Shoes off Please

It is practically a universal truism in Eastern cultures that you take off your shoes before you enter a home. This is true even when there is a dirt floor in the home you are entering. This picture was taken outside an Islamic center. A group of children had gathered to learn to read Arabic, which is an important part of their worship.

The reason you remove your shoes is to keep from tracking in dirt from outside. In many cases roads are still gravel and dirt and become mud bogs when it rains, which is often in the tropics. This custom does help reduce the amount of dirt that a person carries into the house, but it does not remove the problem. Floors are normally mopped every day in Sumatran homes, because dirt still gets in quickly.

This custom is much like the efforts of many to keep the dirt of sin out of the home of their hearts. No matter how hard people try to be holy and righteous the dirt of sin still stains everything they do. God knows the helpless state of humankind, which is why He sent His Son to pay the debt and completely clean up the mess of sin in the lives of people who will receive His gift by faith. Many Sumatrans still have not heard that God did this for them, so they are still trying to clean themselves up. The frustration of this hopeless effort weighs heavy on many hearts on Sumatra.

Pray for Sumatrans to hear a clear, culturally sensitive explanation of the Gospel.

Pray for Sumatrans to understand that they cannot clean themselves up. The dirt of sin is too pervasive.

Pray for Holy Spirit conviction that the Gospel is true that is greater than the pull of tradition, community approval, and religion.

You Haven't Eaten...

In English we call it by one word – rice. In Indonesian there are many specific words about this important staple of their diet. In the field it is called sawah. At harvest time you potong padi. Uncooked rice is called beras. Cooked rice - nasi. Indonesian’s say, “You haven’t eaten until you’ve eaten rice.” Because rice is a staple to every meal it’s not uncommon for individual families to purchase large bags of rice as pictured here.

Jesus called Himself the Bread of Life (John 6:35). Perhaps the contextual expression of this verse would be that He is the Rice of Life. When Sumatrans eat rice they will always become hungry again, but the food that Jesus offers satisfies for eternity. The problem with many Sumatrans is they are often satisfied with physical food, and do not feel their need for spiritual nourishment.

Pray for workers to have creativity to communicate the Gospel in culturally relevant ways.

Pray for Sumatrans to hunger and thirst for true righteousness that comes from God.

Pray that Sumatrans will deeply feel their need for spiritual nourishment that exceeds even their need for daily food. (Pray this prayer especially for the Riau area.)

Pray for many Sumatrans to find the Rice of Life so that their deep spiritual needs will be eternally satisfied.

Single Line Fishing

This Aneuk Jamee youth is fishing off a cliff. He had not caught anything, but was hopeful that the fish would start biting soon. Many Sumatrans fish for their livelihood, but even those who don’t often enjoy dropping a line in the water.

Many of the first followers of Jesus were fishermen, and Jesus promised them they would be made to be fishers of men. While fishers of fish often employ nets to catch many fish at once, the fishers of men on Sumatra are finding that mouth to ear sharing of the Good News is more effective than sharing to masses of people.

The problem with mouth to ear sharing is only a few people hear at a time. This is problematic if only a few people are out fishing for souls. If Sumatra is going to be reached with the Gospel, all of the believers need to be trained and encourage to go fishing. With a million lines in the water the chances of reaching the lost becomes much better. When the church works together the body always increases. God has made it a sure principle.

Pray for believers who are fearful to share.

Pray for workers to be faithful to train other believers.

Pray for new believers to be trained and to start sharing the Gospel immediately with their friends and family.

Pray for the Aneuk Jamee to have the opportunity to hear the Good News.

 

Price of Convenience

The main gas outlet in Indonesia is Pertamina. It is a government owned business that subsidizes the cost of gasoline. Just recently they increased the cost of gas per liter by 2,000 Rupiah or about 20 cents. This is a big deal to most Sumatran families. The populace of Indonesia has staged demonstrations every time the government has tried to reduce the subsidy amount for gasoline.

However, people who live in small villages far from big cities often pay extra for gasoline because small stands like this hauls the gas in so that people don’t have to travel to the city to get it. Usually this is done by individual entrepreneurs, but recently the government has opened up mini-gas stations called Pertamini. They did this to reduce problems with the local business people mixing water and palm oil into the gasoline to get more money for the gas they sell.

Rural areas are often cut off from infrastructure and subsidies that are readily available in the urban centers. Getting resources to these isolated areas is a real challenge for Sumatra’s government.

Pray for creativity for government agencies so that more resources can get to remote, rural areas of Sumatra.

Pray for local business people to be honest in dealing with the farmers that they service in remote rural areas.

Pray for economically disadvantaged families on Sumatra to experience better opportunities to better their circumstances.

Pray for the Gospel to be shared in the remote corners of Sumatra.

Riau Malay People Group Profile

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, ESV).

By and far the most dominate of the ethnic groups in Riau Province on Sumatra is the Riau Malay. The Riau Malay are dispersed among 3,200 islands in the area. Although the 1.8 million Riau Malay are neighbored by other ethnic groups such as the Javanese and the Minangkabau, they have remained largely insulated against outside influences to their culture.

Most Riau Malay work as farmers and fishermen. Many of them live in traditional wooden homes raised on stilts next to the river. They have also been known to build floating houses on rafts. Because their livelihood depends on farming and fishing, the economic standing of most Riau Malay is below that of other ethnic groups that have migrated to the area.

 

In Riau Malay culture, to be Malay is to be Muslim. Yet, for life’s everyday problems, they often consult the dukun or religious shaman to protect them from evil spirits. They believe these spirits are the cause behind most illnesses. As for education, Riau Malay parents generally value religious education above academic education.

There is not yet an indigenous Riau Malay church. There are only a handful of believers from among the Riau Malay and they are scattered among other ethnic groups that have churches.

Pray that:

The Holy Spirit will prepare the soil for broad, bold sharing of the Gospel.

Workers in Riau will not lose heart in sharing as the Gospel is often rejected.

Spiritual strongholds among the Riau Malay will be destroyed and the captives will be set free.

The church in Riau will be unified and bold to take the Gospel to the Riau Malay.

Riau Malay believers will grow in grace and maturity and leaders will emerge to lead Riau Malay house fellowships.

Spiritual apathy among the Riau Malay will be broken and they will see the true spiritual condition of their lives and respond with repentance.

Riau Malay will know Jesus Christ as the way, truth, and life.

Two Swans

Many traditional Jambi Malay houses have wood work like this built into the roof. It is a reminder of the two swan heads that represent the city of Jambi. Many businesses and city offices are marked by Duo Angso or the two swans. And there are real swans in Jambi.

A symbol is a powerful thing to communicate values and ideals. The swan represents beauty, grace, and poise. These are somewhat ironic as Jambi is known as being corrupt beyond the normal in a country whose corruption is already an assumed fact by the general populace.

The problem that mankind has is in the difference between the ideal and the reality of performance. People often know the right thing to do, but they lack the power to do it consistently. This is a major part of the Gospel message. Jesus not only came to forgive the sins of mankind, but also to provide the power to do the right things for the right reasons.

There are 1 million Jambi Malay who are living under the bondage of sin and are in desperate need of the Savior who can both forgive their sins and give them power to live as being dead unto sin.

Pray for believers in Jambi to be bold and holy.

Pray for Jambi Malay to be brought under deep conviction of sin.

Pray for the power of sin, corruption, and laziness to be broken among the Jambi Malay.

Pray for a vibrant, rapidly reproducing Jambi Malay church.

Quiet Streams

Sumatra is home to many places of natural beauty, such as this stream in Aceh Province. A place like this is reminiscent of Psalm 23:2-3, “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.” Such beauty cannot fail to turn a man’s thinking to God the Creator.

This place also points to God’s proclamation about Himself in nature in Romans 1:19-20, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

The peoples of Sumatra have many clear evidences and signs of God, but they still deserve to hear the Gospel before they pass on. The people who know God need to be faithful to share with those they meet in the way.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to flow like a stream into the parched souls of lost people on Sumatra convicting them of both sin and righteousness.

Pray for believers on Sumatra to declare the glory of God with those living in darkness around them.

Pray for believers to encounter God beside the quiet streams of life so that they have something to share with the lost and thirsty people around them.

Pray for believers to not let opportunities to share the Gospel slip by them like water flowing down a mountain stream.

It’s funny the things that come to mind beside a quiet stream.