Indonesia

Indonesia Factbook

Over the last 40 years, Indonesia has experienced a tremendous revival with literally millions of people coming to Christ. At the same time, the Muslim majority has become more influential and militant. The religious tension mixed with the difficult economic times of the late 1990s has led to civil unrest and violence against Christians.

Indonesia is a huge archipelago of 17,000 islands covering a span of over 3000 miles from the Indian Ocean in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. The islands are located along the equator south of Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines and north of Australia.

Indonesia is the fourth most populous nation in the world with approximately 225 million people. Most of the people are Malay in origin with a significant Chinese minority. Over 700 different languages are spoken. However, widespread education in the Indonesian language has begun to break down some of the language barriers.

Indonesia's economy developed rapidly during the 1980s and 90s but was hard hit by the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s. Indonesia has stabilized its currency and economic conditions have improved since 1999.

After several hundred years of colonial rule, Indonesia officially gained independence in 1949. Governments since then have mostly been dictatorships associated with the military, but the country is in transition to a democratically elected government.

There is a significant amount of civil unrest in Indonesia. Most of it appears to be religious in origin. Most people are Muslim, and those calling for implementation of Islamic law are gaining more influence. An attempted Communist coup in 1965 brought brutal reprisals from the Muslim leadership.

Over the last 40 years, enormous numbers of people have come to Christ. This is certainly a matter for praise but has also added to the political tension. Christians have suffered violence at the hands of the Muslims. Pray that the Lord would bring peace to this troubled land. Pray for Christians that they would be loving, wise, and peaceful in their dealings with Muslims.

Rapid church growth has led to severe shortages of pastors. Pray for the churches as they cope with this situation. Pray as well for the Lord to raise up more men called to this ministry. Pray for the many missionaries laboring in this field. Visas have been more difficult to obtain in recent years.

Pray for the unreached. People in many of the more remote locations need to hear the gospel. Animist practices are still influential in many parts of the country. Pray that these would be broken by the power of the Spirit.

Pray for Bible translation efforts. Over 100 translation works are currently underway and many more are needed. Christian literature is in great demand but is in short supply.

Return