Indonesia

Indonesia is spread across a long Southeast Asian archipelago  made up of over 17,000 islands.  It is the 4th largest nation in the world in terms of population with 80% of its people following Islam, giving Indonesia the largest population of Muslims in any one nation.  Hundreds of distinct ethnic groups live scattered along its islands, and Indonesians’ hybrid worldviews, make it impossible to generalize about the people of Indonesia as a nation.

Indonesia has a violent recent history spurred by ethnic, political, economic and religious differences.  Indonesians live at both extremes of the socio-economic spectrum, as government and business centers support a wealthy class in the midst of urban and rural poverty.   Although Indonesia is sometimes seen as a comparatively wealthy nation, over 44 million of its people live on under $2 per day.  Indonesia is also prone to earthquakes, flooding, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions, averaging about one major disaster per year. Natural and human disasters bring trauma and deep questioning of faith for all religions.

Mennonite Central Committee has been a guest in Indonesia since 1948.  MCC's work in Indonesia aims to support Indonesian churches' calling to be a community of salvation in the broadest sense.   MCC connects closely with Mennonite World Conference member churches, including the Evangelical Mennonite Church of Java (GITJ), the Muria Mennonite Church (GKMI) and the Christian Church of Indonesia (JKI).  MCC also relates to the Evangelical Christian Church of Papua (GKI-TP). 

MCC Indonesia’s programming focuses on education and peacebuilding with partnerships and exchanges in two geographic areas of Indonesia, Java and Papua.  MCC works in Java in order to connect with Indonesian Mennonite Churches and their work in education, peacebuilding, and interfaith relationships.  Almost all of the university partnerships in Java provide a multiplier impact for MCC because students come from islands across the country.  MCC Indonesia builds relationships with partners in Papua in order to help build bridges of relationships between Java and Papua and to promote education in the most marginalized province.