Pakpak Boang People Group Profile

"O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.” (Psalm 30:3, ESV).

The 18,000 Pakpak Boang live in the Singkil area of the Southern part of Aceh Province in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The Pakpak Boang are part of the Pakpak or Dairi Batak tribe. Boang is a derivation of the Indonesian word “buang” which means to discard or throw away. They chose this name for themselves because they felt discarded by the rest of the tribe when then decided to leave Christianity to follow Islam.

Most Pakpak Boang make their livelihoods as farmers and fishermen. Their extended families are called marga, showing cultural connections to the Batak and Nias people groups.  The Pakpak Boang follow Islam mixed with animistic beliefs. They especially revere the grave of Abdul Rauf, who was a great religious leader from the area. Like many people groups on Sumatra, the Pakpak Boang often seek the magical power of the shaman or dukun.

There are a few Pakpak Boang believers, but there is no indigenous church. Churches in the area have often been the target of community persecution. There is currently no consistent witness focused on this people group.

Pray that:

Believers in Singkil will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to show love even in the face of persecution.

Workers will hear the call of God to live among and share the Gospel with the Pakpak Boang.

Members of fanatic groups will encounter the risen Christ and will become apostles to their own people group.

The influence of animistic beliefs will be broken by the power of the Holy Spirit.

An indigenous Pakpak Boang church will come into being before the end of the year.

Many Pakpak Boang will be brought up from the pit and will be placed upon the rock of salvation.

The greater Pakpak tribe will show love and concern to the Boang so that they will not feel cast off or discarded.

Some Like it Hot!

This Minangkabau woman is grinding chili peppers called cabe [cha-BEH] in a traditional market in Padang, Sumatra. It’s important to be focused on this task because you can burn your eyes if you forget and rub your eye with cabe juice on it. It is the same effect as pepper spray that the police use in the states.

Most Indonesian cooking uses some chili pepper as spice. The food here is much spicier than most American dishes. One worker describes Indonesian food as, “Food too hot to eat.” For those who enjoy chili pepper hot food, Indonesia is wonderful.

Adjusting to new foods is just one thing that bombards the senses of a new worker on Sumatra. Sights, smells, tastes, sounds all converge to overload a new worker’s internal balance. The result is called culture shock. It can be as painful as rubbing your eyes with chili juice on your hands.

Pray for workers dealing with culture shock to find their equilibrium in Jesus.

Pray for adjustments to food, language, and culture so that workers become adept at sharing the Gospel.

Pray for new workers to develop a taste for the local culture so that is not only bearable, but enjoyable to them. 

Walking the Boardwalk

While visiting a village called Sungai Bela a worker had an interesting experience. The wooden walkway between houses was not made for someone who is 6’3” and weighs well over 200 lbs. As the worker walked the boards creaked and at some points the entire walkway swayed back and forth underneath him. It took extreme concentration to keep from falling. As you can see from the photo, the walkway is nearly 12 feet high and there are many tree stumps below the walkway that could impale someone if they happened to fall.

The Lord was gracious and the worker did not fall, but the experience reminded the worker that in like manner it is difficult to walk in the path of works salvation. Each step is precarious. It is so easy to fall. Even with best efforts it doesn’t work. The Duano people who live in this village need to know that there is only one way to reach God, and it is not through good works. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. The Duano need to hear about Him.

Pray for safety for workers as they travel to remote areas to tell the least engaged people groups on Sumatra about the Savior.

Pray for Duano to realize that works salvation doesn’t work.

Pray for more believers to follow to Sungai Bela and to other Duano villages in order to share the Gospel.

Photo from Medan

Ghosts and Graveyards

Many Sumatrans believe in ghosts. While walking past this graveyard in Tembilahan a worker commented about the danger of being harassed by the ghosts. With deadpan seriousness the local partner traveling with the American worker said, “Oh no, the ghosts aren’t out at this time.”

The belief in paranormal phenomenon is almost universal here. While the Bible only gives one example of a human spirit returning from the dead (1 Samuel 28:7-19), it gives many examples of evil spirits or demons causing mischief among men. We do well to table our Western skepticism when we hear stories of spiritual presences being encountered among the peoples here.

What Sumatrans need to hear is that Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). They need to know that the Lord has overcome the powers of this world (John 16:33). Part of the Good News is that Jesus can give them freedom from the spiritual powers that they fear.

Pray for believers to walk in the authority of Christ over the spiritual powers of this world.

Pray for unbelievers to experience the power of Christ over the spirits that they fear.

Pray for the Gospel to be proclaimed with power so that the peoples of Sumatra will see God and believe unto salvation.

Dragonflies & Motorcycles

Seeing all the motorcycles parked at the traditional market in Padang, Sumatra shows that motorcycles are the common mode of transportation here. One of the scary things about driving a car is having all the motorcycles on the road with you. Motorcycles move in traffic like dragonflies. Sometimes they go fast. Sometimes they seem to hover. They change direction fast and without warning. They seem to like getting as close as possible without touching. And they often take you by surprise.

The best method of handling all the motorcycles on the roads is lots of prayer, lots of coffee, and go slowly. Amazingly there are not too many accidents. Many motorcycle drivers here act as if they are ready to meet the Lord, but, in reality, if you ask them about their sin debt they often have no idea how God will receive them if they suddenly entered into eternity.

Pray for safety on the roads for workers on Sumatra.

Pray for Sumatrans to consider eternity and be open to God’s solution to their sin debt.

Pray for believers on Sumatra to be bold to share the Gospel so that people here can have the assurance of God’s warm reception at the end or their lives.

Ogan People Group Profile

“I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11, ESV).

Most of the 150,000 Ogan people live in Southern Sumatra along the Ogan River. They are an agrarian people. The three principal crops that employ most of this people group are rice, palm oil, rubber and sugar. Each Ogan village has a strong individual identity. They often have distinct stories about the origin of the village and how they became Muslim in that area. They all follow Islamic education and do similar ceremonies to preserve Ogan customs and culture.

The Ogan have followed Sunni Shafi’i Islam since the 16th century. They have blended these beliefs with Sufi Islamic ideas. Their social and spiritual life consists of activities such as religious feasts, birth celebrations, harvest celebrations, and ceremonies to ward off disaster. People often gather to share Islamic prayer readings in the village mosques or in mushollas. A musholla is a designated place of prayer found in homes and businesses.

The Ogan also do prayer ceremonies to the spirits of their ancestors to seek protection and wisdom. They have strong beliefs about various spirits that live in specific places such as trees, graveyards or rocks or in special items such as ceremonial knives or rings.

There is no indigenous church, but there are a few hundred believers among the Ogan.

Pray that:

Believers living along the Ogan River will be bold to share the Gospel.

God’s Spirit will bind the spiritual powers that keep the Ogan blinded to the Gospel.

God will send His Holy Spirit to hover over the Ogan people to convict them of both sin and righteousness.

Just as the Ogan work towards harvest every year that God will send spiritual laborers to work towards a spiritual harvest among the Ogan.

Believers will not be afraid of the places and items that are believed to have spiritual power, but will stand in the authority of Christ and demonstrate the power of the Gospel among the Ogan.

Believers will be led to people of peace among the Ogan.

Entire Ogan families and villages will come to faith and recline at the table of Abraham.

Spiritual Insurance

The ribbon and leaf decoration in this photo is very common among the Tamiang people of Northern Sumatra. This decoration is believed to have magical powers to protect the family living in the home. It is also believed to help protect fisherman at sea. Every year the decoration is removed and a new one is hung up as part of an animistic ritual. It is believed that any family that fails to do this ritual will have an unnatural death in their family during the subsequent year.

Fear of supernatural spirits is common among many of the people groups on Sumatra. In Western culture we would laugh about this and call it superstition. We take for granted the spiritual protection of God that we have enjoyed for many generations. The peoples of Sumatra have not fared as well as we have. For generations they have been in spiritual darkness and have strong, spiritual, generational bondages that are not easily broken.

Part of the Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). The peoples of Sumatra need to hear that Jesus is greater than the spirits that they fear. They need to experience that in Christ the strongholds of the evil one can be destroyed. They need to see believers living out this faith and standing firm and victorious against the prevalent occult beliefs of the community.

Pray for believers on Sumatra to have faith in God’s Word regarding Christ’s superiority over evil spirits.

Pray for new believers to make clean breaks from generational bondages so that the power of Christ can be clearly seen in them.

Pray that the sharing of the Gospel on Sumatra would be accompanied by displays of God’s power over the powers of darkness.

Lampung Photo