| Pastor
Follows Her Heart to the Sunda People of Indonesia
AIMS
News: Posted 12/1/2005
 In
1998, "Pastor Layna" planted a church in a
Muslim community in Indonesia. For two years she watched
it grow and continued to pray for her neighbors, but
Islamic radicals began to stir dissent within the community.
One
night, during a prayer service, youth in the community
threw rocks at the building and sprayed graffiti on
the walls. They even tried to kill one of her full-time
workers. The persecution continued until she closed
the church to protect her congregation from harm, but
her heart continued to break for the very people who
were persecuting her.
A
New Church is Born
During
an AIMS Equipping for the Harvest conference
in 2004, Pastor Layna decided to focus on reaching the
Sunda people, an unreached Muslim people group in Indonesia.
Pastor
Layna wanted to plant a church in a city where many
Sunda had settled. She walked through the city several
times, praying for the people and asking God to lead
her to a location to plant a church. In January 2005,
she opened the doors to a new church in the city. By
August, the church had grown to 255 in attendance, including
ten Sundanese believers, who are now leading cell groups
throughout the city.
 But
reaching the Sunda people is not easy. Sunda who convert
to Christianity often face rejection from their families.
Neighbors may burn the church down. Young women are
often forced to marry Muslim men to keep them from converting.
Many times, new believers have to move to another city
to escape the persecution.
Churches
Unite Together to Reach a Community
Because
of such difficulties, churches throughout the city have
united to make their ministry more effective. For the
past two years, sixty churches have joined in a massive
24/7 prayer effort for the Sunda people.
"They
are working together so that they don't duplicate their
efforts," said Pastor Layna. She explaned that
if too many churches move into one area, the Sunda community
will often unite and chase them out.
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