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Indonesia Tag

by
News, Pray
October 5, 2018

On 28 September, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the Donggala District in Central Sulawesi, triggering a tsunami that has devastated coastal areas including Palu city.

At least 1,500 people have been confirmed dead and 70,000 people have been displaced from their homes. The death toll climbs daily.

The Indonesian Government and United Nations estimate at least 190,000 people now require urgent humanitarian assistance, and that the lives of more than 1.5 million people have been affected.

Donate now

 

UnitingWorld launches appeal

UnitingWorld launched an appeal this week to support local churches in Sulawesi who are responding to the crisis with emergency shelters, food, water, clothing and fuel.

Our partner organisation, the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) has been coordinating the emergency response activities of their member churches in Sulawesi: the Indonesia Protestant Church in Donggala (Gereja Protestan Indonesia di Donggala – GPID) and the Protestant Church in Central Sulawesi (Gereja Kristen Sulawesi Tengah, GKST).

Initial funds raised by the Tsunami Crisis Appeal have now been sent to support relief work coordinated by PGI. More funds are urgently needed.

 

Local churches act quickly

Immediately after the crisis, churches in non-affected areas around Donggala began collecting donations and emergency supplies to take to Palu and coastal areas that were hit. Travel was near impossible for days because roads were destroyed by the earthquake.

The GKST quickly opened an emergency shelter in one of their high school buildings near Palu. Relief efforts are being coordinated by three local ministers. They report that the people being served at the centre have been so traumatised by aftershocks that they prefer to sleep outside the buildings.

Many GKST and GPID buildings have now become emergency centres being used by church leaders and volunteers. They are asking for supplies and medical aid. The PGI is preparing to send a health team from Jakarta to support the emergency centres.

UnitingWorld partner church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Timor (GMIT) also has a presence in Palu through their development organisation, Tanaoba Lais Manekat (TLM), which has been running a large-scale microfinance project there for many years.

Up to 4,000 of their clients have now lost their homes and many gains made by the project have been lost. TLM staff in Palu have nonetheless been at the forefront of the disaster response work in their community.

(Below photos via TLM)

TLM staff and volunteers resting in a makeshift shelter

Road damage has severely restricted relief efforts

70,000 people have been made homeless by the earthquake and tsunami

 

More aid needed

We are continuing to work with our partners on rapid needs assessments and determining how to best support them in the short and long term. They have indicated the initial needs they are aiming to address are food, water, clothes, fuel for transport and cooking; tents for refugees and help with burials.

Your donation will support local churches to help and serve their communities.

Click here to donate now.

 

 

Pray for Sulawesi

Please join us in prayer

For our courageous church partners serving the people of Palu and Donggala;

For the people still missing and those trying to reach them;

For those bringing urgent relief supplies to those suffering;

For those grieving the loss of loved ones;

And for those who’ve lost everything, including their homes.

 

All photos via Gratia Djami Jusuf, Tanaoba Lais Manekat.

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by
News, Pray
August 9, 2018

In the aftermath of the powerful earthquake that struck the Indonesian island of Lombok, UnitingWorld and the Uniting Church in Australia mourn alongside our Indonesian partners at the tragic loss of life.

Since the magnitude-6.9 earthquake hit on August 5, the death toll has risen to 347 according to local Indonesian media, and tens of thousands have been left homeless by the damages.

Bali also experienced strong tremors on Sunday night but thankfully no deaths were recorded, and damage was minimal.

UnitingWorld National Director Dr Sureka Goringe has expressed heartfelt sympathy for those who have lost loved ones and commended the work of the Bali Church in helping their neighbours in Lombok during the crisis.

“We’ve been close contact with our partners and we are heartened to hear that their congregations are raising funds to support the recovery work in Lombok,” said Dr Goringe.

“We celebrate our partner’s prompt and compassionate response and offer our prayers for all in Lombok who have been tragically affected. We also pray for all the professionals and volunteers helping the affected communities.”

MBM, the social work foundation of the Protestant Christian Church in Bali is working with other non-government agencies and helping to mobilise volunteers to support the recovery. The Indonesian Communion of Churches is also responding with funds for the rescue and recovery efforts.

Our partners are not currently seeking donations from abroad.

Uniting Church in Australia President Dr Deidre Palmer has invited all congregations to pray for the families of the victims and the recovery efforts.

Please pray alongside our church partners in Indonesia for those who’ve lost loved ones, those who’ve lost homes, and for all the people responding to this disaster.

Prayer

Rev. Dr Apwee Ting of the Uniting Church Assembly Resourcing Unit has written this prayer for Lombok in English and Bahasa Indonesia.

 

Berdoa buat Lombok

 

Ketika bumi menggeliat

membangunkan manusia yang terlelap

oleh mimpi mengejar hidup

 

Ketika isak tangis kepedihan manusia

yang ditinggal oleh yang terkasih

 

Kita tersentak, merenung dan bengong

kekasih hati, mutiara hidup telah hilang

kembali kepada Sang Empunya hidup

 

Kesunyian, kesenyapan dan kesendirian

sekarang menguasai hidup

hidup tidak lagi bermakna seperti kemarin

 

Dengan doa dan solidaritas

kuulurkan cinta dan kasih yang ada

merangkul engkau yang sendirian ditengah reruntuhan

 

Lombok, kusebut namamu

didalam doa ku kepada Sang Pencipta hidup.

 

Lombok, kuulurkan tanganku

bersama berjalan dan berbagi derita

 

Lombok,

Kepada mu ku berdoa kepada Tuhan kita.

 

Amin

 Prayer for Lombok

 

When the earth writhed

waking up people

from their dreams of pursuing life

 

When we heard of human pain

who has lost their loved one

 

We gasped, pondered and stunned

sweetheart, the pearl of life has been lost

back to God who created life

 

Silence,

emptiness and solitude

now master life

life is no longer meaningful like yesterday

 

With prayer and solidarity

I extend love and care

embracing you

who are alone in the midst of the ruins

 

Lombok, I said your name

in my prayer to the Creator of life.

 

Lombok, I extended my heart and hands

Let us walk together to share our pain

 

Lombok,

To God we pray together.

 

Amen

UnitingWorld is the international aid and partnerships agency of the Uniting Church in Australia. Our partner church in Bali is the Gereja Kristen Protestan di Bali (Protestant Christian Church in Bali), who we work alongside on projects to empower women and alleviate poverty in rural Bali. Read more | See more (video).

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by
News, Pray
May 14, 2018

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia Stuart McMillan and UnitingWorld National Director Dr Sureka Goringe have written to churches in Indonesia to express sadness and solidarity after the tragic church bombings in Surabaya, Java on Sunday.

11 people were killed in the explosions and more than 43 were wounded in what has been called the worst terrorist attack in Indonesia in more than a decade.

A congregation of our partner church in Java was one of those targeted, wounding an Elder and several young members.

Rev Dr Ji Zhang has written a prayer for the victims of the Surabaya attacks. We encourage Uniting Church members and UnitingWorld supporters to pray with us in solidarity with churches in Indonesia.

It has also been translated into Bahasa Indonesia and can be downloaded here.

Letter to churches in Indonesia
Letter to our partner church GKI in Java

A prayer for the victims of church bombings in Java

Almighty God, we come to you with our hearts full of thoughts.

But you are our refuge and strength,

the light in the darkness,

and so with confidence we offer our prayers to you.

 

Lord hear us

Lord hear our prayers.

 

We stand in solidarity with all good citizens in Java

pray for the churches of Catholic, Protestant, and Pentecostal traditions,

and we are confronted by the attacks on Christian worshipers.

We bring to you all the deceased,

and our trust that in God’s peace their souls find rest.

 

Lord hear us

Lord hear our prayers.

 

We pray for those who grieve the loss of life,

for those who are traumatized during Sunday worship,

for those who are separated from the loved ones and friends;

we ask for your healing presence in their lives

and we commend to your love all the injured.

 

Lord hear us

Lord hear our prayers.

 

We give to your care all those

who have been involved in the rescue operation.

Be with local churches and government forces

as they minister to the suffering communities.

Sustain them through this time of stress.

 

Lord hear us

Lord hear our prayers.

 

We commend to your care those who are cleaning up,

for those burdened by unimaginable losses

and who have found themselves

like refugees in their own locality.

We ask that the emotional and spiritual support

already offered by local communities and beyond

will encourage and lift their spirits.

 

Lord hear us

Lord hear our prayers.

 

We pray for communities that have been devastated

– especially in East Java and West Java.

May your peace bring people together

to rebuild their lives and communities,

and bring them healing from all evil.

 

Lord hear us

Lord hear our prayers.

 

We pray for families and friends in Australia

who feel far away from the loved ones in Indonesia,

and those who had been through racial and religious attacks

– still trying to make sense of the past.

Comfort them across the physical and emotional distance.

 

Lord hear us

Lord hear our prayers.

 

We give thanks to God for the blessing in our lives,

especially the gifts of joy we so often take for granted

until they are in danger of being taken away from us

  • the gift of family, friends, a home, our possessions.

Most of all we praise God for the gift of life itself.

 

Lord hear us

Lord hear our prayers.

 

God of light over darkness,

come into our hearts in the moment of now!

Come to transform our sorrow over the lost

into blessings to the living.

Come to reassure us your eternal truth

in the resurrection of Christ Jesus:

Life is always stronger than death.

 

Lord hear us

Lord hear our prayers.

 

(Rev Dr Ji Zhang  张骥, Assembly Theologian in Residence, for our Partner Church GKI and Indonesian Communion of Churches. The prayer is rewritten based on the prayer of 2004 Asian Tsunami by Homebush Uniting Church)

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by
News
June 29, 2016

28 June 2016

Amid reports of a deteriorating human rights situation in West Papua, a minute of support for Papuans was issued on 28 June during the closing day to a meeting in Trondheim, Norway, of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

The WCC has followed the situation since before the 1969 incorporation of West Papua into Indonesia.

During peaceful protests of government policies in May and early June of this year, more than 3,000 people are said to have been placed under arrest. A further 1,400 West Papuans are reported to have been arrested on 15 June.

Calling on member churches to pray and act in support of Christian witness in the region, the Central Committee authorized an international ecumenical delegation to be sent “as soon as possible” in order to “hear the voices of victims of violence and human rights violations, and to pursue the pilgrimage of justice and peace in this context.”

Read more:

Minute on Human Rights Situation in West Papua (WCC)

A call to pray for our brothers and sisters in West Papua (UCA)


This press release was originally published by the World Council of Churches (WCC) of which the Uniting Church in Australia is a member

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by
Pray
June 27, 2016

Prayer for the People in the Land of Papua

There is no place where you cannot reach,
God who made the heavens and the earth.

There is no journey which you have not travelled,
God who is with us, Jesus the Christ.

There are no people beyond your care,
God who is the Spirit, the Comforter.

Stay with the people in Papua now, with your love and kindness;
Lighten their darkness with your consolation and blessing.

When their voices and resources are taken away,
it is to the governments that they have turned with their questions

When their dignity and freedom are endangered,
It is to God and friends in Christ that they have turned for reassurance and comfort.

We pray for
eyes that are open to see what Jesus sees,
ears that are open to truly hear,
hearts that are open to love as Christ loved,
and lives that respond to our neighbour’s crying.

Today, we pray for ourselves
and all those with power to pray and help,
the local and national governments in Indonesia,
the companies that extract resources from the land
our partner the Evangelical Christian Church in the Land of Papua.
Let them walk together within God’s goodness,
act justly, relieve suffering, sustain life and rebuild the communities.

Hear our prayers this day
for we pray in the name of Jesus
whose arms were outstretched on the Cross
to embrace all people.
Amen.

This prayer was written in response to recent correspondence with the Evangelical Christian Church in the Land of Papua (Gereja Kristen Injili Di Tanah Papua ‘GKI-TP’) on political tensions in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua.

(Rewritten by Rev Dr Ji Zhang, Manager Church Partnerships – Asia. The prayer is adapted from Dorothy McRae-McMahon, Prayers for Life’s Particular Moments, p.99)

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by
Pray
June 27, 2016

27 June 2016

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia Stuart McMillan has called the people of the Uniting Church to pray for our Papuan brothers and sisters in Christ as the Evangelical Christian Church in the Land of Papua (Gereja Kristen Injili Di Tanah Papua ‘GKI-TP’) lead their people through troubled times.

“We ask for congregations across Australia to hold our partners in prayer as they lead their church towards God’s justice, peace and reconciliation”, said Mr McMillan. Mr McMillan was responding to a letter written to the Uniting Church in Australia and other international partners. In the letter, our partner the GKI-TP has condemned the increasing levels of political tension in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua, and has asked for prayers and assistance from its international partner churches.

The GKI-TP outlines four issues it believes must be addressed to reduce political tension and avoid conflict in Papua:

1. Freedom of expression: Throughout May, more than 2000 people were arrested and arbitrarily detained across Papua, including the mass arrest of more than 1700 people in Jayapura for publicly stating their political views and requesting a dialogue with the Indonesian Government. The GKI-TP calls for a commitment to peaceful dialogue, the lifting of media restrictions and respect for freedom of expression.
2. The monopolisation of their region’s natural resources by transnational companies keeping the wealth out of the hands of indigenous Papuans and denying them the opportunity to determine their own development.
3. Alleged human rights violations including assassination, torture, rape and kidnapping, particularly directed against peaceful activists. GKI-TP is calling on the government to resolve cases of human rights violations through the independent national Human Rights Commission (KOMNAS HAM).
4. Greater respect for the ongoing debate in Papua regarding the history of its integration into Indonesia. The GKI-TP requests that the expression of their political views not result in violent crackdowns and unlawful arrests.

“The Uniting Church celebrates Indonesia’s cultural diversity through our extensive church partnerships with Indonesian churches, and that diversity has enriched the life of UCA widely as many Indonesians have found their home in our Uniting Church,” said Mr McMillan.

“However, we are deeply troubled by the situation in Papua as expressed by our partner church.

“We express solidarity with GKI-TP, in its ministry of peace and reconciliation, and in its call for all Papuans to be granted an effective voice in determining their own futures.

National Director for UnitingWorld Mr Rob Floyd said the Uniting Church in Australia greatly valued the courage and commitment of its church partners in Papua.

“The GKI-TP provide wonderful ministry in Papua often under the most difficult circumstances.”

Echoing the concerns raised by GKI-TP, Mr Floyd said, “We call on the Indonesian Government and all parties to make a commitment to peaceful dialogue, an end to violence and a respect for freedom of expression.”

– 27 June 2016

Read More

Read Stuart McMillan’s response to GKI-TP President, Rev Alberth Yoku

UnitingWorld’s Rev Dr Ji Zhang has written a Prayer for the People in the Land of Papua on the blog

Briefing Paper on UCA relations with Papua – 23 June 2016

World Council of Churches declares solidarity with Tanah Papua (West Papua) -28 June 2016

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