Komering People Group Profile

“No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?” (Job 41:10, ESV).

The 450,000 Komering pride themselves on being descended from fierce pirates. To this day tribes surrounding the Komering are fearful to travel through Komering areas at night because of frequency of outsiders being robbed or beat up. A traditional Komering greeting can roughly be translated, “I’ll kill you!”

Most Komering live along the Komering River in South Sumatra. They often work as rice farmers and raise small livestock. Their lands also contain natural resources such as gold, nickel, diamonds, uranium and coal. They have forests that provide lumber and rattan.

The Komering have an uneasy blend of animistic and Islamic beliefs. They are greatly influenced by Islam, but still have great fear of demons and often consult shamans to treat the spiritual causes of sickness. Many outsiders are fearful of them, so few believers are bold enough to venture to share the Gospel with them. There are over 100 Komering believers but no indigenous Komering churches.

Pray that:

Believers living around the Komering will overcome their fear and boldly share the Gospel.

Komering believers will be grow in the faith and be bold to witness and holy in the way they live.

Deep conviction of sin will fall upon the hearts of the Komering, especially the Komering men.

Komering believers will not fall into the syncretistic tendency to combine animistic beliefs with their beliefs about God.

New Komering believers will be successfully gathered into a truly indigenous church that will rapidly multiply.

Komering believers will be obedient to follow Jesus.

The Lord of the Harvest will thrust out many workers into the Komering harvest field.

Photo from a beach near Muko Muko

Banana Leaves

This is a photo of cut and folded banana leaves taken in Aceh. If you didn’t know better you might think they were green napkins, and you wouldn’t be far wrong. Banana leaves are often used on Sumatra as serving plates for food. This stack was for sale at the traditional market and will likely be purchased by small roadside restaurant owners.

Looking at these leaves is a reminder of one of the favorite stories of workers here on Sumatra. When Adam and Eve fell into sin they created clothes from tree leaves. It may very well have been from a banana tree. The idea was that the first father and mother wanted to conceal the shame that they felt after breaking God’s rule about the forbidden fruit. Workers point out that judgment fell on the first couple for one sin, and not for murder or adultery or stealing, it was for eating a forbidden fruit. This calls into question the popular idea that mankind can pay for their sins by good works. After all Adam was a prophet and of course had done many good works, but the entire world was cursed for just one sin.

Guilt and shame are a universal problem for all people since the fall. Only the Gospel gives the true answer to the problem of sin that manifests through feelings of guilt and shame. Many peoples on Sumatra are still trying to do enough good works to pay for their sin debt. Good works are like trying to use tree leaves to conceal the shame of disobedience; God will never accept it. The many people groups on Sumatra need to hear the Good News that God Himself has provided a payment for sin and a source of power to live a life that is pleasing in His sight.

Pray that the peoples of Sumatra will realize the futility of trying to pay for sins through good works.

Pray that believers on Sumatra will be bold to share about God’s provision for the problem of guilt and shame.

Pray that believers on Sumatra will walk worthy of their high calling as followers of Jesus Christ.

Pray that all the peoples on Sumatra will have the opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel.

Satellite TV

This is a common scene on Sumatra. Tin roofs and crude wooden structures crowned with a satellite dish.  The photo here was taken in Kaur Bintuhan in Southern Bengkulu Province. People who seem to be living hand-to-mouth still have the money to buy nice cellular phones and satellite TV. Life the-world-over is about priorities. Even with limited resources, people invest in the things that are important to them.

We also see this idea being played out in the lavish and often ornate places of worship in poorer rural areas. Having a physical place to worship that looks good is often very important to the people here. They hope that being rich towards God by having a nice worship house will result in God blessing them materially.

The Apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that it is important to invest on the inner-life because our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Many people here miss that fact. In their desire for material blessings, they miss the need to invest in their internal spiritual life.

It’s all about priorities. We always have time and resources for the things that are important to us. At the Last Day it will not be important how nice a cellular phone you had or how nice the place looked where you attended worship. The state of the heart will be the true measure of a life well spent or a life misspent.

Pray for the grip of materialism to be broken among the people groups of Sumatra.

Pray for people here to have a deep heart hunger for holiness.

Pray for Sumatrans to invest in their inner-man by generous time being spent in prayer and in reading the Bible with the result of transformed, yielded lives.

Simeulue People Group Profile

“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13, NIV).

The heartland of the 50,000 Simeulue people is a small island off the west coast of Aceh Province. The island has beautiful beaches and lush green jungles. Earthquakes frequently affect both the island and its people. The infrastructure is minimal; most villages are along the coastline. Health care is almost non-existent.

Most Simeulue families make their living from fishing or farming. Many men work as lobster divers. Because of poor equipment and dangerous practices, many of these divers end up paralyzed or dead. Those who work as divers are considered daring and brave.

The Simeulue speak a language called Ulau at home, but they can also speak Indonesian. They are simple people who live communally. They fish, work the fields, wash laundry by hand, collect firewood for cooking, watch over each other’s children, play volleyball or soccer, and eat fish and rice together.  Weddings and funerals take place in their homes and are attended by the entire village.  Most of the Simeulue people have little knowledge of the world beyond their island.

To be Simeulue is to be Muslim, although they also have many animistic beliefs about spirits and magic. The Mosque (place of worship) and Musholla (place of prayer) are present in every village. These places are central to the Simeulue village social structure. To be cast out of the Mosque is to be cut off from village life.

There is no indigenous church among the Simeulue Only a handful of Simeulue people are followers of Jesus.

Pray that:

Simeulue believers will grow in spiritual wisdom and maturity.

Believers will help with community development and health needs in order to share the Gospel.

Scriptures and appropriate tools will be developed to share the Gospel with the Simeulue.

New believers will have boldness and courage to face persecution and opposition.

God will call out workers with a heart to reach the Simeulue, and will open the local culture to be more accepting of outsiders.

God will prepare many Simeulue hearts to receive the Gospel.

God will call out thousands of intercessors to pray for the Simeulue people.

Flowers for the Dead

These flower pedals were being sold in a market in Padang, Sumatra. They are used for funeral ceremonies. It is still common and traditional for the family to prepare the body for burial. In a Muslim funeral the body is supposed to be buried within one day of the death. There are many traditions as to how the body is to be prepared.

Many of these traditions stem from animistic beliefs about how to keep the spirit of the dead person from haunting the family. There are still much fear of spirits bound up in the beliefs and practices of the people groups on Sumatra. These practices are still very common among people who claim to be followers of Christ.

Pray for workers to have wisdom as they help new believers from Sumatra’s unreached peoples to let go of their animistic traditions.

Pray for believers on Sumatra in traditional churches to stop following their animistic traditions.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to cause the peoples on Sumatra to consider the shortness of life and the need to have a restored relationship with God.

The Fasting Month is Starting Today

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