Arum is a place designed beautifully by God in Sumatra, Indonesia. It is a mountainous area, perfectly suited for coffee farming. Its people enjoy the richness of the forest and the vastness of the land.
But if you look deeper, you find people in need of the Good News of God.
The people of Arum represent just one of the 52 Muslim unreached people groups in Sumatra. The region of Arum is also home to members of an Islamic group rebelling against the government of Indonesia.
In 2005, two months after a major natural disaster devastated parts of Sumatra, I joined a month-long relief effort to help the region recover. It was during this time that I first heard about the Arum people, discovering that they had no known workers reaching them with the gospel. I went home after a month, but in my heart I knew the Lord wanted me to find a way back to Indonesia. In order to prepare, I took a course in God’s plan to reach the nations. Then in 2007, my wife, Karen, took the same course.
We returned briefly to Sumatra to survey the opportunities that God was laying before us. Then in 2008, our team of four adults headed off to Sumatra. My wife and I rented a house in a remote area, just a few hours from the border of Arum by car.
While learning the local language, we met local Christian believers in our area and in nearby Arum Barat, on the coast of Sumatra. We formed a friendship with one local Christian family; the husband was a doctor in the village. Dr. Malik and his wife Jaime had lived there for many years. We visited them once or twice a month, oftentimes spending long hours in prayer together.
God had given Dr. Malik and Jaime a vision to reach out to the Muslim people in Arum Barat, but they didn’t know how to go about executing that vision. The area where they live is under Islamic law, and the only education available for their children was an Islamic school.
We cried together to the Lord over this, until the Lord enabled Dr. Malik and Jaime to establish a kindergarten. This met one of the greatest needs of the Christian minority living in this low-income community. Now they could offer their children an alternative to the Islamic school while helping them grow rooted in God’s word.
In addition to our Frontiers team, God blessed us with local team members from within the Arum Barat community. These believers caught the vision of reaching their Muslim neighbors. We began conducting training and consultations in Discovery Bible Studies and Disciple Making Movements and brought in others to help teach. Now we regularly meet for prayer meetings and we devote ourselves to the principles laid out in Acts 2:42. They continue to build redemptive relationships with their Muslim neighbors for the sake of the Gospel. Every time I visit them, I hear stories about the faithfulness of God in their lives and how the Lord is enabling them to connect and minister to their Muslim friends.
Even as we trained and encouraged these local believers, our intention to go to Arum remained the same. Up until now, we still had no opportunity to go there. We prayed for God’s perfect timing to open the right doors.
After helping establish the team in Arum Barat, God opened that door for us in Arum. I attended a prayer gathering for local and foreign workers who felt called to reach the Muslims of Sumatra. At this gathering I met two Indonesian Christian couples that were living in Arum.
One of the couples, Lee and Nadine, was sent by their fellowship to plant a church in Arum, but after two years, their support ended. In order to survive, Lee worked on a coffee farm.
The other couple, Ivan and Farida, had worked for a non-governmental organization (NGO). The government eventually banned this particular NGO, but Ivan and Farida chose to stay because of how God had burdened their hearts for the people. So they bought a piece of land and made their living as farmers.
These two couples live in rural areas where they’ve integrated themselves into community with other farmers. They have been accepted in the community and even started a small farmers’ cooperative. This has saved small farmers from being taken advantage of by middlemen at the markets.
We have seen the hand of the Lord working in and through these couples. One time, a young lady in their village was bleeding for months. An old woman came to her, telling her that she was once sick, but thanks to a Christian couple nearby who prayed for her, she was healed. She asked the young lady if she would like them to pray over her, too. The young lady agreed, and the family members called the couple. Farida told the afflicted young lady the story about a woman who was bleeding for 12 years and was healed by Jesus. Farida then asked her if she would allow her to pray in the name of Jesus. In faith, the young lady said yes and after a few days, she was healed.
God also gave Ivan and Lee skills in integrated organic farming, which they used to bless the people in the village. Their techniques in coffee and vegetable farming have become a model for the community. Local farmers were using chemical fertilizers, but Ivan and Lee were able to encourage them to switch to organic methods.
At the moment, Ivan and Lee are discipling two farmers, teaching them the techniques of organic farming while also discipling them as they choose to follow Jesus.
Recently God opened another door in the town of Kapel. It’s a community surrounded by a beautiful sea. Most of the population of 30,000 people survive by fishing.
A friend introduced me to a believer named Ridwan in Kapel. Ridwan was looking to receive some training in church planting. He and his family were sent to Kapel in 2006 by their local church in order to plant and build a church. However, Islamic law governed this town, and they quickly realized that it was going to be extremely difficult to put up a church building in the area.
Ridwan and his wife Vera saw that a contextual approach would work best in the area. Their supporting church, however, was not in favor of this strategy; they expected to see the physical structure of a church. When this did not happen, they cut off their support.
Believing that they were called by God to serve Him in the area, they stayed even without support from the church and continued the work they had started among their local contacts. Their hearts were not ready to leave the people whom God had called them to.
They opened a tutoring program for elementary and high school students. This has given them opportunities to minister to local youth while also providing them a source of income. Tutoring is also a bridge for them to reach the Muslims in their area. The Lord is using them powerfully to share the Good News to many families in the area.
We firmly believe that the Lord is working in the lives of local Christians in the entire Sumatra region. Moreover, we believe there are even more people like Ridwan and his wife in their area—people who have the heart to reach their neighbors for the Lord. All they need is someone to come alongside them to coach and encourage them.
We realized that we have a role to play for people like Dr. Malik and Jaime, Lee and Nadine, Ivan and Farida, and Ridwan and Vera. At first, they were discouraged because they had no resources, no support, and no training. We were able to come alongside these believers and encourage them. Now they are empowered to reach Muslims in their communities, and they know they are not alone in their ministries.
Original article: www.godofall.org/unwasted-waiting
