New World Outlook brings its annual contribution to the Geographic Mission Study theme for 1998-99: Indonesia.
Bishop H. Doloksaribu of the Methodist Church of Indonesia writes about the vision of the Indonesian church, its ministry, and its outreach. He shares his hope of doubling the church by the year 2000 in The Vision of the Methodist Church of Indonesia.
Impressions of Indonesia: former missionary Larry Tankersley of the National Council of Churches gives readers an overview of the changes in Indonesia since the turbulent 1960s when he and his wife first traveled there as missionaries. They returned in the 1990s to observe many changes over the last 30 years.
New World Outlook takes a look at The Economic Crisis in Indonesia with an article by R. Randy Day. Day looks at how political forces within the country and global forces outside have brought about the country's current economic woes.
Indonesia's policy of Pancasila, the five pillars of religious freedom, is introduced by missionary Robert Hunt in his article Relations Between Christians and Muslims in Indonesia. Hunt shares news of the recent dialogue between Christians and Muslims held at the Institute of Religious Studies, Duta Wacana Christian University.
A special project of the Karo Batak Protestant Church is featured in Empowering Children With Special Needs. The Alpha-Omega foundation in Kabanjahe provides children who have physically and mentally handicapping conditions opportunities for education, fellowship, meaningful work, and sometimes even residency at the Gelora Kasih orphanage. The Karo Batak Protestant Church had a relationship with the former Evangelical United Brethren Church before its merger with The Methodist Church in 1968.
Another United Methodist missionary, Rebecca Asedillo, a Peace-With-Justice Educator serving with the National Council of Churches' Southern Asia Office, looks at Indonesia's annexation of East Timor in her article East Timor, People's Quest for Self-Determination. Asedillo traveled to East Timor with a delegation from the National Council of Churches to meet with Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo (awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Ramos Horta in 1996) and a Protestant leader, the Reverend Arlindo Marcal.
The Sukasari Mission of Wesley Methodist Church informs readers about how the English-Speaking Wesley Methodist Church in Medan, Indonesia, reaches out in mission to a distant village, providing school materials, teachers, volunteers, and love. The Methodist church and school of Sukasari benefit from both Indonesian missionaries and volunteers from the United States, such as George Werner, author of the article.
A list of all the United Methodist Advance Specials that support ministries in Indonesia can be found in this issue.
And don't miss the map of Indonesia, showing Indonesia's religious
concentrations, the two regions of the Methodist Church of Indonesia,
and the tour route of the 1998 mission-study tour.
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