Indonesia (MNN) — Indonesia’s new president, Prabowo Subianto, was sworn into office on Sunday. He replaces Joko Wikodo, who was in office for the past 10 years.

Christians wonder how the new administration will respond to their presence in the Muslim majority nation of more than 280 million. They hope for greater favor than in the past.

Juserdi Purba with A3 explains that there are different levels of persecution Indonesian believers go through.

(Representative stock photo courtesy of John Ragai on Flickr: https://goo.gl/HVMTRr.)

“Commonly, we face opposition from non-believers because they believe that we are in the wrong way. So they try to convince us (to convert),” Purba says.

Another level he identifies is physical persecution. However, it’s important to note that Indonesia is composed of more than 17,500 islands. The degree of social, legal and physical persecution a Christian might endure varies from one family, community or region to another.

No matter the circumstance, Purba says the church’s first move needs to be Christ-like love, godly living and a relationship-building approach to Muslim neighbors. He says in many cases, people have actually asked why Christians aren’t responding with hate to the pressure or mistreatment they suffer.

“That is the door open for us to say what we do, because we have love in Jesus, and we want to show to them that Jesus also love them,” Purba says.

Join Indonesian believers in praying for deeper godliness and a winsome witness to God’s love.

“We have prayer meeting[s], and we hope that one day the door is open for us to to preach the good news,” Purba says.

“[But] I think this is the first [step]: we display Christ, [a] good example, good life. We show love to them.”

 

Header photo of an Indonesian Bible is a representative stock photo courtesy of Yosi Prihantoro via Unsplash.