The 53rd anniversary celebration of the Indigenous church in Wamena, Papua, included traditional songs, tribal dances, and dramas retelling the birth of the national church in the central region of Papua. The Indigenous church is very proud of its Papuan origins, their multiple languages, their traditional songs, and the feather headdresses featuring the native bird of paradise plumes.
In addition to a number of speeches and a sermon, a choir of children and adults led the audience in a number of songs composed by GIDI members with some in their tribal languages.
On Sunday February 14 2014, GIDI celebrated their 53rd anniversary. It was held in the soccer stadium in the highland town Wamena, and attended by thousands from all over the central region of Papua. In addition to a number of speeches and a sermon, we had a choir leading the audience in a number of songs-all composed by GIDI members, and some of them in tribal languages. One by the late Yali leader Otto Kobak, which is about having received the gospel in the mountains and valleys of Papua, and taking it to the world. It is a song with a lively tune and is sung with vigor-a favorite.
Then there were a number of dance teams, which usually were accompanied by songs or in one case a commentary giving the meaning. One of the dance teams used the traditional "tifa" drums which have always been part of their culture. And there was a drama about when the first missionaries arrived in Bokondini in the midst of intra-tribal fighting. The entire program lasted about six hours, but we didn't find it boring. We even got served food and drinks during the process.
GIDI stands for Gereja Injili di Indonesia (The Evangelical Church in Indonesia) which came into being through the endeavors of three partner missions who agreed to work together to found one evangelical church fellowship, which was first registered as Gereja Injili Irian Barat, but later re-registered as Gereja Injili di Indonesia.1
In 1955, the first missionaries arrived by float plane which landed on Lake Archbold named after the leader of an American expedition which made the first landing there in 1938, and from there trekked to Bokondini, inhabited by the Western Dani. Other missionaries followed and settled into other Western Dani areas.
As Dani believers came to faith in Jesus, they wanted to share this with others. In the early years there was a remarkable "people movement" of masses of Dani people burning fetishes, amulets and weapons of war to follow Christ. By this time, other missionaries were moving into other tribal areas, and many times Dani believers volunteered to go with them to help spread the gospel.
The missionaries methods were not necessarily flawless, but the mass conversions led them to start weekly discipleship classes where local leaders or other representatives came to get teaching through the week, and then were sent back to teach in their separate villages at the weekends.
In this way, Christian leaders began to be trained and released very early, and the "trainees" passed on what they learned in their own words and forms of teaching. Often this teaching was spontaneously turned into songs and chants in the Dani idiom.
During this time, the Dani believers themselves raised "ethical questions" with the missionaries, such as what to do about multiple wives, how to deal with people who came to confess their history of killings, or women who had been involved in magical arts. Rather than be legalistic they pointed people to the grace of God, and emphasized that true repentance would lead to changed lives. For example, the missionaries believed that multiple marriage was wrong, but those already in that state should love and care for all their wives and children.
But over the last 50-plus years, the good news has spread from tribe to tribe in the mountains, into the northern and southern lowlands, and in latter years across Indonesia. GIDI now claims just under one million members in 2,016 churches throughout the nation, and in addition has ongoing church planting efforts even in the toughest Muslim areas.
GIDI sees itself as a "gereja pribumi"-an indigenous church-born in Papua, and called to be a constant witness to Jesus Christ, prioritizing evangelism and discipleship. It is very proud of its Papuan origins, their multiple languages, their traditional songs, and the feather headdresses featuring the native bird of paradise plumes. However, they have accommodated a lot of Indonesian cultural details too. Many wear shirts and dresses of Indonesian "batik" cloth, but which incorporates original Papuan designs (made only in Papua, often by Muslims from Java!). The structure and organization of services and public events is very Indonesian too, and their ordained pastors wear jackets and ties. These are often brought in by Papuans who go to study in other parts of Indonesia and see the forms used by other churches and introduce them unthinkingly.
1. At that time, they were known as RBMU, UFM (Australia) and UFM (USA). RBMU later became RBMU International and later merged with the former West Indies Mission and became World Team; UFM (Australia) became Asia Pacific Christian Mission and is now past of Pioneers; UFM (USA) is now Crossworld.
John D. Wilson, who grew up in what was then the Belgian Congo, and was a veteran missionary in Indonesia, knows about the effectiveness of presenting the message of Jesus in culturally-appropriate ways.
