were privileged to work together with other Korean organizations, and this year, we published a book on our 40^th anniversary to celebrate it and to help us see the campus ministry in Indonesia as a whole and its future.   

In 2011, we had many personal difficulties both economically and politically. Many of us had uphill struggles in trying to survive in our workplaces. It was not easy to find students who had spiritual desire in this postmodern generation. Also some of our sisters, who were ready to marry, had a hard time due to a lack of brothers. We realized that we needed more prayer for their marriages and the discipleship ministry. In spite of our weaknesses and difficulties, God helped us to remember our New Year's key verse of 2011, which was Joshua 1. God blessed our struggles to establish his work in many ways.  

Personal Prayer and Repentant Topics  

I thank God for our co-workers and their beautiful co-working and sacrifices and for also the spiritual growth of our native leaders and their families. I am tearful over their sincere love for God and their hard work to serve God’s flocks in spite of their small and big difficulties. Even though our worship service and 1:1 Bible study numbers did not increase much, God worked in the hearts of our growing leaders through many events and hardships.  

I am also thankful to God who blessed my family to visit Korea. During this time, God healed my youngest daughter from her meningitis. God also granted good health to my wife Sarah and myself so that we could support our family and ministry.  By God’s grace, I was able to read the entire Bible two times and serve messages on the book of Hebrews and Judas and several other special lectures so that I could grow spiritually.  

I repent of my lack of sincere prayer for the sisters and brothers who struggled with their marriages and job matters. I pray that I may pray more diligently and be able to help our brothers and sisters with God’s word.

II. New Direction in 2012

Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” While I was preparing a message for the Christmas worship service, I struggled with a sense of problem over our light attitude of worship toward God in spite of all of our spiritual activities, such as regular worship services and Bible studies. I had a deep desire to revive our spirit of worship in order to grow us and to change the world. It directed me to have a clear prayer topic that we give our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, not only at our Sunday worship services, but also in our practical lives.

May God grant us a spirit of true worship so that we may give our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God this year. May God bless our Bible studies on Ecclesiastes and Revelation. 

Prayer Topics;

1. Give our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God

2. Raise 20,000 Bible teachers and 2,000 house churches in Indonesia

3. The work of God in Jakarta, Salemba, Cawang, Depok, and Unas chapters

4. 120 Sunday worship service attendees and 120 1:1 Bible studies weekly in Depok UBF