Kluet People Group Profile

“‘For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch’” (Malachi 4:1, ESV).

The Kluet [Kloot] are extremely proud of their heritage, language and religion. There are 50,000 Kluet in Southern Aceh. They have no known believers and no indigenous church. They are one of Sumatra’s least reached people groups. The Kluet are friendly and open to visitors who come to them, but they tend to keep to themselves. There are three regions of Kluet that all have slight variations on language.

Most of the Kluet work in farming. They produce rice, coffee, palm oil, nutmeg, and a variety of vegetables. There is some gold mining, but that is being developed by outside interests. The Kluet area is rich in natural beauty and could easily be developed as a tourist destination. Two challenges that the Kluet are currently facing are problems with wild elephants and problems with dying nutmeg trees. The Kluet have sought outside help for both of these problems without success.

The Kluet are Muslim. They mix their Muslim belief with animism. Some Kluet have rings that they believe have magical powers. Because the Kluet often remain to themselves, and there are no churches close to them, the result is they often have never heard the Gospel.

Pray that:

God will call workers to focus on reaching the Kluet people.

God will help workers to have wisdom to help with deep community wide problems such as the wild elephants and dying nutmeg trees.

Fellowships on Sumatra and in the United States will adopt the Kluet for focused prayer and will send teams to share the Gospel.

Believers will have wisdom to help the Kluet develop the tourism potential of their beautiful area, and that this help will lead to open doors for sharing truth.

First fruit Kluet believers will hear the Gospel and come to faith before the end of this year.

Kluet believers will stand strong in their new faith, and will be bold to share the Gospel with friends and family.

God will reveal the Gospel to the Kluet through demonstrations of His mighty power through His servants as they are witnesses of His truth.

Boat Builders

This Aneuk Jamee man is building a new fishing boat. It normally takes about three months to complete a new boat to the point of it being seaworthy. When fishermen go out on the sea in a boat this size they often journey several miles off the coast and are at sea all day seeking a catch. They are counting on the boat builders to have done their work well. In fact they are staking their lives on seaworthiness of the vessel every day.

Even the best built boat can encounter storms on the sea that result in catastrophe. Ultimately a boat is not a proper object of faith. People need a stronger foundation to build their lives upon. Unfortunately many people choose to place their faith in things as insubstantial and uncertain as a boat on the sea. They trust in prayers five times a day. They trust in fasting one month a year. They trust in giving to the poor. They hope that at the end of their lives that these good works will pay for all of their sins.

The Word of God says that all such hopes are ill founded and destined to destruction and great loss. There is only one object of faith that can securely anchor a man’s soul. That object is Jesus Christ. He alone lived a perfect life and died a substitutionary death so that all who believe in Him might not perish but receive eternal life.

Pray for the peoples of Sumatra to recognize that only Jesus can provide an unfailing foundation for saving faith.

Pray for followers of Jesus to be more confident and bold in proclaiming this Gospel of peace to the peoples who are perishing around them.

Pray that the evil one, who is blinding the eyes of the lost on Sumatra, will be bound so that the captives may be set free.

Modern Day Cowboy

This Kluet man is hearding water buffalo between family fields. It is unusual to see a man doing this work. But it is very common to see a motorcycle being used. This work is normally done by a 10 to 15 year old boy.

A water buffalo is an expensive animal. Depending on the size, these animals can sell for $1,000 to $1,500 dollars each. That is a huge amount considering the normal day wage of a common worker on Sumatra is $5.

The water buffalo is often killed for special occasions such as weddings or after an extremely lucrative business success. When an animal like this is offered it is a show of wealth and prosperity in the community. This cultural concept shows a common truth. The greater the value of the sacrifice, the greater the love that is shown.

God reveals both His generosity and His great love by the value of the sacrifice that He freely made to redeem the Kluet from their sin.

Pray for the Kluet to hear and receive the Good News of God’s great sacrifice made for them.

Pray for the Kluet to value Christ above the status of many water buffalo.

Pray for new Kluet believers to follow in the footsteps of Christ in both generosity and love to other people around them.

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.