Friends of Grace Newsletter – March 2005

 

Friends of Grace (FoG) medical mission team of 3 visited Indonesia in March, 2005. With a population of 207.4 million people, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world. Located in Southeast Asia, Indonesia consists of over 13,500 islands stretching along the equator for 3,000 miles. With a land mass of 735,000 square miles, Indonesia is larger than Alaska and Texas combined. Over 65% of Indonesians live on the islands of Java, Madura, and Bali, which comprise only 7% of the land area. There are 8 million Chinese (4% of total population), and about 10% to 15% of the Chinese are Christians (1 millions). There are over 400 Chinese churches in Indonesia.

 

"According to Indonesian church leaders, the true number of Christians in the country is around twice as high as the official figures," reported Johan Candelin following a visit to the country. Christians would hence make up 16 to 18 percent of the population, instead of 7 to 8 percent. In addition, many churches are so new that they have not yet been included in the national statistics.
Source: WEF Religious Liberty Conference, Mark Albrecht, e-mail: MarkAlbrecht@xc.org

 

FoG provided free medical services in two Chinese churches and in a Chinese Seminary. We served at Bandung largest Chinese Church, Hok Im Tong (6,000 members), Bandung Theological Seminary and the Jambi Chinese Church (800 members). With the assistance from the doctors and nurses in Elim Medical Centre, we are able to serve over 500 patients during our four days of medical service.

In the evenings, we conducted eight evangelistic/revival meetings and preached in Sunday. We also held two health seminars, shared gospel songs and shared our personal testimonies with the congregation.  

 

A welcome dinner hosted by Rev. Caleb and Joseph Tong and other co-workers	After free medical services, FoG shared with the seminary students in Bandung Theological Seminary
Evangelistic/revival meeting in Bandung Hok Im Tong	Medical service to Rev. Caleb Tong
Doctors and nurses in Elim Medical Centre	Medical service
Gospel music shared at Jambi Chinese Church	Health seminar in Bandung Hok Im Tong
Sunday worship at Jambi Chinese Church	FoG medical mission news was published in a Indonesia Chinese newspaper