Great Mosque of Palembang, South Sumatra Province, Indonesia. fitri agung, Creative Commons Hundreds of Muslims on Sumatra Island, Indonesia on Oct. 14 protested against construction of a church building based on the area being predominantly Muslim, according to various sources. The protestors in Palembang, capital of South Sumatra Province, also claimed that the land for the proposed church site belongs to the government and that there were no permanent Christian residents in the area. Besides area residents, opposition to construction of the Huria Kristen Batak Protestant (HKBP) Church on Pangeran Ratu Street, Blok B8, No.15, in Jakabaring Sub-District, included Muslims of three Palembang sub-districts such as community leaders and Indonesian Ulema Council (Majelis Ulama Indonesia, MUI] officials, opponents said. The three sub-districts are Jakabaring, Kertapati and Seberang Ulu I. The head of the Rejection Movement to HKBP Church Construction, H. Badaruddin, stated that before the protest his group held a meeting to raise residents’ voices to oppose the construction, according to news outlet Disway.id. “The residents in that area are all Muslims,” Badaruddin reportedly said. “We certainly have no problem if Christians are living there now.” Badaruddin also told local television station PalTV that they would mount a large-scale demonstration “to cancel the construction” if the government ignored their opposition. Dely Ibrahim, head of the Seberang Ulu I Subdistrict Chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council, along with three others, said the underlying motive for rejecting construction was that the majority of the area population was Muslim. “We hope the church’s construction won’t be imposed on us, as the majority of the population is Muslim,” he said. “We, representing the clerics from the Jakabaring, Kertapati and Sebrang Ulu I sub-districts, oppose the construction of the church.” Badaruddin, however, said that his party had not yet coordinated his protest with the sub-district head, according to palpres.bacakoran.co. “The sub-district head is always evasive, as if afraid of something being exposed or something else being discovered,” he said. Palembang Mayor Ratu Dewa said he was still awaiting a comprehensive report on the issue and appealed to the community to maintain peace, PalTV reported. “I’m still waiting for the report, because the administrative process must be completed at the grassroots level, both with the local community and with the Interfaith Harmony Forum,” Ratu said. “This process has not yet reached the mayoral level. I will look into the matter and discuss it with the regional secretary, the assistant for public welfare and the local sub-district head.” The coordinator of the protest, identified only as Heri, alleged that residents who granted approval of the church construction permit had been bribed with goods and money, according to palpres.bacakoran.co. “Certain individuals have done it to obtain residents’ signatures for the HKBP church construction,” Heri reportedly said. “They were asked to sign without any clear understanding of the matter and would have refused to sign it should they have known in advance it was a requirement for the church’s construction.” Heri said he personally had no problem with the church’s construction and would not object if there were Christians living near the site. “We reject it because there are no Christian or [other non-Muslim] residents at the construction site, but rather it is 100 percent Muslim,” he told palpres.bacakoran.co. “And the residents who were asked for their signatures by these individuals are temporary residents who live there, living on land and in huts. We oppose the construction of this HKBP church since most residents in the area are Muslim. We request that the church’s construction not be imposed on us, and we firmly reject it.” Leaders of the HKBP church did not reply to request for comment. Palembang has a population of more than 1.8 million people across 18 sub-districts as of 2021. The three sub-districts that opposed the church construction have a combined population of at least 276,046 residents, according to the Palembang Central Statistics Agency. Incessant Opposition All church construction processes in Indonesia consistently face problems from Muslim extremist groups, according to a political observer who requested anonymity. “Church construction never proceeds without disruption,” he told Morning Star News. “There may be, of course, legitimate objections, but the Joint Decree of the Two Ministers opens the door for intolerant groups to raise issues.” The 2006 Joint Decree of the Minister of Religious Affairs and the Minister of Home Affairs of Indonesia requires a church to provide names and ID cards of at least 90 congregation members, written approval of the village head and a letter of support from at least 60 area residents. It also requires a written recommendation from the local branch of the Religious Affairs Ministry office and written recommendation from the local branch of the Interfaith Harmony Forum. Bonar Tigor Naipospos, deputy chairman of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said that extortion has played a role in several cases of opposition to church construction. “When the church party is to collect signatures from residents, for example, local mass organizations ask the church for money or then insist on managing the church parking lot,” Bonar told Morning Star News. “Or there are also mass organizations that ask the church for money every month under various pretexts.” A church in Jakarta, he said, was processing permits with the local bureaucracy when an organization insisted on assisting them for pay, “and they still manage the church parking lot to this day.” Indonesian society in recent years has adopted a more conservative Islamic character, and churches involved in evangelistic outreach are at risk of being targeted by Islamic extremist groups, according to Open Doors.

Rev. Dr. Walter Kim, President of the National Association of Evangelicals in the United States, delivers a morning devotional at the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly in Seoul on Oct. 29, emphasizing the gospel of peace and reconciliation. Christian Daily International On the third morning of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) General Assembly in Seoul, Rev. Dr. Walter Kim, President of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in the United States, delivered a deeply personal devotional message about the reconciling power of the gospel amid the turmoil of the modern world. Kim began by recalling a prayer he made 21 years ago, when his daughter Naomi was born with an intellectual disability and severe medical complications. “I was in the hospital sitting next to her incubator as she was connected to tubes,” he said. “I couldn’t touch her. In the early weeks of life, I merely touched the plastic that separated us and prayed that God would fill her lungs and pulse blood through her veins.” He shared that he and his wife gave their daughter the middle name Joy, inspired by Nehemiah 8:10: “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” “We began to pray by that incubator that she would receive the joy of the Lord and that she would give the joy of the Lord,” Kim said. Her story, he explained, became a living picture of the gospel — “how God responds to the problem of sin with the gospel of peace to form a people with a missional purpose of reconciling hospitality.” Kim described the first-century world in which the gospel was born — a time of deep political, cultural, and social instability. “The Roman Empire had caused the greatest mass migration of people known in human history up to that time,” he said. “The empire promised unity, but there were constantly rebellions.” He drew parallels between that world and the present. “This is our time as well,” Kim said. “Religious pluralism, urbanization, mass migration, economic upheaval, multiculturalism, breakdown of old worldviews — you name it. The gospel must be proclaimed into tumultuous times.” Kim said the greatest problem facing humanity is not external turmoil but sin itself. “Sin separates, shatters and shames,” he said. “It alienates us from God, from one another, and even from ourselves.” Quoting Romans 7, he said, “The good that I want to do, I don’t do, but I do the very evil that I don’t want to do. We are alienated even within ourselves.” He explained that Christ’s work on the cross is the ultimate act of reconciliation. “God rescues us,” Kim said. “God responds to this problem of sin that separates and shatters and shames us with the reconciling peace of Christ. Jesus’ body was broken on the cross so that you could be made whole.” “Peace,” he emphasized, “is not a technique. Peace is not a thing. Peace is a person — the person of Jesus Christ.” Kim drew from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians to illustrate the gospel’s power to unite. He explained that the “dividing wall of hostility” mentioned by Paul referred to literal walls in the Jerusalem temple that separated Gentiles, Jewish women, and Jewish men. “Herod built a temple with dividing walls of hostility,” Kim said. “Signs were posted that warned Gentiles they could be killed if they crossed them.” “The gospel,” he continued, “breaks down these walls of hostility. It forms a new people, a new temple — the Church — in which we belong to God and to one another.” Kim said the essence of the gospel is “one of peace and peacemaking.” “We now belong to God and we belong to each other,” he said. “There is no other option.” Kim explained that Scripture uses several metaphors to describe this new reality in Christ — social, political, familial, and architectural. “In verse 19, Paul says, ‘You are no longer strangers and aliens,’” he noted. “That is a social metaphor. Then he says, ‘You are fellow citizens with the saints,’ a political metaphor. Then, ‘members of the household of God,’ a family metaphor. And finally, we are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets — an architectural metaphor.” “If we are to have a gospel for everyone,” Kim said, “we need a gospel for everything. The gospel should touch every aspect of society — individuals and institutions, personal and public, spiritual and social.” Kim said the gospel flourishes when believers live out reconciliation in tangible ways. He shared about visiting Malawi, where churches of different denominations were serving together in a predominantly Muslim area through literacy programs, vocational training, early childhood education, and sustainable farming. “There were 80 children there, most of them Muslim children, memorizing ‘Jesus loves me, this I know,’” Kim said. Local Muslim chieftains, he added, had encouraged their children to attend because of the Church’s work in the community. He recalled that during the visit, the local chief asked his daughter Naomi to address the villagers. “There was a woman there who had three children with disabilities, and her husband had just left her,” Kim said. “Naomi stood up and said, ‘God loves you. Study hard and learn to read.’ And she added ‘thank you’ in the local language.” He said that moment reminded him of the prayer he prayed 21 years earlier. “Every person has a place at the table of God. Every person has a call to be on mission,” Kim said. “There is none too great and none too small, not abled or disabled, that in the great economy of God cannot be redeemed.” “There is no alienation, no separation, no shattering, and no shame that God cannot renew and remake,” he concluded. “And the gospel touches it all.”

From left to right: Gaetan Roy, Dr. Janet Epp Buckingham, Kyle Wisdom, and Jennifer Roemhildt Tunehag speak during the advocacy panel at the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly in Seoul, South Korea. Hudson Tsuei, Christian Daily International The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) advocacy team serving at the United Nations urged national alliances to represent Christ with courage, humility, and hope in global policymaking spaces during a panel discussion Wednesday morning at the WEA General Assembly in Seoul. The session, moderated by Dr. Janet Epp Buckingham, Director of the WEA Office to the UN in Geneva, explored how evangelicals can carry the peace of Christ into international dialogue and policymaking. Panelists included WEA Director of Global Advocacy Kyle Wisdom, WEA Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Gaetan Roy, and Jennifer Roemhildt Tunehag, Global Director of the World Freedom Network, which coordinates Christian responses to human trafficking. ‘Faithful presence’ in the halls of power Buckingham opened by defining advocacy in biblical terms, drawing inspiration from the story of Queen Esther. “Despite her title, she had no real power,” she said. “Yet after praying and fasting, she chose to risk death by coming into the king’s presence. And the king saved her people.” She said the WEA’s advocacy model mirrors that courage and discernment. “Sometimes we are called to go into settings where we might face hostility,” Buckingham said. “Our goal is not to criticize, but to engage with those who are suspicious of or even hostile to Christians. We want to be a faithful presence at the United Nations.” Advocacy, she explained, is less about confrontation and more about building relationships. “If we can have dinner with those who oppose us, we consider that a success,” Buckingham said. “It’s about conversation, not condemnation. Establishing trust allows honest discussions about problems and possible solutions.” She noted that the WEA engages with governments and institutions through processes such as the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which allows faith communities to submit recommendations about human rights situations in their countries. “Every four and a half years, each country comes up for review,” she said. “We can make submissions on your behalf — and we want to do that with you.” Buckingham emphasized that the WEA’s advocacy is collaborative. “We want to amplify your voices in the halls of power,” she said. “The most powerful advocacy happens when we join our voices nationally, regionally, and globally with the same message.” Translating the gospel into the language of policy Kyle Wisdom, Director of Global Advocacy, said the WEA’s task is to represent the gospel’s truth and compassion in spaces where spiritual language is often unfamiliar. “We bring the messages from the household of faith into the halls of power,” he said. “Much of our work is an exercise in translation — translating the language of the gospel into the language of the United Nations.” He noted that this requires adapting Christian terminology to international discourse. “We might use terms like ‘religious freedom violations’ instead of ‘persecution,’” he said. “It’s the same issue, but in a language policymakers understand. Translation carries both risk and opportunity, and we depend on your input to make it accurate.” Wisdom said the WEA’s presence at the UN in New York allows it to engage issues such as global security, sustainable development, and the protection of women and children. “We convene side events and panels to lift up the voices of the least of these,” he said. “We’ve held events on displaced peoples, refugees, and the cause of women — issues where faith-based perspectives bring real value to policy discussions.” He added that the WEA’s special consultative status with the UN provides unique access to global decision-making spaces. “We want to use that access to serve the worldwide evangelical family,” he said. “It’s about using influence not for power, but for presence — a faithful witness that seeks justice and peace.” Advocacy rooted in compassion Jennifer Roemhildt Tunehag of the World Freedom Network highlighted how advocacy serves as a bridge between theology and justice, particularly in the fight against human trafficking. “This is where theology needs advocacy,” she said. “Only states can identify victims of trafficking. Without identification, they have no path to justice, no support, and no hope.” She said there are an estimated 27 million people trapped in trafficking globally, yet fewer than 1 percent are ever identified. “Not even one in a hundred is home safely,” she said. “As the people of God, we must bring this concern to decision-makers.” Tunehag explained that the WEA engages the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women each year to advocate for better laws and stronger partnerships. “We remind leaders that God does not forget the vulnerable,” she said. “Evangelical Christians from around the world are responding in ways that are strategic, connected, and concrete.” She described the partnership between the advocacy team and the World Freedom Network as essential. “Without advocacy, we could not pursue the purposes of freedom God has entrusted to us,” she said. “It allows us to carry the stories of those who cannot speak for themselves into places of power.” ‘Ambassadors of the hope of Christ’ In the final presentation, Gaëtan Roy reflected on what it means to represent Christ in diplomacy. “Representing the gospel means representing Christ — making Christ visible,” he said. “Today, many people’s idea of advocacy is simply complaining. But complaining is not an attribute of God’s kingdom.” Roy outlined three ways Christians can embody the gospel in advocacy: through humility, hope, and love. “We serve by building meaningful relationships,” he said. “Once we have trust, we can begin to find solutions that are mutually agreeable. This takes time and patience — it’s the work of years, not days.” He added that WEA representatives strive to serve discreetly and without seeking recognition. “If you want to become popular, sell ice cream or become a soccer player,” Roy quipped. “The only thing that should become popular in our work is Jesus Christ.” Roy said the team’s mission is sustained by gratitude and confidence in God’s sovereignty. “We engage not because we are certain we can do it, but because we know God can,” he said. “Most people are ambassadors of despair. We want to be ambassadors of the hope of Christ.” The panel concluded with small-group discussions where delegates explored how to integrate advocacy with gospel witness in their national contexts. Buckingham said that the WEA’s advocacy at the UN is not an isolated effort but a partnership with the global evangelical movement. “We are acting with all of you — the global family of believers,” she said. “Together, we can bring the peace of Christ into the policy spaces of the world.”