Indonesia Megachurch Opens to 4,000 Attendees

In the nation with the highest percentage (85) and the highest overall number (207 million) of Muslims in the world, a Christian megachurch opened Sunday in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital. A three-hour worship filled the city with Christian hymns and Bible verses, sung and spoken mostly in the native Bahasa with a little Mandarin Chinese mixed in.

Chinese-Indonesian pastor Stephen Tong is the orchestrator and pioneer of the new church, Katedral Mesisas, which drew 4,000 people in its first worship. Though Christians are a minority in Indonesia, Tong said the first objective of the church is to display that Christians do have representation – and that the government of Indonesia is OK with that. The pastor reiterated that the government does not make laws forbidding the practice of worship of any religion.

Tong, an evangelical, founded the Indonesian Reformed Church in 1989. Over nearly two decades, his ministries crescendoed toward a breakthrough, and Katedral Mesias seems to be it. The large, white domed structure emulates elements of Roman and Eastern cathedrals, and donations from Christians in the country helped to build it.

Currently, about 10 percent of Indonesia’s population is Christian.

Source:

The Straits Times: Megachurch opens in Indonesia

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