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Waging peace with tea, dialog, and the Holy Spirit
SOLO, Indonesia – Mennonite witness to the way of Jesus has forged amazing new friendships in this land, which just a few years ago was fraught with tensions and violence between Christian and Muslim communities.
A group of 80 leaders representing Protestant, Catholic, Buddhist, Confucian, Hindu, Ahmadiyya, and a variety of Muslim groups met February 9, to celebrate the Indonesian launch of A Muslim and a Christian in Dialogue by Badru D. Kateregga and David W. Shenk.
Also present for this historic meeting were 35 Christian students from six Asian countries who were being hosted for a mission training event (World Missions Institute) by PIPKA, the mission arm of GKMI, a conference of Mennonite churches in Indonesia.
“It was just amazing,” said Shenk, co-author of the book and a global consultant with Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM) who was present for the meeting. “Nine years ago such a gathering would have been unthinkable. Solo, in Central Java, is a significant meeting place for the cultural and religious diversity of Indonesia and inter-ethnic and religious tensions were running high, damaging significant portions of the city. Peace in Solo is a blessing to the whole nation.”
At the meeting, Indonesian Mennonite pastor Paulus Hartono, who has been giving leadership to inter-faith peacemaking in the region, noted that the theme of the launch is to promote witness and confession of faith with gentleness and respect – as the Kateregga-Shenk book models – without overlooking key areas of difference between Muslims and Christians.
Glenn Kauffman, representative to Asia for EMM, officiated at the launch and presented copies of the book to key leaders who have cooperated in publishing the dialogue. (The publishing project was funded through EMM, with assistance from a grant from the Langham Trust of the John Stott Foundation.)
Dian Nafi, a Muslim leader who wrote one of the forewords for the Indonesian translation of the Kateregga-Shenk book, said in his launch speech, “This book does not compromise the faith of Muslims and Christians, but shares the faiths respectfully in a spirit that builds trust and peacemaking.”
Former Mennonite World Conference president Mesach Krisetya wrote the Christian foreword to the book, and has also been involved in the interfaith peacebuilding efforts in Solo.
After the initial meeting, the WMI student group participated in a second launching of the book within the command center of the Hizbullah*, a traditionally militant jihadist movement.
“The Hizbullah commander, surrounded by his officers, spoke to us with evident deep emotion saying that these interfaith friendships are introducing a new spirit into Christian-Muslim relations, a spirit of respectful witness and dialogue. Then the Hizbullah served us a delicious meal. It was remarkable – the Christian student group and Hizbullah eating and conversing together,” Shenk said.
In Solo the WMI student group also met for tea and conversation with the prince, Drs. GPH. Dipokusumo, in his home. He is a key player in the efforts to develop trust-building relationships within the whole region, and was very appreciative of the conflict transformation institute he had attended at Eastern Mennonite University last summer.
Kauffman observed that these events are the fruit of many months of relationship-building with both Christian and Muslim leaders involved in trust-building efforts. Hartono, who pastors the GKMI Mennonite church in Solo, not only needed to build trust with the Muslims and leaders of other faiths, but also to prove the validity of this work to his own congregation.
“The varied ways the Holy Spirit works never cease to amaze,” Kauffman said. “Paulus told us one story of a former Muslim who contacted him and told him he was now a believer in Jesus. The man was greatly influenced by the fact that Paulus loved and accepted him, but never asked him to join his church.”
So as Hartono and the Mennonite congregation in Solo give leadership to these peacemaking efforts, they see growing interest in Christ who inspires this Christian commitment to peacemaking.
“Even the Hizbullah bless this growth – for they have come to see the Christians as trustworthy friends,” Shenk said, “What a transformation! When I asked Paulus how he accounts for all of this transformation he said, ‘lots of tea and the Holy Spirit.’”
Shenk said that Hartono has developed such a level of trust with the Hizbullah that if there is a place where Muslim-Christian tensions are developing, they call him to step in and help mediate the tensions. The Mennonite church has released their 40-year-old pastor for full-time engagement in this mission of interfaith and inter-ethnic transformation and peacemaking.
Muslims and Christians are also doing work projects together. Since the earthquake last year the Indonesian MDS and local Muslim organizations have been working together in rebuilding projects.
Raised as a Muslim, Hartono said that one day in an Islamic madrassa as he was being taught the Qur'an, the Lord spoke to him and called him to be a Christian pastor. He did not know what that meant, but took the call seriously.
“As Hartono chaired these historic meetings, it was plain to everyone that it is Jesus who inspires his commitments,” Shenk said.
-Jewel Showalter
*Different from a group with a similar name in the Middle East
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