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14th August 2012

Gereja Ortodox Indonesia (GOI, the Orthodox Church of Indonesia)

posted in Orthodox Missionaries by Jacki @ 3:20 pm |

GOI is pan-jurisdictional, incorporating churches from the Patriarchates of both Constantinople and ROCOR. The Church began with the conversion of Fr. Daniel Byantoro, a young Indonesian man of Muslim background, who had been searching for a deeper certainty of God. While studying in Korea in the early 1980’s, and yearning to find the ancient Christianity of the East, he encountered the Orthodox Church in that country, converted to Holy Orthodoxy, and brought the faith back home to Indonesia. After a long struggle, Fr. Daniel obtained the right to legally practice Orthodox Christianity in Indonesia. There continue to be many difficulties in nurturing the Orthodox community in Indonesia, complicated by internal struggles as well as external resistance. Despite these troubles, over thirty Orthodox Parishes and Mission Churches exist in Indonesia, along with a score of indigenous ordained clergy. The fledgling Orthodox Church is very determined to spread the ancient, timeless Orthodox faith to every part of Indonesia, and to all of its hundreds of millions of souls.

Several groups assist the church in Indonesia:

Friends of Indonesia
http://friendsofindonesia.org

Friends of Indonesia exists to raise awareness and support for the Indonesian Orthodox Church. The vision of those who support the Indonesian Orthodox Church is to infuse the local Indonesian culture with Orthodoxy.

Friends of Indonesia hold firmly to the Orthodox missionary imperative that the Church grows in each local culture according to the truths those cultures already hold. They workto bring the Gospel of Christ to the Indonesian people in ways that respects and affirms their cultural distinctiveness, and build a Church that will reflect and strengthen the rich cultural heritage they already possess.

Holy Cross Orthodox Mission, Melbourne, Australia
http://australianorthodox.org/indonesian-mission

Holy Cross Mission partners with Gereja Ortodox Indonesia . Holy Cross Mission maintains close contact with a number of Indonesian clergy, some of whom have served at the Mission. They operate the “Support an Indonesian Priest” fund, providing a practical and safe channel for Orthodox Christians in Australia to support their brethren in Indonesia.

In 2010 they became aware that some parishes were struggling to even meet the costs of celebrating the Divine Liturgy regularly, and began a three-year plan of targeted giving, focusing on the liturgical requirements of the parishes, and starting with the clergy most in need. The objective is to contribute $A600 per year to each priest, for three years, for the liturgical needs of his parish or mission.

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