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Protestantism (Indonesian: Protestanisme) is one of the six recognized religions in Indonesia, the others being Islam, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Its followers comprise the majority of Christians in Indonesia, who are the second largest religious group in the country after Muslims.
According to CIA statistics, in 2000 5.7% of the population of Indonesia were Protestant.[1] A nationwide census of 2018 noted that 7.6% (20,250,000) of the population considered themselves Protestant, the largest such community in Southeast Asia.[2]
Protestantism in Indonesia is largely a result of Reformed and Lutheran missionary efforts during the country's colonial period.[3][4][5] The Dutch East India Company regulated the missionary work so it could serve its own interests and restricted it to the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago.[6] Although these two branches are the most common, a multitude of other denominations can be found elsewhere in Indonesia.[7] The largest is the Batak Protestant Christian Church, founded by German Lutheran missionary Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen in 1861.[8]
Protestantism arrived in Indonesia during the Dutch East Indies colonization. By the mid-1700s a significant Lutheran presence was found in Jakarta, with a Lutheran church built by the Lutheran Governor GeneralGustaaf Willem van Imhoff in 1749.[9] In 1817, the Dutch founded the Protestantsche Kerk in Nederlandsch-Indie (colloquially, Indische Kerk) as a union of Reformed, Lutheran, Baptists, Arminian and Mennonite denominations.[10] In 1835, William I of the Netherlands decreed one church council would fuse and oversee Protestant denominations in the Dutch colony.[11]
In 2018, Protestants made up 7.43% of the population.[12]
On the island of Sulawesi, 17% of the citizens are Protestant, particularly in Tana Toraja and North Sulawesi. Up to 65% of the Torajan population is Protestant. In some parts of the country, entire villages belong to a distinct denomination, such as Adventist, Lutheran, Presbyterian or Salvation Army. Two provinces have Protestant majorities: North Sulawesi (64%) and Papua (60%). Christian Evangelical Church in Minahasa is the largest Protestant church in North Sulawesi. Gereja Injili di Tanah Jawa is a Mennonite-related denomination. Huria Kristen Batak Protestant is a Lutheran denomination founded by Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen. It is the largest Protestant denomination in Indonesia and has over 4 million congregants.[13] The relatively large number of "denominations" per capita in Indonesia may be due to the significant number of different ethnic groups in Indonesia. Many Indonesian Protestants tend to congregate based more on ethnicity than liturgical differences.[14]
The Reformed faith was brought by Dutch missionaries beginning in the 17th century. Many of these churches are members of the World Communion of Reformed Churches:[15]
Indonesian churches recognized by the Lutheran World Federation as Lutheran or affiliated with Lutheran are:
HKI, GMB, GKPS, GKPI, GKLI, GKPA, GPP, and GKPPD all split from HKBP.[19] GKLI maintains a strong relationship with the Norwegian Lutheran Church. GKPM was founded by HKBP missionaries.[20] Although the BNKP and HKBP have historically cooperated, no official relationship exists between those entities. AMIN split from BNKP and retains more of a Lutheran identity.[21]
Gereja Lutheran Indonesia (GLI) is affiliated with the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference. GLI is closely associated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod in the United States. GLI has offices in Jakarta and operates a seminary, Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Lutheran (STTL), in Yogyakarta. GLI has large congregations on Java and in West Timor, as well as posts in Papua and Kalimantan.[22][23]
Muslim 231.069.932 (86.7), Christian 20.246.267 (7.6), Catholic 8.325.339 (3.12), Hindu 4.646.357 (1.74), Buddhist 2.062.150 (0.77), Confucianism 117091 (0.03), Other 299617 (0.13), Not Stated 139582 (0.06), Not Asked 757118 (0.32), Total 266.534.836
Protestants - European or Indonesian - living in the major cities mostly belonged to the Protestant Church in the Dutch East Indies, the Indische Kerk. The status of this church was in some respects quite different from that of the Catholic community, because it was placed more directly under government authority. By a decree of 11 December 1835 the Dutch king, Willem I, commanded the fusion of the Lutheran and Reformed denominations (only effected in 1854), and the establishment of one church council for the whole colony (realised in 1844).
Muslim 231.069.932 (86.7), Christian 20.246.267 (7.6), Catholic 8.325.339 (3.12), Hindu 4.646.357 (1.74), Buddhist 2.062.150 (0.77), Confucianism 71.999 (0.03), Others/Traditional faiths 112.792 (0.04), Total 266.534.836
It is remarkable that in the merger of the BKP with the BNKP the choice for unification was made on cultural rather than denominational grounds. While the Batunese congregations show distinctly Lutheran traits, especially in liturgical matters, the sense of communion is determined by ethno-cultural relations. Similar language and customary law, and especially family links between Nias and the Batu Islands, by far outweigh eccliastical tradition.