Indonesia - Ascension Day 2022 and Upcoming Missions News

During the final week of May, Pastors Phil Campbell, Rick Brewer, and Matt Rees travelled to Indonesia to visit several of the locations in which we have begun to partner with as Microbusinesses. In addition, while present, our Pastoral Team were able to visit and contribute to a large national Christian holiday celebrated in Indonesia - Ascension Day. Further information in regards to Missions updates for the second half of 2022 will come in future Issues of Legacy Magazine (and there is much to share - the Pastoral Team are eager for the right time to update both our congregations and our Legacy Groups in more detail), but this article will focus on Ascension Day, the significance of the day for our Faith Family in the Bali Protestant Church, and the areas in which our Pastoral Team were invited to participate while present!

Ascension Day, occurring in Indonesia on May 26th this year, is understood to be the 40th day of Easter - a Christian holiday that commemorates Jesus Christ’s ascension into heaven. Also known as “Holy Thursday”, it is nationally recognised as an official public holiday in which government offices and most businesses are closed to the public - an interesting fact, considering that Indonesia is widely considered to possess the largest Islamic population in the world (according to population census data in 2010, 87% of Indonesians declared themselves to be Muslim, in comparison to the 9.87% that declared themselves Christian).

Typically, tradition for Christians on Ascension Day is to go to church. As some of our Pastoral Team were present during the celebrations, they were invited to participate and Ps Phil even got the chance to share a message, translated for the local congregants:

This particular area where our Pastoral Team were joining for the Ascension Day service is positioned directly between two other religious buildings - a Hindu temple and a mosque. The three share a car park, which provides congregants on this special day with a great opportunity to outreach and encourage adherents of other worldviews to consider joining for their Ascension Day service.

Our Pastoral Team both represented our Faith Family with enthusiasm and confidence and shared in the festivities with our extended Faith Family in the Bali Protestant Church with joy and gratitude. This is only one small snippet of a great trip with many stories to show and tell; stories around the various Microbusinesses our Faith Family has been able to finance and initiate, as well as the repairs that are currently underway to the wall at Bangli’s Children’s Home.

We are excited to share more of these stories with you very soon, as well as an update around our upcoming opportunities to join our Missions Team for a Missions Trip later this year! If you are interested in expressing your interest for this year’s Missions Trip early, feel free to email legacy@faithfamily.com.au with your information!