Group demands closure of House Churches
I received this message today from our Brother Eman Abrea, the
minister who needed $1000 to get to Indonesia. Last I’d heard, $800
had been received. Can you help? This courageous brother writes:
Dear Praying Friends,
The Lord is opening another opportunity for me to minister to our
Indonesian brothers and sisters this month. After I received an
invitation to be the main speaker in their 3-day conference, a
friend of mine send this news to me. Please read below:
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Domestic Churches under attack in Indonesia
Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies/June, 2007) - Around 150 members
of the Mosque Movement Front (FPM) and the Anti-Apostasy
Front have taken to the streets of Bandung to demand the
closure of private homes being used for church activities. The
protest which took place June 14 last, set out from the al-Ikhlash
mosque in Soreang Indah arriving at Katapang district offices.
FPM head Suryana Nur Fatwa said that if the administration
and the Religious Community Communication Forum failed to
close down the churches, the group would: “Every violator must
stop their activities or the FPM will be forced to close the
domestic Churches down”. According to Fatwa 26 private homes
which had been turned into churches by Christian communities
in Bandung regency, “Seventeen of them have stopped operating
of their own free will, but nine others are still carrying out their
activities”.
For the past three years West Java has noted an increase in
violence and fundamentalist pressures against the Christian
community’s, above all against the so called domestic Churches
are illegal. To counter the problem over a year ago the Indonesian
government approved the long awaited 1969 Ministerial Decree
(SKB No 1/1969), regulating the construction of places of worship.
But the long legal procedures and the difficulty in gaining
permission build still force numerous communities to practise their
faith “illegally”.
Simon Timorason, the head of the West Java chapter of the Indonesian
Churches Communication Forum, is urging the government to “take the
initiative in providing land for minority groups in order to prevent such
problems from arising”. Simon has recorded 70 disputes involving
residents and Christian communities using private homes as churches
since January 2004. Most of the cases took place in Bandung regency,
as well as Bekasi,Bogor, Garut, Purwakarta and Subang.
******************************
Our seminar will start this coming August 17th but my flight
schedule will be on the 15th. I will be staying there a week or
more depending on the leading of the Holy Spirit in my life. And
you know what? We will hold this seminar in Bandung – where
the above news is happening! This is exciting! And we believe,
this is God’s timing to encourage the brethren there who are
experiencing persecution from the Muslim.
Please keep on praying for me, my family and the saints in
Indonesia.
Thank you so much for interceding!
Asking the good Lord to bless you more than you think or ask for!
Every blessing,
Eman Abrea
Please pray for this brave brother. Please help him by sending funds
by PayPal to Robert Fitts at Robertjoni@aol.com
Thank you.
Every blessing,
Michael Tummillo
A servant of God
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