Singing Praises of God in a Foreign Land

Tuesday, May 4, 2004

ONLY a few Indonesian Christians made up the small congregation that met in a small house on East St., Kilda, Melbourne that night in January 1980. Today, 24 years on, the fellowship has grown into a community of Indonesian Christians in control of 23 churches in the Australian city alone. With a total membership of about 6,000 people of different ethnic groupsManadonese, Batak, Timorese, Chinesethe Indonesian churches retain Indonesian as the language of services. How did the community grow and develop? How did the second-generation members of the community, born in a foreign land, accept the church bequeathed them by their parents? TEMPO's Purwani Diyah Prabandari recently visited and stayed with the community for two weeks to find answers to these and other questions. Following is her report:

. tempo : 173240418820.

ONE night in January 1980, a group of people crowded around a man standing in the middle of the small living room with a bible in his hand.
He was explaining verses from the holy book
and answering questions before leading the evening service. The service over, the men poured their hearts out and exchanged experiences and news of the day. It was a routine meeting, a religious service normally held by Christians everywhere. But to

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