by Risna Elasih (Indonesia)

Shalom!

I am Risna Elasih from Indonesia. I currently serve as a project staff in an NGO called Indonesian Care in Jakarta (the capital city of Indonesia). The ministry we are currently working on is an integral mission ministry to transform underprivileged communities in urban areas through community empowerment and collaboration with the church and believers. Through community empowerment, we focus on the potential of the community from within itself and build relationships with the community and local government so that each project can be sustainable. We create various training programmes to help individuals in the community improve their skills. This helps them have better incomes and get high school diplomas (which then allows them to get jobs more easily). We also hold tutoring, futsal training, computer training, and help children affected by malnutrition.

I wanted to attend the Asia Gateway Training (AGT) to better understand the theology of the concept of integral mission and cross-cultural mission service, and how integral mission is an important part of God’s mandate and not just social work on humanitarian grounds. I also wanted to hear and learn how mission is done in other countries with cultures different from Indonesia. In addition to learning about cross-cultural missions, I also wanted to understand more practically how I can proclaim the good news to unbelievers, as I currently serve in a community that is primarily Muslim.

I live in Indonesia where Christianity is a minority. Every day I meet unbelievers. At AGT, we learnt about how the Gospel can be connected to Pluralism. When I return to Indonesia, this will help me better understand how God views those unbelievers, and how to preach the Gospel to them according to their context and beliefs without judging them.

Studying Gospel, Pluralism and Cross-cultural mission also made me see that God loves all human beings including those who do not know God. So I also have to love them, not only by preaching the good news but also by being present and expressing God’s love through my life. Perhaps they don’t read the Bible, but they read our lives.

Studying cross-cultural missions also helped me reflect on how I should view and serve my community. The community I serve today is heterogeneous (there are various tribes in it). Often, we generalize them just because of their tribe, but through AGT, I learnt that there are many good things that I can get from other cultures. This also made me think about how I can be more communicative with them through their culture so that it makes it easier for me to build friendships with them.

The story of Jonah also taught me something important. Jonah was sent to Nineveh. At first, Jonah was not willing to go to Nineveh because Nineveh was not a part of Israel. They were even enemies of Israel. But God still wanted Jonah to go there so that Jonah and the Israelites would know that God also loves other nations, including their enemies. This is very related to my condition where Muslims are the majority in Indonesia. I have never been persecuted by them but often, government policies favour them, and there are some discriminatory things they do to non-Muslims. They even call us kafirs. However, God still loves them so I have to have the same love as God’s love. This is not an easy thing, but I hope God’s love enables me to be able to strengthen my faith and love for them.

AGT helped me to understand mission as a whole. My understanding of “mission” was sharpened and I was reminded of the meaning of mission itself. Mission is about life – everything I do is part of the mission.