Christianity around the world

Christianity in Indonesia

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, yet it holds a large and lively Christian minority, tens of millions strong. The faith came through Portuguese and then Dutch contact from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and grew through missions in the nineteenth and twentieth. Certain regions such as the Batak lands of Sumatra, Minahasa in Sulawesi, the Moluccas, Flores, and Papua are strongly Christian. Both Protestant and Catholic churches thrive under the national ideal of unity in diversity.

How Christianity came to Indonesia

Christianity reached the islands of the Indonesian archipelago through European trade and mission. Portuguese Catholics were active in the Moluccas and the eastern islands in the sixteenth century, and Francis Xavier worked there in the 1540s. When the Dutch came to dominate the East Indies, they brought Reformed Protestant Christianity. From the nineteenth century, dedicated missionaries carried the faith into particular peoples, such as the German Ludwig Nommensen among the Batak of northern Sumatra, whose work bore lasting fruit.

Because mission followed the map of peoples and islands, Indonesian Christianity is strongly regional. The Batak, the Minahasans of northern Sulawesi, the Moluccans, the people of Flores and Timor, and the Papuans became largely Christian, while Java and much of the rest remained Muslim.

The church here today

Christians number in the tens of millions in Indonesia, both Protestant and Roman Catholic. The Indonesian state is founded on the Pancasila, which recognizes belief in one God and a plural society, and Christianity is one of the officially recognized religions. Relations with the Muslim majority are mostly peaceful, though there have been periods of tension and violence in some regions. The church is energetic, with large congregations in the cities and deep roots in the Christian-majority regions.

If you are seeking here

If you are living in Indonesia and quietly wondering about Jesus, you are not alone, and you are welcome. Faith is not a nationality or a family tradition you are locked into or out of; it begins wherever one person turns to Christ and asks. You can start today by reading a Gospel, by praying honestly in your own words, and by finding a community that follows Jesus near you.

Frequently asked questions

Are there Christians in Indonesia?

Yes. Although Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, it has a large Christian minority of tens of millions, both Protestant and Catholic, strong in certain regions.

Where are Christians strongest in Indonesia?

In regions such as the Batak lands of northern Sumatra, Minahasa in northern Sulawesi, the Moluccas, Flores and Timor, and Papua, where Christians form a majority.

How did Christianity come to Indonesia?

Through Portuguese Catholic and then Dutch Protestant contact from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and through nineteenth and twentieth century missions among particular peoples such as the Batak.