A BIOGRAPHICAL )-IISTORY OF THE

GEREJA PERSEKUTUAN PEMBERITAAN mnr, KRISTUS

A Thesis Subrnitted to the Faculty of

PROVIDENCE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

MASTER OF ARTS

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To the Gereja Pmekutuan Pemberitaan Injil Kristus in memory of Miss

Greet van? Eind, Rev. William Sirag, Miss Gudrun Lima, Rev. Elrner Warkentin and

Rev. Olav Nyheim, whose pioneer work with the Regions Beyond Missionary Union

in Kalimantan, Indonesia was part of the foundation for a Dayak church to spread the

Gospel to its own "regions beyond."

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

GLOSSARY OF INDONESIAN AND DAYAK WORDS . . . . . . . vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

II . BACKGROUND TO THE I-IISTORY OF THE GPPIK . . . . . . . . . 9

III . BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF KEY INDONESIAN CHRISTIANS IMPORTANT TO THE BIRTH ANDIOR GROWTH OF THE GPPIK

A . Sati . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

B . Napi Gading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

E . Sinyor Mantar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

F . Kornelius Atok . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

G . OttoKanoh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

H . Dae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

1 . A . H . Dewan Rima . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

J . Jamel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

K . Maras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

iii

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M . Seiaten 65

N . Bahari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

O . Darnin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

P . Mardius Apai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Q . Yahya 80

R . Paul Nyerom Kanoh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

S . Nasepianus Umar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

T . KehaCabang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . Ropino Saheran 100

V . Daniel Akiouw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

W . Jalim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

X . Udin Lolong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Y . Wilhelmus Lafu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Z . 1 . Nyoman Budiarsa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

AA . Stephanus Kasman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

IV . SYNTHESIS OF THE GPPIK HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

V . SPECIAL CONSIDERATION: THE ROLE OF RBMU INTERNATIONAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

VI . CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

APPENDIX

A . Letter of Transmittal (English) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

B . Letter of Trmsrnittal (Indonesian) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

C . Note on Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

. D Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

SOURCES CONSULTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

ACKNO WLEDGMENTS

As one of the later RBMU missionaries to have had the privilege of working

with the GPPIK, 1 realize that my part in the story of the GPPIK is very small

compared to that of the other persons mentioned in this research. However, 1 trust

that the preservation of the story of the GPPIK through this research will prove to be a

significant contribution to the GPPIK's ongoing work. 1 am gratefid to everyone who

assisted me in the researching of this rnaterial. Several pioneer rnissionaries have

assisted me tremendously by supplying a lot of information about the early years,

either through their own recollection or through the provision of various articles, both

published and non-published. I am particularly indebted to Clara Lima, Alice Shelley

and Ruth Warkentin for their kindness in this regard. 1 also want to thank Dr. Kimloy

Sinyor, M.D. for supplying information on his father, the late Sinyor Mantar, one of

the founders of the GPPIK. Numerous Fnends provided the finances needed for a trip

back to Kalimantan in order for my wife and 1 to interview GPPIK members. For this

we are very gratefùl. A big thank you to my wife for helping to translate/transcribe

some of the recorded testimonies. Thanks also to my wife and children for putting up

with the inconvenience of my Iate nights working on this manuscript. Finally, to the

persons whose stones appear on these pages, most of whom I know personally, my

heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for the inspiration and instruction their lives have

given me. May God be glorified as this story of the GPPIK is read.

GLOSSARY OF INDONESIAN AND DAYAK WORDS

agama : Religion.

Agama Protestan : The Protestant Religion.

Anggaran Dasar : Constitution.

Asrama Gamaliel : Gamaliel Dormitory.

Badan Pimpinan Pusat : Central Leadership Body, the Board of Elders directing the GPPIK denomination.

Budan Pengurus Umum : General Leadership Body, the old name for the GPPIK Board of EIders.

Bapak : The father of (name of oldest child).

buyar niai: To pay a vow.

belala : Try to chase away sickness-causing evil spirits (Dayak teminology).

belenggang : Have a healing ceremony (Dayak terminology).

berniat : To make a vow or oath.

buluh : A type of bamboo.

Bukit Zaitun : "Mount of Olivcs", a name given to many Protestant churches in Indones ia.

Camar : Local government official, second in rank under the provincial Govemor.

Daerah : Area or Region.

Dewan Pemakilan Rakyat Daerah : Provincial Legislative Assembly, literally: Regional Representative Assembly.

gotong royong : Everyone working together for the good of d l , the Indonesian equivalent to barn raising.

Hnmba Tz<han : Church worker, Iiterally: "servant of the Lord".

imam : Priest.

Institut Teologia Berca : Berea Theologicd Institute, formerly Berea Bible School.

Jemant : Congregation.

Jirni Tulis : Former title of a secretary in the local regional governrnent office.

Kmtor Cnrnat : Office of the head of the governrnent for the Sub district.

Kcpala Kampzrng : Village chief , iiterally "head of the village".

Kepda Sekolah : School Principal, Iiterally "Head of the School".

Kepola R. T. : Head (chief or adrninistrator) of the neighborhood.

hramot : Haunted tree or clump oc bamboo, considered to be sacred shrine.

Kctucr Umirrn : Literally, Public Chairman or Head Eldsr of the church denomination.

Kordinotor CYiinycrh : Regional coordinator, pertains to the ncw division of P P K church districts as of 1996.

kiiczsn gelop : Black maçic. literally "dark power".

K~irsiis .-l lkitnh Pcmimph Jemaal (KA P JE): Bible courses for church leaders.

k n p g : Animistic hraling service.

nrah : Enibanassed because of havinç done wrong (in its contest in this papsr; there are several related meaninçs).

>iingrnt : Top man in the aristocratie hierarchy of former Dayak culture-

n),irrr : Fiat, woven basket.

orang Belanda : Dutch person.

orang Kristen : A Christian.

panfang (taboo) : A taboo or belief that something must be doiie or not done in order to appease the spi ri ts.

Pendcm (Pdt.) : "Reverend", the official title of an ordained man.

Penyegaran Rohani : Deeper life, or revival meetings; literall y " spiritual refkeshment".

pondok ladang : A temporary hut made in a rice field for the purpose of shelter when working there.

potong ayam di ladang : Killing (literally: cutting) a chicken in the nce field; a sacrifice done to ensure a good harvest.

Rektor : The Academic Dean of an undergraduate or graduate level institution.

rumah adat : A spirit house; a place of animistic ritual, literally "house of custorn/tradition".

Sekolah Alkilab Berea : Berea Bible School, also known as Berea, later changed to Institute Theologia Berea, and then Institute Tinggi Theologia Berea.

Sekolah Theologia Alitea : An evangelical Indonesian Bible School and Seminary in Lawang, Java.

Sekretaris : Secretary.

Sidang Umum : Literally "General Session", in the case of this study, the conference of the GPPIK, at first held annually. then triennially.

Singa : The chiefiain over five or more villages. (Dayak terminology; Shga in Indonesian means "lion" .)

tanggung rezeki : Bear the consequences of an action taken.

Temanggong : A government appointed judge for village civil disputes.

Ua ' Mandan : Head (or keeper) of the village laws (Dayak terminology).

Wakd Ketua : Assistant leader; literally "deputy chairrnan, elder or chier'.

Yesus Mencurah DarahNya : Literally "Jesus Poured Out His Blood", the Indonesian translation of the Song, "There is a Fountain Filied with Blood".

Other than personal and geographical place names and the abbreviations of

church narnes, Indonesian and Dayak words used in this research will be found in

italics the first tirne they are used in any chapter, and will be followed by an

explanation or definition enclosed in brackets ( ). In any subsequent usage, these

words will be in italics with no further explanation or definition given.

Although Bahasa Indonesia is not technically a phonetic language, it can be

considered so for the purpose of reading this manuscript. The pronunciation of

GPPIK as Gay Pay Prry Ee Ku, tather than Gee Pee Pee Eye Kay may make for easier

reading .

BPP

BPU

GPKB

GPPIK

GKRI

GKSI

GKTI

LEPKI

MAF

Pdt.

Badun Pimpinan Pusur (Central Leadership Body), the Board of Elders directing the GPPIK denomination.

Badurz Pimpinan Umum (Public Leadership Body), the old name for the GPPIK Board of Elders.

The Christian and Missionary Alliance, an evangelical church denomination working in Indonesia.

üereja Protestan Kalimantan Burat, an indigenous church denomination in Kalimantan.

Gereja Persekutuan Pernberitaan ln~Y2 Krisfus.

Gereja Kristus Rohmof Indonesia, an indigenous church denomination in Kalimantan.

Gereja Kristen Sahabut Indonesia, the Indonesian chapter of The Fnends' C hurch.

Gereja Kristus Tuhan Indonesia, an indigenous church denomination in Kalimantan.

Kalimantan Barat (West Kalimantan).

Kemah IqiZ Gereja Mosehi Indonesia, the Indonesian branch of the Christian & Missionary Alliance church.

Lem baga Pelayanan Kristen Indonesia, the Indonesian c hapter of WorId Vision Internationd.

Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Pendeta, the term used to address an ordained minister in a Protestant church. Its translation is "Reverend".

PGRS Pasukm Geriijawan Rakyat S m k , the Sarawak (Malaysia) People's A m y .

PIBI Perhimpunan Injii Baptis Indonesia, the Indonesian church associated with the Conservative Baptist Foreign Missions and Services.

PI1 Persekutuan Injili Indonesin, the Indonesian Evangelical Fellowship.

PPIK used interchangeably with GPPIK.

RBMU RBMU International, a Protestant missionary agency formerly known as The Regions Beyond Missionary Union or as R.B.M.U.

RP Rupiah, the currency of Indonesia.

SAAT Sekolah Alkitab Asia Tenggara, the Southeast Asia Bible School.

STII Sekolah Theologia Injili Indonesia, the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Indonesia.

YAPENKRI Yayasan Pendidibn Kristen, the public education department of the GPPIK.

YAE'PN Yayusan Persekutuan Pengabar Injiil, the Indonesian church associated with Go Ye Fellowship, a Protestant missionary organization.

YPPII Yayason Persehl uan Pengabaran lnjil Indonesia, an Indonesian missionary agency based in Java and working in Kalimantan.

INTRODUCTION

The island of Bomeo is the third largest island in the world. It is politically

divided by three countries: Brunei, the Malaysian provinces of Sarawak and Sabah,

and Indonesia. The largest section of the island, belonging to Indonesia, is narned

Kalimantan and is divided into four provinces. The western province is known as

Kalimantan Barat, which is translated West Kalimantan. The majority of the

inhabitants of Kalimantan are Dayak (also written Dyak), an animistic agnculhiral

people with very M e cultural diversity amongst its many tribes. 1 The Dayaks

focused upon in this study are those living in the Landak River region of West

Kalimantan. The tribes living in this area include those using the Benyadu, Benana,

and Belangin dialects, arnong others. Due to a lot of intennarriage over the last forty

or so years, there are very few tribal distinctions among these groups, olher than

dialect, ways of making certain foods, and particular details in various animistic

ceremonies. The Dayaks generally live in groups of ten to one hundred families.

Each group makes up a village, of which there are hundreds located dong rivers

throughout the Landak River region. A certain dialect is comrnon to villages in a

given area, but there is some overlap, and many people can speak more than one

dialect as well as Bahasa Indonesia. Foxmerly known as the " Wild Men of Bomeo",

1Joseph Conley, editor, "A Look at Kalimantan" Reeions & y o d 29, no. 3 (July-September 1978): 3.

Dayaks have been engaged in head hunting in the past, some of them as late as the

1 960ts, with a recent re-occurrence in 1 997!*

The GPPIK is an indigenous church made up mostly of Dayaks in the Landak

River region of West Kalimantan. Its history has rernained relatively unwritten to this

point. In 1985 Paul N. Kanoh prepared an unpublished article on the history of the

founding of his church denomination, the GPPIK.~ This, however, was not so much a

history of the church as it was a history of the events leading lip to the beginning of

the church. Included in it are a few details as to the first officiai conference of the

church, where it adapted its name Gereja PPIK, but nothing subsequent to that. The

present leader of the GPPIK is working on expanding Kanoh's work to include details

of subsequent conferences. Actual written material on the GPPIK has been limited to

small individual articles published in Reeions Bevond magazine, personal prayer

letters of missionaries, GPPIK records of meetings and conferences4 and several

unpublished papers by PaMU missionaries who have worked in Kalimantan?

2Udin Lolong, Sempatung, interview by author, tape recording, Sepangah, Kalimantan Barat, 1 8 October 1996. In January 1997, a Dayak uprising against the Madurese people has given rise to a return to taking heads. Information on this was obtained frorn: Ruth Warkentin, Anik, Kalimantan Barat, to the author, Gmnthal, 13 February 1997, transcript in the hand of the author.

3 ~ a u l Nyerom Kanoh, "Sejarah Gereja PPIK di KalBar". Pontianak: July 1985.

4Some records are non-existent. Some minutes of meetings and reports of conferences are not complete. Keeping of records was not a pnority for the Dayaks as it was not a common part of tribal Iife. Cockroaches, silverfish and termites have destroyed some records as well. As time has progressed, the church has kept better records.

SPapers by missionaries include: Wayne W. Allen, "An Accurate Picture of the Anik Church" Pontianak: April 1988; Wayne W. Allen, " What Should We Have Done? An Assessment of a Mission-Church Financial Relationship" Fort Wayne, IN:

Just as Luke's writing of Thr: Acts nf The &ostIes preserved for the world the

history of the first Chnstians and their churches, so too m u t the story of the GPPIK

be retained for its future generations and for the Christian world in general.

Admittedly, Luke's account was predestined to become a part of the Holy Canon of

Scnpture, and he was vwriting under the direct inspiration and guidance of the Holy

Spirit. Yet, in certain respects, there are some parallels between the history chosen

for Scnpture and that which has taken place since. In the early church and down

through history there were certain individuals whom God used to spearhead His work,

whether those who oficially led the church or those who worked faithfully in the

background. The saga of these key individuals has provided a record of the essence

of the church fiom its earliest days and serves as a source of inspiration to present day

believers, even though many details have not been included.. In the same way,

researching the life stones of certain key individuals fiom GPPIK history wili

preserve its early heartbeat and will provide a source of information and inspiration

for present and future believers.

Some of the perçons whose lives are recorded in this study were key leaders in

the GPPIK organization. Others, though not in main leadership roles, are

representative of what God has done in many people's lives during the alrnost half-

century of GPPIK's existence.

This study does not include al1 the leaders of the GPPIK, nor is the study

limited to GPPIK leaders. It does, however, combine a sampling of the lives of a few

committed believers dong with the lives of some Indonesians instrumental in the

founding and growth of the church, so that the basic history of the GPPIK will be

preserved for its future generations. This study does not concem itself with the

June 1990; Darrel Wesley Davis, "Towards Church Growth in the Serirnbu Church", Regina, SK: August 1980.

stories of al1 the GPPIK leaders or al1 the Indonesians who had an impact on the

growth of the church, but of necessity it does relate the influence of the RBMU on the

church. It is not a study on Church-Mission relationships, although it does touch on

certain issues.

The author's interest in preserving the history of the GPPIK stems fiom

several personai issues. Since 1978, he has become more and more intimately

acquainted with the GPPIK through his association with them as a missionary under

the auspices of RBMU International- From 1983 to 1995, he had the honor of living

on the cutting edge of the GPPIK's work in the jungles of Kalimantan. As time

prcgresses and travel gets easier in many parts of Kalimantan, it is easy for people to

miss the fact that the spreading of the Gospel in Kalimantan was once a formidable

task. Rugged jungle trails, exhausting mountain climbs, hot, humid weather, snakes,

leaches, rnud, sweat and tears were the lot of those who ventured to reach out to new

villages with the gospel of Christ. The author was privileged to experience some of

this. He also had the oppominity of getting to know many of the persons whose life

stories make up the bulk of this research. As a persona1 fiend and fellow worker of

many of these people in the Lord's work with the GPPIK, the author wishes to help

thern preserve their story.

The author was introduced to Kalimantan and the GPPIK through contact with

the Iate Rev. Elmer Warkentin and his family. Eventually he was to marry

Warkentin's daughter, Janet. Rev. Warkentin was one of several persons who

challenged the author with the possibility of overseas missionary service, and he also

personally invited him to visit the RBMU work in Kalimantan. Warkentin, his wife,

and several other missionaries mentioned in this research devoted their entire adult

lives to the establishment and growth of the GPPIK. The author considers al1 these

RBMU personnel as his farnily. The data presented here is, in a way, a

representation of their life work, as the story of the GPPIK is a big part of their stov.

Furthemore, the author's wife was bom in Ansang, the village where the GPPIK

officially becarne a church and where the Berea Bible Institute was built. Many of the

GPPIK memben consider her father to be their spiritual father. The wives of some of

the persons represented in this research are her very good &ends, and so this study

has persona1 interest to the author.

Ultimately, this research will be translated back into the Indonesian language.

n i e main objective of this research is to preserve for the GPPIK, and possibly other

denominations in Indonesia, a written account of how God worked in the lives of

individuals for the establishing of the GPPIK. However, the story of the GPPIK and

others like it are also needed in this day and age to help encourage North Amencan

churches as to the possibilities the Lord presents to those who are tmly sincere about

their faith. More over, the trials and failures of the people presented here cm help

others, both missionaiies and national church workers, to evaluate their own

effectiveness in ministry, and assist them in the development of ministry strategies.

Collection of the data for this research began with a letter to al1 the former

RBMU missionaries having past involvement with the GPPIK. They were asked for

the names of individuals wliose lives would best represent GPPIK's history. A

request was also put forth for information on the lives of those persons deemed

important as a part of this research. n i e response was somewhat disappointing, but it

gave a general sense of direction. Al1 available written material directly relating to

the GPPIK was searched for information conceming the various persons whose

narnes were suggested. The author and his wife then spent five weeks in Kalimantan,

in October of 1996, pnmarily seeking interviews with key persons related to GPPIK

history. The bulk of the data was collected by way of persona1 tape recorded

interviews as well as hand written notes.6 The taped matenal was then

simultaneously translated and transcribed, then scrutinized, sorted and organized.

Comparisons between biographies were made in order to guarantee historical

accuracy as much as possible.7 As well, incidents were compared to known general

facts about the GPPIK such as were found in w o n s Beyond magazine, missionary

prayer letters, RBMU Kalimantan Barat Field Files, GPPIK records, e-mail messages

and telephone conversations with missionaries involved with the specific persons in

question and, in many cases, the author's personal knowledge of the situation. The

author's persona1 involvement with the PPIK over the last fifteen years has provided

considerable knowledge both of individuals and of the general church situation. Al1

of the above materials, unless othenvise noted, are stored at the author's residence:

133 Park St., Grunthal, MB Canada ROA ORO.

The biographical sketches presented here will, of necessity, have some overlap

among them. Al1 of the main persons presented here, with the exception of two, are

still dive. Many of them are still a part of the GPPIK and their stories continue on in

real life p s t the pages of this study. The order of the stories in this study is

essentially chronological, based on when these persons first had contact with the

Gospel or the GPPIK.

6With the exceptions of the biographies of Bahari, Damin, Stephanus Kasman, Ropino Saheran and Jalim, al1 biographies in this shidy are based primarily on the tape recorded interviews.

' ~ h e n working with a semi-literate society, as the Dayaks were in the 19501s, historical accuracy can not be 100% guaranteed. Some people were not sure of dates of birth, and many of the older persons were confused about dates. As well, the Dayak mind sees things in a cyclical fashion, rather than in a linear way as North Amencans see them. "Yesterday" could mean yesterday, three days ago, even five years ago.

A crucial question when tracing the history of a church denomination is

" Which category is to be used to determine the significance and importance of the

facts?" Does one concentrate on the geographical expansion, the numerical increase,

the organizational development of the denomination, or on the spintual journeys of

individuals within that denomination? The challenge is to determine which

classification gives the most accurate picture of how God has worked. The data in

this research demands that the emphasis be on the spiritual journeys of individuals

within the denomination.8 The very nature of the church as a spiritual fellowship of

believers predetermines this. An emphasis on any of the other categories could give a

very inaccurate representation of the state of the church. Many persons aligned

themselves with the GPPIK, but did not change fiom their allegiance to their former

lifestyles. Statistically they were a part of the GPPIK, but their attitude toward the

church betrayed this. Statistics can very easily lie, and even a cursory perusal of

availabie statistics from the last ten years by someone well-informed of the GPPIK

situation will confïrm this. The size of a church does not necessarily dictate its true

state. However, the other areas must also be taken into consideration to a certain

extent, for they do offer pertinent information that is needed in order to derive

meaning fiom the facts. Therefore, the focus of the interpretation of the facts

presented here will be on the spiritual journeys of these certain individuals who were

key players in the GPPIK history, and those of certain individuals who are

representative of average GPPIK rnembers. These, dong with the progression of

organizational changes and some statistics of geographical and numerical growth, will

~ B Y "spiritual journey" the author means the increased awareness of God's work in one's iife, as well as faithf'ulness to the church and its teachings. Though it may be impossible to determine or measw another person's spintual jouniey, yet that person's actions, words and attitudes are a barorneter of what is happening in their life.

hopefully present a fairly accurate portrait of the history o f the GPPIK fiom its

inception to the present.

II.

BACKGROUND TO THE HISTORY OF THE GPPIK

Although several mission boards had begun works in West Bomeo in the past

century, as of 1930 no-one had entered the Landak River area of the island. Then in

1933 Greet van't Eind came alone to Borneo. She had been rejected by three different

mission boards because she was partially deaf. Undeterred, she came without a

mission board backing her, although she did by this time have connections with the

Regions Beyond Missionary Union secretary, Ebenezer Vine? From the coastal city

of Singkawang, Miss van't Eind made her way inland to the village of Perigi. This

became her home base. She Iearned the Dayak language in five months, and traveled

deep into the intenor, spreading the news about Jesus and helping out people who

were sick. AAer contracting a sickness from someone, she died on May 2 1935.

The story of Greet van't Eind was written up by Ebenezer G. Vine of the

Regions Beyond Missionary Union upon the request of the Scripture Gifi Mission. A

copy of it came into the hands of William Sirag and Sylvia Cushing, missionaries in

the Canary Islands. Sirag had previously wanted to go to Bomeo, but was not able to. - They went to London, found Rev. Vine, were married in his home and set out for

Borneo.

While studying the Malay language in Singkawang, they also studied the

Landak district and decided that Darit should be their base. From 1937 to 1940 they

'Paul N. Kanoh, p. 1.

2Ebenezer G. Vine, "How The Bomeo Venture Came Into Being", London: Regions Beyond Missionary Union, n. d.: 1.

witnessed to the Dayaks. However, the response was poor. The Gospel caught their

interest but the ties to Animism were too strong. As well, Catholicism was a

powerful influence on many lives. They baptized nine believers and got a small

church started in Pengi.

The Sirags were together in Java with two of their children when World War

II started. They were captured by the Japanese and were interned in a concentration

camp fkom December 1942 to 1945. Mr. Sirag died there, and his wife and children

later went back to America.3 In 1949, Sylvia Sirag and Gudnin Lima went to Borneo

under the auspices of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union to re-establish the work

which the Sirags had previously started. They went inland to Darit, the central town

of the Kecamufan (govenunent district) in which Perigi was located. Thus the stage

was set for the establishing of a church among the Dayaks of the Landak River region

of Borneo.

3Sylvia Sirag. "Bomeo Pioneers" Reeions J3erpnd (November 1973): 12- 1 3.

III. BIOGRAPHICfi SKETCHES OF KEY INDONESIAN CHRISTIANS

IMPORTANT TO THE BIRTH AND GROWTH OF THE GPPIK

Summary : Sati's story shows the beginnings of the church to be around 1 950 in the Anik area. At that tirne a lot of people responded to the witness of both missionaries and new believers. There was a sense of fieedom in Christ, but there was a lot of opposition fiom witch doctoa. Some miraculous things were happening. Sati himself had a very simple faith that remained with him throughout life.

Sometime in 1949, Sati was hoping to get a two meter piece of cloth which

was given out by the govemment to each family. At the time he was about twenty

years old.2 He set out for Darit, over a day's walk away, in order to inquire about it.

That Sunday rnorning he met G u d m Lima and Sylvia Sirag, missionaries with The

1 Sources of information: Sati, Bebunting, interview by author, 9 October 1996, Bebunting, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author; Olav Nyheim. "Back O' Beyond In Bomeo" J3erpnd Qune 1955): 3 ; Marcus Memtt of Legal, AB, interview by author, 26 Febmary 1997, telephone conversation, hand written notes in the hand of the author; Sylvia Sirag. "Bomeo Pioneers" Regions B_evond London(November 1973): 12-1 3; Satits narne was ofien mentioned by other Christians who were interviewed for this study.

2Sati was bom in Sapat, approximately eight kilometers north of Anik. Date of birth is unknown for many Dayaks bom before the 1950's, as no one kept records. The Dayak population was mostly illiterate at the time of Sati's birth. His guess is that he was around twenty years old when he met Sylvia Sirag. This would place his birth around 1929.

11

Regions Beyond Missionary Union. They were playing a record about the Gospel.

Sati was a bright young fellow, and soon caught their interest. Needing someone to

help with chores such as hauling water and collecting firewood for cooking, they

asked him to work for them. Little did they realize that the Lord had led them to a

man who would become a believer and a faithfûi witness for the next four decades!

However, he felt he must retum home first and tell his father. They gave him a Bible

and a songbook, and he promised to retum in three days.

At that time a Moslem was visiting his village, and rnany people had gathered

to hear him. The Moslem confronted Sati as he was reading his Bible, waming him

not to read it, "It is a Holy Book, and must be interpreted through the Koran." But,

Sati continued to read. Faithfùl to his word, Sati retumed in three days to work for the

women in Darit.3 During the days he helped clear land they had purchased in nearby

Ansang to build a house. Then he would wash dishes for them, and later stay

ovemight in the home of a Moslem farnily he knew. AAer a short while he went with

the women preaching the gospel in the villages nearby. They went to Dano, Pelaik,

Setolo, Sengkamu, Sungai Purun, Ladangan, Engkaras, Sano, Ngibung, Jelayan,

Songga, Kampet, Perigi, Semade, Temajit, Teriak, Sansak, Benkayang, and Sungai

Behing. The next year they went repeatedly to these villages with hardly any results.

It seemed only a few children and some women were interested in listening in some of

the villages. Then Sati was sent home to his village of Sapat for a three week hoiiday.

There, he got the children together every moming at about five o'clock to teach them

songs he had learned. Upon returning to Ansang, Sati told the ladies that they could

find a willing audience in the Anik area, especially in his own village. So, in a while,

3Sati does not remember exactly when he first tmly became a believer.

the women went with him. He took them first to Anik, where they stayed the night

and held a service. Then, they went on to Bebunting for a night, Sati's village of

Sapat, Sungai Durian, Arnpor, Sungai Betung and Amang, each a night. When they

could they stayed in the home of the village headman or the local judge. A night

again in Sungai Durian rounded out the trip before they made their way back to

Ansang. n i e walking was not easy. The trails were muddy and slippery, and there

was no such thing as level ground. But they rejoiced that hearts were open and

receptive to the gospel.

Since Darit was the main town for the govemment district of Menyuke, the

village headrnen would often come there for meetings. Sati would then invite some of

them to come to the missionaries' home in nearby Ansang in order to hear the Gospel.

One of these men was Bupuk Sabit (the M e r of Sabit), also known as Singu ~ c o i . 4

He was one of the better educated men in the area, having served with the Dutch

army. He related to them with excitement that he had had a dream about a woman

coming to his village with a message fiom God. They were the fulfillment of that

dream, and he was ready to listen and to give his life to God. Singu Acoi's

conversion to Christ had a big impact on the work. First of d l , he had a lot of

influence in the lives of the people in his villages. Many of them were ready to follow

his example, among them Bapak Nulus, his brother-in-law from Bebunting..

Secondly, he was ready to help spread the Gospel. Later on he went with Sati quite

ofien to witness in villages.

4 ~ c o i was the chieftain over five or more villages, including Sapat, Parnpang, Bebunting, Reo, and Empadang. This was a Dayak term; Singa in Indonesian means "lion".

Another of these men was Banteng, the Kepafa Kampung (head of the village)

of Parnpang, between Anik and Sati's village of Sapat. He was one of the men to

receive Christ and later become quite active along with Sati in proclaiming the Gospel

both near and far. As these men heard the Gospel and gave their lives to Christ, they

went back to their villages to tell everyone the news. Being a collectivist, rather than

individudistic, society, many of the Dayaks soon decided to follow the path their head

men had taken.

In a short while, the ladies had purchased some land in Anik. Sylvia Sirag

moved tliere and had Sati build a houe for a new missionary farnily. Faithful and

willing, Sati built a house the best he could, out of bamboo. The new missionary,

Rev. Marcus Memtt, lived for a short while there while he built a clinic in which to

dispense medicine. The presence of medicine and a white family drew a lot of people

from the surrounding area.

The land which Sylvia had purchased was actually the location of the old

village of Anik. Years earlier, when many people died of Tuberculosis, the people

had moved to another location across a swarnp. Not knowing the cause of the disease,

they considered this place haunted, and no one would dare go by there at night unless

they had a group with them to make a lot of noise to scare away the spirits. However,

the son of the Kepala Kumpung took Sylvia to court, insisting that she had to pay for

dl the fmit trees that Sati had cut d o m while clearing the land for their houses.5 The

amount came out to several hundred dollars, which Sylvia paid and which the men

soon gambled al1 away.

SThis is a part of Dayak tribal law that is still in effect to this day. Even though a person purchases the land, any fruit trees are still the property of the descendants of the persons who planted them.

Sati continued to work with Rev. Memtt, though neither knew the other's

language. Most days he was in his rice field working hard, but on days scheduled for

Memtt's medical clinic, Sati would be there to help organize the people. On Sundays,

about fifieen families fiom Sapat, Pampang and Bebunting wouid corne to Anik for a

service. They met under a large porch roof which Memtt had built, and listened to

Gospel Recordings records on the Merritt's gramophone.

Soon the number of people increased to around 170. This being too much for

the rnissionary home, it was decided the people fiom the villages of Sapat, Pampang,

Bebunting, Reo, Empadang, Palo, Sungai Durian, and Arnpor should build a church

building at Sungai Buluh, between Bebunting and Anik. The church was made

entirely of bamboo, even the seats.6 Eventually, Sati was asked to teach Sunday

School at the Sungai Buluh church. Every Saturday he would go to Anik to l e m a

lesson fiom one of the missionary ladies to teach the following day.

In late 195 1 Sati married Nepo, fiom Bebunting. Shortly after this, they were

baptized along with fnends Napi Gading, Banteng, and Singu Acoi. The next year

Sati and his wife, along with Napi, were sent for one year to a Bible School in Balai

Sepuak, about 100 miles inland, east of Darit.7 Both men showed a lot of promise,

but it seemed Sati's enthusiasm outshone his ability with academics. He never took

any M e r schooling.

6This was very appropriate, as buluh is a type of bamboo, and Sungai Buluh means Bamboo River. Sungai Buluh was the narne of small river which crossed the path where the church was built. There was no village there. The location was halfway between Bebunting and Pampang, central to the villages which made up the church congregation.

"lke C&MA had established a work in Kalimantan in the 1930's. In RBMU's earlier days, potential church workers were sent to the C&MA Bible School in Balai Sepuak.

There was a lot of confusion in the early days of the Gospel arnong the

Dayaks. Many of the big trees which were considered holy by the Animists fell down

and died. The believers took this as God's sign that the trees were of no use any more.

But many non-believers could not recognize this. Anyone who cut down a keramat

(haunted tree or clump of barnboo) while making a rice field would get tembly sick.

Yet, the Christians did not get sick when they cut down these places. Every day, it

seemed, people were tuming to Christ. The fieedom fiom fear of the spirits brought

great release. Yet, there was much persecution of believers. Witch doctors and

village priests especially were indignant that the Christians were going to min life for

everyone.

In 1955, Sati visited some relatives in far off Ulu Tayan, an area about fifty

kilometers e s t , north-east of Anik, and came back to Anik with a grey-haired old

man. At an evening service this man, pre-conditioned by Sati's witness, came to know

Christ. " With tears streaming down his cheeks he prayed, asking the Lord to cleanse

him from sin in His precious blood. AAer his conversion he had to r e m to his own

people, but the refbsed to leave us unless we promised him we would corne, bringing

the same message he had heard to his own folk."8 Within days Sati, Napi, Olav

Nyheim and two other men made the two day trek to the Ulu Tayan area. They met

with people in three main villages, where the testimonies of Sati and the others

reached into the hearts of the people. The old man had been a faithful witness, also.

Eighty-eight people made decisions to follow Christ. During this trip they arrived late

one night at the village of Raman, where a demon-possessed man was ranting about

wanting to kill someone. The team of Christians went up into the house, where Pak

Nasip was thrashing around on his bed under a mosquito net. Laying their hands on

BNyheim, "Back O' Beyond In Bomeo" 3.

the mosquito net the team prayed. Nasip settled down. The team prayed and sang

until about 4 o'clock in the morning, when Nasip got up totaily healed. That mornhg

the other villagers killed a pig and had a feast to celebrate the coming of this new

religion.

In the years that followed, Sati remained a faithful follower of Christ. He

served as an elder in the Sungai Buluh church until it was replaced by individual

churches in the various villages. He became an elder in the Anik church after that,

and remained in that position for fifieen years. He also taught Sunday School there

for twelve yean. During part of this time he worked as a helper in the Anik clinic.

Here, as in every place he went, Sati was an energetic witness for Christ. As younger

men have taken up their positions as leading elders in the Anik church, Sati has often

been asked to rernain as a part of their leadership team, even when he has not been

officially chosen for the task.

Sati and Nepo have six children. Two of them are not following Christ. One

of their sons has been an elder in the Anik church.

Summary:Napi, fiom the Anik area, went with missionaries to various places, beginning in the Ansang area, to witness for Christ. The missionaries not o d y taught him about Christ, but also to read and write. Even at the early stage of the church, the Gospel was being spread to far away regions like Ulu Tayan and Lumar. The PPIK gained several church buildings because of the kindness the missionaries and some faithfùl PPIK members showed to the Chinese during the 1967 uprising. Due to his experience and ability, Napi rose quickly to a place of leadership and has been respected by the church throughout the years.

Napi was born in 193 1 in the village of Palo, four km from Anik. Sometime

around 1949 or so, through his friend Sati, Napi was encouraged to ask Sylvia Sirag

for work. He did so and was accepted there. In Ansang, sometime in 1950, Napi

prayed to ask Jesus into his life, but he did not really understand at the time the

implications of what he was doing. Back in Pa10 he was ridiculed for his new faith.

His mother wanted to disown him. He traveled to villages with Sylvia Sirag, Goodie

Lima and Sati. Later on he studied in Ansang with Sati. Through the missionaries

they learned not only about the Bible, but also how to write.

91nformation supplied by: Napi Gading, Anik, interview by author, 9 October 1996, Anik, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author; Stephanus Kasman, "Sejarah Ringkas Gereja PPIK", Pontianak, n.d.; Clara Lima, Milton, WI, to author, 24 February 1997, transcript in the hand of the author; Elmer Warkentin, "Konferensi, Umum I Rapat Tahunan / Musyawarah Umum G. P.P.I.K., Ansang: May 10 1984, AD, in the hand of the author; Ruth Warkentin, Ansang, to Les and Helen Brown, Wolf Point, MT, 28 March 1952, original in the hand of Ruth Warkentin, 32 137 DeBreen Cres. Abbotsford, BC V2T 1 H3.

In early 1952, Napi went with Elmer and Ruth Warkentin to Kampet. The

three of them took turns riding a bicycle up and down the hills on this twenty-five

kilometer trip. They attempted to ovemight at Padang Pior, but the people there were

belala (trying to chase away sickness-causing evil spirits) and so they were not able to

speak to anyone there. Late at night they made it to Adong, near Kampet. The

people were very eager to hear the Gospel here, and so they had a service that night

and again the next day. The response was almost ovenvhelming. Within weeks a

church was built. Over the next few months Napi often visited Adong and other

villages. such as Berinang, along with other believers. Then, along with Sati, Napi

was sent to Balai Sepuak to attend a Bible School for one year.

Upon retunllng to Ansang, Napi was asked to work for the Warkentins. He

cooked, cut g ra s and washed clothes for them, and in the afiemoons studied the Bible

with Pdt. Warkentin. A letter fiom Ruth Warkentin described Napi at this time: "He

has a real burden for his people, but needs much prayer, as he is so shy. His happy

voice is raised in Song al1 day around the place."1° Napi's mother died in 1953, but

accepted Christ before she died.

Along with Pdt. Memn and Pdt. Warkentin, Napi visited villages around the

Ansang area. I In Moro Betung people were ready to receive the Gospel, but in Moro

Behe they refùsed. Then in Jelayan, the people were having a lenggmg (animistic

10~u th Warkentin, Ansang, to Les and Helen Brown, Wolf Point, MT, 28 March 1952, original in the hand of Ruth Warkentin, 32137 DeBreen Cres. Abbotsford, BC V2T 1 H3.

1 'Napi had difficulty remembering which year some things happened. Senior missionaries and elderly Indonesians intewiewed al1 confessed that the early years were not al1 that clear in their mernories anymore.

healing service) and the men couid not go into the village. Going back toward

Ansang, they stopped in Kelampai and introduced the Gospel to the people there.

In 1954, Napi was sent to Anik to be the head of the dormitory for boys

attending school there. He was also elected as the treasurer of the BPU ( Badan

Pengurus Umum: board of directors) of the newly formed GPPIK, a post he would be

re-elected to for the next six years. The next year he mamied Nyoba, a girl from Sati's

village who was working for the Memtts. After making an initial trip to Ulu Tayan

that year with Sati, Pdt. Olav Nyheim, and some others, Napi was asked to move there

in order to shepherd the new belie~ers.~2 He spent two yean there as the pastor and

teaching at a school.

1958 found Napi in class two at Berea, but a year later he served in the Anik

area, helping to open up new villages wiih the Gospel. This continued for several

years. In 1962 he helped Pdt. Memtt open up the Behe area , a day's walk north of

Anik. This became know as Daerah Tiga (Area Three). 13 Then in 1 963 or 1964, Napi

was elected as the Kerua Umum (literally, Public Chairman or Head Elder) of

GPPIK. l 4 In early 1964 he rnoved up to Lumar to replace the Memtts who had gone

on fùrlough. While in Lumar Napi led teams of church elders into other villages in

the Behe area, such as Sengkenih and Tanjung Balai, helping them learn to reach out

with the Gospel.

IZ~long with his wife and three month old son, Nehemiah, Napi took a bus for a whde day to Sosok. They left on foot the next day at 8:00 AM, arriving at Engkasan at 10:OO PM.

%rea One was centered in Ansang; Area Two in Anik.

I4The term for leadership positions was changed fiom one year to two years. Napi was re-elected as Head Elder in l966,I 974 and 1976.

In 1965 Napi went to the PII Congress in Ujung Pandang, Sulawesi.

Retuming to Berea that year, he finished off his Bible School Diploma and graduated

in 1966.

The following year there was an uprising against the Chinese as a result of a

border dispute between Malaysia and Indonesia. A group known as the PGRS

(Pasukan GeriZyawan Rakyat Sarawak) was made up mostly of Chinese. Many of the

Dayaks went to war against the Chinese, killing hundreds of innocent people, then

taking their land and possessions. Napi, along with other faithful believers, helped the

Chinese 8ee toward safety, and prevented several groups fiom buming down houses.

He worked along side Elmer Warkentin, Joe Goodman and Henry Thiessen as they

transported refugees toward the coast away fiom danger. The love of the missionaries

for the Chinese and their disregard for persona1 safety impressed Napi. As a result of

the help given to the Chinese by the missionaries and PPIK workers, about ten church

buildings were given to the PPIK, including ones in Anjungan, Ngarak, Toho,

Takong, and Benua.

The next year, 1968, Napi was elected as Wakil Ketua of the BPU, with Atok

being elected as the Ketua. 15 After this, Napi was appointed by the Carnot as the

area Temanggong (judge for village civil disputes). In this position he traveled

extensively, always bearing testimony as he went of the work God wanted to do in

people's lives through Jesus. From 1985 to 1993, Napi served as the PPIK church in

Antan, about seven kilometers east of Anik. He was ordained in 1985, and in 1986

was asked to serve as the Penasihat (Advisor) to the BPP. 16

l S ~ a p i was re-elected again in 1978, 1980 and 1983 as Assistant Head Elder.

l6The BPU was renamed the BPP (Budan Pimpinan Pusat or Central Leadership Body.)

When his wife accused him of having an &air with a young girl in 1993, Napi

resigned fkom the pastorate and Erom his position as Advisor to the BPP. With the

help of Dewan, pastor of the Anik church, he sought a resolution, clairning he was

innocent. He willingly received discipline fiom the church and sought the counsel of

fellow rninisten. He was proven innocent, but received the disciplinary action in

order to work on his relationship with his wife. Their relationship was repaired and

Napi was reinstated the following years as Advisor to the church. He continues to

serve in a non-official capacity wherever he is asked to help out. With no home of

their own, Napi and his wife live with their children's families, moving every now and

then from one child's home to another's. Having spent a lifetime sharing the Gospel

with others, he has a burden for influencing his grandchildren for Christ. His eldest

son, Nehemia, has been an elder in the PPIK church in Ngabang, another is an

ordained pastor in another evangelical church denomination, and the youngest one is

an elder in the Anik church and is on the BPP. He also has three manied daughters.

Summary:Nulus was one of the first women to become a believer. She remained a fa i f f i l follower al1 through her years. Even at the beginning, while still young, she bravely faced the persecution and ridicule of those who despised the Gospel. Her father was eager to tell al1 his relatives about Christ. She was known as a woman of prayer.

Nulus was born in Bebunting, near Anik, around 194 1. Her mother died when

Nulus was still very young. Nulus fnst heard the Gospel fiom Singa Acoi, her uncle,

who heard it from Sylvia Sirag and G u d m Lima. He had accepted Christ when in

Darit on govenunent business in 1950, and had come home and told her father. Her

father then went with him to Darit with him and later told his family what he had

heard there. After this, Nulus and her fî-iend Ujuh went with her father on Saturdays

to Ansang in order to attend the services on Sunday. Older people in the village were

angry that the girls went along to Ansang, but they went anyway. It was a twenty

kilometer waik one way, quite a trip for a nine year old. The services were held at the

Sirag/Lirna house. Sati was at the services, along with Sulin h m Darit, Putir fiom

Setolo and Dala from Untang. Nulus loved music and singing; this was a big

'7Information supplied by: Nulus, Ansang, interview by author, 5 October 1996, Ansang, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author; Janet Armstrong, interview by author, no transcript. Janet, the author's wife, liaving grown up in Ansang, has a vast knowledge of general information conceming various persons from there. Over the last eighteen years she has informed the author of details of the lives of these persons, therefore no transcripts are available on this information.

attraction for her. Nulus, her father, and Ujuh soon accepted the Lord. Gudrun Lima

often took the girls aside to talk to them and to teach them to read. When the white

women started to visit her village the nest year, Nulus was thrilled.

After he believed, Nulus' father ignored d l the taboos in the village. Anythng

not to be eaten because of a taboo, he would feed his children. There was no more

fear. Relatives fiom her mother's side would mock Nulus, though. When she would

sun the rice and then pound the hulls off it they would Say things like, "Where is your

God? Why does He not just give you the clean nce without you having to do al1 the

work?" She was not angry with them, but just ignored them and al1 the animistic

rituals of the village.

In 195 1, the Memtt family moved to Anik. Nulus and her fiends ofien cane

to their place to play with their daughter Grace, and would often help Dora Memtt in

the kitchen. Sunday meetings were started at the Merritt's home. Then, when too

many people showed up from the surrounding villages, the people decided to build a

church at Sungai Buluh, about an hour from Anik. Nulus helped Dora Memtt teach

Sunday School there to a11 ages. She would first learn a Bible story From the

missionary and then tell it to the class. The older women who attended were very

diligent in memorizing Bible verses. They would count the nurnber of words in the

verse and then count then out on their fingers in order to memorize them! With this

method they leamed verses very quickly.

Bapak Nulus made sure al1 his relatives, near and distant, were evangelized, no

matter which village they lived in. Nulus often went with him and others to meetings

on Wednesday evenings in surrounding villages. Afier finishing grade four at the

school in Anik she went to school for a year in Darit. She stayed with Goodie Lima.

When Elmer Warkentin started a one week Bible study coune, she attended. Then, in

1957, she was one of the first students to attend Berea Bible School. Of the nineteen

who started, only six graduated in 1960: Atok, Nulus, Nyangkui, Ujuh, Jupet and

Piah.18 In 1958 she had the opporiunity to visit the Ulu Tayan area with a group of

others. There she gave her testimony to hundreds of villagers who were excited to

hear more about the Gospel.

Nulus was married to Bulin in 1960. That year they lived in the girls'

dormitory at Berea, as Bulin had one more year of Bible School left. Afier his

graduation they moved to the Anik area for about seven years. Then they came back

to Ansang to work as a staff members at Berea.19 Nulus worked a lot with Goodie

Lima over the years until Goodie retired in 199 1. Together they organized and taught

women's groups and Sunday School. Over the years she aiso became known as a

prayer warrior. Her father passed away in 1975. Of her five children, one is an

ordained minister with the GPPIK and one is a teacher at Berea. Two sons are not

following the Lord.

18Nyangkui and Ujuh were later married. They served for some time in the Behe area and later at Berea. Piah was an older sister to Paul Nyerom Kanoh who later became a leader of the GPPIK.

l g ~ o r e information on this period of their lives is found under the subheading D. Bulin, p.p. 25-26.

Summary:Bulin was telling others about Christ before he made a cornmitment himself. He was not a spectacular man, but was diligent in his jobs. He has remained faithfùl to this day as a believer and as a church worker. The GPPIK ordained him on the basis of his long-standing and consistent work for the church.

Bulin was born in Angkaras, near Ansang, in 1932. His parents separated

when he was young, and he was raised by his mother. His uncle, Setia, moved to

Darit in 1946, and Bulin moved in with him to becorne his cook. At the time, Bulin

was able to go to school there. When the white missionary ladies came to Darit, Bulin

often saw them but was afraid of them. He first heard the Gospel through contact

with Elmer Warkentin. The young men fiom around the area were often invited to

corne to Ansang to play sports. Elmer would then talk to them about the Lord. Bulin

felt the Holy Spirit "knocking on his heart" since 195 1, but felt unsure of what he

wanted to do. For a whole year he witnessed to others about Christ , but did not

accept Him himself. Then, in 1952, Bulin became a true believer in the God he was

telling others about. The next year he was baptized by Pdt. Warkentin. That year he

also went with Warkentin to Kampet to try to win people for Christ there.

Bulin quit school after grade five, and was then asked by Warkentin and a man

narned Jaulu to teach in a small school they had started.21 After one year there, he

*01nformation supplied by: Bulin, Ansang, interview by author, 5 October 1996, Ansang, tape recording, ûanslated transcript in the hand of the author.

llaulu helped to open up the Sebadu area with the Gospel.

went to Mempawah, a city on the coast, to finish his elementary school diplorna.

Bulin retumed to his home to cut rubber and find other work. The following year he

entered Berea, but quit the next in order to work in Pontianak. Retuming to Berea in

1959, Bulin graduated in 196 1. He rnarried Nulus, fiom Bebunting, in 1960. M e r

his graduation they sewed in Amang/Sungai Betung in the Anik area. He pastored the

Sungai Betung church for four years. There were about ten faithfül men already

established in the church there. Finances were difficult, but the Lord gave Bulin

work, such as helping in people's rice fields, making funiiture and selling medicines.

Pdt. Memn had taught him about the use of some medicines. Bulin would get people

together to sel1 them medicine, would teach them health lessons, explain the

medicines to hem and then tell them the Gospel. Tbee times during his stay in

Amang he became so il1 that he had to be carried over the high hills to Anik.

In 1965, Bulin was asked to move to Anik, where he taught in the PPIK

elementary school till 1968. At that time, because of the Dayak upnsing against the

Chinese, Berea was short of staff. Bulin moved there and worked in various

capacities. He taught for three years, did carpentry work and general maintenance,

and was in charge of the building and maintenance of the Darit airstrip. Every Sunday

he served in villages around the Ansang area. Bulin has continued on at Berea till the

present time. He does mostly maintenance work, but was ordained sometime around

l99O.u

**~h i s detail was missed in the taped interview and is not clearly stated in the church records at the author's disposai.

E. Sinyor ~ a n t a G 3

Summary:God used this man, a governrnent official, to allow missionaries to stay in Darît and to help establish and organize the church. Though he fell into sin, he remained a fervent believer that God was working His will through the GPPIK. The church organization was born on March 17-1 9, 1954. The statutes of the church were officially made on May 22-24, 1955. In June of 1956 it was decided that PPIK would build more schools in which to educate people. In 1957 Berea Bible School was opened to train church workers.

Sinyor Mantar was bom in 1920 to a Chinese family living in Setolo, near

Darit. He was a descendant of the Landak river area ningrat (top man in the

aristocratie hierarchy). When he was young, he lived with a Dutch family in Darit

and then followed this family to Sintang, about one hundred kilometen east of Darit.

He worked for this family checking on the rubber plantation inventory that the Dutch

had in West Kalimantan. It was here that Sinyor learned the value of discipline,

something which would serve him well in later years.

In 1943 Sinyor rnarried a girl fiom his home village. Immediately d e r this,

though, Sinyor was captured by the Japanese and taken to the town of Mandor in

231nfomation supplied by: Bulin, h s a n g , interview by author, Ansang, 5 October 1996, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author; Clara Lima, Milton, WI, to author, 24 Febniary 1997, transcript in the hand of the author; Dr. Kimloy Sinyor, MD., Pontianak, interview by author, 23 October 1996, Pontianak tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author; Elmer Warkentin, "Konferensi, Umum / Rapat Tahunan / Musyawarah Umum G. P.P.I.K.", Ansang: May 10 1984, AD, in the hand of the author; Ruth Warkentin, Abbotsford, to author, 2 April 1996, original in the hand of the author.

order to be killed.24 There, he found favour with one of the commandes and so was

given work cleaning the yard for this man. However, within the first week Sinyor

took the opportunity to escape. Due to his p s t experience of taking inventory of the

rubber gardens al1 through this part of the island, Sinyor knew where to hide and

successfully evaded the Japanese till the end of the war.

In 1946, Sinyor moved to Darit to work as the Juru Tulis (secretary) in the

Kantor Carnot (office of the head of the government for the Sub district) of

Kecamatan Menyuke (the Menyuke Sub district). This job was secured for him

because of his past expenence with the Dutch man. Here it was that in 1949 he first

met RBMU missionaries Sylvia Sirag and Gudrun Lima. A relative of Sinyor's,

Dungga was perhaps the first one in the area to be willing to convert to Christianity.2s

Sinyor had first heard about Jesus through the Dutch farnily he had lived with. Over

the next few years Sinyor was very helpfui to the missionaries, obtaining permission

for them to establish their work in the Menyuke area. It was in mid 1% 1 that Sinyor

came to know Christ. He attended a meeting in RBMU missionary Elmer Warkentin's

front room. Ruth Warkentin describes that meeting:

AAer many had gone home, Pak Sinyor stayed on ... and asked (Elmer) to write for him on the blackboard the differences between what Catholics and Protestants believe. Our language was still very limited, and we worked out between us (Goodie, Clara and us) how to

2 4 ~ 1 1 intelligent and high ranking persons were seen as a threat and were usually killed as soon as possible.

*S~his is not substantiated, although Dungga did witness to Sinyor. Dungga later fell away fiom the church.

answer him. When we were thni Sinyor very matter-of-factiy said, "Now 1 understand what is Truth. 1 want to be a Christian."26

Sinyor used his infiuence in the local govemment office to smooth the way for

the missionaries and for the newly emerging Protestant church. There was much

opposition fiom the Catholics. On December 1953 at the Christmas celebration of the

young Ansang group of believers, Sinyor made a speech on behalf of the government

office and at the same time as a representative of the congregation.27 He urged the

missionaries to continue their work of evangelism through the formation of an

organized church body, complete with a goveming leadership. An organized system

would enable them to reach a larger area with the Gospel. Sinyor's speech was met

with a positive response fiom the congregation and great enthusiasm on the part of the

rnissionaries.

On March 1 7- 1 9, 1954, the first conference of the GPPIK*~ was held at

Ansang, with representatives fiom the three churches now in existence: Ansang,

Adong Karnpet, and Sungai Buluh (Anik). Sinyor was elected as both the Ketua

Umum (Public Chairman) and the Sekretaris (Secretary) of an eight man board of

directors which was called the Budan Pengurus Umum. The following year, on May

26~ut.h Warkentin, Abbotsford, to the author, Grunthai, 2 April 1996, original in the hand of the author.

27~aul N. Kanoh, "Sejarah Gereja PPlK di Kal.Bar."

28The name chosen for the denomination was Gereja Persatuan Pekabaran Iman Kristus (Union of the News-giving of Faith in Christ.) This was later changed to Gereja Persekur uan Pem ber it a m Injil Kr ist us.

22-24, Sinyor was again elected as the leader and general secretaryf? This

conference, held in Anik, was attended by 61 representatives from the churches,

RBMU missionaries and the head of the Protestant sector of the provincial Religion

Department. The Anggaran Dasar (constitution) of the church was drawn up here.

On June 25-27 1956, the third annual conference was held in Kampet. It was decided

here that the GPPIK should build schools, such as the one already in Anik, wherever

they were needed.

At the fourth conference, held July 10- 12 1957 in Ansang, the rapid expansion

of the church was discussed. The need for more qualified men to lead the new

churches was the basis for the opening of Sekolah Alkitab Berea (Berea Bible School)

in Ansang, August 1 1 1957 under the direction of Pdt. Elmer Warkentin.

In 1957, Sinyor left his job as Juru Tulis in Darit, to seek election as a member

of the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyot Daerah (Provincial Legislative Assembly). He held

this post for five years, d e r which he was appointed as the Carnat in the Karangan

District, west of Darit. However, his wife refûsed to move with him to Karangan, and

after he had been there a short time he took another wife, which may have been the

result of being tricked into the situation by a man who was against the Gospel right

fiom the b e g i ~ i n g . ~ ~ This was a big blow to the PPIK. Though Sinyor confessed his

wrong, he found it near to impossible to correct it. He remained a supporter of the

PPIK, and returned to the church afler two years.

29~vailable statistics are not compiete, but show Sinyor as elected to these two positions every year until at least 1963.

30Bulin, interview by author, Ansang, 5 October 1996, transcript in hand of the author; Kimloy Sinyor, MD., interview by author, Pontianak, 23 October 1996, transcript in hand of the author; Ruth Warkentin, Abbotsford, to the author, 2 April 1996, in the hand of the author.

AAer five years in Karangan, Sinyor rehimed to Darit to become C a m there

for the next ten years. In 1977 he moved to Sungai Kunyit West of Darit on the Coast.

The next year he retired, but after a year of retirement ran again for DPRD. He spent

two tems of five years each in Mempawah as a member of the DPRD. He died of

tropical malaria on July 3, 1991 at Bethesda Hospital, Serukam.

F. Kornelius ~ t o k 3

Summary:In the early days there were believers who trusted Christ irnplicitly even when death was eminent. Though seemingly starting out well, Atok ran into many problems. He allowed himself to be drawn away fiom the Lord and subjected his family to animistic practices. His ministry now is very limited.

Komelius Atok was bom around 1943 in the village of Pampang, near A.nik.32

When the evangelistic team of Sirag, Lima and Sati came through his village in the

early 1 9501s, Atok's father, one of the head men, was very much against the Gospel.

Atok was still small, and was not ailowed to go to the meetings they had far away in

Ansang. Later, he started attending school in Darit and got to know the missionaries

there. He translated for Olav Nyheim into the Benana dialect , and studied Sunday

School lessons on Saturday evenings with Gudrun Lima in order to teach on Sunday

mornings.

Graduating fiom elernentary school in 1956, Atok entered Berea when it

opened in 1957. The next June he married Sarnbi who was from the village of

Nibung, next to Ansang. He had the oppomuiity to join a team that went to

3 hformation supplied by: Komelius Atok, Ansang, interview by author, 6 October 1996, Ansang, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author; Olav Nyheim. "Glorious Triumph in Christ î t Death's Approach" Reeions Reyond XV 54 (August 1964) I S.

32The date is not certain. Atok got many dates mixed up in the interview. The author's wife, who has known Atok and his family for aimost forty years, believes he was bom before this.

evangelize in Ulu Tayan in 1959. Then, after graduation in 1960, he and his family

moved there, to the village of Engkasan, to minister for the next six years.

An incident there is representative of the sincenty of faith of some of the

believers. The head elder of the church accidentally cut an artery on his leg while

cleaing trees to make his nce field . The bleeding was so fierce that there was little

hope of him surviving. Others in the village wanted to cal1 witch doctors to heai hm,

but he refused. He rebuked some of them, and he pleaded with others who had begun

to backslide to return to Christ. He died with glonous testimony because he told

everyone he was not afiaid to die, and he encouraged the believers. Less than a day

after his accident this man, named Sotol, went to be with his Lord. Atok had the

coffin carried into the church, which was very unusual for the Dayaks, as to this day

h e r a l s are dways held in the homes of the people. Apparently many unbelievers

gathered at the church and the graveside.33

Afier Engkasan, Atok and family spent two years in Lurnar, on the Behe river

about a day's journey north of Anik. Those days the communication between areas

was very dificult, even though the spirit of the people was very zealous for joining

the church.

In 1968, Atok worked as teacher at Berea. From 1970 - 1972 he was the Ketua

Umum of the GPPIK and the following two years, the Wakil Ketua. Later on though,

he was disciplined for something he had done at Berea, and left there. In the early

1980's he became a public school teacher d e r taking a short course in Pontianak.

Berea graduates were at first given credit for their Berea courses, making it much

easier to get a teacher's diploma. Atok taught religion in the elementary school at

Ansang where he lived.

3301, Nyheim. "Glonous Triumph in Christ at Death's Approach" 15.

In 1984, when his third child becarne ill, in desperation he and his wife called

a witch doctor . Their daughter had epilepsy, but they believed it was a spirit-caused

ailrnent. AAer much counseling from Elrner and Ruth Warkentin, they came back to

the Lord and publicly repented of what they had done. In 1988, Atok began serving

the church in Parnpang and continues to do so. He still lives in Ansang, traveling by

motorcycle or bus to Anik on Sunday rnomings and then waiking one hour to the

village. He rehims home after the service. There has not been much growth in the

church, and another organization, GKRI (Gereja Kristus Rahmat Indonesia) has built

a church there now as well.

Of Atok's five children, one died in Lumm fiom the measles, his two

daughters live in Ansang with their husbands, his oldest son is separated fiom his

wife, and the youngest is serving the Lord as a minister on another island. Atok's

father-in-law, Bapak Sambi, was arnongst the first believers in Ansang and remains a

faithfiil member in the Ansang church.

G. Otto Kanoh34

Summary:Otto Kanoh was at first reluctant to get into ministry. He was first of al1 a businessman. However, once into ministry he did his best. Otto was active on the leadership board of the GPPIK for its first several years of existence. He considers himself a part of PPIK even though he has worked for another denomination, and he continues, in his retirement years, to have a ministry to PPIK members.

Otto Kanoh was bom in 1928 in the village of Sebetu, near Anik. He was the

youngest of nine children bom to the village pnest. In 194 1 he started going to

school in the village of Jata, graduating &om class three in 1944. With the arrivai of

the Japanese later that year, Otto was asked to r e m to school by a Moslem school

teacher who taught in Japanese in the town of Ngabang. AAer two years Otto was

asked to leave because he was considered too old to be in school. For the next year

and a haif he worked for a CO-op, buying and selling goods. Before hearing about

Christ, Otto lived a very wicked life. He gambled and &ank alcohol fi-equently. Up

tiil dus time he had never heard about Jesus. From the page of a tract which he was

given by a friend who lived with a Dutch man, Otto Kanoh read that God had created

the heavens and the earth. When a change of management came in the CO-op, Otto

Kanoh moved back to the Anik area. There, through a fiend, Otto Kanoh received

341nformation supplied by: Otto Kanoh, Serukam, interview by author, 10 October 1996, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of author; Clara Lima, Milton, WI, to author, 24 February 1997, in the hand of the author.

another gospel tract. This tract, fiom G u d m Lima, a missionary with The Regions

Beyond Missionary Union, was about the teaching of John the Baptist.

Otto was married in 195 1, in an animistic ceremony. In April of that year,

Rev. Marcus (Bud) Memtt and his family moved to the village of Anik. At Christmas

time they held a feast, inviting people from d l around. Rev. Memtt bought a pig to

help provide for the food, and each family was asked to bring a chicken. Hundreds of

people showed up, overwhelming the unfhished Merritt house so that the floor caved

in.

Otto later asked Rev. Memtt to narne his first born son. This was a custom

arnong many of the Dayaks. Someone who was highiy regarded by the family, or in a

position of leadership would be given the honor of naming the child on the third night

after its birth. Over the next few decades many children wodd receive biblicai narnes

as missionaries were asked to name them. Persons still steeped in animism preferred

to give narnes like worm, or tin cm, or cockroach in order to fool the evil spirits as to

the identity of the child. Rev. Memtt gave Otto's son the biblical name dearest to his

own heart - his own name, Marcus. From this time onward, Otto Kanoh would be

known to his fiiends as Bapak Markus (the father of ~ a r k u s ) . ~ 5

The following year, Bapak Markus asked Rev. Memtt to corne to his house to give

medicine to his young son, Markus. Rev. Memtt took the opportunity to share the

gospel with Otto. Though Otto made no decision to become a follower of Christ at

this time, sometime later he did. With the zeal of a new-born Christian, Bapak

Markus began sharing his faith with others. Many young people of his village looked

up to him, and eagerly went with him as he traveled fiom village to village sharing his

new found faith in Christ. But they felt persecuted as many villagers criticized them

35Note Indonesian spelling. A "c" would be pronounced like "ch".

for going away fiom the Dayak beliefs. At the first conference of the GPPIK. in

March 1954, Otto Kanoh was elected as Wakil Ketua (Deputy chairman.) The next

year he was elected as one of the general assistants.36

Back in 1954 Bapak Markus felt the need to build elementary school in

Sebetu. It was a very simple building of bamboo, built in 2 days. He intended to ask

a Catholic Pnest to supply teachers, but Rev. Memtt saw an opportunity for the

evangelicals, and offered to help. The village decided to allow Memtt to teach.

During the day he taught children and in the evenings he conducted courses for older

people. The school was moved to Anik in 1955, and Otto was asked to teach there.

He did so for 2 years, then returned to Sebetu and became a foreman for a road crew,

bringing a road into the Anik area.

Feeling a desire to learn more about the Bible, Otto went to Berea Bible

School in Ansang in 1963 for 2 years, but then lefi to buy and sel1 Tengkawang

nuts.37 Otto, like many Dayaks down through the years, succurnbed to the temptation

to allow the Tengkawang harvest becorne his top priority.

In 1966, Otto was elected as the President of the PPIK for 1 year, after which

he was asked to be the leader of the Anik area of the PPIK. Then, in 1967, he traveled

to the Serimbu area with Gudrun Lima. At this time there was a very senous anti-

Chinese feeling spreading through the country because of an aborted comrnunist coup.

36~ecords are not complete for years following this up until 1973. However, Otto served again as Assistant leader for the years 1959-60,60-6 1 ; as Treasurer for the years 1969-73,73-77,83-86; and as Assistant Treasurer for 1977-80. His son Markus served as Secretary for the denomination from 1983 till 1989. His other son, Lukas, was Secretary fiom 1989 to 1992.

37The Tengkawang tree, native only to the island of Borneo, ody produced nuts every couple of years or so. The meat of the nut was processed and exported worldwide to be used as a base for lipstick.

The nature of the unregenerate Dayaks was so fierce that even Otto Kanoh was very

scared of what would happen. Thousands of Chinese were killed throughout West

Kalimantan. Many Christians feil right back into their anirnistic ways and joined the

Dayak scourge of the Chinese in the interior of West Kalimantan. Even some church

pastors took part in the killing of innocent Chinese. But after the confrontation

against the Chinese, many Christians returned to the church. This was not handled as

church business would normally be handled, but rather these people came back to the

church, repentant for the most part, and took up where they had left offearlier that

year.

Otto retumed to Berea in 1968 to study for another two years, graduating at

the end of 1969. With a mind for business and no imrnediate plans for ministry, Otto

stayed in Ansang, where he opened up a small store. He was then was asked to

become the Pastor of the Ansang church. For fourteen years he pastored this church,

until in 1983, he was asked to take charge of the GPPIK boys' dormitory in Pontianak.

The dormitory provided housing for about thirty boys fiom up country who were

enrolied in schools in the city. A mature man was needed to give guidance and

counsel to these older teenagers, as they were exposed to many temptations in the

urban environment. For two years in Pontianak, Otto experienced a lot of problems

with the young boys in the dormitory While iiving in the dormitory Otto also served

the PPIK people who had moved from up country to the coastd town of Mempawah,

67 kilometers north of Pontianak.

Feeling a burden to pastor this group, and finding it very dificult to handle the

dormitory situation, he asked if he could just move to Mempawah to pastor the young

group there. The dormitory had become a very stressfd situation by now, with many

young men disrespecting the church and dormitory leadership. There was not much

enthusiasm on the part of the GPPIK leadership for moving him to Mempawah, so he

looked elsewhere. Otto was then asked to work for the Conservative Baptist church at

the Bethesda Hospital in Serukam. It seemed to many of his PPIK fiiends that Otto

Kanoh had deserted them by going to another denomination. Even his nephew, Paul

Nyerom Kanoh, the next leader of the GPPIK, labeled him a traitor. But God had a

plan in al1 of this. Over the years, the Lord used the ministry of Bapak Markus at the

Bethesda hospital to lead people to the Lord and to help spiritually refresh PPIK

believers who came to the hospital for medicai assistance. In line with Dayak culture,

many PPIK people stayed ovemight and ate meals at Otto Kanoh's home while they

waited for medicai assistance. To them it may have been a way to save money, not

having to pay for a room at the very simple motels or to buy and cook their own

meals, but the Lord used it to help meet some of their spiritual needs.

Though ser~ing over 10 years with the Conservative Baptist church in

Serukam, Otto Kanoh still considered himself a part of the GPPIK, and he continued

into his retirernent years praying for the denomination.

Sumrnary: The change in Dae's life was a testimony to others. Though her husband went away from the Lord, this lady remained faithful. Even in her poverty she proclaimed that the Lord has been good and faithful to her. Her testimony is in drastic contrast to the spirihial condition of her village.

Dae was bom in the village of Estona, near Pengi, in Kecarnatan Menyuke,

around 1925. She and her husband, Pakai, lived in AdongKampet, about seventeen

kilometers west of Darit. At first, the missionaries just came for visits fkom Ansang.

These were the Warkentins, the Goodrnans, Nyheims, Clara and Gudrun Lima. When

the first missionaries came to her village in the early 1950's she thought they were

orang Belanda (Dutch colonials) and was very a h i d of them. The white woman,

Clara Lima, spoke Bahasa Indonesia, but Dae only knew her tribal dialect. When

Clara taiked to her, Dae tan to her husband to ask him to translate. She did not know

what to Say or do. Eventually, though, she came to understand the Indonesian

language and then she followed Clara everywhere.

Pakai went to a meeting in Ansang where he had heard that there was a God

who had created the universe. When he came back he told Dae this, but he was so

tired from the long walk that he went straight to bed. She came to bed and shook km,

38Infonnation supplied by: Dae, Kampet, interview by author, 10 October 1996, Kampet, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author; Clara Lima and Nice Shelley, Milton WI and Moncton MD, to author, 29 February 1996, in the hand of the author.

saying, "How can you go io sleep when you have jwt heard that there is a creator of

the universe? 1 want to hear more about Him!"

Eventually, around 1 953, Clara Lima, Alice Shelley and Joe and Pauline

Goodman moved to Kampet. It was sometime later that year that Dae accepted

Christ into her life. To this day she confesses that she was very ignorant as far as

schooling and undentanding were concemed, but she knew she was sincere. The

Song, "1 Have Decided to Follow Jesus" became the theme of her life. The words

were very real to her and she felt bound to them, especially the verse that said,

"though none go with me, still 1 will folIow".

Dae forced Pakai to teach ber to read so that she would be able to read the

Bible in the Indonesian language. She Gien was active teaching the children of the

village about Christ. Having no children of her own, Dae was fiee to help in the c h i c

that Clara ran. She was a constant witness. Her mother finally accepted Jesus into her

life after watching Dae for two years. Her changed life spoke of the power of Jesus.

Pakai became an elder in the church. He was very faitfi1 and excited about

following the Lord. During the next few years he went on ministry trips with some

of the missionaries.

In 1957, Alice Shelley moved to Ansang. Then, in 1960, Clara moved to Anik

and the Goodmans to Sebadu. The Olav Nyheims filled in for a year before they

moved up to the Ulu Tayan area. The church in Karnpet developed well for a few

years, but eventually deteriorated drastically. To this day the church has never

become a strong church, though many pastors have tried to work with the

congregation. Pakai was appointed as Temanggong by the local government. With

this job as civil judge he started to spend a lot of time sitting around in the market

place talking to people. His interest in the things of the Lord began to wane.

Eventually Pakai fell into sin, marrying a woman in another village. Though Dae was

able to get him to confess his wrong and corne back to the church, yet he never really

was active again till the day he died. Dae, however, has remained faithful down

through the years. Though she remains to this day as poor hancially as she was

when she fmt accepted Christ into her life, her testimony is that the Lord is faithfd

and good.

1. A. H. Dewan Rima39

Summary:This man experienced a lot of spiritual warfare. The Anik church began to grow as people were visited and as church leaders began to pray more earnestly .

Born in the village of Toho Tembawang, a good day's walk north east of Anik,

Ayub Hady Dewan, the son of Rima, was old enough to remember watching in horror

as American and Japanese pilots engaged in dogfights in the skies above his village

during World War II. The sights and sounds of the battles still remained vivid in his

memory some fifty plus years later. This startling phenomenon which caused him and

fellow villagers to flee into the forest in fear was, in a way, symbolic of the type of

life Dewan would face. His battles would not be in the skies above his home village

though, but radier against the Prince of the Power of the Air in villages throughout the

Anik area.

Dewan's own personal spiritual battle did not take place until 1955, when he

and other villagers fkom Toho Tembawang were invited to a circurncision ceremony

39~ources of information: A.H. Dewan Rima, Anik, interview by author, 3 October 1996, Anik, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author; Rima, A.H. Dewan, "Learning the Ways of God" (a translated testimony) Reeions Beyond 30 no. 2 (April - June 1979) 11; Clara Lima, Milton WI, to author, 25 February 1996, transcript in the hand of the author; Clara Lima and Alice Shelley, Milton WI and Moncton MD, to author, 29 February 1996, transcript in the hand of the author; Marcus Memtt, Legal AB, interview by author, February 26 1997, telephone interview, written notes in the hand of the author; Loren Warkentin, Abbotsford BC, interview by author, February 25 1997, telephone interview, no notes.

in neighbouring Bongo. There, he met up with a group of people who were different.

n iey ate separately, not wanting to take part of the food sacrificed to the spirits, and

they had their own service in which they sang songs like "What can wash away my

sin? Nothing but the blood of ksus." These words impressed Dewan, and so when

the service was over he approached an older man to ask, "What does this mean, 'sin

can be erased?"', which is the literal translation of the Indonesian version of the Song.

The man explained about redemption and forgiveness, and Dewan began to ponder

this new idea.

In June of 1956 Otto Kanoh and a few other men came through the village of

Toho Paloh on an evangelism trip. Dewan went to the meeting there and heard the

gospel story very clearly, but was not ready to respond. A few months later RBMU

missionary Rev. Marcus Memtt visited Toho Tembawang. Four farnilies decided to

become believers at that time. Dewan's family was one of them. Afier this, these four

families often got together for times of fellowship. They were fiequently persecuted

by non-believers, especially witch doctors. Some even came after the children with

machetes, threatening, "We will cut your necks if you still sing those songs." "We'll

get the govemrnent to chase you out of the village. You're just like the Dutch"40

Then, Dewan's younger brother died. Since their father was already dead, and

Dewan was the oldest in the family, he was responsible to bury his brother. His

relatives who were not yet believers refused to help. Dewan told them that he was not

asking for help. They were welcome to come dong, but they may not engage in any

rituals as they normally would. As a believer, Dewan was no longer afiaid of the

spirits of the dead. He and his farnily would only pray at the graveside. The others

40The Dutch had ruled Indonesia till W.W.11, after which Indonesia fought for its independence. To cal1 someone "Dutch" was derogatory.

came anyway. After this, the older people started to become more open to the Gospel.

They were especially attracted to the children's singing. In 1957, the people in

Dewan's village made a decision. After the next nce harvest they would also believe

in this Jesus God. Thirty-seven families forsook their old ways and chose to follow

Christ.

In 1958, Dewan moved to Toho Paloh. That year he was baptized. During the

Lord's Supper, which was celebrated afler the baptism, Dewan felt God's Spirit

working within hirn and he no longer felt a desire to garnble or smoke. He claims that

at this time al1 of his fetishes disappeared. It was also in 1958 that Dewan made a

vow to serve the Lord. He had been cutting trees in the jungle, and a branch fell on

his head, knocking hirn unconscious. Dewan made the vow when he regained

consciousness. He did not really know what that meant, but had often heard other

people speak of it. In 1959 the believers in Toho Paloh built a school, a dormitory

and a church. By this time, even the witch doctors had become believers, having seen

people healed fiom sickness by the prayers of Christians. Dewan forgot his vow,

though. For several years he had good rice crops. Then, he got no crop at dl . The

kemels were al1 empty. Dewan then remembered his prayer of 1958.41

Dewan now faced a problem. He had no formal education except for literacy

classes he had attended as a teenager. If God wanted hirn to l e m to be a minister,

God would have to get hirn into Bible School somehow. In 1963, Dewan was

accepted at Berea Bible School in Ansang. Then, in 1965, Dewan started getting sick.

Kidney problems would plague hirn for the rest of his life. He graduated from Berea

4lThe making and paying of vows (berniat and b a p r niat) was a very important part of Dayak culture. When people became Chnstians they still held to the fact that vows could not be broken. God would hold them to their vows just as the spirits had in the past.

in 1966, after which Clara Lima, an RBMU nurse , asked him to work at the Health

Clinic in Anik. Here he was close to medical help if need be, while his main job was

to witness to and counsel the many patients. He also taught religion in the local

school , taught Sunday School, and visited nearby villages.

In 1967, two men, Juni and Lisu, became believers while in Anik and then

retumed to their home in Sepangah, near Serimbu, with news of Jesus. Juni's brother-

in-law, Keha, aiso heard about Jesus in Anik, and though he did not irnmediately

receive Christ into his life he went on to become a famous evangelist in the Serimbu

area. Dewan had the opportunity to visit Sepangah around Christmas of 1968, dong

with Bahari and ~ d j e f i * . After two weeks, Dewan walked home again. It took a

week to recover fiom the cross-country hike, which was over a hundred kilometer

round trip.

During 1969 Dewan regularly visited villages in the Anik area where church

groups had been started over the Iast ten years: Sungai Durian(1960), Arnang, Bansal

Behe(1968). He also visited one family in Bonsor. A church was established there

the next year. Dewan rnamed Aniswati, a nurse at the Anik clinic, in 1970. Their

first child, Imri Yohansen, was bom the next year. From this point on, Dewan was

known a s Bapak Yo-yo, after the nicknarne given to his son.

In 1 9 7 3 ~ ~ , Dewan was asked to pastor Jemaat Baitel (Bethe1 congregation) at

4 2 ~ a h a r i was mainly responsible for opening the work in the Serimbu area. He later left the GPPIK to work with World Vision International. More information on Bahari is found under the subheading N. Bahari, p.p.65-68 of this study and under the subheading T. Keha Cabang, p.p.9 1-96 of this study. Adjer eventually returned to his home village of Jabeng, on the Anik-Darit road, where he was part of the church leadership. In 1992 the Jabeng church left the GPPIK to join GKTI.

Anik and Jemaat Emaur at ~ampang44. The idea behind this was that neither church

felt they could afTord to pay a decent wage, so they would split the burden. But

Dewan was much too busy. He was the religion teacher and treasurer at both the

elementary and junior high schools. Dewan wanted to discontinue ail his school jobs,

but it seemed no one was willing to take them. Finally, after Dewan wrote a letter to

the Anik District church board, the Pampang church was assigned tu Napi Gading.

Dewan and his wife were able to grow their own nce, so they always had enough

food. Her work at the clinic brought a much better wage than he was getting at the

Anik church. In 1976, Dewan finally ceased his position as treasurer at both schools.

These were low pnority as he received no wage for this work. From this time forward

into the 1990's Dewan's primary work was that of pastor of the Anik church. He was,

however, elected as Treasurer for the denominational board for the yean 1977 to

1980.

For some time Dewan was very hstrated with the lack of fniit in his

rnini~try.~5 This drove him to his knees in prayer. Soon, prayer became a pnority in

his life. He then felt led to visit the families in his congregation. Three nights a week

were dedicated to visiting. In 1984, Dewan and RBMU missionary Loren Warkentin,

43Some of the dates given by Dewan in a persona1 interview with the author do not exactly coincide with dates in a previously pnnted testimony. cf. A. H. Dewan Rima. "Learning the Ways of God" Reeions Deyod 30 No 2 (ApnVJune 1979) 1 1.

4 4 ~ h e Ernmaus congregation was made up maidy of believers from the original Sungai Buluh church. As time went on, villages found it easier to have local church buildings rather than a centralized one where people had to walk for an hour or more in order to attend.

45Many Bible School graduates stmggled with an idea that ministry meant only preaching on Sunday mornings and leading a prayer meeting on Wednesday evenings. This may have been due to their schedule for practical work at Berea.

set up a visitation team with the church elders. Their purpose in visiting was not to

preach, but to discuss family problems and ask people about their needs, in order to

pray for them. In this way, the ministry team of the church was able to help many

families in crises times. Dewan discovered that there were many fmi ly problems

relating to unresolved conflicts and anger. Many spouses were dissatisfied with their

marriages and wanting new partners. The tearn was able to help those who were open

about their problems. However, couples who were not open to sharing their struggles

usually ended up with a divorce.

1984 also witnessed the start of a special prayer meeting which has continued

on till the present day. Loren Warkentin and a few elders began to meet for prayer at

the airstrip storage shed each Thursday afternoon at 3:OO. Over the years more men

came to the meeting. Eventually, due to lack of space, the meeting was moved to the

church building. Giving increased as people grew spiritually. By 1990 some people

even started tithing. The Lord blessed the ministry of the elders and pastor, and the

Lord blessed the people as they sought to be obedient. Some people gave, but not

cheerfùlly. The following year they got very poor harvests. Believing that God was

teaching them a lesson, some of these people confessed to the congregation their sin

of giving uncheerfully . Several incidents in Dewan's ministry point to how God worked in the lives of

the people of Anik. In 1987, Nunggan, a well known witch doctor who had opposed

the Gospel openly for twenty years, was contemplating suicide. As he tried to hang

himself, he heard a voice saying, "What will happen when you die? ... Go, ask Bapak

Yo-yo." Nunggan came to the clinic. Dewan noticed he had the look of someone in

great danger. When asked what he wanted, the man immediately replied, "1 want to

receive Christ!" and explained what had just happened to him. Dewan challenged him

that he must be willing to burn al1 his fetishes and also be willing to live with his wife

again. Nunggan was suspicious of his wife. She and their children were living in

another village. However, with a message fiom Dewan, Nunggan was able to

persuade his wife to come back. While going to their home, Dewan was attacked by a

snake waiting at the side of the road, but was able to kill itP6 Nunggan prayed to

receive Christ, and brought out a nyiru (flat, woven basket) full of fetishes and

charms, as well as a magic shirt to be burned. One piece of wood in the shape of a

man did not bum until they had used up several liters of kerosene on it. This fetish

apparently belonged to Nunggan's Moslem son-in-law. That night Dewan could not

sleep, feeling he was being burned dive. He called on the elders to pray for him.

Though Nunggan's conversion was quite a topic of conversation, he apparently

had not gotten rid of al1 l i s fetishes. He becarne sick soon after and remained sick for

about three years. Dewan confronted him at a time when he was very ill, and near

death. Nunggan confessed that he had kept the strongest Stones hidden. He gave

these up to be burned, and asked the Lord for forgiveness. Dewan found himself

prophesying, "Now that you have corne clean, God will cal1 you home safely." Three

days later, Nunggan went home to be with his Lord.

As Dewan's health detenorated, he was unable to cany on with preaching. But

by this time, a number of the elders were quite active in ministry to the congregation

and to surrounding villages. The Anik church grew to be GPPIK's largest church.

4 6 ~ o r e than most others, Dewan saw spiritual battles being waged in everyday life. To him, the snake was a physical manifestation of an evil spirit trying to prevent Nunggan fiom finding release through Jesus Chnst. His ability to kill it implied who would win the battle for Nunggan's soul.

J. Jamel

Sumrnary:Dreams were important to animists. There was persecution from those who did not understand the fieedom Christians felt in Christ. Jamel never received a big enough wage from his ministry in order to support his family and therefore had to work at other jobs as well. Churches around the Ansang area have remained immature and for the most part unable to support pastors.

Jamel, son of Aris, was born in Sebetu, near Anik, in t 94 1, the oldest of three

children. His mother died at the end of WorId War II. In 1953 his younger sister's

desperate illness brought about his decision to follow Christ. Previous to this, Jarnel

had heard about Chnst in school from RBMU missionary, Marcus Memtt and two

C&MA believers fiom Balai Sepuak who had been hired to teach in Sebetu. A song

they learned in school, " Yesus Mencurah DarahNya" ("There is a Fountain Filled with

Blood", literally "Jesus Poured Out His Blood") seemed to stick in Jarnel's mind. Five

families had now become believers in the village of Sebetu. These were: Bapak Yor,

Bapak Lambi, B a p k Saelah, Bapak Cangki, and Bapak Asel and their families.

Jarnel's father had not yet heard the Gospel clearly, but was against it whenever Jamel

talked about it. His father, though, had dreamt about a man urging him to accept

Jesus into his life. Then, he dreamt about a man with only half a face. Bewildered, he

47~ources of information: Jamel, Ansang, interview by author, 5 October 1996, Ansang, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author. Having worked with Jarnel for one year on the Evangelism Commission of the GPPIK and on several other occasions, the author has a fair bit of first-hand knowledge about his work in the PPIK.

asked the Christians in his village what this rnight mean. They urged hirn to invite the

missionary to have a service in his home. In desperation for his daughter's life he

agreed to allow Jamel to cal1 Pdt. Mema to pray for him. The missionary, though,

insisted that they should receive Christ if they were bold enough to ask Him to heal

their loved one. He also inquired as to any fetishes they rnight have in their houe.

Aris brought a human skull down fiom the attic and they burned it. The family

prayed to ask Jesus into their lives, and Pdt. Merritt prayed for healing. JmeI's sister

revived, the Ans farnily started to attend church services in the Memds house in

Anik, and A r i s no longer had the strange drearns.

Jamel started attending special classes dong with a few others: Jakot, Sita,

Salon, Atok, Acin, and Asot fiom Sebetu, and Uyut and Nulus fiom Bebunting. Here

they learned more about the Gospel and about the Bible. Jamel had opportunity to

travel to several places with Pdt. Memtt: Sapat, Palo, Pelaik, and also to people's rice

fields to visit with them some evenings.

The change in the lifestyle of those who had become Christians was

perplexing to those still steeped in animism. One tirne, Jamel's father was taken to

court because they did not want to follow the old tradition of potong ayam di ladang

(cutting a chicken in the nce field), an animistic ritual perfonned when the rice was

just coming up, in order to guarantee a good harvest. The court case went to the

nearby town of Ngabang, where Sinyor Mantar, an officia1 from the local govemment

office in Darit, stood up for the Christians. While animists were afiaid of what might

happen because of Christian refusal to participate in village sacrifices, nevertheless

the Christians were always eager to help anyone in need, and without payment. If

someone was sick, they would come and pray for them. If someone was behind on

their field work, the Christians would come and help. Later on a few more families

from their village made a break with animism and himed to Christ. These included:

Otto Kanoh, Bapak Sita, and B a p k Dorkas and their families.

Two years later, Jamel was sent to Darit to continue his schooling. During

grade five he lived with a family in Darit. Then, for grade six, Jamel lived with Pdt.

Elmer Warkentin in Ansang. AAer graduating from grade six in 1957, Jamel enrolled

in Berea Bible School which had just opened in Ansang. Having had a taste of

ministry during the few years since he came to know Christ, Jamel felt God was

calling him to continue in this, and so he wanted to learn more about God's word and

how to serve effectively. His family could not help out with much, but they helped as

much as they were able to in the area of supplying some food, soap and other supplies.

He spent two years there, after which he married a classrnate. The following year

Jamel lived in Jabeng, half way between Ansang and Anik, where he taught in the

village slementary school while serving as a church planter. Following this, he lived

in Kelampai for three years, again holding down a teaching job and leading the

church. A move back to Ansang was followed by a r e m to Berea Bible School in

order to complete requirements for his Diploma. By this time he had three children.

Following this, Jarnel went to Sahang, where he again taught in the local school while

working as pastor of the small group of believers. After three years in Sahang, Jamel

was asked to go to Batu Gerantung, but after one year he returned to Ansang due to

his wife's illness. Once his wife was well enough again, Jamel again moved to

another location, Titi Senga Se'ias, serving there for three years. Retuniing again to

Ansang, Jamel was elected as the head elder for the Ansang church and also worked

as an itinerant evangelist in the Ansang area.

The next year, 1980, Jarnel was elected as the Ketua Daerah (the

administrative leader) of the Ansang area. He rernained in this position for the next

fifieen years until the GPPIK restmctured, afler which he was appointed as

Kordinator Wilayoh (Reg ional coordinator) for Wilayah Salu (Reg ion One), the

combined h a n g and Lumar areas.48 During his fifieen years as Ketua Daerah,

Jarnel visited several churches each month and also pastored several churches over the

years. Given just a minimum wage (approximately $30.00 per month) fiom the

Ansang church district, Jamel also worked full-the. He cultivated a rice field every

year, and also worked as a carpenter at Berea Bible School and wherever else he

could. In 1995, J m e l was ordained as a minister by the GPPIK.

During Jamel's time as Ketua Daerah, the Ansang area churches grew in

number from eighteen to twenty-eight. However, most of them did not have a full-

time pastor. Many of these places were served year after year by the students of Berea

Bible School. This gave an opportunity for practicai experience for the students, but

at the same time fostered a dependence on the School to provide "fiee" ministers fiom

Sunday to Sunday, resulting in weak churches. The availability of students did

provide the manpower for starting new churches, but somehow many church members

were not discipled and the burden for reaching out to the lost remained on the

shoulders of those who were truly committed, or those in the Bible School learning

about minisûy. According to Jarnel, the only way those churches will grow is if they

can have full-time pastors who are living in the village and are truly committed to

serving God wholeheartedly. A continuing problem in this regard is that most of

these places are not yet mature enough to support a pastor even part-time.

4% 1995, the GPPIK decided to restructure the leadership of its nine geographical areas. The idea behind this was to try to secure more funding for the denominational administration. With the former set-up there was a lot of duplicity and unwise use of finances.

Summary:This church worker was faithful according to his ability. He had to work at other jobs and received gifts fiom a missionary in order to support his family .

Maras was bom in Seledok in 1940. His father died when he was five years

old, his mother twelve years later. When he first heard about Christianity fiom

another man in his village Maras thought the person was talking about some kind of

work. Then, in 1958, two men, Bapak Maratok and Bapak Rajim, witnessed in

Seledok, and Maras and his brother became believers. Later that year, Pd&. Henry

Thiessen started visiting Seledok on a regular basis to evangelize and to help disciple

the believers. He saw a lot of potential in Maras, and in 1960 invited him to live at

Simpang Pana. The following year, Thiessen urged Maras to attend Berea Bible

School.

Upon graduation fiom Berea in 1965, Maras returned to Simpang Pana to

serve as an itinerant evangelist with Thiessen. Maras cut rubber to help support

himself, but also received a small wage and some perquisites from the RBMU

mi~s ionary .~~ When Thiessen moved to Menjalin in 1967, Maras moved with him.

49Sources of information: Maras, Menjalin, interview by author, 8 October 1996, Menjalin, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author.

50Due to a shortage of pastors for the many places now opening up to the gospel, some missionaries paid nationals to work as evangelists. Sometimes these men worked as itinerant pastors, helping to preach and teach at villages where there were Christians. Few PPIK churches were financially able to support their own

For the next ten years, while living next door to the Thiessens, Maras worked as an

itinerant evangelist / pastor in the Menjalin area, visiting places such as: Karangan,

Kerasih, Pakato, Nangka, Sungai Pinggang, Pudak, Apo, Bengkawe, Tanjung and

Mencio. He was married in 1969 to the sister of Yahya, another PPIK evangelist in

the Menjalin area. In 1979 Maras pastored a church in Titi Dahan. The next year he

retumed to Menjdin, working again as an itinerant church worker. Frorn 1982 to

1984 Maras pastored the Menjalin church, d e r which he spent another year at Berea

to upgmde his knowledge and skills as a pastor. He retumed to Menjalin for another

three years, but after a severe argument with the elders, Maras was relieved of his

position.5 1

The following year Maras retumed to his birth place, Seledok. AAer d l these

years they were still a very small group, with only six families. He pastored there for

four yean, during which the congregation finally built a church building.52

In 1994 Maras was asked by the Menjalin congregation to retum there. Today

(1997), Maras and his wife serve there and host a one room dormitory in their small

home for fifieen high school girls.

pastors. Maras' honorariurn was about $10.00 a month, a supplement to his regular rubber-cutting job. "Perks" included a Christmas bonus and fiee medicine when Maras or his family were sick.

did not offer an explanation as to the issue of the argument. Often such issues were disagreements as to how much the pastor should be paid and how much work he should do.

52Like almost every GPPIK church, the Seledok building project depended on some outside funding. Both village subsidy moneys fiom the government and funds fiom RBMU were sought in order to buy the gaivanized iron roofing for the building.

L. ~pian53 Summary:The Gospel came to the Sebadu area in the late 1950's. Apian's life was given totdly to teiling others about Christ. He had no Bible School training but was an effective evangelist. TEE helped him to leam more about living for Christ and about teaching others. The Lord has taken care of his needs. PPIK started a church down south in the Ketapang area.

Apian was born May 15, 1930 in the small village of Malino, near Sebadu.

His mother passed away when he was just a few months old, and so his father took

hirn to nearby Sengkuyang. When a school was started there in 1937, Apian was

enrolled as a student. In 1940, the family moved again, this time to Pakurnbang,

where Apian was eventually asked to teach grades two and three in the public school.

Teachers were hard to find in those days, and Apian was fairly capable, even with

only a grade two education. Then came World War II, during which Apian was given

a job to teach illiterate adults to read and write. Teaching became his livelihood for

many years. He married in 1947.

Around 1950, Apian heard the news that "agama" (religion) had corne to the

village of Sumsum. He had been looking for a new religion, finding a sense of

hopelessness in the animistic ways of his forefathers. The continuai need to put up

money, rice, chickens and pigs for sacrifices seemed like a reai waste of resources.

53~ources of information: Apian, Simpang Pana, interview by author, 8 October 1996, Setabar, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author; Elmer R. Warkentin. "Insights Into Dyak Culture" Reeions J3eyond 30 No 4 (October - December 1979): 6-7; Joseph Goodman, Victorville, CA: As the missionary who worked most closely with Apian, Goodman had a lot of insight into his life. Unfortunately, none of the author's conversations with him were documented.

At fmt Apian wanted to join the Catholic church, as they had corne before the

Protestants. But, he found the Catholic faith that was being taught at that time to be

not much different from the animism that he was steeped in. In Sumsum, a Dayak by

the name of Jaulu had taught people about a man named Jesus. Several years Iater,

westerners were preaching in the area, fmt Rev. Elmer Warkentui, and then Rev.

Henry Thiessen, both missionaries with RBMU. By this time, Apian, now living in

Setabar, was quite a successful witch doctor and was addicted to smoking, drinking

and gambling.

On June 15, 1960 Apian finally heard the gospel personally, and, along with

seven others, including his wife, believed in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour.

The Gospel was to have a profound effect on Apian's life, but not right away. He

began to travel to surrounding villages with Rev. Thiessen so that he could share his

testimony of God's grace in his life. The following year, Rev. niiessen was replaced

by Rev. Joseph Goodman, and Apian found himself k i n g this new mentor as he had

liked Rev. Thiessen. It was exciting to be part of a team bringing the gospel to the

unreached, especially when Rev. Goodman took his jeep or motorcycle. Vehicles

were still scarce in Kalimantan in the 1960's.

1963 was an eventful year for Apian. His wife's criticisms that he was not

living what he preached finally bore h i t . He truly repented and gave up al1 his old

habits, his black magic and his fortune telling. Apian was baptized, and later on

attended the GPPIK triennial meetings in Sebadu. It was also the year his wife died of

Tuberculosis, leaving him with four of seven children. She had been predeceased by

three of her children. Shortly after this, Apian ventured out on his own to tell others

about Christ. Could he be an effective evangelist without a missionary partner to help

attract people's attention? Others had struggled with this.

As long as the missionary is present, the national Christian has a boldness which he would not othenvise have. As one Dyak evangelist summed it up when we entered a village, "Bapak, when they see you they will open the door wide ... If we go in alone we would not get the same reception."54

Yet, this was what Apian felt the Lord was calling him to do. From Rev.

Goodman he had learned how to use several large pictures to explain the gospel to

groups. He had also picked up some sleight of hand tncks fiom the missionary to

attract people's attention and to use as illustrations of Biblical principles. In 1966, he

was chosen for a one year term as the administrative leader for Daerah Empar (Area

Four), the Sebadu area churches. The next year he was chosen as the leader of the

Setabar church, and canied on this position for ten years. In 1976, Apian remarried.

1977 brought a major rnove for Apian. Several RBMU missionaries had

visited the remote area of Ketapang, about 135 miles south of Pontianak, in 197 1. A

few years later they were able to establish a small work in the village of Pangkalan

Tapang, and had, in partnenhip with the GPPIK, placed a young evangelist down

there. Problems arose, and it became evident that a more mature person was needed

for the job. Another man, had been asked several times to move there, but his answer

was always, "I'm not yet ready." This was a re-occurring problem for the PPIK d o m

through the years. Very few men or women, it seemed, were ready to leave the

comforts of home for distant and unknown places. Those with Bible school training

were tempted to believe that because of their good education they should serve in

places closer to home. This was in line with the general thinking of most Indonesians;

education deserved privileges. But Apian, with only a grade two education, was not

thinking of prestige. He was more concemed with obeying God's d l .

S4E1mer R. Warkentin. "Insights Into Dyak Culture".

For the next two years Apian got to know the people in and around Pangkalan

Tapang, faithfully leading services twice a week for those who would corne. During

these times he led the people in prayer that God would move the hearts of people to

believe in Christ. Along with the spiritually young elders, Apian visited in the homes

of the people, leading some of them to a new faith. On one such occasion they were

visiting the Ua' Mandan, ( head of the village laws ). As usual, Apian gave an

oppomullty to allow the host to speak first, d e r which Apian explained the Gospel

and stated that he would give the great leader an opportunity to receive Jesus as his

Saviour. This man then related that he had had a drearn about three months

previously. In his drearn the evangelist formerly working in the area had told him that

if he wanted his sou1 saved he must believe in Jesus, but if he did not do this he would

definitely go to hell. Diearns were very important to the Dayaks, and on this night of

Apian's visit, the Ua' Mandan, his wife, and an adopted child al1 received Jesus into

their lives.

The following Sunday, upon Apian's invitation, the Uu' Mundan came to the

service. There, he announced that he was in favour of tearing down the rumah adat

(spirit house) so that they could build a church there. The following Sunday plans

were made to begin the demolition the next day. To Apian's way of thinking, this was

definitely God's timing, because die very next day, Pdf. Goodman arrived

unannounced. Several other times missionaries had arrived just in time to help in

baptism services. Like many other Dayaks, Apian believed that the presence of

missionaries at important meetings or services brought special meaning and carried

more weight. The missionaries were the ones who brought the Gospel, they were the

authorities, they held a sort of spirituai prestige. For the tearing down of the spirit

house, a service was held. Al1 Christians, whether tme believers or just adherents,

were called together. Thirty fmiiies in d l , including three Catholic families, attended

this important event. In the ensuing weeks a church building was erected on the very

spot that the spirit house had stood. After completion of the church building, in 1980,

Apian was replaced by his son-in-law, Marlius Kasman. RBMU missionary Karl

Hoekman moved down as well, to help with the nurturing of believers and to expand

the witness of the Pangkalan Tapang church to other villages in the area.

Apian returned to the Sebadu area and began leading the church at Sumsum.

His strategy was to get everyone involved in evangelism. Along with several

Sumsurn believers, Apian visited Sa'abal once a week and got the people there to hold

weekly services in the village office. Soon, they started going to Engkabang. One of

their first stops was the home of a witch doctor, who, with his family , accepted Christ

on this very first visit.

Apian's schedule for Sundays became quite busy. At 8:00 he would preach in

Sa'abal, then go back to Sumsurn for an 11 :O0 service, followed by a 2:00 service in

Engkabang. He wodd often ovemight there, visiting in Pongok the next moming.

Al1 of these evangelistic outreaches eventually became churches, and with some

financiai help through RBMU missionaries meeting places were built. In 1982, Apian

began to attend Theological Education by Extension courses being taught by Pauline

Goodman at her home in Simpang Pana. Throughout the next ten years, along with

other church leaders in the Sebadu and Menjalin areas, Apian would study these ten

week courses. In dl , he obtained thirteen certificates, but more importantly, he gained

a growing knowledge of God's Word, doctrine, and practical ways of ministering.

1983 saw Apian begin evangelizing in Jarne, where he was able to lead eleven

families to Christ. Rev. Goodman paid for a house to be built for him there, as the

distance was too far for him to effectively minister fiom his home near Sebadu.

Apian also witnessed often in Pakumbang , Kemayo and Semeno, villages near to

Jame. Close to Semeno were the villages of Tampe Bidang and Setutuk. Within a

year a church was started in Kemayo. Apian also visited in Awe (Au-way), first

aione, and then with believers fiom Jame. In the home of a man named Anton, Apian

heard that several Catholic church workers had also been evangelizing in Awe. But it

seemed Anton and some others were patiently waiting to find out more about the

Christian religion. "It's too easy," said Anton about the Catholic faith, "You cook the

chicken, but you still sacrifice it (to the spirits)." It did not make sense to km that a

new religion which was supposed to be better would still allow the old ways to be part

of it.55

Apian, using his large pictures and reading fiom the Bible, showed them the

condition of man's heart and the way to have it changed. He then gave an invitation

for anyone who wanted to have their sins washed away. Anton's wife was the first to

corne forward, followed immediately by her husband. Three other couples also

received Christ that evening. One of them, a brilliant young man named Asuardy,

would later go on to study at the Berea Bible School and work on the staff there.

These four couples became the foundation of the church there. They first met in

homes, then in the public school building, and eventuaily built a church building in

1987.

Apian's implicit trust in God set him apart fiom many other Christians. He

totally disregarded any village laws that were not in line with the teaching of

Scripture. He refused to be bound by taboos and superstitions. In 1985, a situation

arose where Apian's faith was severely tested. While living in Jame, his oldest child

SS~nton's reasoning was very different fiom the majority of the Dayaks, who saw the cross in Catholicism as a plus sign. The way Christianity was being taught by the Catholic church at that time, a person's life need not change once they had "entered the church". One could have salvation plus animism, drunkenness, or whatever they did not feel like giving up.

got sick. Apian, as he usually did, went to get some medicine from Mrs. Goodman in

Sirnpang Pana, near Sebadu. Upon his rehim, he was told he had broken village laws

by leaving the village while apantung (taboo) was in effect. This certain pantang was

a superstition that anyone entering or leaving the village over a three day period

would spoil the village's attempt to appease the spirits that were causing sickness in

the village. Apiari would have to pay a large fine? When Apian refused to pay, the

family wha was responsible for calling the pantang negotiated to settle "out of court",

offenng to accept a smaller amount. Again Apian refused. He was then sent a letter

from the head man of the village, ordenng him to corne to court the next day.

Apian prayed through the night, asking the Lord for wisdom and whether he

should go to Pontianak to ask the provincial Minister of Protestant Religion to defend

him, or if he should just rely on the Lord. Suddenly, he felt a sense on bravery,

remembering 1 Tirnothy 1 :6. He should no longer have a spirit of timidity, but a spirit

of bravery to defend the tnith of his salvation. So, he attended the court.

At the village trial, it was soon evident that no one intended to listen to him.

Some people guarded the doors and windows while others prepared to beat Apian into

submission. Apian's wife just sat and cried, but Apian declared, "1 will die for

defending the truth of the Lord, for defending the salvation that is in Him. 1 am not

dying for stealing, or for bothering your wives or cMldren. 1 am willing to die for

Chnst!" Then he looked at the village leader, who indicated Apian would not be

beaten up, and fined him Rp. 9.400, -.57 But again, Apian defended himself. He had

been open from the begiming of his stay in Jame that he would not follow the taboos

56The equivalent of about $100.00.

57Approximately $9.00.

of superstition because God was with hirn and would always protect him. This

protection was for anyone who was willing to follow Him. If the Head man wanted to

draw things out and waste a lot of time, perhaps the case should be brought to a higher

level, or he could just give Apian and the Christians a letter of immunity. From that

day fonvard, Apian possessed a letter stating that he and the Christians were not

bound by any village taboo. He remained in Jame until 1994, when he was asked to

fil1 in as pastor of the Sebadu church.

Though getting on in years, often ill, and without a formal Bible School

education, Apian was asked by the Sebadu area leadership to take over the Sebadu

church. There were some problems, and it seemed the present pastor was not able to

handle the situation. The missionary home in Simpang Pana was ernpty now, and

only a short distance fiom the church. It would become Apian's residence till the

present time.

During Apian's career as an evangelist and pastor he depended a lot on the

gifis of missionaries or other North Amencans to help hirn survive. Financial gifis

given through the Sebadu Church Area treasury have been combined with the total

giving of the area's churches to supply a minimum salary for their pastors and

evangelists. Slowly over the years he has seen an increase in giving on the part of his

fellow believers. A few of the churches are now paying their pastors reasonable

wages, although most pastors still have jobs on the side. Still, Apian firmly believes

the Lord has been f a i m 1 to him in al1 the time he has known Him.

Summary:A poor man remained poor, financially. Yet, he was very rich in the opportunities to serve Christ. Selaten was not a flashy or spectacular man, but was steady and faithfùl according to his abilities. He was rewarded for his faithfiilness with ordination by the PPIK. Missionaries heiped him with finances, as the churches he served never paid him a ~ ~ c i e n t wage.

Selaten was bom in 1939 in Engkasan, Kecamatan Ulu Tayan to an animistic

Dayak family. He fust heard about Jesus in 1 955 through an evangelistic trip made

by Pdt. Olav Nyheim and some eiders fiom the Anik area. He remembers personally

asking Christ into his life at that time, dong with a number of the adults and old

people of his village. He was baptized the next year, afler which he went to Ansang

with six other young men fiom his village. There they took a three week Bible Study

course offered by Pdt. Elmer Warkentin, Selaten realized here that he knew very little

about the Bible. He then went to Anik to attend elementary school for two years. In

1960 he quit school because of his parents' inability to support him financially.

The next year Selaten married Kopon, who was aiso a young Christian fiom

Engkasan. From 1962 to 1964 Selaten taught in a pnvate school which the GPPIK

had started in Engkasan. Then, in 1965, Selaten quit teaching, complaining that he

was not receiving a wage. During that year he just cut rubber and worked a rice field.

One day as he was climbing a Durian tree, Selaten was hit by a falling branch. A

S81nformation supplied by: Selaten, Engkasan, interview by author, 12 October 1996, Ngabang, tape recording, translated transcnpt in the hand of the author.

sudden wind broke the branch. He clung to the tree, unable to move. In a loud voice

he cried out, "Lord, Save me and 1 will serve you." A finend near by came and

climbed the tree to help him down. The accident left him paralyzed for two months,

during which time he read a book on overcoming suiTering through Jesus. Selaten

prayed, asking for healing and offenng himself as a servant for life. Within weeks he

was walking again. He went back to teaching school, after which he felt called to

study at Berea.

In 197 1, &er graduating from Berea, Selaten became the pastor of the five-

year old Tikalong church in the Menjalin area. Three years later he moved to Titi

Dahan to pastor for five yean. In 1979 Selaten again moved, this time to Antus,

where he spent three years. The next move was to Takong, where he settled in for

twelve years. During these years he upgraded his schooling with one year of Seminary

at Berea. He was ordained by the GPPIK around 1985.

When in 1994 Selaten discovered he had diabetes and rheumatism he was very

fearful. He resigned fiom his pastorate and retumed to his home village of Engkasan,

expecting to die there. However, Selaten's home church was waiting for him. Pastor

Anwardi, who had built the church back up from a backslidden state, was moving

soon, and Selaten would become his replacement.

As Selaten looks back on his twenty-seven years working as a minister of the

GPPIK he remembers a constant stmggle with finances. A regular suficient wage

was never a reality. Honorariurns fiom RBMU missionaries through the church area

treasury helped out, though.

SumrnaryA man with a passion for souls was used by God to open up a new area for Christ. He went to jail in 1965 for preaching the Gospel. The people in the Serimbu area were eager to join the Christian faith, but many are not following the faith now. Bahari later chaged church organizations.

J. Bahari was bom in Pongok, near Sebadu around 1940. He was introduced to

Christianity by Pdt. Henry Thiessen in 1959. At the time, Bahari was teaching

elementary school at Sumsum. Upon becoming a believer, Bahari imrnediately went

to Pongok to encourage his fnends and family to also become followers of Jesus. The

next year, they built a church there.

In 1962 Bahari married a Christian girl, and the two of them went together

evangelizing villages around where they lived.

At the Sidang Umum in May of 1962, Bahari was chosen as secretary of the

PPIK. He was aiso asked to move to Anik to teach in the GPPIK elementary school

there. In Anik, as in Surnsum, Bahari was very diligent in spreading the news of the

Gospel. Some of the places he visited fiequently were: Pasir, Sekibul, Sanyang,

Pabuis, Saborok, Sungai Lobang and Dangkuk.

591nformation supplied by: J. Bahari, "Riwayat Pengabaran Injil di Kecamatan Air Besar Serimbu", TD, March 1997, original in the hand of the author; Keha Cabang, Sepangah, interview by the author, 17 October 1996, Sepangah, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author; Clara Lima, Milton WI, to the author, 22 Febniary 1997, in the hand of the author; Gimy Crapser, Philadelphia, to the author, 24 February 1997, in hand of the author.

In October of 1964, Bahari, fellow teacher, Damin, and a man named Saiyun,

fiom Sebetu, were arrested in Anik and then jailed in Ngabang. They were accused of

being spies for ~alaysia.60 Olav Nyheim visited them in jail, as did Joe Goodman.

This was a real encouragement to them. Bahari and his two fnends prayed, sang, and

witnessed in the jail. Within a few weeks, they were given a place in the Police office

to hold services on Sunday. Some policemen and their wives as well as some high

school students attended the services. M e r three months in jail, the men were

released. Bahari continued teaching in the Anik school, but the next year he attended

Berea Bible School in order to learn more about the Bible and how to preach.

In June 1967, Bahari was asked by the PPIK to serve as an evangelist in the

Senmbu area. He began in the village of Sepangah, securing the favor of influential

people in the village, such as: Jilan, a shopkeeper; Syapii, a worker in the government

office; Keha, a powemil shaman; Ga'a, the village chief; Gandar, the officiai in charge

of village laws and customs; and Mutak, village priest. Information on which

persons were important was secured through a man named Juni, who had apparently

become a believer while recently visiting the village of Anik.

Within a few weeks, Bahari held a service in the home of the chef, Ga'a. Al1

the men and a lot of teenage boys attended. Bahari preached "Know the Name Jesus",

telling them who Jesus was, why He came to earth and where He was now. Almost

everyone in the meeting decided to become followers. Bahari then held a service for

women. This was something new for the women, as there had never been a meeting

just for them. Al1 who attended irnmediately wanted to become believers.

6O~ccording to Bahari, they were accused by the Partai Kornunis Indonesia, (the Communist Party of Indonesia). This was directly preceding the abortive Communist Coup d'état.

The leaders from near-by Meroba invited Bahari to lead a service in their

village, so he went there, along with some of the key men nom Sepangah. The entire

village of Meroba indicated their desire to become followers of lesus61

In the first three weeks of July 1967, the people of Sepangah and Meroba built

a twenty-four by seven meter school house. It had three rooms with removable walls

between them so that the school could be used as a church building on Sundays. The

floor was mud, the walls were made of hand-sawn boards, and the roof was made of

ironwood shingles.

In August the school was opened, with Bahai as teacher. On Fridays Baharî

trained older teenage boys how to witness and lead services. Then, on Saturdays, they

would travel to villages in the area. In this way, churches were started in several

villages, such as: Jarnbu, Dange Aji, Indiak, Nyari, Sekendal and Nyayum.

In 1968 the people of Sepangah and Meroba, along with others fiom

surrounding villages, made an airstrip to enable MAF airplanes to service the Serimbu

area. The airstrip was completed in three months and used for the first time just

before Christmas of 1968.

Bahari remained in Sepangah for another year. In January of 1970 he was

asked to become the head of the GPPIK Junior High School in Anik. He was the

Ketua Daerah of the Anik church area for a time, and was very active in the Sebetu

church. Being gifted musically he seemed a good leader of young people both in the

church and the school.

6lThe author, having lived in Meroba for almost twelve years, knows some believers fiom Sepangah and Meroba who are still following Christ since the early years. Many, though, including some of the leaders mentioned by Bahari, have shown very little interest in the Gospel. Sorne others seldom came to church during the time the author spent in the Serimbu area, and did not live according to the standards set by the church.

In 1982, Bahari began working with World Vision International, first as a

Social Worker in the Karangan area, and later on, in 1988, as a Project Motivator near

Mandor and Sebadu. Sometime during these years he also began working with KGBI

(Kerapatan Gereja Baptis Indonesia) in villages in the Menjalin area and later on in

the Sebadu area. He has started a church for KGBI in the village of Simpang Pongok,

where GPPIK has a church.62

62 Not ail of the information given by Bahari conforms to that of other sources. Only information which could be substantiated was used in this study. More information on Bahari is found under the subheading T. Keha Cabang on p.p. 9 1-96 of this study.

Summary:A life was changed drastically . Damin exhibited rnany charactenstics of Christ which were totally opposite to his old life. Such was the power of the Lord in his life. His testimony and work for the Lord influenced many others.

There is not much information on a young man named Damin, yet he had a

profound effect on the life of the church. He was from Angkaras, outside of Darit. In

the early 1960's Damin came to Anik to teach school. Then, in 1964, he came with a

number of young people fiom the Anik church to attend the combined Berea Bible

School graduation and GPPIK Young People's Conference. He was already married,

but enjoyed the Company of the teens fkom Anik. At the conference, a brilliant

Chinese student, Djong Nam F d 4 , spoke on Isa. 6:8. He dramatically called out

"Who will go for me?" and had the young people sing a Song based on that verse.

Then he had them sing, "Here am 1, send me," and "So send I you." Damin felt God

caIling him and dedicated his life to Christ.

The sincerity of Damin's decision was immediately put to the test. Because

there were not enough buses to cary everyone back to their villages it was decided

63Sources of information: Clara Lima, Milton WI, to the author, 22 February 1997, in the hand of the author; Alice Shelley, Moncton MD, interview by author, 22 February 1997, telephone conversation, transcript in the hand of the author.

64Djong Nam Fu later took the name Andreas Junaidi. He graduated fiom Berea the same year he spoke at the conference, and later taught there. He became a farnous evangelist and church leader among the Chinese in West Kalimantan.

that those living in Anik would walk home and those living in villages some distance

inland fiom Anik would ride on the bus. Damin had aiways had a very proud bearing.

There was no way he would waik, while others had the pnvilege of nding on the bus!

Yet, somehow, Damin walked the seventeen kilometers back to Anik with the local

young people. Damin later said that this proved he really knew Christ, because it was

the Lord who made hirn walk. If it had been up to Damin himself, he would have

been on the bus!

Shortiy aflerwards, Damin gave up his teaching job and enrolled in Berea. He

was on his way to the school when he was arrested in Darit dong with two other

young men, Bahari and Saiyun. They were accused of spreading communist

propaganda and taken to jail in Ngabang. However, the only thing they were guilty of

was witnessing about their faith in Christ. The jail becarne their mission field for

several weeks.

Later, Darnin was released and was able to attend Bible School. He was

known for his loving and cheerful witness about Jesus wherever he went. While

attending Bible School, Damin did student work for missionary Alice Shelley.

Sometimes she would send hirn into Darit to buy supplies, but he always was gone for

a long tirne because he stopped to witness to just about everyone he met.

One time, d e r she had helped hirn to buy a new shirt, he came to ask for

money to buy another one. The first one he had given to his brother. That brother

eventually becarne a believer in Christ through the testimony of Damin. After

graduating in 1967, Darnin served in Ulu Tayan and then in Nyin, just north of

Ngabang. He had a prosperous ministry in Nyin, resulting in many believers. Many

students at Bible School in the following years testified that it was Darnin who led

them to the Lord.

Aller being moved to the pastorate in Kampet, Damin started to suffer

terrible stomach pains. He was sent to Bethesda Hospital in Senikam, where an

operation revealed cancer. The Doctors said there was no hope left for Damin.

Shortly after this, Darnin sat on Alice Shelley's fiont porch with tears streaming down

his face. He was not &aid to die, but he still wanted to go to more villages with the

Gospel. He was moved back to Anik to live close to the clinic. It was there he died

on August 12 1972. He maintained a good testimony right to the end of his life.

P. Mardius ma ai^^

Sumrnary:Mardius, of mixed Chinese and Dayak background, is a very comrnitted and capable man. He went to Bible school to find out more about the Bible, not to train for ministry. Mardius has been a key figure in the leadership of the GPPK for the 1st fifieen years. The Sebadu area (Daerah Empat) grew considerably fiom 1986 to 1996.

Mardius Apai was bom in Setabar on October 12, 1952, the son of a Chinese

father and a mother who was half Chinese and half Dayak. When in the fourth grade

at public school Mardius began going to a Sunday School held by Rev. Henry

Thiessen in the village of Simpang Pana, an hour's walk fiom Setabar. There, around

196 1, Mardiw first heard about the gospel through the songs on long play records.

The next year his parents started to follow the Protestant religion, but only nominally.

His mother became a tme believer in 1986. From 1962 on, Mardius began to attend

church functions such a s the Young People's group in Simpang Pana.

1969 was a significant year for Mardius. He graduated from Junior High

School and helped to iead the Young People's group which was coordinated by

Paulene Goodman fiom her home in Simpang Pana. He and other young people

traveled with Joe Goodman to villages to hold services. This was also the year his

father died, causing him a lot of stress, but it was also the time of his making a

65Sources of information: Mardius Apai, "Sejarah Singkat Berdirinya Gereja PPIK Daerah IV", DS , 8 February 1996, ADS, in the hand of the author; Mardius Apai, Senakin, inteniew by author, 7 October 1996, Senakin, tape recording, translated transcnpt in the hand of the author; Joseph Goodman, interview by author, ad., no transcnpt.

decision to follow Jesus. As he continued to visit in villages and to be active in

church activities, Mardius felt a need to study the Bible. He applied to Berea in 197 1,

not with any desire to go into the ministry, but to leam more about his faith.

Mardius spent the next three years at Berea. During the school break in 1972

he was baptized at Simpang Pana. He was at the top of his class academically, but

after graduation he returned to Setabar to open a small store. In October of 1973 he

began to get somewhat involved with ministry, visiting a few places. On March 7,

1974 Mardius married Rahe1.66 They worked together with the Young People's

ministry in Sirnpang Pana, with Rahel leading the women's group, and Mardius

preaching on weekends in area churches. His part-time ministry took him to Sebadu,

Mandor, Sumsum, and Pakumbang, to his home village of Setabar and, of course, to

Simpang Pana. As he leamed the ministry, he felt less fülfilled or at peace in his

business, even though he could make more rnoney in one day of business than he

would get in one month as a church worker. Rahel sewed clothes and Mardius

repaired bicycles during the day. Then, at around 4 PM they would head off to

ministry in a nearby village. Between 1976 and 1977 he was the busiest and most

influentid minister in Daerah Empat.67

In 1977 Mardius moved to pastor the Senakin church. Rahel worked with

Pauline Goodman to get women's groups started in Sebadu area churches. They held

the first area-wide women's conference in Sebadu, with sixteen attending. This was

the start of a yearly event which now draws hundreds of women.

661n his second year at Berea Mardius was almost expelled for his relationship to Rahel. However he challenged the school leaders by asking for help through the situation rather than be expelled.

6 7 ~ r e a Four, as the Sebadu church area was referred to.

In 1978 Mardius attended a teacher's college in Pontianak, and Rahel took

over his job as pastor.68 His schooling enabled him to teach the Protestant religion in

a local Senior High School. Then, in 198 1 and 1982, Rahel attended teacher's

college. On weekends she would travei home to be with her fmily and lead the

ladies group in the church. However, due to some altercation in the school, she never

received the diploma she had earned, and so never becarne a school teacher.69

In 1983 Mardius was elected assistant secretary of the GPPIK board, the BPP.

Over the next twelve years he was re-elected another three times, and in 1995 was

elected as the assistant leader of the GPPIK. His intelligent, self-assured manner and

his administrative abilities were highly valued by the church organization. However,

in 1985 he was asked to leave the Senakin church pastorate.70 Mardius attempted to

plant a church arnong the Chinese in the town of Sungai Pinyuh, on the coast fi@

6 8 ~ h e Indonesian government claimed equality for each of the five recognized religions (Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, and Protestant Christianity) and encouraged the teaching of religion in the schools. In 1978 the oppomuiity was given for the training of Protestant religion teachers. Mardius was one of the first PPIK men to respond. Part of his reasoning was that if pastors could be in some way self- sufficient then churches could continue to exist even when the missionaries were no longer present. Up to this time most church workers were quite dependent on the financial help they received fiom RBMU or from missionaries personally.

69~ahel daims her exarn registration number was given to someone else, therefore giving that person her mark. As a result, Rahel got the poor mark of the other student and did not get a high enough mark to qualifi for her diploma. This was a comrnon cornplaint among Dayaks toward the Batak teachers in the school. Batak students rarely failed, but rnany had very little knowledge of the Bible. Rahel only protested a bit, but then gave up as it seemed her protest was not taken senously by the school.

70~ardius" self-assured manner was taken by some to be pnde. In this, as in many other church situations, there was a certain amount of jealousy that came into play.

kilometers north of Pontianak. He became sick with tuberculosis that year. M e r a

lot of soul-searching, Mardius felt the need to make peace with the Sebadu area

church leaders and the Senakin church. The next year he was elected as the Ketua

Daerah and asked to return to pastor the Senakin church. He served as Ketuu Duerah

for the next nine years. Iiis estimate is that the Sebadu area of churches increased

frorn eight in 1975 to fourteen in 1985 to thirty-one by 1 995.7

Between 1989 and 199 1, Mardius served as the Principal of the GPPIK high

school in Jelimpo. This meant a lot of traveling. Though he only had to be at the

school once or twice a week, it was a four hour round trip by motorcycle. He was

also teaching high school in Senakin, served on the BPP, and was the Keiua Daerah.

In October of 1989, Rahel was hospitalized for two months with severe arnebic

dysentery. Five months after her return home, they were involved in a motorcycle

accident while on the way to the wedding of a CO-worker? Taken to the hospital,

they were forced to rest for two weeks. This gave them oppominity to take stock of

their lives. They were too busy, aiways on the go. They had not spent enough time in

prayer. They realized that the Lord's servant should not be overly concemed about

financiai gain. Too much work does not always mean more money. On their way

home fiom the hospitai, the vehicle they were nding in had an accident with a

motorcycle, and the things they had been leaming seemed even more clear. But it was

difficult to not be involved when there were so many oppomuiities to serve.

In 1992, Mardius resigned from his pastorate, but stayed on as Ketua Duerah,

visiting on a rotating basis the thirty-two churches in the area. Rahel, meanwhile,

7 I ~ a r d i u s Apai, "Sejarah Singkat Berdiiinya Gereja PPIK Daerah IV".

%fier they hit a sixty kilogram pig on the highway, apparently the only thing that wasn't darnaged was the wedding present.

served as pastor in Longkong, a nearby village where she had planted a church. She

sold small cakes and cookies to school children in order to make more money. From

1993 to 1995 Mardius was in charge of the church in Ngabang, and spent a lot of tirne

traveling there. In 1986, Mardius was the biggest supporter of a financial self-

sufficiency plan that some RBMU missionaries presented to the church. The plan was

to help churches learn to support their pastors by initially giving money to the

churches so that they could pay better wages. The pastor would then be held

responsible to a certain job description. Initial1 y, qualiQing churches were given Rp.

40.000,- per Each following year the amount given the church by the

mission would decrease by twenty-five per cent and the church would be responsible

to increase their part by that same amount. The plan was successhl in only a few

places, but it showed that Dayaks could leam to give. 74

Mardius continued to be in the forefiont of progressive thought for the PPIK.

His energy and enthusiasm were never darnpened. In honor of his cornmitment,

leadership and contributions to the work of GPPIK he was ordained in 1995.75 Later

73This amount was equal to about $40.00 at the time. A $40.00 wage was considered good, because the Pastor also was able to work on the side. Many families supported their families on less. The incentive was to get pastors to spend more time working with their congregations, which would hopefblly result in higher wages fiom the church. Pastors could then spend even more time in ministry.

74This plan was unsuccessfùl in many places because either the pastor would not hlfill his job description or the church would repeatedly fail to give. In other places the churches went on to be self-sufficient to a degree.

750rdination in the GPPIK was conceived of more as an honor bestowed on faithful men than as a requirement for ministry. The Ordination Cornmittee of 199495, of which the author was a member, bent the d e s in order to ordain Mardius. Full-time govemment workers (Mardius was a school teacher) were not eligible for ordination, but Mardius had done more for the church than many "Ml-time" pastors.

that year he was elected as Wakil Ketua of the GPPIK leadership board. He feels his

gifts lie in the area of leadership, administration and encouragement, rather than as a

pastor.

Summary:Yahya was headed toward becoming a shaman when he accepted Chnst. He was challenged to do things with al1 his might. Financial help from missionaries has helped him to support his family.

Yahya was born in 1946 in the village of Duling, about ten kilometers fiom

the Governrnent center of Menjalin. He was the second of twelve brothers and sisters,

the children of illiterate parents. His grandfather was a shaman. Yahya wanted to

follow his grandfather's occupation, but his father forbid it. Yahya attended a

Catholic school where Christ was talked about, but sdvation was not. When, in 196 1,

Yahya's farnily first heard about the gospel, they rejected it. There was much

animosity between Cathoiics and Protestants. In 1966, Yahya began to reconsider

what he had heard about following Christ. Later that year, when his younger brother

got very sick, the farnily called a witch doctor, and invited everyone fiom the village

to corne to a ceremony. However, the brother died. Soon &er this, RBMU

missionary Henry Thiessen and PPIK evangelist Maras were visiting in Yahya's

village. It was then that Yahya tmly understood the gospel and became a believer.

Shortly &er this he attended the GPPIK-wide youth conference in Ansang. A

Chinese Evangelist, Pdt. Stephen Tong, was invited to speak at week-long

76Sources of information: Yahya, Gusing, interview by author, 8 October 1996, Gusing, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author.

Penyegaran Rohani meetings in ~enjalin.77 There, Yahya was challenged that if he

wanted to be a Hamba Tuhan, he must do so wholeheartedly and must willingly

sacrifice himself to the ~ord.78

The very next year, 1967, Yahya's comrnjtment to serve Christ met its first big

challenge. As the demonstration against the Chinese unfolded, many Dayaks reverted

to their animistic ways. Hundreds of Chinese were slaughtered. The word went out

that any Dayaks not joining the uprising against the Chinese would themselves be

killed or forced out of the villages. Yahya, during the two worst weeks of the

uprising, got a crash course in serving. He moved in with Pdt. Henry Thiessen, who

was helping the Chinese flee to safety in the coastal towns of Sungai Pinyuh and

Singkawang. It was almost a year after this very intense expenence that Yahya

dedicated his life to full-time ministry. He immediately determined to attend the

Berea Bible School. At the end of his first year, other challenges came. His mother

died in childbirth, and relatives wanted her to be buried the animistic way. Yahya,

however, insisted that they would not follow that way anymore. After this, Yahya's

father wanted him, as the oldest son, to stay home and take over the f m . But, Yahya

was detennined to return to Bible School, even though he did not have enough money

to do so. Through making his own garden at school, gathering firewood for the

missionary teachers, and receiving some financial help fiom a missionary, Yahya was

able to make it through his next two years.79

77~eeper life, or revival meetings, literally "spirihial refieshment".

7 8 ~ Hamba Tuhan is a church worker, literally "servant of the Lord".

7 9 ~ large number of students at Berea went through school this way. As the years progressed and more students went on to higher education, it seemed their parents could f i o r d to pay high tuition and board and room if their children were in

In 1969 and 1970, while studying at Berea, Yahya was able to visit the

villages of Gelar and Sompak, in the Menjalin area during his holidays. During one

eventfui evangelistic visit, thirty-five families professed faith in Christ, and offered to

bum their fetishes and husa gelap. Several of those families have remained steadfast

to this day as leaders in the church. From there, Yahya was aiso involved in

witnessing to surrounding villages which were still primitive and steeped in animism.

By the end of 1970, after graduating from Berea, Yahya becarne an itinerant

evangelist, working with Henry Thiessen, from whom he received wages. Yahya was

married in 1972, d e r which he started thinking about trying to plant a church in

Toho, about fifieen kilometers south of Menjalin. With help from Pdt. Thiessen,

Yahya was able to purchase some land in Gusing, about half way between Toho and

Takong. While working as a f m e r in order to support his family, Yahya served both

these places for several years. Sunday moming he would lead a service in Toho, then

in the aftemoon and evening he would be in Takong. In 1975, Yahya was elected as

the head elder for the Menjalin area, necessitating a move to Menjalin. In 1979 he

moved back to Toho and his home in Gusing. The next year, he was sent to Java by

the GPPIK to take a year of M e r training. By the end of 198 1 he retumed from

Java and moved again to Menjaiin. Pdt. Thiessen had retumed to Canada, and a solid

leader was needed to coordinate the work in the Menjalin area. At the end of 1984,

Yahya and his family moved back to their home in Gusing and the ministry in Toho.

He has remained there till the present time. In 1985, Yahya becarne the second man

to be ordained by the GPPIK. The nea year he was elected as the vice-president of

secular schools, but when it came to Bible School training with such reasonable tuition they could never afford it. Were it not for the generous giving of the missionaries, Bible school nurnbers would have been a lot smaller.

the denornination, holding this position for the next six years. In 1992, Yahya was

asked to be Penasihat BPP dong with Napi Gading, and rernains in that position

today. He and his wife have two sons, Hardianus and Handi, and two daughters,

Berta and Beliana.

R. Paul Nyerom Kanohso

Summary:The church finally ordained a man in 1972. They went through some severe growing pains in the early 1 9801s, late 19801s, and early 1990's. There was quite a struggle conceniing finances and power. Paul was a very smart and capable leader. He helped the GPPIK to find its own identity. There were some sharp disagreements with RBMU, mostly over money issues. Both the church and the missionaries grew in their understanding of each other.

As a young boy growing up in the village of Sebetu, Paul Nyerom Kanohg1

showed considerable leadership ability. He first heard about Christ through the

Sunday School ministry of Mrs. Dora Memtt. Subsequent to this, Miss Ingrid Stippa,

another RBMU missionary, saw a lot of potential in Paul. While in Junior High

School in Ngabang he was asked to be the president of the Young People's group at

Anik. It was during baptism classes in 1962 that Paul decided to follow Christ. He

immediately dedicated his life to full-time ministry. Following baptism, Paul enrolled

at Berea Bible School in order to prepare for ministry.

During his years at Berea, Paul was chosen as the President of the PPIK

Young People's Committee. When a PII congress was held in Ujung Pandang on the

80~ources of information: Joseph C. Goodman, "Growing Pains in Church- Mission Relationships," B a 3 1, no. 4 (October-December 1980): 2-3; Paul Nyerom Kanoh, Pontianak, interview by author, 1 October 1996, Pontianak, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author; RBMU Kalimantan "Field Executive Committee minutes: 1978 to 1 992", World Tearn 2476 Argentia Road #203 Mississauga ON L5N 6M 1.

8% his earlier yean in the church, Paul was known simply as Nyerom.

island of Sulawesi, Napi Gading, the PPIK president, asked Paul to accompany him.

In Ujung Pandang, Paul was able to visit Jaffhy Theological School, a Christian and

Missionary Alliance seminary. Rehiming from the Congress, Paul was determined to

go back to Jafiay for M e r studies once he graduated fiom Berea. His dream came

m e , for, after finishing at Berea, Paul was helped by RBMU missionaries to return to

Ujung Pandang.

Upon his retum from Ujung Pandang in 1969, Paul was asked to teach at

Berea Bible School. Before taking this position, he was urged by Gudnin Lima to

visit the entire GPPIK area. Clara Lima lent Paul a bicycle so that he could make

betier time traveling the trails. He first went to Senakin and Sebadu, where Pdt. Joe

Goodman took him to al1 the churches in that area. Then he traveled to Menjalin,

visiting the churches in that area with Pdt. Henry Thiessen. From there he traveled to

Tikalong, where Pd.. Jack Wilson accompanied him to churches. Paul returned via

Anik to the Ansang area and got better acquainted with churches in those areas. Next

came a major trek into Bentiang and Pare and into the newly entered Serimbu area.

AAer retuming from this trek, Paul accompanied Pdt. Olav Nyheim to the Ulu Tayan

area, traveling by bus, motorcycle and boat. Paul ended the year by helping to teach

songs to the Berea classes for the upcoming Graduation ceremonies. In 1970, Paul

mmied Christiana, a Javanese who also taught at Berea. For the next six years he

taught various courses at Berea. During this time he also helped to pastor the Ansang

church, where his uncle Otto Kanoh was the pastor. In 1972 he became the first

ordained minister in the GPPIK. At the 1973 triennial meetings, Paul was elected as

Secretary of the denominational leadership board.

In 1977 Paul and his wife Christiana moved to Pontianak in order to start a

church there fiom among d l the PPIK people seeking education or jobs in the city.

They moved into the Gamaliel dormitory, supervising the d o m in exchange for living

quarters. Paul pastored the group that met together in the dormitory each week. In

1978 Paul was also elected for a two year term as Kefua Umum of the GPPIK.

Classes in Social Politics at the University of Tanjungpura, dong with a

growing awareness of the financial stmggles within the PPIK, led Paul to wrestle with

questions about the church's relationship to RBMU. Westemers were, up to this

point, providing financial backing for the expansion of the PPIK, including wages for

workers and moneys for the construction of church buildings, and that money was

always directly handled by the missionaries. Some questioned whether it would not

be better for the GPPIK to receive this money with no strings attached and then

administer it as the church leaders saw fit. Another problem which perplexed many of

the Dayaks was that missionaties dways had more money than any of the Dayaks.

Perhaps the mission should become a part of the national church and the wealth

shouId be spread around more evenly. This led to some serious actions by Paul. In

eariy 1980, he confionted RBMU Kalimantan Barat Field Chairman, Joe Goodman

and a nurnber of junior missionaries with an ultimatum.

The Mission must be dissolved and al1 missionaries become employees of the national church. The executive body of the national church must be invested with greater power and established in its role as the ruling authority of the PPIK churches. Al1 h d s will be channeled through and controlled by the central body. Decisions conceming placement of personnel and the program of the church will be made by this top level body. We must prepare now for the friture wlien we will not have the help of the missionaries. These changes are essential to the survival of the church and should be implemented irnmediately.82

This action was very dishubing to the missionaries, especially those who had

not only risked their lives in order to bnng the Gospel to Kalimantan but had also

82Joseph C. Goodman, translated quote of Paul N. Kanoh, "Growing Pains in Church-Mission Relationships": 2.

done their utmost over the last thirty years to help train nationals in the work of the

ministry . %gs settled down when the PPIK churches heard about this plan. Church

representatives attended a general GPPIK conference and voted in favor of keeping

things the way they were. Another man, Ropino Saheran, was elected in 1980 as the

new Ketuo Umum. Not long after this, a new church building was erected in another

part of town.83 Paul and his family soon moved into the parsonage wing of the new

church. Besides pastoring the Bukil Zaitun congregation, Paul also taught in a school

that trained "Protestant Religion Teachen". Christiana, a very talented teacher

herself, taught in a pnvate Chinese Christian schooi. She was also a favorite speaker

at Women's conferences throughout the GPPIK and helped with the promotion of

Christian Education in the chuches.

In 1986 Paul was again elected as the Ketua Umunt, and kept this position for

six years. During this time there was a lot of expansion. Some RBMü-sponsored

men came back to Kalimantan fiom seminaries in Java in the late 1980's and

appropriate places of service were needed for them. The Evangelism Commission of

the church was able to open up two new centers, one in Pahauman and the other in

Balai Karangan. Pahauman was a strong Catholic area bordering Area II, Area IV

and Area VI11 of the PPIK. Balai Karangan was near the Sarawak border and had

considerable potential for outreach to the surrounding area.84 The money for the

83Like most of the GPPIK churches in major centers, this building was heavily financed by North American moneys channeled through RBMU.

84Both these church planting works have done very well and are continuing to grow.

ventures was rnainly funded by RBMU, but the church did have a small yet significant

part. By late 1994, these churches were able to support themselves.

During this tirne GPPIK sought to define their identity as an indigenous body.

According to Paul and others the dependency on RBMU for fûnding was not

necessarily bad, as long as the mission did not insist on the church being accountable

to the mission. Another source of tension was the feeling by many that the Ketua

Umum should be full-time and not be tied down to a church and several other jobs. A

problem here was that there was not enough money coming in fiom the various areas

in order to pay a proper salary. Paul made a deal with RBMU leaders. If they would

help him to secure a house he would resign fiom his pastorate and otherj~br a w l work

full time as Ketua U m m . The mission, however, would have to help the church

supply the wage. This seemed agreeable to everyone, but another man, Stephanus

Kasman, was elected as Ketua Urnum in the 1992 elections. Paul was elected as the

assistant to the leader, but he found it dificult to go fiom the top position to a

subordinate one. He then began to pastor the church in Mempawah and remains in

that capacity at the time of this writing. Paul and Chris have three children, R o ~ y ,

Paula, and Rudy.

S. Nasepianus UmafiS

Summary:Healing the sick was an oppomuiity for witness. A young man in the city soon got tangled in the worldly lifestyle. A crisis situation helped him to come to Christ. Honesty and integrity have helped him witness. There were struggles in the Pontianak church. Through these struggles, Nasep has grown in his faith.

Nasep was bom in his parents' pondok ladang (rice field hut) near the village

of Pelaik, in 195 L .86 He was the third of six sons and a daughter. His parents first

heard the Gospel around 1955, but Umar, Nasep's father, strongly disliked Chnstians

because he believed they were destroying Dayak culture. Then came a time in 1957

when Nasep's oldest brother, Daros, was very sick. Witch doctor after witch doctor

was called to heal him, with no success. In desperation, Umar asked the church elders

fiom Anik and Sebetu to come to his place for a service. Perhaps they could get their

God to heal Daros. The elders came, dong with Pd. Memtt, Sylvia Sirag, and hoards

of other villagers. Umar's reputation for hating Christians was well known, so this

tum of events was big news. That evening, Umar and his wife and oldest son became

%fornation supplied by: Nasepianus Umar, Pontianak, interview by author, 24 October 1996, Pontianak, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author.

86~asepianus has been known as "Nasep" since he was a young boy. Pelaik is situated about three kilometers east of Anik. 1 95 1 is the date written in Nasepianus' school documents. He was actuaily bom a few years before that, but whatever is written in one's Elernentary School Certificate (grade six) is legally binding.

followea of Jesus and burned al1 their fetishes. From this day onward, Umar took d l

his children to Sunday School and church.

From grade four to grade six, Nasep went to the GPPIK school in Anik.

There, he studied the Bible in school and was also obligated to attend al1 church

functions. In order to go to Junior High School Nasep had to go to the t o m of

Ngabang. Here, in learning to live by himself, and having no church to attend or

religious lessons in school, he soon got out of the habit of being religious. Only when

he was home in Pelaik did he attend services, just to kcep his parents happy. They

were both illiterate, and so did not teach their children to have a time of Bible reading

each day.

In 1967, Nasep rnoved to Pontianak in order to attend a Teacherts ~ o l l e ~ e * ~ .

There he found church very bonng and unattractive. He went to a number of

churches, even the Roman Catholic church, following wherever his fnends went.

Mostly, the young people wanted to be with other young people. The boys fiorn the

dormitory were more interested in meeting girls than in hearing a sermon. The city

offered Nasep freedom From parental influence, and he soon found himself garnbling,

stealing, getting drunk, smoking and going to t h e a t e r ~ . ~ ~ Living at a student

dormitory that was not well supervised, Nasep continued this lifestyle into his second

year of teaching school in Pontianak.

In 1972, while traveling home on a bus to Pelaik, Nasep's life was changed.

The bus was approaching a place on a mountain where vehicles would often fall down

87~n those days, Jr. High School was the only prerequisite for entenng Teacher's College.

88~ttitudes toward smoking, drinking alcohol and going to movies varies among Christians. Nasep now strongly believes these were wrong for him.

a steep ravine. Nasep was very scared. He heard a voice Say, "Nasep, if today the bus

were to fall into the ravine and you died, where would you go?" Nasep knew about

Jesus fiom his younger years, and had memorized many Bible verses, but he had

never made a personal cornmitment to Jesus. In the middle of his stniggle with fear

Nasep heard a gentle voice calling, "Corne, follow me." Right there on the bus Nasep

repented of his hypocritical lifestyle and asked Jesus to corne into his life. By the

time he had finished praying, the bus had passed the danger zone.

M e r this, sermons started to make sense to Nasep, and were no longer boring.

He enjoyed going to church and began to study his Bible. The desire for a worldly

lifestyle was gone. He soon moved to Asrama Gamaliel (Gamaliel Donnitory) which

RBMU missionaries, Olav and Gloria Nyheirn had just opened up in Pontianak.

There was no GPPIK church in the city at the tirne, so most students at Gamaliel went

to the GPKB church a block away. Pastor Barnabas Sirnin was a former GPPIK

worker. Some students went to other churches in town.

In 1974, after Barnabas Simin was asked to leave the GPKB, church services

were started at the Gamaliel dom.89 Young people fiom various denominations,

including KINGMI, GPPIK and YAPPM, attended. A Berea graduate, Peter Lehon,

led services at the d o m for a year. The Nyheims kept close contact with the boys at

the dormitory Nasep was discipled by the Nyheims, and was baptized in December

of 1975. The next year, Nasep got married and rented a smail house. Another newly

married man, Sadian, took it upon hirnself to choose elders for the Gamaliel "church".

A graduate of Berea, he designated himself the leader and Nasep his assistant. Nasep,

89~pparently there was a question of immoral conduct toward a female member of the church. Barnabas Simin had previously been asked to leave both the GPPIK and the IUNGMI denominations because of misuse of church h d s .

however, refused, since this was not in line with the GPPIK way of doing things.

People should not be self-appointed, but elected. In the ensuing dispute, Napi Gading,

then President of the GPPIK, was called in to settle the matter. Sadian backed down,

but one evening took away al1 the benches and started his own church elsewhere in

the city under the auspices of Gereja Isa Almaseh. Most of the students, except for a

few faithfid GPPIK students followed him. Nasepianus was able to confront Sadian

personally and get the benches back for the d o n . This was the beginning of the

GPPIK church in Pontianak. Eventually the KINGMI students were able to begin

their o m church.

During this time and for the next few years, Nasep and his young wife

stniggled financidly. It was far more expensive to live in the city than in the village,

and the meager teacher's wage was not enough for them. Nasep worked on the side,

doing carpentry, growing vegetables and running a small store out of their home. He

was an elder in the Pontianak church for the next fifteen years.

Various persons helped lead services at Gamaliel d o m until 1980, when Paul

Kanoh and his wife Christiana came to be live-in dormitory supeMsors. Paul becarne

the pastor of the young GPPIK dormitory church . Soon, with a rapidly growing

congregation, the move was made to erect a new church building.90 With RBMü

providing eighty per cent of the $50,000.00 total cost, the GPPIK built the Gereja

Bukir Znitun (Mount of Olives Church). At first services were held upstairs in the

two-story building, with most of the main floor used for a parsonage. Part of the

building was also used as an office for the GPPIK Denominational Board. Later, as

90The growth was not due to any evangelistic outreach, but rather to the fact that more and more GPPIK people were moving to the city. AAer a while a Sunday School was started for Chinese children in the cornmunity of the new building, but this died out after a few years.

more funds became available, a huge sanctuary was built ont0 the fkont of the

building.

Nasep continued to grow as a Christian, and over the next fifteen years held

leadership positions in the local church, usually as the chairman of the elder board.

He was elected Treasurer for the GPPIK board in 1986 and was re-elected in 1989,

but resigned fiom this post in 1990 due to stress resulting fkom holding too many

significant offices. At the tirne he was also treasurer for YAPENKRI (the private

school association under GPPIK 1eadership)and for the cornmittee in charge of

building a new dormitory and Senior High School. On the donnitory and school

building committee Nasep was responsible for many things, such as purchasing and

moving materials, negotiating wages and taking care of al1 the government paper

work. Because he lived close to the construction site, he was expected to take care of

al1 the work. A lack of responsibility on the part of other committee members

resulted in an overload for the ever diligent Nasep.

Then questions came up as to the use of the moneys from the sale of the old

Gamaliel dormitory building. Though Nasep was not at fault, accusations from

certain parties implicated his involvement. The pressure was too rnuch, and Nasep

resigned from al1 three positions.

Over the years Nasep proved his faithfulness to the Lord through his teaching

position and in his neighborhood. He rose to the position of Kzpala Sekoiah

(Principal, literally "Head of the School") in a school where most of the students and

teachers were Moslem, and was also elected as KepaZa R. T. (Head of the

neighborhood), in a predominantly Moslem area. His honesty and integrity have been

a constant testimony to those who know him. He credits RBMU missionaries Olav

Nyheim and Darrel Davis for helping him to grow spirituaily over the years.

T. Keha Cabang9'

Surnrnary:A notorious witch doctor came to Christ. God used a diarnond to bring him to where he would truly hear the gospel. His wife was attracted to the Gospel many years before. He becarne a church leader before he accepted Christ. Many people wanted to become Christians. Bahari opened the work. Lots of villages started churches. Keha went to Bible School as an older man with little education. He started the church in Sempatung. A move to evangelize the Sekayam area was thwarted by a liberal church.

Born in the village of Sepangah in 1930, Keha Cabang grew up to be a

notorious witch doctor, delving like few others in his time into the realm of the evil

spirits. Known throughout the Landak River regions of Kalimantan, Keha was much

sought &er for healing fiom diseases and for fetishes to ward off evil spirits. His

livelihood came From performing healing ceremonies and selling various sticks,

stones and small pieces of paper on which he had incanted magic formulas. In order

to make his fetishes, Keha would wait for the spirits to come to him out of the river,

or Rom various trees or animals. He would write Arabic sayings on paper using ink

made fiom blood fiom the liver of a special type of chicken, or if someone had

recently died of tuberculosis, from the blood they had coughed up. This was then held

up over the smoke from the buming of a special herb. The resulting fetish had power

911nformation supplied by: Keha Cabang, Sepangah, interview by author, 17 October 1996, Sepangah, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author; Udin Lolong, Sempatung, interview by author, 18 October 1996, Sepangah, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author. The author had the privilege of working with Keha in the Serimbu area for almost twelve years.

to protect people fiom sicknesses. When he was younger, his mother did not want

him to get any M e r education, so he burned his elementary school diplorna and al1

his books. He gave up writing and reading, instead tuming to the spirit world.

In 195 1, Keha married a girl from the Sempatung area. This was not well

received by many Sempatung people. A few years later, his wife went out to the Darit

area with her father to attend a wedding feast of a relative. There, she heard a Bible

message fiom Proverbs, as well as a lot of singing. While at Ansang, she cut her foot

on some bamboo. Someone prayed for her that the bleeding would stop, and it did.

At the home of a man named Setia, she heard his very convincing testimony. These

things made an impression on her. Setia often smuggled goods across the Malaysian

border. As one of the trails went through Serimbu, Setia stopped in witness to Keha

and his wife, but Keha would not listen. It would be alrnost twelve years before he

would hear the Gospel again.

Then, in 1964, Keha suddenly became nch. One day's work netted Keha one-

tenth of the profit fiom a 20 karat industrial grade diamond. His cut alone was

Rp.2.000.000,- (hvo million rupiahs), equal to about five thousand dollars at the time.

He and his brother-in-law, Juni, went to Ngabang where they set up a rice-hulling

business. Keha bought the hulling machine for Rp. 1.200.000,- and Juni ran it for him.

Still living in Sepangah, Keha often made the two day trek to Ngabang to check in on

his business. Later, Keha moved the rice machine to Anik, where a man named Lisu

ran it for him. But Lisu was a gambler, and soon gambled away al1 of Keha's profits.

The move to Anik was part of God's plan to bring the Gospel to the Serimbu

area. Keha ofien visited Anik, and on one visit in 1966 was invited by a good fiend

named Dolah to attend a prayer meeting. It was here that Keha first heard the story of

Jesus Christ. Keha was strangely attracted, and made up his mind to attend a Sunday

Wonhip Service as well. Though he was not moved to become a believer at the tirne,

Keha felt that the Protestant religion had some merit to it. It was so different nom

the animism that he had grown up with, no getting dnuik, no fighting.

What he had heard and seen had a powemil effect on his thinking and he asked

that evangelists corne to the Senmbu area so that his village could hear about it, too.

When Keha returned to Sepangah and told his wife that they must follow God, she

replied, " What happens then if we get sick? We won't be able to belenggung (have a

healing ceremony) anymore." He responded that they could always get medicine, and

they would have to trust God. Shortly afler this she had a miscarriage, her third.

Others urged them to belenggang, but they refused. Afîer she got better, people said

Keha was still in the healing business. But he had already quit his fetish and healing

business, and he began talking to others about this new religion he had heard and

seen. Many people Iaughed at Keha's determination to follow "religion". Meanwhile,

both Juni and Lisu became believers while in Anik.

Then came the Dayak upnsing against the Chinese in late 1967, when al1 of

the Chinese in the intenor of Kalimantan were forced to evacuate.92 Many were

killed. Keha was asked to join the cause, but refused, and chose to stay in Sepangah.

At this time, RBMU missionary Gudrun Lima was visiting the Senmbu area and was

forced to stay there for two weeks. The Dayaks in Sepangah, including Keha, made

sue she was taken care of amidst the fienzied outbreak of violence.

Several months later, two young evangelists, Adjer and Ahai , were sent to the

Senmbu area to continue the work of spreading the gospel, beginning with Keha's

village, Sepangah. Later, an enthusiastic and brave young evangelist named Bahari

92- XiX, no. 1 (January-March 1967) 1 0,14; Elmer Warkentin, Singapore, to Les and Helen Brown, Wolf Point Montana, December 5 1967, original in the hand of Ruth Warkentin, 32 137 DeBreen Crescent Abbotsford BC V2T 1 H3.

was sent from the Anik area to begin the PPIK work in Sepangah. By this tirne, Keha

had been elected by the Sepangah villagers as the head of the church.93 Bahari used

Keha for his own protection. Knowing the propensity of his own race for poisoning

enemies, Bahari at first refùsed to eat anything unless Keha was willing to eat it. He

reasoned that if Keha would eat it, then it must be pure, but if Keha refused, obviously

the food had been poisoned. In this way, Bahari worked closely with Keha, and

eventually led him to repentance. But it was not by receiving Christ that Keha left his

old ways of life. He had already done so before this.

Bahari started a GPPIK school in Sepangah. With al1 the eager new followers

of Agama Protestan (the Protestant Religion) a school building, which doubled as a

church, was erected in no time. Bahari was a very faithful and diligent witness,

visiting in people's homes most evenings. With Keha as a guide, Bahari started

visiting villages in the Senmbu district. As people showed an interest in following

the Lord, churches were started in Jambu, Dange Aji, Indiak, Engkangin, Nyari,

Nyayum, Sekendal, and Kelepuk.

The desire to be a part of this new way led many to seek Christian baptism.

Baptism and church membership were foremost in many people's minds. The status

of being a part of this new movement was the driving force behind what at first looked

like a great awakening. Scores of people lined up to be baptized, professing their

readiness to give up their old ways of drinking, smoking, garnbling, chewing betel

93Having heard through Keha and some others of this new religion, the villagers formed a group. The mode of choosing elders for the church was that those of prominence in the village would naturally be nominees for leadership in the church. This method of selecting church leaders was to piague the GPPIK for many years. Rather than adhere to biblical standards for choosing leadership, churches often allowed the nch, the educated or the influential to lead them, even if those persons showed no signs of spiritual life.

nut,94 and animistic practices. Keha, like many others in the Serimbu area, fust

received "religion" by forsaking his old way of life. True repentance came a few

years later. Sadly, this was not tnie for many others who were baptized. Proudly

holding on to their status as orang Kristerz (Christian), yet without the indwelling

Holy Spirit to help them, many Dayaks at first renounced their sinful and animistic

lifestyles only to fa11 right back into them within a short while. Others, perhaps

sincere, were not discipled and soon lost their joy in the Christian life. A lack of

spiritual food, combined with the pressures of their village peers, soon starved these

young believers spiritually. Like the seed sown among the rocks in the Parable of the

Sower and the Seed, there was not enough depth to sustain new life for very long.

By this time, Keha and his wife had adopted one of her sister's children, a boy

whom Bahari narned " Isak" because Keha had received a son in his old age. Keha

was known hereafter as Bapak Isak.

Keha struggled with a major problem. How could he effectively tell people

about the Bible with only a grade three education and no real understanding of the

Bible himself? In 1971, when Pdt. Warkentin was up in Sepangah, Keha inquired

about the possibility of someone with very little education going to Bible School for a

year. This was an irregular request, as the entrance requirement was a grade six

diplorna. Warkentin's reply was, "Boleh untuk orang tudt(Okay for an old man,).

That year Keha began school, graduating in 1974. Shortly after this he moved up into

the Sempatung area to start a work there. After a church was established in

Sempatung, Keha and others began to look toward the Sekayarn Ulu area, north east

94"Betel" nut (seed of the Areca cathecu palm) is chewed for its narcotic effects.

of Sempatung toward the Sarawak border.95 Contacts were made in the villages of

Suruh Engkaduk and Sunih Tembawang, but another church group, the GPIB (Gereja

Protestan Indonesia Baiak), got goveniment backing to keep the GPPIK out of that

area. While in Sempatung Keha adopted two daughters, both orphans.

In 198 1, Keha moved back down to Sepangah and shortly afterwards became

the pastor of Jemoat E h in the village of Tepo. Most of the people living there were

originally From the Sempatung area. Keha served there for twelve years. He moved

outside of Tepo in 1987 to the land his father had owned. In 1991 Keha started to

have trouble breathing due to emphysema, and in 1993 he retired fiom active

ministry. Contemplating his life in retrospect, Keha gave the following testimony:

As long as we were active in ministry we were happy, even though it was very difficult. Because the work we did was the Lord's work. 1 just did it. 1 give thanks to God the Father enthroned in Heaven. I was redeemed fkom sin and given the opportunity to serve in His work ... 1 was given an abundance of money so 1 could go back and forth to Anik. It was there that 1 received a new name, the name Christian. And (fiom there the Gospel) came to Sepangah.96

9 5 ~ s in most other cases, this was a combined effort between the RBMU and the GPPIK. The Sempatung story can be found in this research under the subheading Udin Lolong, p.p. 105- 1 14.

96Keha Cabang, Sepangah, to the author, 17 October 1996, transcript in hand of author.

U. Ropino Saheran97

Summary:Saheran, from a Catholic background, came to Christ. He worked very closely with an RBlMU missionary. Together they church planted in the new area of Jelimpo fiom 1973 to 1983. GPPIK received some churches fiom another denomination in 1974. Elders semùiars were started to help elders learn more about the ministry. As Ketua Umum he moved to Pontianak in 1983. Saheran was sent for M e r training, but evenhially left the PPIK.

Born in Tikalong in 1950, the third child of a witch doctor, Ropino Saheran

was raised with an awareness of the evil spirits. His father had a collection of human

skulls in their home. Saheran went to a Catholic school for elementary and junior

high education. It was in 1968 while in this school that he accepted Christ as his

Saviour. Part of the reason for his conversion was the witness of RBMU missionary

Jack Wilson who had moved into Tikalong in 1965. Saheran was very diligent in

studying the Bible and fellow shipping with other believers. Before he was baptized

on December 10, 1968, Saheran destroyed al1 the skulls that were stored in his father's

house.

Saheran, dong with several other young people fiom his village, enrolled in

Berea Bible School in 1969. He graduated in 197 1, and irnmediately rnoved to

971nformation supplied by: Ropino Saheran, "Kesaksian Pertobatan Pengaiaman Rohani dan Kehidupan Pelayanan," TD 6 March 1997, original in the hand of the author; Clara Lima, Milton, WI, to the author, 22 February 1997, transcript in the hand of the author; Jack Wilson, Surrey BC, interview by author, 22 February 1997, telephone conversation, hand written notes in the hand of the author.

Sebadu, where Pdt. Wilson had moved temporarily. They worked together there for a

year, as Wilson trained Saheran in the ministry. In early 1973, the Wilsons moved to

Jelimpo, eighteen kilometers east of Ngabang, to open up a new church area for the

G P P I K ~ ~ . Saheran moved with them, and spent that year visiting villages in the area.

The following year, YAPPM (Yayasan Persekutuun Pengabaran Injil) and the

GPPIK decided to re-align their borders. Several churches started by YAPPIN were

transferred to the GPPIK. At the first meeting of elders fiom al1 the churches in the

extended area, Saheran was elected as its leading administrative director. The next

year he rnanied Lusiana, who had just graduated fiorn Berea Bible School.

In 1980, at the triennial convention of the GPPIK, Saheran was elected Ketua

Umum. From his home at Jelimpo, Saheran administrated the workings of the

denomination. He was very diligent also in visiting ail the GPPIK areas, and brought

a new perspective to the church leadership, being the first Ketua Umum ftom outside

the Menyuke (Darit) area.99 During this time Saheran worked with Jack Wilson in

developing seminars for elders. O0

In 1983, Saheran was re-elected as Kelua Umurn. B y this time the GPPIK

considered it very important that its leader should Iive in Pontianak, the Capital city of

the province. However, the only housing available was a small apartment on the side

of the Bukit Zaitun church. Next door in the same building was the Pastor of the

98The Jelimpo area was the eighth geographic area within the GPPIK work. It was therefore narned Daerah Delapan, (Area Eight).

99Clara Lima, Milton, WI, to the author, 22 February 1997; Jack Wilson, Surrey, BC, interview by author, 22 Febniary 1997.

1OO~ursu.s Alkitab Pemimpin Jernaat (KAPJE)

church and former Ketua Umum, Pdt. Paul Kanoh, and right upstairs was the GPPIK

office. Though Saheran was very diligent in his job, there were many problems. He

eventually bought a home outside of the city and began to plant a church in his new

neighbourhood.

At the next Sidang Umum Saheran was not nominated for re-election. The

following year, 1986, sponsored by RBMU, Saheran and his family left for

Yogyakarta, Java to begin five years of seminary training at STII (the Evangelical

Theological Seminary of Indonesia). He suffered from a nurnber of physical ailrnents,

including a back problem needing surgery, sinus infections, and diabetes. Upon his

return to Kalimantan in 199 1, Saheran was appointed Rektor (Academic Dean) of

Ikstittrt Teologia Berea (formerly Berea Bible School). This only lasted for one year,

as it was logistically impossible for Saheran to live on campus in Ansang while his

wife held a govemment teaching position in Pontianak.

Saheran soon becarne Rektor of a satellite school for STII in the city of

Pontianak. Seeking a church to work in, Saheran offered to work as a church planter

out of the Bukit Zoitun church, traveling on weekends to a group of believers at

Sungai Ambawang. This, however, came to an end when it was discovered that

Saheran was also receiving wages fiom another church group that thought he was

planting this church for them. At that point, Saheran withdrew fiom the GPPIK. He

still teaches at the STII satellite school and also at Sekolah Thggi Teologia Eklesia, a

new seminary in Pontianak which just opened.

V. Daniel ~ k i o u w l o ~

Summary:Daniel was steeped in anirnism. After accepting Christ he was very aggressive in evangelism. He has remained faithful through the years. God has supplied al1 his needs, though he has been paid little for al1 his work in the churches of the Batang Tarang area. GPPIK gained several churches fiom YAPPIN.

Born on March 3, 1932 in the village of Cimpadek, near Batang Tarang,

Daniel Akiouw was as animistic as any Dayak could be. His life was immersed in

kuasa gelap (dark powed black magic). He enjoyed going to feasts where he could

gamble and dnnk, and spent much of his time leaming how to make people sick so

that he could be called to heal them. At night he would go alone to the jungle and the

hills to converse with the spirits.

In 1954, Daniel met a western missionary, Jack Goffigon, who worked with

Go Ye Fellowship, a non-denominational mission agency doing pioneer work in the

Sanggau area of West Kalimantan. Daniel's initial reaction to Gofigon's news of

salvation was that it might work for the white man, but not for him. But his interest

was sparked, and he attended one of the evangelistic meetings Goffigon and a

Minadonese missionary, Koyang Nian, were having in the area. At that meeting,

Goffigon used a pen to illustrate God's desire to give salvation to mankind. Anyone

who wanted it could just take it. Everyone there was scared to do so, but not Daniel.

I o l Sources of information: Daniel Akiouw, Batang Tarang, interview by author, 12 October 1996, Ngabang, tape recording, trmslated transcnpt in the hand of the author; Jack Goffigon, San Pedro CA, interview by author, 26 February 1996, telephone conversation, no transcript.

He took the Pen, then wanted to retum it right away, but the missionary told hun he

should keep it. "The fiee gifi was offered to everyone," said the missionary, "but only

one had faith to receive it." That night Daniel went home with the pen, but he still

had not caught the meaning of the illustration.

Goffigon and Nian were holding a catechism class for those who had

accepted Christ and wished to be baptized. Daniel did not attend, but felt compelled

to go along in Goffigon's boat and listen in on the last class, held irnrnediately before

the baptism. Outside of the room where they were, he heard a voice speaking to him,

"Hari ini, Saudura harus terima Yesus!" (Today, you must receive Jesus). Daniel

knew this was the Holy SpiritiO2, and began to cry. Both Goffigon and his wife talked

with Daniel. Though Goffigon was not in the habit of baptizing people right on the

spot, he too heard a voice, saying that he should go ahead and baptize Daniel. That

day Daniel received Christ into his life and was baptized along with the others.

Daniel's promise to the Lord at that time was that he would serve Him until the end of

his days. Then he went home to his village, Subah, and threw al1 his fetishes and

black magic into the river. He took note that they did not return back to him in three

days as some fetishes had done in the past. The power of Christ was stronger than the

power of his former Iife.

Daniel started to study the Bible. He felt the Holy Spirit working in his heart,

and began to clean up his life. Jack Gofigon worked with Daniel, discipling hirn

through evening Bible Studies and taking him on trips to villages where they would

share the gospel.

102~aniel was used to hearing the voices of the spirits; he recognized that this was a different kind of Spirit.

In 1957, Daniel began to travel on his own to villages in the Batang Tarang

area With Iittle education he found it difficult to understand al1 that he read in the

Bible, but what he did understand he shared with othen. There was much opposition,

especially fiom the Catholic church. It was rumored that the Catholic priest

encouraged his followers to cut off Daniel's head if he were to try to preach in their

villages. He, the pnest, would tanggung rezeki @ear the consequences)l03. Daniel's

older sister was afraid for him, but Daniel replied, "If Christ was willing to die for me,

I am willing to die for Him."

In Semoncol six persons became believers when Daniel visited there. In

Benua, likewise, a few people believed. Daniel's traveis took him to other places:

Mungu Tawa, Musa Bacong, Pakeng, Muya, Sengarit, Menyabo, Temiang Kerangi

and Senyabang. Over the next twenty-eight years Daniel was a key person in the

spread of the Gospel throughout this area. He did not received a wage, but used his

spare time to visit neighbouring villages to evangelize and to help lead the believers in

their services. He evenhially became the leading elder of the churcli in Batang

Tarang, taking the role of Pastor even though he had no Bible School training.

In 1974 the Go Ye Fellowship dong with its national church body, YAPPiN,

transferred the Batang Tarang area work to the GPPIK. Negotiations took place in

order to set realistic boundaries for the two evangelical churches. Batang Tarang

became the eastem boundary of the GPPIK and the western boundary for YAPPIN.

As tirne went by, other church organizations, such as GPEMBRI, GKSI and

GKTI, came into the area, bringing with them criticism of the GPPIK. Why were

GPPIK pastors and evangelists still waiking when othen had motorcycles? Why were

'03From Daniel's persona1 testimony; not substantiated.

GPPIK evangelists working with little or no wages when othes were amply supported

fiom outside sources? Why was Daniel satisfied with only Rp. 40.000,- per month

(about $25) as pastor of the Batang Tarang church, when he could be getting perhaps

three times that with another organization? Daniel's response was that the Lord could

feed five thousand people with just five loaves and two fish, and so would make

Daniel's wage enough for his family. Some of these churches were truly evangelistic.

However, some were content to enlarge their borders by attempting to take over

smaller, struggling works through offenng financial assistance. If the GPPIK would

not pay for a pastor to serve, these organizations could corne up with funds fiom

outside Kalimantan to do so. To date, there are only five GPPIK churches in the

Batang Tarang area: Batang Tarang, Semoncol, Senyabang , Temiang Kerangi and

Mungu Tawa, a small group with no building. This, however is just a part of Daerah

Delapan. In 1995, a restructuring of the areas put Areas Six, Seven and Eight into

one large region.

Summary: Jalirn was not exceptiondly bright and not a go-getter, but his steady faithfùiness has been used to bring people to Chnst and disciple them. Pare, however, was unresponsive to his ministry as it was to those before him.

Following his witchdoctor father to the villages near his own home village of

Engkangin in the Serimbu area, Jalim seemed destined to become a "healer" himself.

Then, when Jalim was fifteen years old, a young Javanese evangelist, Supriyanto,

came to Engkangin for a short tirne. During the week of Daily Vacation Bible School

sponsored by the GPPIK in 1975, Jalim was attracted to the Gospel being preached,

and began coming to chunih. Two years later, the GPPIK sent another evangelist

there, this tirne to plant a church. Antonius Baneng, a single man fiom the Jelimpo

area, needed a helper, someone to take care of household chores. Jalim had just

finished grade six in public school and had no imrnediate goals other than f m i n g ,

and so was eager to work for this young evangelist. Who wouldn't want such a

prestigious position?

Gospel teachers were looked up to because of their ability to tell stories and

teach people to sing. Jalim had the oppomuiity of a lifetime! He helped Baneng build

bridges into the comrnunity, taking him into the homes of relatives and fnends.

Baneng, however, like many young and ambitious-at-first Bible School graduates,

l 04~nformation supplied by: Jalim, Engkangin, to the author, 19 October 1997, ADS, in the hand of the author.

lasted only a year in this remote village. Many evangelists followed this pattern over

the years throughout the isolated fnnge areas of GPPIK expansion, finding it very

inglorious and lonely to be living so deep in the jungle among people more backward

than themselves. The novelty of being the center of attraction soon wore off,

especially when there was little remuneration fkom either the PPIK organization or the

fledgling local group.

Having aiready helped one evangelist, Jalim was the obvious choice to help

Dogoyanto, a recent Berea graduate fiom the village of Lurnar, in the same

government district as Engkangin. During his two years of helping Dogoyanto, Jalim

came to a personal understanding of his need for Christ and aiso felt something of a

cal1 to go to Bible School. However, Jahn had very little money and no one to

sponsor him. Usually a father was expected to help provide for his children's M e r

schooling, but Jalim's father was absolutely opposed to his son entenng Bible School.

Dejected, Jalim went to Malaysia to find work, but was soon arrested for not having

proper immigration papers. ln jail for two weeks, Jalim kept thinking about Bible

School. Upon returning to Engkangin, Jalim learned fiom the RBMU missionary now

living in Sepangah -Meroba that he had already been accepted at Berea and that

someone was sponsoring him. Through the Serimbu district church treasury, the

missionary was helping to pay for Jalim's schooiing as well as that of two other local

boys.

The next three years were very challenging for Jalim. He was not only a poor

student, but had very little understanding of the Bible. However, Jalim comrnitted

himself to learning, and the Lord blessed his sincerity.

Upon graduation , Jalim was asked to serve in Moro Betung , a village where

he had done weekend service for his last year of Bible School. For the next four years

Jalim sought to plant a church in Moro, but he spent most of his time working to put

food on the table and to support his two younger brothers through school. The young

congregation had not leamed to give, and so Jalim was lefi to fend for himself. The

only rewards that he received in Moro were the respect and th& from his younger

brothers for his positive influence on their lives, and a wife, for it was there that he

met and married Noraini, one of the students in his TEE class. Like many other

young graduates, Jalim married a "village" girl, someone with very little schooling

and no Bible background. Unlike many "village" girls who fell in love with charming

evangelists, Noraini becarne a tme believer before marrying Jalim. As for his

brothers, seeing Jalim's humble and selfless example, both went on to live for the

Lord and to serve in churches of other denominations outside the GPPIK area.

Feeling the need for a change, Jalim was quick to respond in 1989 when he

heard that the village of Pare was looking for a pastor. Located just twelve hours

walk fiorn his home village, Pare also had an airstrip and was frequently visited by

RBMU rnissionaries. This would guarantee several things for Jalim. First of d l , he

would have some contact with a mentor of sorts, as the missionary who would be

visiting Pare several times a year was a man he had come to know and respect while

in Bible School.lo5 As well, Jalim would be able to ask for occasional airplane trips

home to Engkangin, which was near the airstrip in Sepangah-Meroba. But most of

dl , since Pare was considered an outpost ministry of RBMU, there was a better

chance of getting a more realistic wage. The missionary in charge of the Serimbu

area, in which Pare was located, was trying to encourage churches to give better

wages to their pastors through a subsidy program.

Pare proved to be an enigma. Jalim faced the sarne challenges that three

previous pastors had faced and given up on. The village was still steeped in animism,

'OsThe missionary in question is the author of this writing.

drinking, gambling and fornication. Men who were supposedly Chnstians were no

better than the unconverted. Though many people made a lot of money fiom their

large rubber gardens, yet the total church income in any month was less than what the

average man made in a day. Jalim faithfulty taught TEE classes in Pare and

neighbouring Tanjung and Peluntan, and a few persons were baptized and added to

the church memberships in Pare and Tanjung, but there were few visible signs of

growth in the lives of believers. Fmstrated by the lack of results and his poor

economic situation fiom living in Pare, in 1991 Jaiim decided to rnove back to his

home village, Engkangin. The rationale was simple. He could take better care of his

family there, as there was "family" land he could farm, and the GPPIK church there

had not had a pastor for at l e s t four years. His uncle Insal had been the lay pastor for

close to six yem, but had quit.

In Engkangin, Jalim's relaxed style of pastoring was accepted by the

congregation. Jalim was very industrious in cutting rubber and growing a nce field,

but always had time to visit and encourage church members. He befnended several

young men fiom other villages who had rnanied into his village, and within a few

years had led them to Christ and discipled them. These men now becarne the elders of

the church. Jalim took these elders to people's homes in order to invite people to

come to services or to ask if a Wednesday night prayer meeting might be held in their

homes.

Jalim was not forceful or dynamic in his encounters with fellow villagers, but

his humble concem for their lives did not go unnoticed. Change slowly began to take

place. A once spiritually careless congregation began to take more interest in living

up to the standard that it stood for. Some who had stopped coming to services began

to come again. People started to give more. Interest in the gospel began to grow.

There was no tremendous advance, but a slow steady growth in the church. By

October of 1996, plans were being carried out to build a new church building to

replace the old one which was beginning to fa11 apart. A shopkeeper, who had gone to

church almost twenty yean earlier but had soon lost interest because he never really

understood the gospel, began to notice the openness of Jalim and his fnends. He

offered to donate gasoline and oil so these men could cut down tress and make lumber

for the new church with chah saws. In the true spirit of gotong royong (everyone

working together for the good of al]), each farnily in some way connected to the

church began to take part in the work of a new sanctuary. Some would cut lumber,

others would carry it back to the village. Al1 who had carpentry skills would then

participate in the actual building of the structure. By November 1996, rnost of the

wood had been cut. Plans were made to begin the construction in early 1997.

X. Udin Lolonglo6

Summary:The Sempatung area, quite isolated, first heard the gospel in the early 1970's. Headhunting was still practised, but very litde. An airstrip sped up the bringing of the gospel. Again, GPPIK built a school. Baptism classes were used to explain the gospel and bnng people to Christ. There were problems with pastor's wages, though the people leamed to give. Sempatung people were very diligent to help others. The isolation protected Sempatung fiom the evils of the outside world but also hindered the availability for help with church problems. They planted their own churches without seeking outside help.

The Sempatung area of Kalimantan is one of several groups of villages

situated nearly three thousand feet above sea level, arnong the headwaters of the

Landak River and a one day walk south of the Malaysian border. From Anik or Darit,

one would have to walk for about three full ten hour days in a north, north-easterly

direction to arrive there. Sempatung consists of five villages -- Bong Patung, (later

named Kuningan), Sateng, Kuang, Nanurn and Lokok -- al1 close in proximity to each

other, but at least a two h o u walk fiom any of the other groups of villages. The

Tawang group is to the north West, Sungkung to the north east, Tengon to the south,

and Bentiang, funher south. Each group speaks its own language. These groups were

the last of the Dayak tribes to actively participate in head hunting. The practice was

~*6Information supplied by: Keha Cabang, Sepangah, interview by author, 17 October 1996, Sepangah, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author; Udin Lolong, Sempatung, interview by author, 18 October 1 996, Sepangah, tape recording, translated transcnpt in the hand of author.

discouraged by the Indonesian government in 1945, but these trïbes continued the

practice to a certain extent into the 1970's. Actual head-hunting wars ceased in the

late 1 9501s, d e r which smail groups of two or three would sneak into enemy temtory

to kill persons in isolated situations. It was believed that they would receive power

fiom the heads of their enemies. 107

Udin, the son of Lolong, was bom in 1946 in the Sempatung village of Bong

Patung, the second of four children. In the 1960's he was sent to school in Serimbu, a

two-day walk to the South. At this tirne, most of the people in his village were still

wearing loin cloths made from the bark of trees, but there was a yearning, especially

in the younger generation, to explore the outside world. Some had traveled as far as

Darit and Ngabang. In 1966 through 1968 Sempatung becarne a base for the

Indonesian Army as they fought to defeat the PGRS. The Sempatung people proved

to be vduable cohorts for the Indonesian arrny as they skillfidly helped to kill the

enemy.

In early 1970, two Berea students, Sarem and Kampung, made a short visit to

Sempatung. The next year, RBMU missionary Henry Thiessen, dong with some

young Christians fiom Sepangah, attempted to trek into the Sempatung area. They

were detained by a military official from the outpost at Nyari, however, because a

Sempatung man had been killed by some men from the Sungkung area. Thiessen and

his group had to return to Sepangah, disappointed that they were not able to reach

their destination with the gospel.

107The author has not been able to find any bibliographical documentation of this, but has relied on the testimony of the Sempatung people. The author fiequently visited the Sempatung area between 1983 and 1995.

In 197 1 Udin married a daughter of the man who had been killed. Later that

year, Loren and James Warkentin, sons of Elmer Warkentin, came through the

Sempatung area with some new Christians from the Bentiang areal". Up to this tirne,

RBMU was still responsible for reaching new areas. Though some individuals within

the PPIK had a vision for outreach and a burden for souls, yet a majority of believers

were still trying to comprehend the Christian life. Sempatung people had a reputation

for fierceness. Most people were afraid to even go near the area. It would take a very

special person to make headway into their lives with the gospel. Keha Cabang, the

fiery ex-shaman from Sepangah felt God cailing him to work with the Sempatung

people. His wife was from there, which would help him gain the acceptance of the

people.

Keha visited Sempatung in 1974 to explain the gospel. However, only Udin

and a few others, having had an education in the Indonesian language, could

understand what he was talking about. Keha retunied to Sempatung later in 1974 with

plans fi-om RBMU missionaries to build an airstrip, a church building and a pastor's

house. Along with the majority of Sempatung people, Udin was excited about the

possibilities an airstrip would provide for their area. Sempatung was so isolated that

al1 supplies, other than rice, meat, hits and vegetables, needed to be carried by foot

from larger centers like Serimbu or From Malaysia. No matter where they went, it

was almost a two day trip just to get to the place where they could buy supplies.

With the completion of the airstrip came subtle changes in the identity of the

Sempatung people. The location of the airstrip was on the side of a hi11 directly above

1°8 RBMU had started to reach the Bentiang and Tengon areas with the gospel by this time. Those areas were later turned over to the PIBI church (Perhimpunan Injili Baptis Indonesia), the affiliate and child of the Conservative Baptist Foreign Missions Board, due to lack of GPPIK workers.

the village of Lokok. Though Lokok moved shortly after and was replaced by Sateng

and Kuang, the narne stuck, not o d y for the airstrip, but for the al1 the people in the

area. From this time forward the area became known, to almost everyone but the

Sempatung people themselves, as Lokok. Other changes included their rapid growth

from being illiterate to learning to read and write the Indonesian language. nie

GPPIK-RBMU alliance, as in other places, soon built a school near the church and

provided teachers. The Lokok language was not understood by anyone but the Lokok

people, yet they were very quick to pick up Bahasa Indonesia and other tribai dialects.

In 1975, Udin and about seventy-five others started studying a catechisrn class

with Keha. It was through this class that Udin fmally understood the gospel, and he

becarne a believer, In 1977, the first Sempatung baptism was held, with some seventy

people baptized. Udin, with an education and a zeal for growth, was elected as the

head elder of the new church group, which they named Antiokhia, after the young

group in chapter 1 1 of the book of Acts. Over the next few years, Keha worked very

closely with Udin, relying on him to translate materials into the Lokok language for

those who did not yet understand any Bahasa Indonesia or Keha's own dialect, Bahasa

Belangin.

When Keha left Lokok to retum to Sepangah in 1980, a Berea graduate named

Suarno was placed in Lokok. His wage was initially paid for by RBMU missionarïes,

though as time went on, the missionary in charge of the Lokok area began to help the

Antiokhia church to take more responsibility in providing a pastor's salary.109

'*The goal was to help churches learn to give more by at first giving them financial help so that their pastor was getting a good enough wage to be able to carry on a rninistry. Hopefully, a good rninistry would encourage an increase in giving by the people. In this case, the Lokok believers went from giving O to twenty dollars a month (a rnonth's wage for most people up there), in four years.

1982 saw the start of Theologicai Education by Extension classes in Lokok as

well as in Pare, Lumar, Serimbu and Ulu Tayan. Twice a month, an MAF plane

would take missionary and national teachers into these places, allow them to teach

their lessons, and then pick them ail up again later on in the day. TEE involved

practical assignments, and so it was decided that al1 the elders would take tums

leading evening services in the various Sempatung villages. Udin started a plan to

involve al1 the elders and the pastor on a rotating basis in an outreach to the village of

Meret, about three hours walk down the mountainside fiom Lokok. Every Saturday

afternoon two of them would descend to Meret to teach the people about Jesus,

returning the next evening. In 1985 thirteen believers fiom Meret, dong with twenty-

one fiom the Lokok area, were baptized in Lokok . By 1990 over thirty persons had

been baptized. This arnounted to almost half the village population. The TEE

program went on for several years, until the h d i n g for it was dropped by a major

North Amencan sponsor. Udin and several of his friends were able to complete five

ten-lesson courses.

Suarno remained in Lokok for five years. By then, the school had been given

over to the govement. Suarno became more and more involved in teaching school,

and spent less and less time in the pastorate. Sumo's waning interest in the pastorate

was not paralleled by a waning interest in his wage, however, and il1 feelings grew

among the people. Young in the faith though they were, they had already begun to

learn to give to the Lord. Suarno, as a public school teacher, was making more money

every month than most of them made in half a y e d l0 AAer Suarno was able to

l1OGovemment paid school teachers made about $50.00 or more per month plus a rice allotment of up to about $20.00. On top of this, the pastor, now working less than half time in the pastorate, was demanding $20.00 plus rice (about $20.00) fiom the church. To many school teaches (about 4 or 5 were placed up there) the

arrange a transfer to another school, Udin worked as the pastor of the church for about

a half a year until another Berea graduate was placed there.

At this time another change also took place. Since its opening as an outpost

for the PPIK, Lokok had been considered an independent area, with RBMU

missionaries being responsible to give advice and to help adrninister and facilitate

church programs. With the push for indigenous church governrnent, the advisorship

of the area was given to the BPP. Funds were advanced to the PPIK to provide for

regular flights into the area. This lasted for about one year. In 1986 it was

detemined by the PPIK that Lokok, dong with the Pare area, should become a part of

Daerah Tujuh ( Area Seven, the Serimbu area of the GPPIK). The area leadership (of

which Keha was a part) dong with the resident RBMU missionary in Sepangah,

would now be in charge of advising and visiting the Lokok area.

The new pastor was no stranger to the Lokok people. Kusmanto had grown up

in Sempatung, but had moved down to the Sepangah area in the 1970's. There, under

Keha's ministry, he had become a believer and had been partiaily discipled. Now

married and with two children, he had gone to Berea with a definite calling to become

a pastor. He was a bright student, with a good disposition, and a real heart for the

ministry. The fact that he could converse in the Sempatung language helped to make

his ministry meaningful to the people. Working with Udin, he helped the church to

grow not only in nurnbers but also in spintual understanding.

The two of them also spearheaded an outreach to one of the Tawang villages

to the north west. FriendIy contact first came through some of the Bong Patung

people making rice fields on the hillside close to those of Tawang farmen. The

isolation of Lokok meant demanding a higher wage. Many school teachers only showed up for about two months of the year, while drawing a full salary .

Antiokhia church then commissioned Udin to serve in Tawang on Sundays. AImost

every Saturday afternoon for the next two years, Udin made the exhausting two hour

trek d o m and then uphill to Tawang, stayed ovemight and then returned Sunday

aftemoon. Ofien he took other believers with him. The Antiokhia church, with some

help h m the area treasury, paid him an honorarium of approximately fifieen dollars a

month for his faithfuhess. This was about one-third of what Kusmanto got as the

pastor of the Antiokhia church.

The Tawang ministry consisted of public meetings on Saturday evening and

Sunday moming and a type of catechism class after the Sunday service. Al1 the

teaching and preaching had to be very simplistic, as the Tawang people spoke a

different language from the Lokok people, and did not know Bahasa Indonesia very

well either. Udin spoke in the limited Tawang language that he knew.

Approximately twenty persons took the catechism, resulting in sixteen new believers.

AAer Udin's two year stint, the ministry was passed on to a younger man,

Ardianto, dso from Kuningan. Over the next several years the need was felt to build

a church building, rather than continue to use the village office which had been used

to this point. The Kuningan people were the main force behind this, and they also

provided a lot of the manpower and expertise. Ironwood beams needed to be cut for

the foundation, as that was the only wood guaranteed to be termite proof. However,

the only ironwood trees available were a three-to-four-hour walk south-east of

Kuningan, on the other side from Tawang. Al1 fifty of the two meter long six-by-

sixes had to be carried one by one d o m one mountainside and up another. It took

each man eight hours to carry one beam from the cutting sight to the Lokok airstrip.

This was less than half-way to the building sight. The carrying was split between the

Kuningan and Tawang men. Once the foundation was in place, the Kuningan people

again cut regular wood four-by-faurs, helped haul hem to the site, and showed the

Tawang believers how to properly construct a building. Gasoline and oil for their

chain saws were provided by their missionary advisor. Comgated zinc roofmg was

flown in, with the Kuningan church paying for the materials, the missionary paying

for the transportation, and Tawang believen responsible to carry it kom the airstrip to

their own village.' ' 1

By 1989 some long standing murmuring came to the surface among the people

of Kuningan (Bong Patmg). Their village was a full half hour walk fiom the

Antiokhia church building, and the trail, with its several steep inclines, was very

slippery when it rained, which was almost every day. The other Sempatung villages

were fiom one to ten minutes walk from the church, in the other direction, yet, the

Kuningan believers were always the first to arrive for services, and often had to wait

half an hour or more for the rest of the people to show up. Tnen, especially on

Sunday evenings, they had to walk al1 that way back in the dark. The Kuningan

people were dso much quicker to tithe their rice harvest. Almost two-thirds of the

church's nce offenngs came fiom Kuningan, which made up only one third of the

congregation. Most of the elders were fiom Kuningan as well. Stating that it was

time to let the others leam on their own, and that their old people were finding it

almost impossible to get to church any more, the Kuningan people began to make

plans to build their own sanctuary.

l1'Rather than just give money, it seemed more strategic to provide oil and gasoline. The author was able to send the oil, gasoline and roofing materials on a ministry flight, thus swing the Sernpatung people a lot of work. Otherwise they would have had to haul it up to Sempatung on foot. This was just one of many ways in which to help the churches, yet encourage hem to do as much as they could. The Kuningan believers never once asked for wages for al1 the work they did for the Tawang people.

1989 was also the year that the Serimbu Church Area leadership felt that

Kusmanto should rnove down to Sepangah to become the leader of the area. Udin

took over from Kusrnanto, being the only penon really qualified and capable enough

to lead the Antiokhia congregation. He lead the congregation into 1991, when a Berea

graduate looking for work offered to come to their remote area. The church jurnped at

the chance, without looking into the background of the man. Having heard glowhg

reports of the Lokok people, Suriya was willing to endure the isolation if he could

make a good enough wage there.l12 The next three years were ones of tunoi l for the

Antiokhia congregation, as numerous conflicts arose between pastor and members,

and were never really resolved. A major problem was that the Kuningan people were

already planning to build their own building and split From the main group. This

meant that their finances would also no longer come to the Antiokhia church. By

1992 they had built their own church, and began having their own services.

In 199 1, as the Indonesian government arnalgamated smaller villages into

larger ones, there arose a need for a head man over ail the Sempatung villages. Udin

was the obvious choice, because of his abilities, charisma, and years of experience as

the head of Kuningan. His duties often took him out to Serimbu, the government

center for the district, but Udin still tried to work closely with the new pastor.

However, in June of 1994, the pastor left. Since then, the Antiokhia congregation has

been led by lay people from the church, but there has been a general decline. In the

"2Like many others, Suriya may have been hoping to get the benefits of working in an area where there was a western missionary to give perks. The missionary in question was the author, who had no q u a h s with helping out struggling church workers, but asked for a cornmitment to ministry, and sought to channel b d s through the GPPIK, rather than give them directly to anyone.

mean time, the Kuningan church has had two pastors over the two and a half year

penod between June 1994 and January 1997.

Nordiah, originally from Kuningan, lived with missionaries for most of her

life. She graduated from Berea Bible School, a very intelligent teacher and preacher.

In 1992 she was asked to retum to Kuningan to pastor their church, but her zeal and

proficiency in the ministry were quite a blow to the male population of the church. In

1995 she was replaced by her younger brother, Aliyanto, also a Berea graduate. As

with so many of the younger men coming through Bible school over the years, he

struggled with pride by virtue of his possession of a better education than the rest of

the village. Pastoring was considered a job for someone intelligent rather than a

ministry to those in need. He lasted only about a year, after which several lay

persons, including Udin, took tums leading services and preaching.

The isolation of the Sempatung area was both a blessing and a curse upon its

people. For quite a while, the distance to major centers was a deterrent to worldly

influences coming into the area. The Sempatung people had a zeal and innocence

that set them apart from other groups in the GPPIK. However, as people began more

and more to travel to distant towns, they began to see that others who called

themselves 'Chnstians' were very liberal in the area of smoking and drinking of

alcohol. As young believers, many were swayed into believing that these things were

okay for Christians. This led to spintual apathy. Many reverted to the old custom of

making their own nce wine. The difficulty in getting to Sempatung also restricted

visits from GPPIK leaders and missionaries. There simply was not enough money to

fly into the area often, and for anyone unaccustomed to walking much, the trip in by

foot seemed nearly impossible. As a result, many church problems festered for

months before advice could be secured, and by that time the situation would often be

much worse. At the time of this research, the two Sempatung churches and their two

daughter churches are being led by lay persons fiom their own villages.

Y. Wilhelmus Lafui 13

Summary: Wilhelmus, a Protestant from another Indonesian island, was challenged by the Chnstianity he found in Kalimantan. He got very involved in rninistry in the village of Sekendal, where he was placed as a school teacher by the Indonesian govemment. Through his ministry and testimony, the GPPIK church was established in Sekendal.

Wilhelmus Lafu was born in 1957 on the Island of Semau in the Province of

Nusa Tenggara Timur. His parents, farmers, were members of the Gereja Masehi

IrzjiZi di Timor. When Wilhelmus finished junior high school, he felt a desire to attend

a Seminary, but his family felt he should be a teacher. He attended teacher's college,

graduated in 1977, and in 1978 joined approximately 1000 other young teachers who

were willing to go to other islands to teach elementary school. Wilhelmus and a few

fiends were part of a contingent of hundreds of teachers who came to Kalimantan.

Having heard that there were few Christians in Kalimantan Barat, Wilhelmus figured

this to be a mission field. As a school teacher he would still be in the ministry. He

would teach the savage Dayaks about Christianity.

Along with two other Timorese men, Wilhelmus was placed in Sekendal, a

village of about four hundred people in the Dait River area of Kecamatan Air

Besar.114 He and his two bachelor fnends al1 married Dayak girls on December 18,

131nformation suppiied by : Wilhelmus L A , Sekendal, to the author, Ca. 1988, ADS, in the hand of the author; Wilhelmus Lafû, Sekendal, interview by author, 20 October 1996, Sekendal, tape recording, translated transcnpt in the hand of the author.

1 14This Kecamatan was aiso known as Serimbu, as the Carnot office was located in the village of Serimbu.

1978. Wilhelmus did not want to get married using an animistic sacrifice, but gave in

to the desires of his in-laws. His father-in-law was a village imam1 15 (pnest).

About the same time that Wilhelmus came to Sekendal, RBMU rnissionary

Darrel Davis and PPIK church worker, Ayoi, began visiting in Sekendal fiom their

home in Sepangah, seventeen kilometers to the north. Davis started teaching the TEE

course, "Following Jesus". Wilhelmus and his wife both felt they should take the

course. The very first week of the course, Wilhelmus argued with Davis. "Don't

people who do good works go to heaven, even if they don? know Jesus?" The

rnissionary answered with Eph. 2: 8,9, explaining that salvation was not based on

works, but that the works were to be the h i t of salvation. At the end of the course,

both Wilhelmus and his wife became believers. This was October 3 1, 1979. He was

now hungry to grow as a tme believer, and continued to study, both on his own and

with the missionaries who visitedl 16.

Wilhelmus became the preaching elder in his church. He attended elders'

seminars and pastors' fellowships which were held in Sepangah. Wilhelmus felt badly

that the PPlK group in Kelepuk, an hour away, were not getting any teaching, and so

for a year he served there on Sundays, teaching Sunday School after he had preached

in Sekendal. However, being the principal of the local school kept him much too

busy, and he had to quit his ministry in Kelepuk. He was not making much progress

I 15The village imam (priest) is responsible to invoke blessings on people's nce fields. The imam is not considered a witchdoctor, but still deals in 'spirit' activity.

16In 1983 Davis was replaced by the author of this study. Over the last forneen years the author has corne to know and respect Wilhelmus very much.

there anyway. It seemed as though no one was really ready to leave their old lifestyle.

There were many people who followed the Protestant religion in the Dait area, but

who still retained their animistic practices. Statistics in 1986 showed 244 believers in

Kelepuk and 144 in Sekendal, but no one baptized in either village.li7 Yet, average

attendance in Sekendal around that time was around twenty people maximum and

Kelepuk held services only if visited by a church worker.

Wilhelmus struggled for a while with the idea of believer's baptism. He had

been baptized as an infant, but he really felt he should be baptized as a believer. The

rnissionary advisor to the Serimbu church area appointed Wilhelrnus to teach the

baptism class. Then, when the time was appropriate, the missionary visited with al1

the candidates and a baptism was scheduled. Since then, Wilhelmus has continued to

lead the small group of believen in Sekendal. In recent years they have improved

their church building and bought land on which to build a house for a pastor, in faith

that someday they would receive one. AAer several promises and disappointments,

they finally were able to secure a pastor. He was scheduled to move there in the

begiming of 1997.

Wilhelmus feels that his testimony as an honest and faithfûl teacher and

principal is slowly making a difference in his village. Though for the most part the

villagers of Sekendal do not display a respect for honesty or integrity, yet he is looked

upon as a man who loves God and lives for Him. He is one of many Timorese school

teachers who came to Kalimantan assuming they were Christians but discovered

Christ there.

1 17~opino Saheran, "Laporan BPP pada Sidang Umum Gereja PPIK ke XX" TD (photocopy) (Report to the Twentieth General Meeting of the GPPIK, Pontianak, 1 June l986), in the hand of the author.

2. 1. Nyoman ~udiarsall8

Surnmary:Nyoman, fiom Bali, becarne an important member of the PPIK. He had a heart for serving, an implicit trust in God, a desire to do right, and was humble. God u e d this in his ministry and used hirn to encourage others. With the inclusion of Nyoman into the recognized leadership of the PPIK, the denomination started to become more than just a Dayak church.

1. Nyoman Budiarsa was bom on the island of Bali, December 19, 1953, the

son of a poor but faithful church elder. If one were to look at his childhood they

might think that there was no possible future for him. At seven months of age,

Nyoman fell into the river but was rescued by someone who just happened to see hirn

fa11 in. Then at age seven years, he came down with a very severe case of the measles.

High fevers caused hirn to hallucinate and left hirn with a speech impediment. He

stuttered badly and so found it very difficult to speak or read out loud.

The family was so poor that after grade five, Nyoman was left at an orphanage

run by LEPKI (Lembaga Pelayanan Kristen Indonesia, the Indonesian branch of

World Vision). It was here that he came to know the Lord. Though he is not sure of

the day or month, Nyoman is very positive now that he believed in Christ as his

Saviour when he was in grade eight. The people at the orphanage had a profound

influence on his life. He was encouraged to have daily devotions and also to go to a

teacher training school rather than a regular Senior High. It was during this time at

the orphanage that Nyoman realized that God was calling hirn intg ministry. After

1 **~nformation supplied by: 1. Nyoman Budiarsa, interview by author, 6 October 1996, Ansang, tape recording, translated transcript in the hand of the author.

school he would help in rninistry, telling stories to the younger children and teaching

them to sing. Then, during his teacher training years, Nyoman would sometirnes

preach. He was put in charge of twenty-five younger boys, making sure they had their

baths, got dressed properly, lefi for school on time and went to bed at night. Because

he had a heart to serve he was given these responsibilities.

After graduating from the teacher training school, Nyoman went to SAAT (The

Southeast Asia Bible School), a Bible School in Java, in preparation for minisûy.

Here, for five years, he was sponsored by LEPKI. During his last year he struggled to

know the Lord's direction for him. He had a keen awareness that the Lord would use

him and he was not concerned about the situation or a wage. Of three possible places

he was praying about, one was Kalimantan. Then he was approached by LEPKI with

a request fiom Berea for a teacher. Though uncertain of his abilities, Nyoman went to

Kalimantan in January of 1980. However, he hàd seven months to wait before school

started, so he was placed in the village of Arnang in the Anik area to fil1 the position

of pastor in the Sungai Betung church.

Life in Amang was much more primitive than Nyoman was used to.

Moreover, his wage was very small. The church had not had a pastor for quite a

while, but with his coming attendance picked up. Nyoman met Sumiati there, a girl

who was taking teacher training in Pontianak, but who came home for the weekends.

He guarded his conduct in the village and prayed about his relationship to her. Being

very careful that he would marry sorneone who would tnily be a partner in ministry as

well as in married life, he cornrnitted everything to the Lord. Soon they were

engaged. The staff at Berea, as well as the village elders, encouraged them to get

married before he started teaching at the school, and they were married on August 12

1980.

At Berea Nyoman began by teaching History of Evangelism, the Synoptic

Gospels, and How to Teach Sunday School. The next year he was asked to pastor the

Ansang church and he did so for eight years. He was also asked to take over as the

principal of the Bible School, which he did. The next eight years were very busy for

him. Besides teaching regular classes during the week, he helped teach Seminary

classes on the weekends, and preached on Sundays. In addition to this, there were

prayer meetings, funerals and weddings. He received no pay fiom the church because

he was getting a wage fiom the school.

In 1984 Nyoman was considered by the GPPIK for ordination. However, one

of the regulations was "baptism upon confession of faith." Nyoman had been baptized

as an infant. He struggled with this. What would people say? He had been active in

ministry. Would people not question his status as a pastor and head of the school?

AAer some counsel fiom his fiiend and mentor, Elmer Warkentin, Nyoman realized

that his former baptism had not been based upon his own confession of salvation.

And so he was baptized dong with some of his students and mernbers of his

congregation. No one questioned this, but his baptism in turn became a blessing to

others. Nyoman's humbie obedience in this became an exarnple to others. 19

Nyoman was ordained in 1985 by the PPIK.

Then in 1989 some changes in the structure of the school forced a change in

staff positions. Nyoman did not have high enough academic qualifications to be the

Rektor. He humbly accepted this. Several years later he was sent back to Java to

upgrade his schooling and in 1996 was reinstated as Rector, after the school had gone

through three other men in the position.

1 1% was Nyoman's example of baptism that encouraged Wilhelmus Lafu in his baptism. See p. 12 1.

Nyoman is highly regarded by the GPPIK, ofien being asked to preach at

important conferences and meetings. His concem for his famiiy's walk with God is

evident fiom his speech and his sermons. Though his education and experience could

land him a position in the city where there is more to offer his farnily, yet he knows

that the Lord has called him to serve at Berea.

AA. S tephanus Kasman 1 *O

Summary: The church has taken a new direction in leadership with younger men who have proven themselves in ministry and character. There have been many struggles to get the church out of a rut. Giving has increased. Trust in the leadership has grown because of their integrity and diligence.

Stephanus Kasman was bom in Semoncol, near Batang Tarang, on February

12 1957. It was that same year that his father, a Dayak named Cundi Boaz, and his

mother, a Chinese narned Kimoi, first heard the Gospel through the work of Go Ye

Fellowship. However it was not until 1977 that his entire family became Christians.

Kasman, though, had become a believer before this and attended Berea Bible School

sensing a cal1 to ministry. He graduated in 1978 and went for M e r training to

Sekolah Theologia Alitea in Java, graduating in 1983 with a degree equivalent to a

Bachelor of Theology. For the next five yean, Kasman served as a pastor in east Java

with Gereja Kristus Tuhan. During this time he married Fera Ellen Augustins, a

Javanese girl. He was ordained into the ministry while in Java.

In 1988 Kasman moved back to Kalimantan and sought a pastorate with the

GPPIK. He was asked to work with a young church, Jemaaf Tirnorius, in Ngabang.

At the same time he was elected as Ketua Daerah VIII. He served in both these

capacities till 1992. With a wage of only $10.00 and twenty-five kilograms of nce per

month, Kasman needed to find another source of income. Frorn his expenence in

1*01nformation supplied by: Stephanus Kasman, Pontianak, to the author, 05 September 1996, transcnpt in the hand of the author; Stephanus Kasman, Pontianak, to the author, 29 January 1997, transcript in the hand of the author.

Java, he found sources. He began to elicit support fiom Christian businessmen for his

role as Ketua Dueruh. He also applied to teach religion at two schools in Ngabang.

Life was difficult for him in Ngabang. Dayak church workers often desired to pastor

churches in major centers like Ngabang. There was considerable prestige and security

to it. For Kasman, and especially for his wife, this was a step dom. But Kasman

stuck to principles he had learned in Java. He worked diligently, endured the hard

times and never complained. As a result the Ngabang church began to grow and the

overall spirit of the area improved.

It became obvious to everyone that Kasman was an excellent adrninistrator

and leader. At the triennial GPPIK conference in 1992 he was elected as the Ketua

BPP. This meant a move to Pontianak, where Kasman was able to rent a house from

Nasepianus, a church leader there.

Over the next three years, Kasman faced many troubles as leader of the

church. Paul Kanoh, who had been elected as Kasman's Wakil Ketua, had twelve

years of experience on the BPP, nine of them as the Ketua. To have to now work

under a much younger man with only four years or so of PPIK service was difficult to

take. Paul did not relinquish his position, but he never went to any meetings. There

were some questions in the minds of many as to the use of h d s under Kanoh's

administration. Before Kasman could begin with a new program for the church, he

had to clear up any problerns fiom the past. This caused a lot of stress for Kasman.

Three of Kasman's fellow leaders, Meshak Amen, Burtono Bulin and Saul Nange,

were younger than Kasman, also first-timers on the BPP and were al1 related to

Paul. l 2 Mardius was the only one with experience, having been Assistant Secretary

l2"T'his caused a lot of problems for Kasman. In closed meetings these men would be free to speak their minds. However, in any correspondence with Paul they

for the previous nine years.

This was also a time of much transition and growing pains for the church. For

one thing, the missionary ranks were thinning out very quickly, either through

retirement or loss of visas. RBMU was still seeking to cut back on financial aid,

encouraging the church leaders to help their people learn to give, but giving to the

central leadership of the church was still very poor except from a select few churches

and individuals. Other church organizations were coming in to the GPPIK villages,

building churches with money from the outside and providing pastors who were

salaried from outside money as well. PPIK was losing its immature members who

were not yet able to see that God was waiting to bless them through their own giving.

Yet, as time went by and people began to see the diligence of the new leadership

group, giving increased.

By June of 1993, RBMU was down to only three families in Kalimantan. A

decision was made to give the mission guest h o u e to the GPPIK for its headquarters

and home for the Ketua Umum. This was a major boost to the morale of the church

leadership. Two of their concerns were the need to find a more permanent

headquarters for the church and more suitable housing for the Ketua. The cost of such

endeavours was immense in a city the size of Pontianak. With the provision of this

office complex, the PPIK leadership could concentrate their time, money and efforts

on other needs within the church.

felt constrained to keep quiet. The Dayak concept of "malu" controlied their thinking. It was al1 right to talk about someone behind their back, but it was wrong to make a peson feel "malu" (embarrassed because of their wrong) publicly when they were present.

Another major problem loomed over Kasman and his fellow leaders. The

education branch of the church, YAPENKRI, had for several years now been led by a

man named Telus Titus Nyarong, who seemed to have a way of manipulating things

for his own benefit. School h d s from PPIK's various pnvate schools were supposed

to be used for teacher's wages and for upkeep of the buildings. Some of the buildings

were now so much in disrepair that they were unsafe for use, but there was no record

of where the money had been used. The land nghts for the new Gamaliel dormitory

had been transferred from the church to Telus' name. The money designated for the

building of the dormitory and a new high school were used up and unaccounted for,

with oniy the dormitory finished. The name YAPENKRI -GPPIK was changed to

YAPENKRI-KALBAR without prior knowledge of the church leadership. Through

Kasman's diligence and perseverance, Telus and a cohort of his, Burhan Bulin, were

evenhially relieved of their status and expelled fiom church membership in late

1994. 122 However, Telus has taken Kasman to court over the whole issue. The

problem is still unresolved and Kasrnan is under a lot of stress because of it. There

have been threats and attempts to cause disunity among the PPIK churches. On the

positive side, this cnsis was a proving ground for the young BPP members. By

wrestling together on this issue their unity as a denominational leadership had

consolidated, and the trust of the denomination in their leaders took a turn for the

better.

At the triennial conference held in June of 1995, Kasman was re-elected as

Ketm Umum and the delegates unanirnously agreed that the length of term should be

changed to five years. Other leaders elected were: Mardius, Assistant Head Elder;

Ibrahim Banson, Secretary; Meshak Amen, Assistant Secretary; Saul Nange,

122The author was present at the meeting where this action took place.

134

Treasurer; Nurani Gading, Assistant Treasurer. IZ3

1*31brahim, a son-in-law to Otto Kanoh, had a lot of experience in leadership roles as a church elder in Pontianak, teaching school, organizing the GPPIK-wide annual Youth Conference for several years, and more recently as the new director of YAPENKRI, once the old director had been expelled. Nurani Gading, son of Napi Gading, was a school teacher / principal in Anik and head elder of the Anik church.

IV.

SYNTHESIS: THE GPPIK HISTORY

The GPPIK began through the work of the Regions Beyond Missionary

Union. North Arnerican missionaries brought the story of the Gospel to the Dayak

and Chinese people of the Landak region of Kalimantan Barat, beginning specifically

in the Menyuke Kecamaîun. God chose to use certain people to become the

foundation for the church. Some of these were: Sati, Singa Acoi, Bapak Nulus, Napi

Gading, Sinyor Mantar and Otto Kanoh. Ai1 these men were influentid in the lives of

others. They had a zeal to share their new found faith with others. Some, like Sinyor

Mantar, Napi Gading and Otto Kanoh, went on to become leaders of the GPPIK.

Others, like Sati and Bapak Nulus, were simply faiffil men whose testimony was

their ministry.

From meager beginnings in 1949, the work grew. Ansang, Anik and Kampet

became main centers, with missionaries living there to help instmct and encourage

believen. In this way the Gospel was being spread in an ever increasing area. The

desire of the young believers to share the news of Christ with relatives was testimony

that their relationship to Jesus Christ was very important to them. Their refusa1 to

participate in any more animistic rituals or taboos, and their willing endurance of

ridicule and persecution showed they were serious about living for Christ.

By 1953 it became obvious that in order for continued evangelism and church

growth to occur, some sort of organizing should be done. The fact that this came into

being fiom the initiative of Indonesians was a positive thing for the church. It

135

showed that they took CO-ownership of the work fiom very early on. The RBMU-

GPPIK relationship, though not always smooth, was a partnership rather than a

colonial relationship. However, because of the Indonesian feeling of respect for

education and wealth, rnissionaries were aiways considered as influential and

important.

In response to the great cry fiom villages for people to come teach hem about

Christianity, Berea Bible School was built. Through it men and women were taught

to study and understand the Bible and how to minister. Not al1 of them stayed with

the PPIK. Some left for other organizations that paid higher salaries. Others, having

come fiom other denominations, went back to them. Not al1 the graduates went back

into the ministry and not al1 of them continued to follow the Lord. Villages in the

Ansang area were served by Berea students, a fact that may have had some bearing on

their apparent inability to support pastors. For years these villages were provided

with fiee pastors as the students did their practical work. However, Berea was used

by God to help mold the lives of many, and the GPPIK has been enriched by the ones

who have remained faitf i l .

Both missionaries and Indonesian believers had a zeal for reaching new

villages with the Gospel. This led to a quick expansion of the existing church areas

and the opening of new areas. From Area 1 in Ansang, and Area II in Anik, the

GPPIK expanded to include: Area III, Lumar; Area IV, Sebadu; Area V, Menjalin;

Area VI, Ulu Tayan; Area VII, Serimbu; Area VIII, Jelimpo; and Area IX,

Sempatung.

As time went on, the Lord raised up more leaders from among the GPPIK in

order to administrate and facilitate the growth and expansion of the church. Yet, the

older leaders were not rejected nor neglected. Rather, they are still looked up to as

men of experience and proven character.

Also as time progressed, PPIK struggled for a sense of identity, to be its own

church and not be known merely as the product of the effort of missionaries.

Younger men with better education were able to give a fiesh perspective to the

church. Church-mission tension over finances helped the missionaries to re-evaluate

theu role and their strategies. The church appreciated ail the financial help it was

getting but was fnistrated about its own lack of ability. Other groups were coming in

to GPPIK areas and buying out churches because the GPPIK could not &Ford to pay

its pastors. Arnong those who remained faithful PPIK members there was oflen a

sense of animosity toward these other groups. A cornmon question was "Why do you

'evangelize' our village when there are still so many unreached villages?" Some of

the churches started by other groups eventually folded, and the people came back to

the GPPIK, realizing that there is no real blessing in simply receiving financial help

from outside sources. Some of those groups have been able to keep going, and in a

few places the PPIK churches have had a more favourable attitude toward the new

groups.

The biographical sketches presented in this study reveal some common

themes. One is that those who came to know Christ made a break with the animistic

practices of the past. They were no longer afiaid of the spirits. They found tieedom

in Jesus Christ and they wanted others to know about him. This was one of the

strengths of the early church. Many men involved with black magic or heaiing using

spiritual powers felt called to become propagators of their new faith after they

received Christ. While it is true that some persons did go back into animistic

practices, it remains a general fact that PPIK members do not adhere to village

practices that are not in Iine with the Bible.

Another cornmon theme is that the GPPIK continually stmggled with wages

for its pastors and evangelists. This item came up in many of the interviews. niose

who were working as pastors or evangelists could not do so full tirne but rather had to

do other work on the side. This was not necessarily bad, but it restricted the amount

of time they could spend in prayer, personal preparation time, visitation or outreach.

Some of these workers depended on gifis or funding fiom missionaries living in their

areas. Apian, Maras, Yahya, Selaten and Saheran are examples of these. Others,

such as Mardius and Atok, were able to upgrade their education in order to get jobs as

teachers. Thus they had fairly cornfortable wages. However, they were then limited

to living where the school was, rninistry was restricted time-wise, and it was difficult

to move to another church or area. RBMU sought to help place evangelists in new

areas by providing wages through the PPIK. Their financial self-suficiency plan

helped some churches to begin to understand that God blesses those who give and

that better-paid pastors have more time and energy to serve.

Al1 of the sketches in this study are representative of many other stories

throughout the GPPIK and its history. As stated in the Introduction, the focus of the

interpretation of the facts presented here is on the spiritual journeys of these persons

who were key players in the GPPIK history, and of those who are representative of

average GPPIK members. They do not tell the whole story, as that would be

impossible to do. Each individual in this study is unique, and these are just a few of

the many hundreds who were leaders and the many thousands who came to know

Christ over the last forty-five yean. Seen as a whole, they present a picture of what

happened from the beginning down to the present. The biographical histones of these

individuals preserve the heartbeat of the GPPIK and present a picture of its history.

v. SPECIAL CONSIDERATION:

THE ROLE OF RBMU INTERNATIONAL

As previously mentioned, the GPPIK church was built on the foundation laid

by RBMU through the preaching of the Gospel. The dedication of RBMU personnel

to the preaching of the Gospel in Bomeo was a part of God's great commission to

make disciples of d l nations. Subsequent to dùs, RBMU helped to train the leaders

of the GPPIK. This took the form of persona1 discipleship at first, and then when the

cal1 for workers became desperate, a Bible School. Missionaries provided the initial

expertise in teaching there, but as soon as possible began to hire national personnel.

Eventually the Bible School becarne nationalized to the point that any missionaries

teaching there were merely guest staff members. The transition was not easy, but it

was done. Funding of the Bible School also started in the hands of the missionaries,

but eventually it too was taken up by nationals. However, this funding was not taken

up by the GPPIK per se, but radier by friends of PPIK, well-to-do Indonesians in Java

and elsewhere. RBMU also provided fûnding for evangelists wages when it seemed

that was necessary. Although there has been much debate as to the correctness of

such action, yet the fact remains that thousands of people have corne to know Christ

and many churches have been estabfished because people gave as they were able.

Slowly the GPPIK began to take on responsibility in this regard as well. While

providing funds, RBMU was also the initiator of a self-suficiency program to wean

churches from their dependency. As the need for more permanent structures arose,

church buildings also were subsidized by RBMU. Besides a regular program to give

a small arnount of money each month toward GPPIK's church building program,

individual rnissionaries O fien gave personal donations toward churches with building

programs.

With the development of a new church that has no expenence in seeing

Christianity modeled there needs to be a measuring stick or point of reference to

which to compare things. RBMU missionaries became such a marker for the new

Dayak believers. Being much more expenenced in the Gospel, the missionaries

sought to be examples to the Dayaks in their actions, words, and attitudes. And they

were! Though at times there were clashes of cultures, yet RBMU's worken showed

integrity and honesty. Ones who did not, were disciplined. At the beginning the

missionaries were also judges, heiping the believers to learn to settle matters in a

Christ-like way. Soon, however, there were people in leadership who could begin to

cany on this role.

As mentioned above, there were some clashes between the two cultures.

Pioneer missionaries, especially, had very little anthropological preparation for living

in Borneo. They simply went there with a determination to spread the gospel of Jesus

Christ to the "wild men of Bomeo". The immense task of discipling new believers

proved nearly insurmountable as, at times, hundreds desired to become believers.

Lack of manpower made it very dificult to keep up with al1 the demands put on the

missionaries. The work was physically exhausting and there were many

inconveniences. It was very easy to get upset with machinery that did not work, and

termites and cockroaches that destroyed books papers, h i t u r e and buildings. It was

very easy to get upset with the Dayaks who were eager to help but did not aiways get

instructions correct. Differences in education, training, world view and priorities held

much potential for conflicts. Younger missionaries coming to Kalimantan in later

years had more oppominity for anthropological training, but still struggled with

ethnocentricity.

It is beyond the scope of this sîudy to analyze how well the missionaries did in

their modeling of Christianity. Yet, the recent upnsing of Dayak animists against the

Madurese immigrants in Kalimantan Barat was a proving ground as to the reality of

the faith of GPPIK believers. A few nominal Christians joined in the war against the

Madurese, but for the most part, GPPIK members refûsed to participate. Sorne even

harboured Madurese refûgees in their homes. Toward the end of the major confiict,

some believers were saying that they needed to make more of an effort to share the

gospel with the Madurese. l

In some ways, most GPPIK churches are modeled afler western churches.

They have pews and a pulpit, and follow a liturgy similar to conventional churches in

America. But, then, al1 the other churches in Kalimantan are like this as well, even

the ones bom out of Indonesian sending agencies fiom Java.

It is not difficult to see that RBMU had a very important role in the

establishing of the GPPIK, not only as a church organization, but G a body of

believers who desired to live what they believed. Despite missionary failings, a

growing church has been planted.

1 Information on the Dayak-Madurese conflict was supplied by: Ruth Warkentin, to the author, persona1 conversation, 21 March 1997, no transcnpt.

VI.

CONCLUSION

This research tells the stories of certain individuais important to the birth and

growth of the Gereja Persekutuan Pernberitaan Injiil Kristzis. Through the

progression of God's work in their Iives there c m be derived a sense of how God has

worked in the founding and growth of this indigenous Indonesian church.

APPENDIX A: LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL (ENGLISH)

March 12, 1996

Dear

As you may already know, I am pursuing an M.A. in Global Christian Studies

at Providence Theological Seminary in an effort to r e m to Kalimantan to continue

working with the GPPIK. A big and exciting part of my training is to work on a

major research project. The project 1 have chosen is to M t e a history of the GPPIK,

focusing mainly on some of the key Indonesians involved in the birth and growth of

the denornination. I will also want to look closely at the part RBMU played in this.

The GPPIK has been a very big and important part of our lives. 1 wish to preserve

for the postenty of the church the history of what God has done in Kalimantan,

specifically in the GPPIK. You have had a big part in that history.

The writing of this thesis will require my traveling back to Kalimantan, probably this next September or October for several weeks of intensive interviews

with as many of the GPPIK members as 1 can meet. But before 1 c m begin, 1 need to

find out some vital information, which 1 believe can best be supplied by Kalimantan

veterans such as you. Initially 1 need a list of narnes of persons who should be

included in the history. Eventually, 1 will also be looking for stones of the lives of

various key persons.

1 know that your schedule is probably full enough as it is, but 1 want to take this opporhmity to invite you to assist me in this research. Would you be willing to

send me a list of names of key individuals you feel are important to be included in this history, indicating if such persons are still alive? Also, would you kindly indicate

whether or not you would be able to provide details or stories of any of the

individuals? Please use the enclosed form and self-stamped envelope to send your reply .

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

A tas partisipasi Anda terhadap proyek yang penting ini, se belumnya saya

mengucapkon ribuan "terirm kasih '*. Tuhan rnernberkaii.

in His service,

Henry Armstrong

APPENDIX B: LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL (BAHASA INDONESIA)

Nomor : 02/03/ 1 996 Perihal : Susunan sejarah GPPIK Tang@ : 12 Maret, 1996

K E P A D A Yth.

Dengan Hormat,

Salam sejahtera dalarn Nama yang terindah, Yesus Kristus, Tuhan kita!

Dengan surat ini saya ingin menyarnpaikan berita yang indah dan penting bagi kita

semua. Tuhan telah memberi kepada kami suatu kesempatan untuk mengikuti

pelajaran di Providence Theological Seminary di Canada dengan tuj uan mendapat

gelar M.A. supaya boleh kembali ke Kalimantan dan beke j a lagi dengan GPPIK. Sala satu tugas bagi saya adalah untuk menulis sejarah denominasi GPPIK

daiam Bahasa Inggeris supaya orang lain boleh mendengar cerita peke rjaan Tuhan di

antara kita. Sejarah ini akan nanti dite jemahkan dalam Bahasa Indonesia, supaya

boleh dinikmati oleh orang kita juga.

Saya akan berusaha datang ke Kalimantan pada bulan Oktober, 1996, untuk

merekam atas tep kaset cerita-cerita orang yang berhubungan dengan kelahiran dan

pemimbuhan Gereja PPIK. Untuk mencapai tujuan ini, saya ingin mendapat

informasi sebelurn saya datang mengenai siapa yang penting didaftarkan sebagai

"pahlawan-pahlawan" GPPIK.

Anda bisa menolong dalam peke rjaan yang penting ini. Jikalau Anda rela

bertemu dengan saya pada bulan Oktober nanti supaya cerita h d a bisa direkam,

saya bisa berencana mengunjungi Anda pada waktu itu. Supaya komunikasi kita

145

lancar, maka saya mohon agar Anda titip pesan di Kantor BPP GPPIK, Jalan Sidas No. 7, Pontianak. Mohonlah agar mereka mendahkan nama Anda sebagai sumber informasi sejarah gereja buat tugas Pendeta Armstrong.

Atas kerelaan Anda untuk mempertimbangkan permohonanku hi, saya mengucapkan terima kasih. Seandainya Anda tidak bisa mengabulkan permohonanku ini, saya masih rnengucapkan terima kas& atas peke rjaan Anda bagi kemuliaan Tuhan daiarn tugasmu di IadangNya Tuhan memberkati. Sampai bertemu.

dengan hormat sebagai saudararnu dalam Tuhan,

Pdt. Henry Armstrong Box 625 Grunthal, MB CANADA ROA ORO

APPENDIX C : NOTE ON SOURCES

Letters of Transmittal were sent to the following persons, but no information

was subsequently received by the author:

Allen, Wajme and Carolyn. P O Box 12 1, Constant Springs, Kingston 8, Jarnaica.

Davis, Darrell and Sylvia. P.O. Box 326 AC. Qezon City, MM Phillippines E-mail: 75543.1255@Compuserve.com .

Enns, David and Phyllis. Three Hills, AB, Canada TOM 2A0 E-mail: ~TERNET:ennsd@willy.kneehill.com .

Merritt, Marcus and Dora. RR. #1 , Legal, AB., TOG 1LO. Telephone: (403) 961-2371.

Nyheim, Gloria. 1 5 14 Marshall St. Norristown, PA., USA 19403.

Singer, Don and June. 44 Payne SO., Indooropilly, Queensland, Australia.

Thiessen, Henry and Edna. RR. 1, Ryan Road, Box 2 C-7, Sayward, BC., VOP IRO.

Warkentin, Loren and Becky. 3 1977 Austin Ave. Abbotsford, BC, V2T 4R3 Telephone: (604) 853-6971. E-Mail: 75624,2307@CompuserveeCom.

Wilson, Jack and Ruth. 12969 Old Yale Road, Surrey, BC V3T 3B9.

The following persons were contacted by telephone (or e-mail) subsequent to

the initial gathering of information in order to confirm existing information and to

secure more information:

Davis, Darrell and Sylvia. P.O. Box 326 AC. Qezon City, MM Phillippines E-mail: 75543.1255@Compuserve.com (contacted by e-mail).

Gofligon, Jack. 710 W. 40th St., No. 8, San Pedro, CA USA 9073 1. Telephone: (3 1 O) 547- 1075.

Lima, Clara. 9527 Clear Lake Rd. Milton, WI USA 53563. Telephone: (608) 868- 2358.

Memtt, Marcus and Dora. RR. #l , Legal, AB., TOG 1LO. Telephone: (403) 961-2371.

Warkentin, Loren and Becky. 3 1977 Austin Ave. Abbotsford, BC, V2T 4R3 Telephone: (604) 853-697 1. E-Mail: 75624,2307@CompuseweeCom

Wilson, Jack and Ruth. 12969 Old Yale Road, Surrey, BC V3T 3B9 . Telephone: (604) 584-7227.

APPENDIX D: MAI'S'

Map 1 : Indonesia, showing Kalimantan Barat Map 2: The PPIK Church Area (Total) Map 3: The PPIK Church Areas Map 4: Kecamatan Menyuke

'It is very difficult to get accurate maps of Kalimantan. Even Government approved maps have many errors in the location and spelling of villages, rivers and roads. The maps included here were hand drawn by Janet Armstrong. With the exception of Map 1, they are based on several other hand drawn maps fiom persons in Kalimantan. Map one was reproduced fiom & Kalimantan w, Jakarta: PT Pembina Peraga: n.d. n i e author, having travelled through some of the areas many tirnes, verifies that the maps are fairly accurate and give as close a pichue of the situation as would a map endorsed by the Indonesian Govemment. Due to the size of the maps, not al1 villages are shown. On Maps 2 and 3 only approximately haif of the villages having PPIK churches are shown. On Map 4, oniy villages with PPIK churches are shown.

Map 1

Map 2

Map 3

Map 4

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