Traditional culture blends with Christianity in North Sumatra

[Martin_Gnanadason Daphne <Daphne.Martin_Gnanadason@wcrc.ch>]

>World Communion of Reformed Churches
>News Release
>15 May 2012

Traditional culture blends with Christianity in North Sumatra
When churches in the Karo region of North Sumatra, Indonesia began to integ 
rate the traditional music, instruments and dances of the Indigenous Karo p 
eople into Sunday worship, church membership soared, says the head of the r 
egion’s largest group of Protestant churches.
Pastor Matius P. Barus, Moderator of the Gereja Batak Karo Protestan Church  
(GBKP), made his comments in a presentation to the Executive Committee of  the 
World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) that is meeting in Berastag i, 
North Sumatra, 10-17 May.
Committee members from Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, North  
America, the Middle East and other parts of Asia were briefed by Barus on t he 
history and contemporary situation of the church in Karo.
Barus told the group that in the first 75 years of Christian presence in th e 
area, there had been few converts. Traditional music and dances were excl uded 
from church services and the first missionaries from the Netherlands w ere 
viewed with suspicion as colonialists.
In 1965, the Indonesian government made it mandatory for people to state th eir 
religion by choosing among officially approved religions. The tradition al 
belief system of the Karonese people was not on the list of five faith c 
hoices: Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Forced to  
choose which faith to convert to, many Karonese chose the GBKP because of  its 
openness to their traditions. Membership increased dramatically with so metimes 
2000 baptisms in a single day.
Keeping a balance between including traditional customs, such as burial pra 
ctices, and staying faithful to the basic beliefs of the Christian faith ha s 
not always been easy, Barus says. But discussion and study led to the cre ation 
of a manual to help pastors and church elders decide how to determine  what is 
acceptable practice.
Today the church has 300,000 members in 489 congregations. In the Karo regi on, 
30 per cent of Christians are GBKP. Twenty per cent of the population i s 
Muslim. The GBKP is the largest Christian denomination in the area.
In an evening of Karonese food, music and dance following Barus’ presenta tion, 
the 50 WCRC participants heard songs played on traditional bamboo ins truments 
and watched dances depicting rice planting and harvesting. The var ied 
programme that included a choir and dance group from local congregation s was 
enthusiastically received.
The area’s governor, Kena Ukur Karo Jambi Surbakti, welcomed the internat ional 
group. Surbakti, a GBKP church Elder, was accompanied by former churc h 
leaders, the current Moderator, and the chair of the local committee that  made 
the arrangements for the meeting.
In thanking the host church for the introduction to Karonese church history  
and culture, WCRC President Jerry Pillay noted the hospitality, planning a nd 
attention to detail that the local hosts were providing.
“It is this kind of gathering of local Christians and Christians from aro und 
the world that is at the heart WCRC”, he said.  “It is here that we  learn 
about each other, pray, and seek ways of supporting our sisters and  brothers 
in Christ.”
WCRC was created in June 2010 through a merger of the World Alliance of Ref 
ormed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC). Its 230 me 
mber churches representing 80 million Christians are active worldwide in in 
itiatives supporting economic, climate and gender justice, mission, and coo 
peration among Christians of different traditions.

>Media Contacts:
>Kristine Greenaway
>Office of Communications
>News Room in Berastagi, Indonesia (10-17 May 2012)
>Phone: +62 852 8552 0015
>Email: kgr@wcrc.ch<mailto:kgr@wcrc.ch
>www.wcrc.ch<http://www.wcrc.ch/