Sinode Jemaat Kristen Indonesia

Sinode Jemaat Kristen
Location	Central Java, Aceh, Lampung, Jakarta, Bandung, Kalimantan, Jawa Timur, Bahkan di Bali, and Sulawesi (Indonesia); the Netherlands, Australia, California
Date Established	1984-1985
Presiding Officer	Sutanto Adi
Number of Congregations	155 within Indonesia. 12 in USA, Australia, and the Netherlands.
Membership	40,000 baptized members (including those in USA, Australia, and the Netherlands)

Sinode Jemaat Kristen is an Anabaptist related conference in Indonesia, and is associated with Mennonite World Conference. Currently there are almost 40,000 members and 155 congregation of the JKI synod. The strongest numbers reside in Indonesia, with few scattered congregations in USA, Australia, and the Netherlands. JKI was created as a result of a split from the GKMI synod, due to wanting to explore a more charismatic and evangelistic worship style.

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History

"Sinode Jemaat Kristen" was founded by Adi Sutanto. The fellowship began as an evangelistic association called Yayasan Keluarga Sangkakala "trumpet." It differs from most Anabaptist denominations within Indonesia because it was not started as a movement from the United States or Europe. Instead it was an internal split due to a evangelistic revival. Sutanto Adi started a small prayer group with 8 people in 1977 that grew to large formal gatherings in 1979. Sutanto saw the beginning of a congregation forming and went to the GKMI (Gereja Kristen Muriah Indonesia), where he was a member at this time, and asked to join with the GKMI. Sutanto's fellowship had a unique and evangelical worship style (speaking in tongues, faith healing, prophetic words and visions) that the GKMI did not support. The GKMI and Sutanto met, but the GKMI required the charismatic worship style to be dropped in order to be part of the church. This led to a split within the GKMI church and the formation of a new group--the GKMII--under the leadership of Dr. Lukas, a relative of Sutanto. The GKMII joined Sutanto's fellowship and in 1985 the "Jemaat Kristen Indonesia" (JKI) was officially formed.

Timeline

1977	Adi Sutanto returned from Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Mission, and was a member of the GKMI. He formed the prayer and study group Sangkakala "trumpet" with a few colleagues from Fuller Seminary. This group focused on evangelism and church planting, which corresponded well with Sutanto's passions. He brought in friends from Scandinavia and they planted churches in north Central Java
1979	Sangkakala grew and moved to Gedung Pemuda in Jl. Pemuda, Semarang. The church planting group was becoming more organized and stationary and at the same time expanding to other cities and villages through teaching the gospel and holding prayer meetings. At this time it was not a separate church from the GKMI (where Adi remained a member)
1980-1984	Adi Sutanto asked for Sangkalala to be accepted as member or branch of the GKMI denomination. The GKMI refused due to his charismatic and evangelistic worship style.
1984-5	The recently separated group GKMII and Sangkalala merged together to create the new synod, JKI. The GKMII separated from the GKMI due to disagreements regarding the church hospital and evangelism. After joining, the JKI promptly applied to be members of the Mennonite World Conference.

Key Individuals in the Life of the Church

Adi Sutanto-Founder of the JKI, former member of the GKMI, studied at Fuller Theological Seminary School

Looking to the Future

The main concentration of JKI congregations is in Indonesia, however there has been a slow movement to the USA and Australia. As of 2001, there were 5 churches in California and 1 in Australia. JKI congregations located in the southwest USA are making difficult decisions to either stay within Indonesia's JKI synod or become linked with the Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference. The largest Anabaptist church building is located in Semerang, Indonesia. The "Holy Stadium," pastored by Petrus Agung, can seat 12,000 people. The congregation has 8,000 members, mostly young people (2005).

Electronic Resources

• 2006 Mennonite World Conference Directory for Asia/Pacific

http://www.mounttziyon.com/en/ http://www2.yidio.com/purim-day-at-our-church---jki-injil-kerajaan/id/124061081

Annotated Bibliography

Adi, Lydia. "Re: JKI Project" Message to Jalisa Heyerly. 13 April 2011. E-mail. Lydia Adi is the daughter of the founder of the JKI movement and was able to provide a general history as well as goals for the JKI future.

Hiendarto, Joyce. "Re: School Project." Message to Jalisa Heyerly. 11 March 2011. E-mail. Joyce Hiendarto is a second generation Indonesian who lives in Pasadena, California and works at Fuller Theological Seminary. Joyce attends a Jemaat Kristen (JKI)Mennonite congregation there and Joyce's father is a pastor of her home church. She provided a brief history, noted how the JKI were different, and gave some insight into the new phenomenon of the JKI located in USA.

Mennonite World Conference. "Mennonite and Brethren in Christ Churches Worldwide, 2009: Asia & Pacific. 2010. Web. 25 October 2010. The MWC provided a list of the numbers for the JKI church as of 2010.

Pacific Southwest Conference of the Mennonite Church. (Fall 2005). What's the scoop: people and events. Panorama, p. 9. This article provides news about the very large JKI congregation in Semarang, Indonesia and their growing population.

Oswald, Laurie. (2001). Making peace while answering a different call. The Messenger: Evangelical Mennonite Conference. vol 39 (3), p. 13. The Messenger is a Mennonite publication to update others within the conference of the current happenings of congregations around the world. The JKI are a part of the Evangelical Mennonite Conference, and therefore get mentioned periodically.

Yoder, Lawrence. "Re: JKI school Project" Message to Jalisa Heyerly. 12 April 2011. E-mail. Yoder completed a book The Muria Story, about the GKMI church in Indonesia. He was a well informed resource and provided a somewhat detailed history about the JKI through email. However, his book had little to no information about the JKI.