Introducing Philip Mantofa: Pastor Philip Mantofa graduated from Columbia Bible College, in British Columbia, Canada, with a degree in theology. Since 1998, he has been serving Mawar Sharon Church, a growing church of 30,000 in Indonesia. Currently, he is one of the leaders of the Mawar Sharon denomination, which has a network of 70 local churches. He has brought more than 100,000 souls to Christ. His passion is to see nations encounter and experience the love of Jesus Christ and ignite fire in the younger generation to become pastors and spiritual leaders all over Asia. He and his wife have three children.

PneumaReview.com: Please tell our readers how you came to know Jesus.

At one time I harbored a lot of hatred toward the Lord and toward myself. I was disappointed in my family, friends, and church. My days seemed dark. On one occasion I cursed the Lord, I challenged Him, and blasphemed Him. When I did this my heart began to beat fast and I collapsed. My heart was racing and I thought that I would die. My breathing became tight and I felt the presence of the Lord. He spoke to me and said “I love you.” When He said that my heartbeat became stable again and I stood up. Then I blasphemed Him again. This time I was thrown to the floor and my heart again began to beat frantically. Once again I felt the Lord’s presence and I cried like a baby because I heard Him again say that He loved me. I was on the floor screaming, “Why do you love me? I do not love You! Kill me now! Do it now while I hate You! Punish me now!” I rejected God’s love. I blasphemed a third time, again my breath was constricted and I was thrown to the floor. Once again His presence came to me and I heard a voice in my heart say as though crying “I love you.” After this my heartbeat once again became normal.

After these experiences I decided that if the Lord would not kill me then I would kill myself. No one knew of my plans to kill myself. Twice I planned to take my life but I could not do it because I thought of my family and how they would handle it. The third time I planned to kill myself I was interrupted by a phone call from my pastor’s wife and so I did not go through with it.

Two weeks later I went to church. I had a sense that there was going to be an altar call to receive Christ and I prepared to leave the service. I stood and started moving toward the exit. As I was reaching for the door knob I heard a man’s voice in my ear, it was very firm and loud. It was an audible voice. The voice said, “Philip, if you are not saved today, you will be lost forever.” There was no one standing near me, I then realized that it was the voice of God. I immediately ran to the front of the church and lifted my hands. I cried and cried. I also saw a very bright light. At this time I heard an audible voice speaking to me in English. The voice said, “I am Jesus and I love you.” I asked the Lord to let me die for Him. He told me to live for Him. That day He touched me and I was changed.

Protest against Ahok on March 31, 2017.
Image: Cahaya Maulidian / Wikimedia Commons

The southeast Asian country is home to the world’s largest Muslim population and has not allowed Saudi Arabia’s intolerant Wahhabism to take root. It’s not only tolerant and plural, but also a large functioning, stable democracy unlike any other country in the Muslim world. It’s a country whose religious expressions are not a top-down phenomenon.

Under the authoritarian President Suharto’s New Order regime from 1966 to 1998, Indonesia was equally moderate and tolerant but without religious freedom. Islamist groups were not allowed to function. While the process of Reformasi (reformation) that began after the fall of Suharto opened the gates for radicals to preach their versions of Islam and Islamist ideologies, the roughly 250 million people in the archipelago have largely shunned Wahhabism for about two decades.

However, Ahok’s conviction and sentencing based on a video that showed him speaking out of context about a verse in the Quran, could be a turning point for the country. It represents the biggest breakthrough in the ongoing efforts of the Indonesian cleric Muhammad Rizieq Shihab, who mobilised massive protests against Ahok, to turn the country towards conservatism.

It’s not surprising that Shihab, who leads the radical organization Islamic Defenders Front, locally known as FPI, is currently in Saudi Arabia. He fled Indonesia to avoid his arrest after a pornography-related case was filed against him. Ironically, his group has been opposing prostitution, gambling and bars to cleanse Indonesia of “sin.”

The FPI, which targets liberal Muslims, Ahmadiyah and Shia mosques, churches and embassies of countries that it perceives to be hostile towards Islam, was founded in 1998. It has managed to gain about 200,000 members. The number is miniscule compared to the membership of moderate and pluralistic Muslim groups Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, which oppose attempts to spread Wahhabism in Indonesia and claim to have 50 million and 29 million followers respectively. However, the head count estimates or claims are neither a major concern nor any consolation.

Despite being seen as a negligible minority, Islamist groups have been able to flout local laws by physically attacking minorities and collecting protection money from the entertainment industry. More importantly, they have now been able to cause the defeat of a popular official, Ahok, by making his religious and ethnic identity an issue in the recent gubernatorial election. Furthermore, they managed to get the court’s endorsement of their narrative of blasphemy, which includes the assertion that non-Muslims should not be allowed to comment on the Quran’s interpretation. In the verdict against Ahok, a judge quoted a verse from the Quran (Al-Maidah 51) which purports to suggest that Muslims should not elect non-Muslim leaders.

What does Spirit-filled education look like around the world? Theologian and educator, Ekaputra Tupamahu speaks with PneumaReview.com about Pentecostal theological education in Indonesia. Part of the Pentecostal Theological Education Around the World series.

PneumaReview.com: When did American Pentecostal missionaries start to go to Indonesia?

Ekaputra Tupamahu: To make a long story short, early American Pentecostal missionaries, especially the van Klaveren dan Groesbeek families from Seattle, came to Indonesia in the 1920s, which was about 14 years after the Azusa Street Revival. It is important to note, however, that some ministry work had already been done by Dutch Pentecostals prior to the coming of the Americans.

PneumaReview.com: Were the missionaries from a particular denomination or were there representatives from various Pentecostal groups?

Ekaputra Tupamahu: Early American missionaries in Indonesia came from various Pentecostal groups such as Assemblies of God, Pentecostal Church of God in America, and other groups.

PneumaReview.com: Did the missionaries focus on one particular area of Indonesia or were they spread out in different parts of the country?

Ekaputra Tupamahu: They focused on many different parts of the country. Some missionaries (e.g., William Arnold Parson, Eugene Loving, Ralph Devin, etc.) worked in the eastern part of Indonesia. The Short family worked primarily in Kalimantan. The Busby family focused on the western part of Indonesia, especially in North Sumatra.

How long after their arrival in Indonesia did American Pentecostal missionaries start schools for theological education and what was their purpose for starting these schools?

Ekaputra Tupamahu: Well, when the first Assemblies of God missionary, Kenneth Short, arrived in Indonesia, he immediately planned on establishing a Bible school. Almost all Assemblies of God missionaries focused their worked on planting and developing theological schools in Indonesia.

PneumaReview.com: Did the founders of these schools have advanced theological degrees?

Ekaputra Tupamahu: If “advanced theological degrees” means graduate degrees (master or doctoral degrees), then the answer is “no.” Most, if not all, of them didn’t have such degrees themselves. They were mainly trained in a Bible Institute setting. So the goal of theological training in Indonesia has been mainly for evangelism and pastoral purposes, not for producing theological scholars or academicians, which is a reflection of these missionaries’ training. In the past 15 years, we have begun to see more Pentecostal missionaries with master’s degrees and PhD’s in Indonesia.

PneumaReview.com: Are any of the schools that can trace their roots back to the early missionaries still operational today?

Ekaputra Tupamahu: I can speak about Assemblies of God schools in Indonesia. Yes, most of them can trace their roots back to the early American missionaries.

PneumaReview.com: Has any of your own theological education been in a school founded by the early Pentecostal missionaries?

Ekaputra Tupamahu: I did my undergrad at an Assemblies of God Bible school, namely Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Satyabhakti, in the city of Malang, East Java. The school was founded by two female American missionaries, Marcella Dorf and Margareth Brown in 1955. Speaking of the role of women in ministry, that school was the testimony of the fruit of their labor. It has produced so many pastors, missionaries, church leaders, and teachers in Indonesia.

Read more about this situation:

“Jakarta heats up as anti-Ahok rally begins” The Jakarta Post (November 4, 2016).

“Indonesia protest: President Joko Widodo cancels Australia visit” BBC News Asia (November 5, 2016).

“The demonstrators accuse Basuki Tjahaja Purnama [the Governor of Jakarta, also known as Ahok], a Christian, of having insulted Islam’s holy book, the Koran.”

An encouragement to “Pray the News” from PneumaReview.com author William De Arteaga.

A peaceful day near Jakarta hotels.
Image: Wikimedia Commons