A US$860,000 donation for building projects in West Indonesia will allow the Seventh-day Adventist Church to dramatically expand its presence in some of the world's most remote and inaccessible regions, reports Michael Ryan, director of the church's Globa
A US$860,000 donation for building projects in West Indonesia will allow the Seventh-day Adventist Church to dramatically expand its presence in some of the world’s most remote and inaccessible regions, reports Michael Ryan, director of the church’s Global Mission initiative.
Under the first phase of the project, Global Mission and church leaders in the Southern Asia-Pacific region will coordinate the construction of more than 100 new churches in West Indonesia, along with an estimated 17 medical clinics and 15 schools.
According to Ryan, funding for the project has come from a “generous North American donor” who has caught a vision for the mission of the church in Indonesia. Ryan says the donation will re-energize and expand an existing program that has already successfully established a number of clinics and church plants in the area.
The project will span three West Indonesian regions: eastern Java, the most densely populated island in the world; West Kalimantan, where animism is still practiced; and, South Sumatra, which, along with these other areas, has only a minimal Adventist presence.
“We are talking about heavily populated rural areas,” adds Ryan. “Many of these places are only accessible either by helicopter or on foot.”
Ryan says the emphasis on establishing medical clinics, as well as churches and schools, is one of the unique features of this project. “Over the past few years we’ve been surprised at the success of clinics in West Indonesia,” he explains. “Not only do they quickly become self-supporting, but in every place a clinic is set up, it isn’t long before we also have a flourishing Adventist congregation.”
Global Mission pioneers—local lay people who commit themselves to evangelistic outreach—have been working in West Indonesia for almost a decade. “Pioneers have already established many new congregations in West Indonesia,” says Ryan. “But this building project will give new impetus to their work. Building a church not only gives new members a place to worship, but also helps consolidate and grow the Adventist presence in a community.”
