MISSION TO INDONESIA
Batam church of Christ - Winston Bolt, Missionary
PO Box 384 Batam Center - Batam, Indonesia
Primary e-mail - wlbolt@indosat.net.id - 2nd: batammission@yahoo.com
April 2005

Sponsoring Church - Morgantown Church of Christ
361 Scott Avenue, Morgantown, WV 26508
Telephone 304 296-3736

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

We want to thank all who have contributed to the relief efforts that are on going for those who have been affected by the tsunami and earthquakes. The funds have been distributed to the work in Nias and Aceh. If we haven't responded to you, please send us an email so that we can send you pictures that you can share with the congregation.

Mission Indonesia continues to progress towards our goal of planting the church throughout all of Indonesia. We are using multiple methods to accomplish this goal. The first method is having a model indigenous congregation, the Batam church of Christ, which others can see and follow. The second method is the training of preachers and leaders for the new congregations by the Batam Bible College. The third method is local mission teams going throughout the country planting new congregations. At this time Mission Indonesia has four mission teams planting churches on three of the five major islands of Indonesia. These teams are overseen by a local congregation who visit, counsel, and handle their administrative needs.

BATAM BIBLE COLLEGE

This month we are focused on Batam Bible College. We have 22 students in attendance. Batam Bible College is affiliated with Sunset International Bible Institute which means that they sent instructors to Batam to teach in the school. Last month, brothers Ed Wharton and John Massie taught. We are deeply grateful to Brothers Wharton and Massie for their great love of God's word and their desire to share it with us. We pray that their efforts will be rewarded with much fruit through those whom they have helped train. We tape and translate these courses so that the local teachers can absorb the material and then be prepared to teach the classes in the future.

We are working toward the goal of having a staff of national teachers who are capable of teaching the entire curriculum of the school. This year three local teachers have been added to the teaching staff of the school. With the addition of the new teachers we are now able to teach two terms concurrently, which means, we will be able to graduate a class every year.

Brother Dj Pasaribu is studying at SIBI in Lubbock, TX at this time. He will finish his studies in 2006 or 2007 and then return to Batam to teach

We thank all of you who have and are contributing to the Batam Bible College. Without you none of what has been done or what will be done could have been possible.

God Bless you all.

BATAM CHURCH OF CHRIST

The Batam church of Christ continues to develop and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been raising funds to build a church building for the last two years and these efforts are now paying off. We have finally broken ground in the construction of the new church building. The men of the church are handling all of this work so I am free to continue the work with the school and mission teams. We now have four separate worship services on the island each Sunday; two in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening. There are now over 200 members worshiping each Sunday. These are all natural outgrowths of the original congregation that was started in 1992.

Brother Herbin Simanjuntak is growing as a minister of the church. The church chose to support him and he hasn't disappointed them. He has taken my place as the primary minister in the church and teaches in the school also. The church continues to mature not only in age but also in spirituality. Over half of the members of the four mission teams that we have sent out come from the Batam congregation.

MISSION TEAMS

I was able to visit with three mission teams during the month of March, in Duri, Sumatra, Solo, Central Java, and Central and South Sulawesi.

The Duri team has established two congregations since being sent to the area in August of 2003. Three men from the congregation in Duri are now attending the Batam Bible College to prepare them to take over leadership of the congregation from the mission team. We are on schedule to achieve our goal of developing and maturing congregations into an indigenous congregation within five years. The team is actively engaged in finishing the construction of a church building for the congregation in the city of Duri.

The Sulawesi team is actively serving two congregations in South Sulawesi and one congregation and two separate groups in Central Sulawesi. They have come under the sponsorship of the Cherokee Hills church of Christ in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was difficult for them to travel between the different groups but now we are pleased to report that they were able to purchase a motorcycle for them to make the 100 kilometer trip through the mountains. After making this trip in a good van, I could not imagine having to travel the mountain roads on a continual basis. We can be thankful for men who love the Lord and His word enough to go out to preach the gospel no matter the circumstances. Brother Bantu and Leo are two such men. They were extremely grateful to hear that they will have the support to do the work of the Lord. They are establishing village congregations but are being prepared by the Lord for even bigger works. Bantu and Leo will return to Batam Bible College next year to complete their training. Four of our current students are from Sulawesi so we have a good start on bringing the gospel of Christ to this area.

The Solo team is now merging two groups into one in anticipation of return members from Batam Bible College this coming August. They are also trying to purchase a building to use as a church building. The city of Solo is the heart of Islam in Indonesia thus it has been difficult to get permission to build a church building. Our other alternative is to purchase a building that is already approved for worship services. This may be the safest way to avoid confrontation with the Muslims, as opposed to a new building in a new location.

There have been five congregations established in the Solo area. Three of these are already in a semi-indigenous state. They only need to develop their own teachers to be totally indigenous. This need is being partially fulfilled this year with the training of a man from among these villages. The newest congregation, established last year, in the city of Prowejowo is doing well and brother Susanto is doing well in his classes.

During my visit to Solo in March we traveled to the city of Yogyakarta where we met with a man named Daniel. The mission team is leading this man to an understanding of the gospel. He has established a center for prayer, with halls for seminars, which is capable of housing over a hundred people. Brother Yonathan and I discussed the plans for utilizing this location. Daniel and his facility may be the door to exposing the gospel to Central Java which is the home of over twenty million souls. It may be possible to host seminars there on a regular basis with speakers from America, Indonesia, and Singapore. This would also be a natural venue to spread World Bible School. We are still contacting possible speakers, thinking of the seminar topics, logistics, purposes and goals. Please pray that the Lord will lead us into the right decisions.

Your servant in Christ

Winston Bolt