ICC NOTE: Indonesia and other Southeast Asian nations are hungry for the word of God. While the majority Muslim and Buddhist populations are weary of the rapid growth of Christianity, the fear of persecution should not be a hindrance toward spreading the gospel. Indonesia’s Christian population has grown from 1.3 million to 24 million in 40 years to become the largest Christian population in Southeast Asia. The shear size of the church in a Muslim majority nation presents an amazing testimony to the power of Christ. Singapore pastor Kong Hee see’s Indonesia as a “harvest field” for Christianity and considers his cell group method the perfect approach to church growth in the region. As Christianity remains in precarious situations among the Muslim and Buddhist communities, smaller more intimate church groups would enable a strong expansion into similar groups around the Pacific region.
3/4/2016 Indonesia (Christian Post) – Pastor Kong Hee of Singapore’s City Harvest Church has continued his tour around Southeast Asia, focusing this week on Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world, which he called a “big harvest field” for Christianity.
Kong also spoke about the importance of implementing church “cell groups,” which he argued allow even the world’s biggest megachurches to effectively care for all of its members.
“What a big harvest field Indonesia is. The number of Christians has grown from 1.3 million to 24 million in the past 40 years, making up approximately 10 percent of the country’s population,” Kong wrote on Facebook.
“Christianity is Indonesia’s second-largest religion, making it the second-largest Christian population in Southeast Asia. With such a ready harvest field, it is so necessary for church-building work to be done in this wonderful nation, and that is why I love doing missions in Indonesia,” he added.
As the CIA Factbook points out, over 87 percent of the Indonesian population follows Islam, making it the largest Muslim nation in the world, but Christianity has continued to grow, much like in other Southeast Asian nations.
Kong, who earlier this year also visited and praised the notable growth of the faith in South Korea, ministered at the El-Shaddai Creative Community, where he talked about the development of cell groups, a form of smaller fellowship groups where believers come together for prayer, worship, and Bible readings.
The CHC pastor said that such groups are “a very important part of every growing and healthy church.”
“For 40 years, Yonggi Cho has pioneered the modern concept of the ‘cell groups,’ which has become a major catalyst of church growth to the body of Christ,” he added.
