Pak Aman, a Sundanese Christian from a Muslim background, leads a small church and faithfully evangelizes in his community. He was arrested and held in police custody after appearing on the YouTube channel of another Muslim-background believer in Christ. He was accused of violating Indonesia’s blasphemy law. Aman said he originally anticipated that he would serve several years in prison due to the outcomes of other blasphemy cases, but the courts ruled in favor of Aman, and he was released from police detention after nine months.
Read MoreMuhammad Kace is an evangelist in an Indonesian prison for charges of blaspheming Islam on his YouTube channel. Kace’s lawyers succeeded in getting his 12-year sentence reduced to eight years and are appealing to further reduce the sentence. Despite suffering and being imprisoned for his faith, Kace has been supported by local pastors and by the global body of Christ, enabling his family to rent a home near the prison and providing Kace with essential medication and food during his imprisonment. In a video call with front-line workers, Kace praised God and shared about his ministry in prison to the guards and others he interacts with.
Read MoreThe Sundanese are one of the largest unreached minority groups in the world and have been resistant to the gospel. However, when three Muslim-background Sundanese brothers – Joyo, Setiaban and Wira – came to faith in Jesus Christ, they also became passionate evangelists. Their evangelistic success in their village eventually led to persecution. When the news of dozens of Christian conversions began to spread, one of the Islamic social organizations in Indonesia, Muhammadiyah, rallied members to stop the brothers and the spread of Christianity in their village.
Read MoreKila, who is in his late twenties, survived an East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) terrorist attack on a small group of Kalimago villagers in 2022. His friend, Marten Solon, was killed in the attack. Kila shared about the experience and how God used it to motivate him when he was a nominal Christian to live his life for God rather than himself. Kila is still experiencing some ongoing health complications due to the trauma of the attack.
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At 21, Mehfri enrolled in a Bible school in Indonesia with no intention of studying the Bible. Although he had grown up in a Christian family, he enrolled in the school only to hide from the police, who were after him for selling drugs. “I was not in the Bible school to get born again,” he said. “When I was in the Bible school, I was thinking how I could sell drugs to the students to get money.” After a few months at the school, and three years of selling cocaine and Ecstasy, Mehfri was arrested and put in jail. Then, one day, a pastor who visited the jail every Friday gave Mehfri a Bible. As Mehfri began to read the Scriptures, he recalled the few lectures he had paid attention to during his time at the Bible school. The lessons on God’s love spoke to him in his time of need, and his heart was softened toward the Lord. “I read Romans 10, and at that time I confessed that Jesus is my Lord,” he said. Twenty days later, his father, who had always struggled to make ends meet, came up with the money to pay his bail. Following
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The Day of the Bombings More than a year after suicide bombers killed 15 people at three Indonesian churches, the survivors continue to heal from their injuries and question why they were attacked — even as they hold fast to their faith in Jesus Christ. Before sunrise on May 13, 2018, Wenny Hudojo hurried to get herself, her two sons and her niece dressed and ready for the second service at Saint Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. She and the children then made their way through the busy streets of the second largest city in Indonesia to gather for worship, as they did every Sunday. “It was a typical morning,” Wenny recalled. “We went to church every Sunday, but my husband wasn’t able to come with us this time because he was sick.” As they walked through the church gate, her sons, 8-year-old Nathan and 11-year-old Evan, talked excitedly with their 11-year-old cousin, Evelyn, about the games they would play after church. After passing the church security guard on their left, Wenny heard a motorcycle zip past them on the right. She turned to see two young men on the bike heading straight for the church
Read MoreAfter Nia’s Muslim family learned of her Christian faith, they prepared to behead her if she didn’t say an Islamic prayer. Out of fear, Nia recited the prayer. Her family subsequently kept her locked in her room for several days.
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It was 7:30 on a Sunday morning when two brothers, ages sixteen and eighteen, rode their motorcycles to the Santa Maria Catholic Church in Surabaya, Indonesia, and detonated their explosives, killing themselves and six others in the blast. Five minutes later, the boys’ father drove a car filled with explosivesinto the Surabaya Center Pentecostal Church. The bombs detonatedoutside the building, killing the driver and six churchgoers. In another part of town, the boys’ mother and two sisters, ages nine and twelve, approached the Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church with explosives strapped to their bodies. When a security guard stoppedthem, they detonated their explosives, killing themselves and the securityguard. No church members were killed in the blast. A single family attacked three separate churches within a span of ten minutes. Twelve Christians were killed, and more than forty men andwomen were injured. Shortly after the attacks, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the bombings. Investigators eventually learned that the family had spent time in Syria and was working with the group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah, an Indonesian militant group with close ties to ISIS. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world. Althoughattacks against Christians there have become less
Read MoreGabriel and Noni were the only Christians in their Muslim village. One day, a Muslim woman died unexpectedly, and her two sons consulted a witchdoctor to figure out why she died. He told them that the Christians were responsible for her death as they had a magic object that gave them power.
Read MoreAuthorities detained Christian YouTube evangelist Muhammad Kace on Aug. 25, 2021, for making disparaging comments against Islam during his ongoing public proclamation of the gospel. In prison, Muhammad has been brutalized, threatened and humiliated.
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