Indonesian Reformed Evangelical Church

Indonesian Reformed Evangelical Church
Gereja Reformed Injili Indonesia
Classification Protestant
Theology Reformed Calvinist
Polity Presbyterian
Leader Stephen Tong
Associations World Reformed Fellowship
Region Indonesia, United States, Malaysia, Australia, Germany, China, Hong Kong
Origin 1989
Jakarta
Congregations 40 in Indonesia, 4 in Australia, 15 in China, Malaysia, Singapore, 4 in Europe, 2 in North America
Members unknown

The Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia (Indonesian: Gereja Reformed Injili Indonesia; Chinese: 印尼歸正福音教會), abbreviated GRII, also Indonesian Reformed Evangelical Church, is a Reformed Christian church that is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia. It was founded by Stephen Tong, a Chinese-born Indonesian evangelist. The church's members are mainly Indonesian Chinese.[1]

History

Andrew Gih of the Evangelize China Fellowship established the Southeast Bible Seminary in Malang, East Java in 1952, and Tong graduated from it in 1961, establishing the church in 1989 following many years of preaching and evangelism.

Timeline

Stephen Tong founded the Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia in 1989 to establish a Reformed theology-based church and congregations who are committed to evangelism.

The GRII is headquartered in the Reformed Millennium Center, in Sawah Besar, Jakarta, where it has its largest church, the Messiah Cathedral. It has congregations in other major cities in Indonesia, as well as in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Australia, China, Taiwan, Germany and the USA.

Beliefs

The church subscribes to the Reformed confessions generally accepted by Reformed churches, but it has its own unique confession of faith.[3] Some churches use the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Heidelberg Catechism.[4]

Church organization

Tong is currently the Head of Synod of the Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia.

The Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia and its affiliated institutions have female evangelists, lecturers, and church council members. They are allowed to preach and assume authoritative roles, although they are not ordained.[5]

Recent issues

Stephen Tong has preached the Gospel to 1,5 million Indonesians in 2012. According to the International Evangelism Fellowship's adaptation of the press release by the Indonesian Evangelical Reformed Church till November 2012 the Reformed Evangelical Church's sermons have reached 1,5 millions. 700 preaching assemblies were held. In October 200,000 people were able to hear the Gospel. This assemblies was led by S. Tong. The church reaped great evangelisation work in 2012.[6]

Indonesia has about 250 million people. Evangelisation is a long process, if the GRII preaches 1 million people per year it would take 218 years to let all Indonesians to hear the Gospel. Stephen Tong said that the church cannot be proud, because there is great distance towards the evangelisation of the entire country.[7]

In a four-days evangelistic outreach in December 2012 Tong preached in the Messianic Cathedral in Jakarta to 30,000 attenders, in a Muslim majority country.[8]

Worship center

Messiah Cathedral, captured from Kemayoran Street.

In 2008, a new building for the Reformed Evangelical Church in Jakarta called Reformed Millennium Center of Indonesia (RMCI), which includes The Messiah Cathedral (a 4800-seat auditorium),[9] was finished. It took 16 years to persuade the Indonesian government to issue a permit to build the church.[10] The church building was personally designed by Tong himself. It is one of the largest Chinese Christian evangelical church facilities in the world, with 600,000 square feet (56,000 m2) of space. In the Calvin auditorum concerts were held in the opening of the Cathedral in 2008.[11] The building also includes a theological seminary, STT Reformed Injili Internasional, founded by the Synod of Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia in cooperation with Reformed Institute for Christianity and the 21st Century (Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministries International). The seminary has a strong relation with Westminster Theological Seminary.

Other centers

There are churches in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Malang, Denpasar, Palembang, Medan, Batam, Samarinda, Singapore, Balikpapan, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Taipei, Taichung, Guang Zhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Hongkong, Berlin, Hamburg, München, Toronto, Boston, and Los Angeles. The church has approximately 56 congregations.[12]

International organisations

Member of the World Reformed Fellowship.[13]

Notable churches

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ethnic Chinese in Contemporary Indonesia, p. 112
  2. 1 2 "Gereja Reformed Injili Indonesia | Profil Gereja di Indonesia". Profilgereja.wordpress.com. 2015-03-19. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  3. ↑ "Pengakuan Iman Reformed Injili". grii.org. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  4. 1 2 "Persekutuan Reformed Injili Indonesia di Swiss". Profil-priswiss.blogspot.hu. 2006-07-11. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  5. ↑ "Gereja Reformed Injili Indonesia". reformiert-online.net. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
  6. ↑ "Indonesian Reformed Evangelical Church Reaches Evangelism Milestone of 1.5 Million People". Gospelherald.com. 2012-11-26. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  7. ↑ "Indonesian Reformed Evangelical Church Reaches Evangelism Milestone of 1.5 Million People". Gospelherald.com. 2012-11-26. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  8. ↑ "Chinese-Indonesian Evangelist Stephen Tong Preaches to 30,000 in Muslim-Majority Nation". Gospelherald.com. 2011-12-14. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  9. ↑ "Largest Chinese Church Overseas to Open in Jakarta". The Christian Post. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  10. ↑ Wright, Tom (2008-09-04). "Improbable Houses of Worship". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  11. ↑ "Mimbar Reformed Injili Indonesia Los Angeles: The Cathedral of Messiah of Jakarta Reformed Evangelical Church". Mriila.org. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  12. ↑ Archived August 11, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ↑ Archived July 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ↑ Archived October 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ↑ "P.I. Penginjilan GRII |". Griibatam.org. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  16. ↑ "Home". GRII-cikarang.org. 2015-04-21. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  17. ↑ "Home". GRIImelbourne.com. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  18. ↑ "Selamat Datang di Website GRII Singapura". Grii-singapore.org. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  19. ↑ "Website GRII Pondok Indah". Griipondokindah.org. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
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