Previous | Next 

Jakarta, Indonesia
Seminars address community building for Indonesian Mennonites


“Building community” was the theme of this year’s annual meeting of the Association of Indonesia Mennonite Business and Professional Persons (HUPMI) Nov. 10-13. The meeting has historical significance in that a “southern” Mennonite church called and hosted a conference focusing on community building in order to enhance the effectiveness of witnessing.

About 140 persons, including 13 from overseas, representing business, professional and church leadership in the Mennonite community, gathered in two seminar locations, in Jakarta and Bandungan, a mountain resort near Semarang, central Java. Two locations were chosen so that more people could attend.

Speakers noted the special challenges facing the Mennonite church in Indonesia, including its minority status as a Christian denomination in a Muslim country, ethnic differences and the present economic crisis.

The seminars focused on the spiritual and economic vitality of the membership. There are now about 75,000 Mennonites in Indonesia representing three national conferences. HUPMI is trying to raise the economic level of the Mennonite communities through mutual care of these conferences so that they can be more effective in caring for one another and in their witness.

In the seminars, each subject was treated by a speaker from Indonesia and one from overseas, an arrangement designed to increase dialogue between the South and the North. International speakers included Peter Huang of Taiwan, director of the world’s largest Mennonite Hospital; Ben Sprunger, president of Mennonite Economic Development Associates; and Mesach Krisetya, president of Mennonite World Conference. The Indonesian speakers included the chairs of two Mennonite conferences and the president of HUPMI.

The Indonesian Mennonite Church (GITJ) is the oldest conference resulting from Mennonite missions. GKMI, a strong conference with vital congregations and with about 70 missionaries scattered throughout Indonesia and the world, has its own mission board, PIPKA. The Charismatic Mennonite Church (JKI) is the youngest among the three conferences but not the least in terms of growth rate.

It was agreed that HUPMI would contribute to the shaping of an International Fellowship of Mennonite Business and Professional persons around the world. A meeting with other national groups similar to HUPMI is being planned for November 2000 in Vancouver, in conjunction with the MEDA annual meeting.  – Frits Triman, HUPMI chair

Previous | Next 

Last modified December 10, 1999.

© 1999 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
Masthead and usage information.