80% of the world’s evangelical Christians live in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Over the last 50 years, God’s church has grown exponentially in these areas.

These regions have tremendous mission sending potential to help bring the gospel to unreached peoples, but they currently send only 20% of the world’s cross-cultural missionaries!

Articles

Authors

Schedule

Give to Teams or Projects

Your partnership will help us reach the nations through the nations.

Partner with our staff

Give to a Training

We are always on the lookout for ambitious and talented people to come and join Via. If you are passionate about the bringing God's glory to the nations and want to help mobilize the global church then we would love to hear from you.

Open Roles

Careers & Internships

Total Number of Evangelicals

Cultural Bridges to UPGs

Regional Access to UPGs

Religious Freedom

Prosperity

Current Sending Abroad

Mobilization Potential

Custom Mobilization Potential

Number of Evangelicals

Cultural Bridges

Strategic Access

Religious Freedoms

Current Sending

This infographic provides a visual score for seven data points ranked on a 0 to 100 scale. Faded icons show scores for other countries on the mobilization index. See below for actual scores and country-specific insights.

ADDITION

FINANCIAL DEPENDENCY

INACCESSIBLE

LIMITED MISSION FORCE

DISTANT AND FOREIGN MISSION FIELD

THE WORLD IS THE MISSION FIELD

Show Notes

Formats

Available Languages

About the Author

Filter

Tools

Search

Team Profile

<span data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:769,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;11&quot;:4,&quot;12&quot;:0}" data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Thousands of Islands Divinely Placed &quot;}">Thousands of Islands Divinely Placed

A Massive and Quickly Growing Church

With more than 14 million evangelicals, Indonesia has the world&rsquo;s 8th largest evangelical church and it is the largest in Southeast Asia. [[1]] Home to over 12% of the world's Muslims, Indonesia has long been known as the country with the world&rsquo;s largest Muslim population. Even still, the evangelical church in Indonesia has seen continued growth over the past 50 years! According to Operation World, over the last five decades, evangelical numbers grew from 1.3 million, or 1.4% of the population, to over 15 million, or almost 7% of the population. [[2]] While not evenly distributed geographically, the evangelical church is well established around the country. The church is strongest in the urban areas of Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, West Papua, and Sulawesi, and smallest in Bali and the West Lesser Sunda Islands.

Opportunity Through Diversity

With an average Median Cultural Distance of 14.6, Indonesia shares many cultural similarities with the 30 UPG nations on our list. Indonesia&rsquo;s closest cultural neighbors are Sierra Leone, Singapore, and Burkina Faso, among others. Of Indonesia&rsquo;s 8 near Cultural Neighbors, 6 are located in the Middle East and African regions. The two others, Nepal and Bangladesh, are located in South Asia. Interestingly, only one Southeast Asian country, Singapore, is on the list of Indonesia&rsquo;s closest Cultural Neighbors. The Lord has graciously given Indonesia cultural similarities to a wide-spread array of countries all over the world!
With around 780 distinct people groups [[3]], Indonesia is a county rich in cultural diversity with influences deriving from a mix of Chinese, European, Indian, and Malay. This diversity is reflected in the official national motto, &ldquo;Bhinneka Tunggal Ika&rdquo; meaning &ldquo;unity in diversity.&rdquo; Could the cultural diversity of Indonesia be preparing the church for effective sending and long lasting cross cultural mission work? Pray that the Indonesian church would be awakened to their incredible potential in reaching UPGs cross culturally.

Incredible Access to Islamic Peoples

Indonesia has large populations of unreached peoples both in-country and regionally, giving them a High rank in Strategic Access. They rank 1st in Southeast Asia, and extremely high when compared to other countries on the Mobilization Index. As the world&rsquo;s largest Muslim country, Indonesian evangelicals have in-country access to around 170 million unreached peoples. Regionally, that number is more than 330 million. The church in Indonesia is strategically placed to be a witness to hundreds of millions of lost souls!

High Levels of Religious Restrictions

According to the 2019 Pew Research Center&rsquo;s study on religious restriction, Indonesia, along with Russia, Malaysia, and Egypt, stands out as having one of the highest levels of religious restrictions. [[4]] With a score of 7.4, Indonesia has high levels of both Government Restriction and Social Hostilities placed upon the practice and expression of religious faith. While freedom of religion is guaranteed in the Indonesian constitution, only 6 faiths are officially recognized as legal: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Not believing in God is prohibited in Indonesia.
Overall, acts of religious intolerance are on the rise in Indonesia. [[5]] Christians in particular have faced an increasing amount of religious hostilities, mainly coming from certain elements of the Indonesian Islamic community. Relations between Muslims and Christians have become even more strained in recent months. In May 2017, Jakarta&rsquo;s Christian governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, was charged with blasphemy and sentenced to 2 years in jail, after he gave a speech challenging the fidelity of local Imams to the Koran.&nbsp; The blasphemy charges stem from a political speech Purnama gave, in which he said that some Imams were abusing the Koran by saying it forbids Muslims from voting for a Christian. [[6]]
Mission Mobilization and other Christians ministries should take caution and act in wisdom as they promote and carry out their work. Discretion should be used, especially online, with the use of names, dates, and locations of events. Pray that the Lord would raise up a desire in the Indonesian church to reach those in need of the gospel, in spite of religious restrictions and barriers.

Exciting Growth to a Moderate Ranking

With a Legatum Prosperity Index ranking of 57, Indonesia scores Moderate in terms of overall prosperity. When compared to the nations on the Mobilization Index, they rank 18th globally and 10th out of the Asia Pacific countries. Despite their Moderate score, prosperity is on the rise in Indonesia. Indonesia&rsquo;s increase of 4 ranks on the Prosperity Index were mainly fueled by the rise of their Governance and Social Capital Sub-indices scores. This rapid growth in prosperity has helped to lift millions of Indonesians out of poverty, giving them greater educational and employment opportunities. Indonesia&rsquo;s growing prosperity, coupled with their high level of charitable giving [[7]], could potentially make for greater opportunities for Indonesian Christians to send out missionaries fully supported.

Small Numbers that Serve the Unreached

Current sending estimates for Indonesia are around 3,200, with the vast majority (&plusmn;3,000) of that sending being workers sent in-country, cross-culturally. One prayer goal of the Mobilization Index is to see 0.1%, or 1 in a 1,000, of a nation&rsquo;s evangelical church mobilized for missions. That means that with 3,200 missionaries, only about 0.021% of the Indonesian evangelical church has been mobilized for cross-cultural mission work. Fortunately, thanks to networks such as the Indonesian Peoples Network, many of Indonesia&rsquo;s cross-cultural workers are serving among the unreached.

Moderate Potential but Surrounded with Opportunity

Between a predominantly Muslim make up, &nbsp;great social and religious hostilities, and small sending numbers, Indonesia has much potential to grow in their mobilization effort, and God in his kind providence has uniquely positioned the Indonesian church to be surrounded by millions of Muslims that need the truth and freedom of the gospel. Though there are many barriers in place, mainly social hostilities and the threat of persecution, Indonesian believers have great access to the unreached without even leaving their town. Pray that the Lord of the harvest would raise up workers in the church to risk everything to share the truth with their neighbor, go cross culturally and financially support those they send. If the Indonesian church could increase their mobilization numbers to .1%, there would be a massive mobilization force right in the middle of a predominantly Muslim country!

Obstacles:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Social hostilities in Indonesia serve as a huge barrier to mission mobilization, as the country is predominantly Muslim.</li>
<li>Indonesia has moderately low rankings in Personal Freedom as well as Living Conditions, which could deter potential mobilizers from launching from Indonesia.</li>
</ul>
Opportunities:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>The Indonesian church is surrounded by millions of Muslims in need of the gospel. Evangelicals can love the lost without having to raise support or travel outside of their town.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Indonesia has the 8th largest church in the world! Praise God for putting so many believers in a location that is surrounded by the unreached.</li>
</ul>

Pray:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Pray for the social and governmental hostilities that the Indonesian church has to work through every day. Pray for their safety and wisdom in carrying out the good work of the Great Commission.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Praise:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Praise God for his providence in positioning one the world's largest churched right in the middle of a nation that so desperately needs the truth and freedom of the gospel.</li>
</ul>

Official Country Name:Republic of Indonesia

Population:270,626,000

Region:Southeast Asia

Government:Constitutional Republic

Official Languages:Indonesian

Religious Demographics:Muslim ±80%, Christian ±15% (Evangelicals ±5%), Hindu ±1%, Ethnoreligionist ±1%, Chinese <1%, Buddhist <1%

Indonesia