Indonesian Churches Strive to Reach Muslims
in Creative New Ways

AIMS News: Posted 8/1/2005

After years of using traditional methods to reach Muslim villages in their country, one church network in Indonesia has decided to become more creative in their approach to reach people groups who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Since they began in the mid-1980s, an AIMS partner church in Medan has held a variety of outdoor evangelistic meetings to reach the lost within their city and throughout Indonesia. Although some area Muslims accepted Christ, most simply refused to participate.

When an AIMS team presented an Equipping for the Harvest conference in Medan last August, God burdened their hearts for unreached Muslim villages throughout the country, particularly the Acehnese people in Sumatra. Although the Aceh region was closed to outsiders, church members began to pray for them and seek God to show them how to reach them.

When the tsunami hit in December, the Aceh region opened to outside help for the very first time. As the church began to send mission teams into the region, they soon realized that their traditional methods would not be effective in communicating the Gospel of Christ to this Muslim people. They relaxed their strict regulations, permit-ting their missionaries to wear the appropriate head coverings when entering the area, so they would not offend the people. They also decided not to force new Christian converts to destroy their head coverings.

"They still do their evangelical tent meetings in areas of Indonesia," said "Gideon" (AIMS Director of Asia), "but they are also incorporating other methods of evangelism, such as friendship evangelism."

As the church began to develop relationships with the Aceh people, they began to work together in rebuilding the communities that were destroyed by the tsunami. In one village, a group of women began a sewing class to teach other women in the community how to sew and market items. Another wants to begin a candymaking business.

The church plans to provide funds to the leaders in these Muslim villages and train them in businesses and marketing strategies. They believe these efforts will create a bridge for the Gospel.

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