Our local correspondent…
From a Briefing reader with close ties to some of the regions affected in the tsunami:
With the horrific toll on human life and local economies that has unfolded before our eyes, Australian evangelicals will be wondering how they should react. Yes, we can contribute money—that goes without saying—but as Jesus said, “You will always have the poor with you”. We know therefore that money will not solve the problems of the millions of destitute survivors. What then, are some of the Biblical responses to this disaster, and others that will, no doubt, follow it during our lifetimes?
As someone who works alongside members of an indigenous Indonesian church, let me give you some insights on how the local Christians respond. The Bali Protestant church is small, but fiercely true to the gospel. It is used to being a minority in a sea of local Hinduism and Indonesian Islam, but this has not stopped it from having an impact far beyond its numbers.
When the bombs exploded in Kuta-Legian, the church was the first organisation to offer help to the families of the deceased local families. The congregations of Bali took up a special offering for the widows and orphans. They also visited the families, appealed for sponsorship of schoolage children and took orphans into their care facilities. This had an enormous impact upon the Muslims who lost breadwinners and on the Muslim community of Bali as a whole. The commonly heard remark was “We thought you would hate us, but instead you have responded with love. Why?” As a result, there have been turnings to Christ.
Yet, money and economic support was never their only method of reaching out. When I attended the Memorial Outreach a month after the disaster, I met an elderly Muslim from Lombok, whose only daughter had been badly injured. I asked him how he had been surviving with no breadwinner, and he pointed to a Christian family, saying simply, “They took me in.”
This is typically the Balinese Christian response to disaster: they wade in as deeply as they can, and even further.
And so they have done, in the wake of the tsunamis. As news came through on Sunday, the Balinese church dedicated its entire weekly offertory to the survivors. This week, they will hold a massive conference to organise help. I have no doubt that Christians from Bali will go to the devastated areas, offering help in whatever form it can be offered.
I have no doubt, too, that Christians from the province of North Sumatera, where there is a Christian majority amongst the Batak tribe, will also travel to Aceh to bring relief and offer themselves as living sacrifices. And when I say sacrifices, I do not necessarily mean it in a spiritual sense. Aceh is the most fanatically Islamic region of Indonesia, and has waged an almost constant war for independence from first the Dutch and afterwards the Indonesian government, for almost 200 years. The Acehnese have banned Christianity, and burnt down the churches which were there.
Yet, Christ is represented in Aceh. A Christian radio station broadcasts into the region, and Christian workers serve Christ secretly, under the sentence of death if they are discovered. It doesn't stop them.
The Indonesian Christians give us the example we should follow: not just money, but our lives should be offered for Christ. Don't cancel your holidays to the region. Postpone them, perhaps, until the crisis is passed and life is beginning to normalise (if the word ‘normal’ can be used), then go there. Sit with the local people; build relationships with them; listen to them and give them your shoulder to cry on. Give to them financially and of yourselves, and tell them why you are giving. I can assure you they will listen, and they will accept your prayers if you offer them. I know: I was blessed to be able to share the gospel with Hindus in Bali, and I continue to be able to do so, as I return annually to the region.
If you want to know more of what work my family has been privileged to be involved in, you can read more on our site: http://www.webpastor.com