PDA Rules

This Jambi Malay man was having some fun with the foreigner taking pictures in the traditional market. Many of the by-standers thought the man was funny for posing as if he were kissing the mannequin. Social etiquette in Sumatra regarding public displays of affection (PDAs) are much more conservative than in the states. It would be shocking to see a man kissing a woman in public other than on their wedding day.

In contrast, displays of affection between members of the same gender is normal. It’s not uncommon to see two men or two women holding hands, walking arm-in-arm, or even walking with an arm over the other’s shoulder. They don’t kiss on the lips, but women often greet each other with a peck on both cheeks. There are absolutely no sexual connotations to these PDAs.

The man likely posed as a joke about the sexual permissiveness in Western culture. This doesn’t mean that there isn’t sexual sin in Indonesia. It just means that God’s standard of sexual purity is more widely known and accepted, and that those who break God’s standards are still shamed by polite society.

Internet pornography is one of the hidden sins of many Sumatran youth. Parents are at a loss to know how to stop their children from this temptation of technology that they never faced because the technology wasn’t available to them.

Pray for Western workers as they struggle to break out of the stereo-typed view of Western men.

Pray for the hidden sexual sins of Sumatrans to drive them to confess their need of a Savior.

Pray for youth on Sumatra who have been caught up in the temptations of technology.

Kerinci People Group Profile

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you” (Isaiah 60:1, ESV).

The homeland of the 311,000 Kerinci is on the border of the West Sumatra and Jambi Provinces. Lake Kerinci and Mount Kerinci are notable landmarks in this lush jungle area. The Kerinci have a unique dialect from the Malay language family; they also have a distinct form of writing called Paku which is similar to old Javanese script.

Most Kerinci are farmers who grow rice, coffee, cinnamon, and various vegetables. Those who live near the lake often work as fishermen. The land is fertile, but the Kerinci could benefit from more modern farming techniques to improve their crop yields.

The Kerinci are Muslim with strong animistic influences. They fear spirits and use magic for protection and to bless their crops. Sexual permissiveness, prostitution, and widespread divorce are serious problems in Kerinci society that have significantly weakened the family. There are believers among the Kerinci, but they are a small minority who are trying to shine the light of Christ in the darkness surrounding them.

Pray that:

Kerinci believers will live holy lives and share a bold witness with those living around them.

The Holy Spirit will break the spiritual stronghold of lust that is destroying families among the Kerinci.

God will call and send a mature couple to live as cross-cultural workers among the Kerinci to help strengthen the believers and to reach out to the lost.

Indigenous Kerinci fellowships will rapidly reproduce amongst the Kerinci people.

God will call and equip more Kerinci spiritual leaders to shepherd the flocks, disciple the lambs, and seek out the lost.

Kerinci believers will stand strong in their faith and not use animistic charms or rituals when they encounter problems.

God will bless Kerinci believers so that those living around them will see that God is stronger than the spirits they fear.

Photo from Bandar Lampung

Holy Frustration

These three Ranau men sat and talked with a worker about the problem of mankind’s sin debt. The worker shared about Isa Al Masih and His great sacrifice to pay our sin debt to God. The young man in the middle struggled to share about his beliefs. He sincerely wanted to see the worker come to his point of view, and the worker could see the frustration on his face.

When we hold a strong religious view it’s difficult to understand how people are unable to see what is so clear to us. This was the situation for this young man, and the worker identified with his pain. The worker was also touched that this young man cared enough to try and share his faith. After sharing with hundreds of people, only two Muslims have cared enough to try and share what they believe with the worker. Unlike America, religion here is not a private matter. It’s okay to talk about religion in polite society in Sumatra.

Ultimately, the issue isn’t about religion it’s about God and what He reveals as truth. The worker challenged the young man to pray to God and ask Him to reveal what road truly leads to heaven.  The worker also challenged the young man to pray for him that he too would know the truth and follow it with all his heart.

Pray with the worker that this young man will come to know the way, the truth, and the life.

Pray for workers on Sumatra to follow the truth of God with whole-hearted abandon.

Pray for workers dealing with the frustration of spiritual blindness among the people they share with to rest in the power of the Gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit. 

Run Free

These two Lampung Abung boys were playing at their Dad’s fruit stand in the traditional market. What this photo does not show clearly is that the 2 year old boy in the red shirt is playing with a sharp knife. It is a truism on Sumatra that children often have little supervision and are allowed a lot of freedom to do whatever they want. This freedom is both good and bad.

Many children on Sumatra are hungry for attention. This hunger makes them vulnerable to exploitation. The main form this exploitation takes is forced labor. But feelings of rejection from parents also open many Sumatran youth to drugs and sexual exploitation.

It is time intensive and physically hard to make a living on Sumatra. Parents are often stressed and stretched. They don’t have a lot of energy to put into their children. Education opportunities, especially in rural areas, are limited. So many children on Sumatra don’t have a lot of hope about the future.

Pray for parents on Sumatra to find strength and provision in Christ.

Pray for children on Sumatra to have positive opportunities for attention and for bettering their lives.

Pray for believers on Sumatra to model a better and more loving way of doing family.

Pray for believers who work as teachers to consider moving into areas that have Unreached People Groups to invest in the children. 

Photo from Muko-Muko area

Transmigrant Javanese People Group Profile

“For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples” (Luke 2:30-31, ESV).

By far, the largest people group in the country of Indonesia is the Javanese. The most densely populated island in the Indonesian archipelago of over 13,000 islands is Java. For this and other economic reasons, the government sanctioned a massive relocation program during the 1970s -1980s in which millions of Javanese farmers moved to rural locations in Sumatra. Today, Javanese are located throughout the island. There are 15 million of them which makes the Transmigrant Javanese the largest people group on Sumatra - over twice the size of the next largest unreached group.

These farmers were asked to “tame the jungle” or work on Sumatran plantations. These transmigrants endured a broad spectrum of hardships; however, due to their hard work and perseverance, many have prospered. Most of the indigenous Sumatran tribes are prejudiced against these “newcomers.”

Most Transmigrant Javanese are Muslim, yet there are over 60,000 Javanese believers on Sumatra. That sounds like a lot, but it only represents .46% of the total population of Javanese in Sumatra. There are around 2,000 Javanese churches in Sumatra. Most Javanese believers don’t think about praying for or sharing the Gospel with the lost living around them. A spiritual renewal among the Javanese believers on Sumatra could have a large and far-reaching impact on the island.

Pray that:

God will bring spiritual awakening among the Javanese believers in Sumatra.

God will call many cross-cultural workers from among Javanese believers.

Training efforts among the Javanese believers will equip them to share with the unreached peoples.

There will be a massive turning of Javanese to faith in Jesus Christ.

The Javanese work ethic will be turned to building up God’s Kingdom.

Workers focused on the Javanese on Sumatra will have wisdom, boldness and perseverance.

The Javanese churches will rapidly multiply and carry the Good News to all the peoples of Sumatra.

This Little Piggy

The pig is a divisive animal on Sumatra. Amongst the Nias and Batak cultures it is a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Amongst all the Muslim people groups it’s the epitome of unclean or haram. Pork literally entered into the deliberation of the Nias and Batak peoples – if they couldn’t continue to eat pork they didn’t want to become Muslim. The photo of this pig was taken on the island of Nias.

One worker, on his way to church services, was involved in a traffic accident. His vehicle was rendered undriveable. As is normal in Sumatra, a large crowd gathered. This was a dangerous situation. The worker could have been badly beaten. In God’s providence, one of the worker’s neighbors, a Muslim man, told the crowd to calm down and not do anything rash to the worker.

Many of the people in the crowd asked the worker, “Mau piggy (pigi).” The worker was very confused. The word “mau” means “to want.” The word “piggy” in English means a “young pig.” He could not comprehend why these Muslim people would be asking him about pork at an accident scene. It turns out that “pigi” is slang for “pergi” which means “to go.” They weren’t asking him if he wanted pig. They were asking him if he wanted to go, as in to leave the scene of the accident. They were taunting him.

In the end, the worker was able to get his car in driving order and take the injured person to the hospital. After the person was released from the hospital the worker took her home and got to share the Gospel with this young woman’s family. Isn’t it amazing how God can take a bad situation and turn it into something good?!

The point of the story is that every worker on Sumatra knows that pork is a sensitive issue.

Clean and unclean foods were also a major issue in the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day. In Mark 7:15-23 Jesus teaches that it’s not the food that a person eats that makes them unclean, but rather the things that come out of a man’s heart such as evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness that causes a person to be defiled. According to Jesus dietary restrictions are too narrow of a view of what constitutes a person being clean or unclean before Holy God. Like the worker who misunderstood the meaning of, “Mau pigi?” there are many people on Sumatra who misunderstand God’s standards of righteousness.

Pray for Sumatrans to comprehend the Holiness of God and the true standard of what it takes to be truly clean before Him.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to overcome cultural barriers that keep people from giving the Gospel a fair hearing.

Pray for workers as they struggle with cultural and language barriers in their attempts to share God’s plan of salvation to the peoples of Sumatra.