Protestantism (Indonesian:Protestanisme) is one of the six recognizedreligions inIndonesia, the others beingIslam,Roman Catholicism,Hinduism,Buddhism, andConfucianism. Its followers comprise the majority ofChristians in Indonesia, who are the second largest religious group in the country after Muslims.
According toCIA statistics, in 2000 5.7% of the population of Indonesia wereProtestant.[1] A nationwide census of 2018 noted that 7.6% (20,250,000) of the population considered themselves Protestant, the largest such community inSoutheast Asia.[2]
Protestantism in Indonesia is largely a result ofReformed andLutheran missionary efforts during the country's colonial period.[3][4][5] TheDutch East India Company regulated the missionary work so it could serve its own interests and restricted it to the eastern part of theIndonesian archipelago.[6] Although these two branches are the most common, a multitude of other denominations can be found elsewhere in Indonesia.[7] The largest is theBatak Protestant Christian Church, founded byGerman Lutheran missionaryLudwig Ingwer Nommensen in 1861.[8]
Protestantism arrived in Indonesia during the Dutch East Indies colonization. By the mid-1700s a significantLutheran presence was found inJakarta, with a Lutheran church built by the LutheranGovernor GeneralGustaaf Willem van Imhoff in 1749.[9] In 1817, the Dutch founded theProtestantsche Kerk in Nederlandsch-Indie (colloquially,Indische Kerk) as a union ofReformed,Lutheran,Baptists,Arminian andMennonite denominations.[10] In 1835,William I of the Netherlands decreed one church council would fuse and oversee Protestant denominations in the Dutch colony.[11]
In 2018, Protestants made up 7.43% of the population.[12]
On the island ofSulawesi, 17% of the citizens are Protestant, particularly inTana Toraja andNorth Sulawesi. Up to 65% of the Torajan population is Protestant. In some parts of the country, entire villages belong to a distinct denomination, such asAdventist,Lutheran,Presbyterian orSalvation Army. Two provinces have Protestant majorities: North Sulawesi (64%) and Papua (60%).Christian Evangelical Church in Minahasa is the largestProtestant church in North Sulawesi.Gereja Injili di Tanah Jawa is a Mennonite-related denomination.Huria Kristen Batak Protestant is a Lutheran denomination founded byLudwig Ingwer Nommensen. It is the largest Protestant denomination in Indonesia and has over 4 million congregants.[13] The relatively large number of "denominations" per capita in Indonesia may be due to the significant number of differentethnic groups in Indonesia. Many Indonesian Protestants tend to congregate based more on ethnicity than liturgical differences.[14]
TheReformed faith was brought byDutch missionaries beginning in the 17th century. Many of these churches are members of theWorld Communion of Reformed Churches:[15]
Indonesian churches recognized by theLutheran World Federation as Lutheran or affiliated with Lutheran are:
HKI, GMB, GKPS, GKPI, GKLI, GKPA, GPP, and GKPPD all split from HKBP.[19] GKLI maintains a strong relationship with theNorwegian Lutheran Church. GKPM was founded by HKBP missionaries.[20] Although the BNKP and HKBP have historically cooperated, no official relationship exists between those entities. AMIN split from BNKP and retains more of a Lutheran identity.[21]
Gereja Lutheran Indonesia (GLI) is affiliated with theConfessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference. GLI is closely associated with theWisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod in theUnited States. GLI has offices in Jakarta and operates a seminary, Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Lutheran (STTL), inYogyakarta. GLI has large congregations on Java and inWest Timor, as well as posts inPapua andKalimantan.[22][23]
Muslim 231.069.932 (86.7), Christian 20.246.267 (7.6), Catholic 8.325.339 (3.12), Hindu 4.646.357 (1.74), Buddhist 2.062.150 (0.77), Confucianism 117091 (0.03), Other 299617 (0.13), Not Stated 139582 (0.06), Not Asked 757118 (0.32), Total 266.534.836
Protestants - European or Indonesian - living in the major cities mostly belonged to the Protestant Church in the Dutch East Indies, the Indische Kerk. The status of this church was in some respects quite different from that of the Catholic community, because it was placed more directly under government authority. By a decree of 11 December 1835 the Dutch king, Willem I, commanded the fusion of the Lutheran and Reformed denominations (only effected in 1854), and the establishment of one church council for the whole colony (realised in 1844).
Muslim 231.069.932 (86.7), Christian 20.246.267 (7.6), Catholic 8.325.339 (3.12), Hindu 4.646.357 (1.74), Buddhist 2.062.150 (0.77), Confucianism 71.999 (0.03), Others/Traditional faiths 112.792 (0.04), Total 266.534.836
It is remarkable that in the merger of the BKP with the BNKP the choice for unification was made on cultural rather than denominational grounds. While the Batunese congregations show distinctly Lutheran traits, especially in liturgical matters, the sense of communion is determined by ethno-cultural relations. Similar language and customary law, and especially family links between Nias and the Batu Islands, by far outweigh eccliastical tradition.
