Working Together

This 37-year-old Javanese man is a rice farmer. He has spent his entire life working in the rice fields. The field where he works is owned by several Javanese families, but it’s worked collectively. When this photo was taken, the man was spraying to kill the grass and weeds that were growing amidst the crops.

The Javanese moved to Sumatra in great numbers during the 1970s and 80s. The government encouraged this migration because of over-crowding on the island of Java. Today the Javanese are the largest people group on Sumatra at 12.5 million.

Pray for God to prepare the hearts of many Javanese people to hear and receive the Gospel.

Pray that God will guide believers with a heart to reach the Javanese to Javanese villages and communities on Sumatra.

Pray that God will weed out the distractions that keep the Javanese from being open to hearing and obeying God’s Word.

Pray for Javanese believers to become burdened to reach the rest of their people group.

If we pray together, as the Javanese work the rice fields together, then no doubt we will see a great spiritual harvest!

Salute the Flag

All over Indonesia school aged children regularly gather in the school yard to participate in a flag raising ceremony. It’s a great honor to be chosen to raise the flag. There’s a lot of rehearsal before a student is deemed ready to do this important job. Perhaps this tradition is akin to the pledge of allegiance that school age children daily recite in American schools. The purpose of this ceremony is to promote pride in their national identity and unity in their school. It’s not unusual for teachers to give motivational talks about working hard to achieve a good education and a bright future for themselves and for Indonesia.

While there is nothing wrong with national pride or working hard to have a brighter future, it is not these things that bring ultimate value to a person’s life. Many of these children live in communities that have no access to the Gospel. They can reach the pinnacle of success, but if they don’t know Jesus it will all prove to be vanity.

Pray for believers on Sumatra to be focused on eternal, Kingdom values.

Pray for every child on Sumatra to have the chance to hear and respond to the Gospel before they die.

Pray for a spiritual heritage and identity for Sumatra that is eternal in scope and beyond reckoning in value.

Jambi Malay People Group Profile

“My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait” (Isaiah 51:5 ESV).

The 1 million Jambi Malay are proud to be descendants of the 7^th century Malay kingdom. This pride has led them to cling to their culture and traditions with tenacity that at times is not healthy. They live along the inland rivers and tributaries of central Sumatra. Many Jambi men work as fishermen. The Batanghari River is an important source of both food and income. Extensive palm oil plantations in the area also provide many families with their income.

Travel is often done by river because many of the villages are near waterways. It’s difficult for outsiders to get to most Jambi Malay villages. Typically, outsiders are viewed with distrust.

To be Jambi is to be Muslim. Every village has a mesjid (mosque) and many have madrasah (Islamic school). They govern every aspect of their lives based on the Qur’an and the Hadith. They also believe that religious leaders, dwarfs, and dukuns (occult healers) have supernatural powers.

The Jambi people, despite their deep religious convictions, struggle with deep seated corruption on every level of society and deeper than usual sexual sin. Many Jambi families are in crisis because of these sin strongholds.

There are only a handful of known believers, and no indigenous Jambi church. As most of the Jambi people live in isolation and view outsiders with distrust, it’s extremely difficult for believers to reach this people group.

Pray that:

God will open doors for believers to enter into Jambi villages.

Cultural pride will not continue to blind the Jambi to their need of a Savior.

Jambi believers will be strong and bold in the face of family and community opposition.

Jesus will call to the hearts of Jambi people to drop their nets and become fishers of men.

God will prepare the hearts of Jambi people to receive the Gospel.

Believers will be Holy Spirit led to Jambi people of peace.

The first ever indigenous Jambi Malay church will be birthed before the end of this year.

Colorful Canopies

Most traditional markets on Sumatra have canopies. On hot, sunny days they provide shade. On damp, rainy days they keep things relatively dry. Light in the market is filtered through these patchwork canopies and give everything an otherworldly tint – blue, orange, green and so on.

Just as the canopies act as filters that changes how things are perceived, so the peoples of Sumatra have filters of religion, culture and tradition. These filters serve the important functions of giving stability, protection and a shared framework for interpreting life events. They can also become barriers to considering and receiving God’s truth. Many people on Sumatra hear and reject the Gospel because their internal filters distort the message they are hearing and make it unpalatable to them.

Pray for workers to have wisdom to understand the filters of their people groups and to learn how to communicate the Gospel in a culturally sensitive and relevant way.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to work through the barriers of religion, tradition and culture to allow lost people on Sumatra to focus on the truth that can set them free.

Pray for all the people groups on Sumatra to see that receiving the Gospel need not destroy the uniqueness of their cultural identity. In fact, faith in Christ will make them become a more noble expression of their core cultural values, because they will have His power to enable them to do the right things in life.