Papua, Indonesia Part II: Ramadan Festivals, “KGB” Churches and a Warm Goodbye

By Brandon and Tyler, WWO Ambassadors in Southeast Asia

Four months ago, I did not think/imagine that I would be hanging out with a bunch of break dancers in Papua. Four months ago I did not think/imagine that I would be driving a motorcycle to church in order to preach a sermon using a translator. Four months ago I did not think/imagine that I would be staying in a traditional fishing village on Sentani Lake with an old Papuan grandma. Four months ago I did not know that Papua was a part of Indonesia.

The day we arrived in Papua marked the start of Idul Fitri, which is the festival at the end of Muslim holiday of Ramadan.  Since Indonesia is predominately Muslim, Idul Fitri is a national holiday.  During Idul Fitri all Muslim families prepare huge amounts of food and serve it to guests who come to their house.  Due to the relationships that were formed during the Peace Camp (for more on the peace camp, see our previous post, Papua Part I), Jim and the rest of the camp kids were invited to two local Imam’s houses and then to six local families houses to partake in the festival.   On the second day of Idul Fitri, Tyler and I jumped into the back of a truck with a bunch of youths and headed to an Idul Fitri meal.  The Imam whose house we were visiting greeted Tyler and I like he had know us for years.  While eating he used Jim as interpreter to acknowledging that in a lot of Western movies Muslims are depicted as terrorists, and informing us that, like him,  most Muslims want peace.

A food offering

He then explained Ramadan and Idul Fitri.  According to him, both events are focused on forgiveness of sins.  During Ramadan Muslims fast to show remorse for their sin and during Idul Fitri Muslims try to achieve atonement by feeding others in their home.  If a family experiences misfortune throughout the year, it is believed that God is punishing them for being bad hosts during Idul Fitri. Even though we were white Americans and had never met them, all six of the households that we went to for dinner that night welcomed us into their home with unmatched grace and hospitality.  I think that I experienced more hospitality in that afternoon than many experience in a year’s time.  The perfectly memorable day was topped off by joining Jim at his prison ministry where we shared our testimonies.  Our time at the prison ended with 15 Papuan murderers and criminals laying hands on us to pray, which was quite a powerful experience.

During the rest of our stay in Papua we spent our time in a neighboring college city named Abepoura with members of the KGB church.  Tyler stayed with a young man named Dede and his wife and son, while I stayed with Ddhiya and his wife Helani.  Ddhayu and Helena are two of the main KGB church founders.  One night while sitting with Ddhiya he explained the focus of the KGB church.  Right now there are three main sectors of “religion.” On one side are the religious groups (Christians, Hindus, Muslims, etc) where members take part in formal worship and perform religious practices.  On the other side of the spectrum are the atheists and agnostics.  What is left on the spectrum is the gray area – people who believe a God but don’t feel like they fit in with any type of formal religion.   Ddhiya focuses on sharing the love of Christ with this people group.  In order to do so, KGB and many other Churches in Indonesia are based on a cell group structure, which are focused around a hobby, like break dancing, graffiti art, and hip hop.  The college girls at KGB also formed a cell group that teaches English to large groups of Muslim kids twice a week.

Pictured with the KGB Church

Aside from visiting all of the KGB cell groups, we went on a hike, visited a rural village, and ate a lot of food they because they wanted us to try it all.  During each event that we went to we were accompanied by a band of KGB college kids—we never went anywhere without a guide.  The perfect week in Papua was ended by a going away feast on Sunday night, when the whole church gathered to prepare their favorite dishes, including dog for Ddhayu.  Needless to say we were overwhelmed by a sense of love and community.

Papua, Indonesia Part I – Life with the Yosts: Motorcycle Rides, Street Concerts and Muslim/Christian Reconciliation

By Brandon and Tyler, WWO Ambassadors in Southeast Asia

Back when we were organizing our trip, Dr. Farhadian, a religious studies professor at Westmont, introduced us to Jim Yost in Papua.   Jim invited us to come and serve with him in Papua and proceeded to purchase our plane tickets from Jakarta to Papua on our behalf.   Without any expectations for Papua or a clue as to what we would do there, we boarded the plane in faith and prayed Jim would be there to pick us up in Papua.  Sure enough, he picked us up at the airport in Papua at 7 a.m. on his motorcycle.

Jim Yost has lived in Papua for the last 31 years.  He and his wife moved into the Papuan interior shortly after marriage, where they have raised their three daughters.  After living in a tribal village for sixteen years, Jim and the family moved out to Sentani, a city near Papua’s capital, Jayapura.  Since moving to Sentani, Jim has sought focus his work around three groups of people: Adults, Children, and Muslims. Adults in Papua face problems only experienced in very remote sections of the world.  In Jayapura and the surrounding costal area of Papua, about sixty percent of the population is made up of Papuan natives.  Of this sixty percent, most of them were born in the interior of Papua, which is still made up of tribal groups.  Right now, around 400 Papuans are moving out of the interior to costal Papua every day.  Imagine around 400 people going from the Stone Age to the information age overnight—it creates problems.  While the Papuan kids adapt relatively well, the adults don’t.  So, a part of Jim’s ministry is a prison outreach.

Jim Yost with young prisoners he mentors

A second thing Jim’s Church does is perform street concerts every other Friday night.  These street concerts benefit both the children and adults.  During the concerts adults are able to dance and watch music—something they are quite accustomed to from tribal life.  The concerts also benefit the kids because it presents a platform for introducing the gospel.  Though the kids do not have such a hard time adjusting to modern society, the generation gap formed by quickly adapting kids and slowly adapting adults makes it difficult for indigenous Papuan parents to control their kids.  Due to the lack of parental control, the kids often turn to drugs and alcohol.  While attending the Friday night concert ourselves, Tyler noticed a group of young men sniffing glue during the concert.  Jim also ministers to kids through the orphanage that is attached to his house.  The orphanage is entirely run by the kids.  They take turns making all the food and doing all the chores.

Tyler and friends reading the Bible in Papua

Lastly, Jim focuses on sharing the love of Christ with the local Muslim population.   Indonesia has the fourth largest total population in the world, and is the largest Muslim country in the world. Like Paul, who created a common ground with the Greeks by claiming that the God of the Bible was the “the unknown god” that had a monument in Greece, Jim ministers to the Muslims by creating a common ground.  About a year an a half ago Jim and other local churches organized a Peace Camp for the local Christian and Muslim kids.  The camp focused on breaking down stereotypes to see where the two faiths share common ground.  While this might seem like blasphemy to some Christians, I beg you to hold judgment for just a second.  From the relationships that grew out of this peace camp Jim has been able to start meeting with some of the local Imam – Muslim worship leaders – and encourages them to read the Bible in conjunction with the Koran.  Though the Koran calls all good Muslims to read the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospels, many do not.  Once the Imams have read the Bible, they often fall in love with Jesus.

To watch a video of Jim Yost speaking at Westmont College chapel on 10/30/09 go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCwppHiUiJY&feature=related