Worship Institute Team Partners in Indonesia
In July 2012, the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship sent a four-person team to Indonesia.
In July 2012, the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship sent a four-person team to Indonesia -- to Surabaya and near Jakarta on the island of Java -- to participate in two worship conferences hosted by the Commission for Liturgy and Music of the Indonesian Christian Church Synod (GKI).
This was the second worship conference co-sponsored by the Worship Institute and the GKI, and making the long journey were Emily Brink, Julia Start Fletcher, Joel Navarro and Kathy Smith (Brink and Navarro also went to Indonesia in 2006 for the first conference). In addition to their time in Surabaya and Java, the team also flew to Yogyakarta for some sightseeing, and there Smith also gave a lecture to 150 students and pastors at the Duta Wacana Christian University.
Although the distance between Grand Rapids and Java is sizeable, the two areas share, said members of the Worship Institute team, more in common than one might imagine a first glance.
A shared heritage back to the 1600s
"The GKI is one of the older Protestant denominations in Indonesia," said Smith, "and has about 300,000 members on the island of Java. It is one of 26 Reformed Christian denominations in Indonesia."
The shared heritage dates back to the arrival on Indonesia in the 1600s of Reformed missionaries from the Dutch East India company, missionaries who brought both Bibles and Dutch (Genevan) Psalters. Around the same time, a wave of immigrants traveled from the Netherlands to America, also toting their Bibles and Dutch Psalters and going on to form what became the Reformed Church in America and eventually the Christian Reformed Church in North America, the denomination of Calvin College.
Strong church growth in Indonesia today
Church growth in Indonesia has been strong, said members of the Worship Institute team, and some of the local conference leaders with whom they worked came from very large congregations. Gracia Leonora’s 75-year-old church in Jakarta has 7,000 members, plus seven pastors, and 18 choirs. Similarly, presenter Juswantori Ichwan is a GKI pastor in a church of 3,500 members, four pastors, eight choirs, 35 elders, and 25 districts based on sectors in the city. Meanwhile, the host of the CICW team, Untung Ongkowidjaja, is from what is considered a smaller church: 800 members and three pastors! This growth is made all the more amazing, said Brink, when one considers that Indonesia, a large and culturally diverse country of more than 17,000 islands, about 240 million people (the fourth-largest population in the world) and more than 400 languages, also is home to the world’s largest population of Muslims.
Smith said that approximately 500 people attended the two conferences in Indonesia: about 175 in Surabaya and 325 in Jakarta.
"The participants were mainly young worship leaders," she added, "and also some pastors, musicians and other church leaders. Each of the four-day conferences was identical in format and leadership except for the daily morning and evening worship services, which were led by different area churches, wonderfully showcasing the cultural diversity within Indonesia."
Lecures on liturgy, art, change, conducting, dance and more
Brink gave two plenary lectures on “Developing Creative Liturgy and Worship Using the Lectionary” and “Using the Psalms in Worship.” Smith provided the third plenary on “Using Art in Worship” and led workshops on dealing with change and difficult times in worship. Navarro, a Calvin professor of music, led workshops on conducting and voice building and also held master classes and mentoring sessions. And Start Fletcher, a Grand Rapids dance instructor, led workshops on liturgical movement and dance and creative interpretation of scripture, in which participants developed their own interpretations of the psalms through movement.
At both conferences, local presenters offered sessions on contemporary music and band for youth ministry, worship ensembles, psalm singing and hymn accompaniment.
The final morning of both conferences included a “show and tell” celebration plenary from some of the workshops. Navarro’s conducting group performed three pieces led by selected conductors from the group, while Start Fletcher's dance group led a processional, a Hebrew blessing interpreted with movement, and a tableau drama of a New Testament story.
Brink said that "conference songs were all written in number notation in print and on screen, which is easy to learn and great for melodic singing." She added: "The conferees sang very well, and the songs ranged from traditional and contemporary Western, to classic European, Taizé and new Indonesian psalms and hymns. Many services were led by worship teams of young people who came for training in the workshop 'Band and Contemporary Church Music for Youth Ministry.' Traditional Indonesian culture was also celebrated with movement, clothing and song. Music for one service was led entirely by a gamelan orchestra, another by a guzheng (traditional Chinese zither) ensemble, and another by a Batavian ensemble that included especially the erhu (Chinese 2-stringed bowed instrument). One service included a Chinese fan dance, and another included an excellent choir that both sang and danced a contemporary psalm setting. And one service was led by an unaccompanied male 'doo-wop' quartet. Indonesians are open to great variety in worship!"
Remembering Mandang
Before leaving Indonesia, the CICW team met at the Jakarta Theological Seminary with several faculty and the family of Christina Mandang, who passed away in Grand Rapids in 2010 following the inaugural assembly of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (an assembly she had helped plan with Navarro and Brink).
"After lunch together, the team visited Christina’s grave and prayed for and with her family," said Smith.
On their way back to North America, Brink and Start Fletcher made a two-day stop in Toyko where they led a workshop on the “Creative Presentation of Scripture in Worship” at the Shin-Urayasu (Toyko Bay) Reformed Church in Japan, with Pastor Takayuki Ashida.