Strange Performances

This woman dressed up in a mouse-suit is just one in a variety of performers who go from neighborhood to neighborhood. For $1 the performer will do a short performance to entertain young children. She had a music box she carried that gave her something to dance to.

Many of these performers have animals – performing monkeys, dogs and the like. One such performer pulled out a snake, but that was too much for several of the younger children in the audience and they burst into tears!

Stranger yet than street performances for tips are people who are trying to perform well enough to earn their way into heaven. There are many people on Sumatra who believe that their good deeds must outweigh their bad deeds in order for them to be accepted by God. The problem with a performance based salvation is that no one is good enough to merit salvation.

Pray for Sumatrans trapped in a merit based salvation system to see that the debt has already been paid in full by Jesus Christ.

Pray for believers on Sumatra not to fall into the performance trap and try to “earn” their salvation after having received the Gospel.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal the way, the truth, and the life among all the peoples of Sumatra.

Photo from Aceh - Tamiang

Following what is Modeled

The ideal of manliness in Indonesia is coupled with smoking. It’s very rare to meet a man in Indonesia who doesn’t smoke. It is only natural that this little boy in Lampung would be interested in the box full of cigarettes. All the men around him model this interest.

This reveals a deep human truth. What a person does has a far greater influence than what a person says. And the person with greater influence by far is the person whose talk and actions go together in perfect harmony. This is often the problem with religious people on Sumatra. Too many times the actions of the life do not match the proclamation of faith. This is true among all of the religions here.

One of the factors in the life of Christ that is so compelling is the absolute harmony between what Jesus taught and how He lived. If only the same could be said of those who claim to be His followers on Sumatra.

Pray for believers on Sumatra to live according to the example of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Pray for people on Sumatra to comprehend the perfect unity between how Christ lived and what Christ taught.

Pray especially for Sumatrans to hear, understand, and accept what Christ taught specifically about Himself.

Jesus does not expect us to do anything that He did not do Himself. After all He left a perfect model for us to follow!

Just a Rock

This Lampung Abung man was selling rings. Opinions about rings like this vary widely. One seller said the rocks in the rings were just rocks, with no substantive difference from the rocks used to pave the street. Others claim that the stones have magical powers and believe they can bring protection and special abilities to the wearer. The Indonesian word for objects with occult powers is jimat [gee-MAT].

Occultism is a widespread phenomenon in Lampung. Many people trust in jimat and other magical items to help them deal with life’s problems. These occult beliefs are often laid alongside other religious beliefs. This syncretistic tendency is a major challenge for those who are trying to lead people into a close relationship with God.

Those who want to be close to God cannot continue in the paths of occultism. Paul warned the Corinthians that it is not possible to participate at the table of the Lord and of demons (1 Corinthians 10:21). Many new believers on Sumatra have occult ties that need to be broken. These connections are often times generational and it takes a good deal of teaching, prayer, and patience to help these new believers to be free.

Pray for believers witnessing on Sumatra to have wisdom and grace to deal gently, but firmly with new believers involved in occult practices.

Pray for believers to break free from syncretistic tendencies within their cultures.

Pray for power to break the spiritual strongholds on Sumatra perpetuated by occultism. 

Tears for Sumatra Prayer Guide

Pray for all the unreached people groups in Sumatra - http://ge.tt/5FZOgIP2/v/0. 

Photo from Riau

Bonai Malay People Group Profile

“For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done” (Matthew 16:47, ESV).

The 14,000 Bonai Malay live in the western part of Riau Province. Until recently they were considered “foreign” by their own government because of their refusal to enter into the modern world. But in this generation, all of that has changed. The Bonai Malay have embraced a more modern way of life. They are sending their children to school. They are welcoming electricity and other tools into their villages for the first time.

Prior to this generation the Bonai Malay lived as hunter-gatherers. They worshipped nature and followed animism as their religion. Today, most Bonai Malay have received Islam. Many credit the advances in the villages to their acceptance of the Muslim religion.

Because the Bonai Malay, unlike the other Malay groups on Sumatra, just recently received Islam they struggle more with syncretism. They often default to the religious experiences of their forefathers. There are no known believers among this group. There is no indigenous church.

The Bonai Malay have great needs for continuing education and community development.

Pray that:

God will call, equip, and send workers to share the Gospel with the Bonai Malay.

The Holy Spirit will break the powers of darkness forged through generations of animism.

The Holy Spirit will convict the Bonai Malay of sin and show them the hopelessness of works-based salvation.

Believers will engage in community development projects among the Bonai Malay to show the love of Christ.

Professional believers will use their businesses to help develop the Bonai Malay area while sharing the Gospel.

The Bonai Malay will see Jesus in His glory with His angels, and will come to know Him as the way of salvation.

Bonai Malay believers will be won to Christ, grouped, discipled, and encouraged to grow in Christlikeness.

You Dirty Dog!

This land owner in Lampung was tired of people throwing garbage on his property. It is a common problem that Sumatrans throw their garbage everywhere. Many beautiful beaches are littered with garbage. However, this habit of tossing garbage anywhere also included people’s private property.

In Indonesian culture it is serious business to call someone a “dog.” The writing on this wall says that people who throw garbage here are a dog. The message connected, because you’ll notice that the ground under the writing is pretty clean for Indonesian standards.

The problem of dealing with garbage is not only a sanitation issue, it is also a spiritual issue for the peoples of Sumatra. Lying, stealing, cheating are all wide spread issues on Sumatra. The word used to sum up all these problems is corruption. The word God uses is sin.

One of the great needs on Sumatra is for Sumatrans to be shocked out of their complacency with the status quo. They need to realize that before Holy God their sin makes them a dirty dog. They need a complete transformation to take care of their sin problem. Only God is able to do it.

Pray for Sumatrans to realize how shockingly bad their sins are before Holy God.

Pray for believers on Sumatra to be bold in sharing about the life transformation that is available through faith in Jesus Christ.

Pray for believers to personally encounter this life transformation so that others can clearly see Jesus in them.

Pray for Sumatrans to have the courage to admit their garbage problem and humbly ask to have the Lord remove the trash from within their hearts.