John reflects on his trip to Indonesia.
2rd October (
Fri) - I wasn’t quite the tourist, though. Some 131 pastors of the Toraja Protestant Church were at a two-week ongoing formation workshop (15-29 September 2008) for those ordained during the past five years. Over 50% of the ordained pastors are women. I was invited to accompany them for much of the first week.
Protestant pastors live more simple lives than their Catholic colleagues. Married with children and 100% dependent on their small congregations for their livelihood, unsurprisingly some were not given permission to attend by the local congregation who had to find the cost of travel and accommodation from their slender resources.
We began each morning at 5:30 with lectio divina in contemplative mode. While the pastors were professional students of the bible and able preachers, very few had prayed the scriptures meditatively. Some were very struck by the morning exercises, mostly the women. (Overuse of the bible to instruct and advise, I expect.)
I took the pastors through the “pastoral circle”. First they identified key experiences that give rise to fundame
ntal questions; then they undertook a social-cultural analysis of the issues raised. This analysis was then correlated with their faith tradition and theology; social analysis sharpens our biblical insights while our biblical faith gives meaning to the social issues. This process then challenges them to take a stand, a clear option, which in turn should lead to our identifying further key issues and so the pastoral cycle or spiral continues. In a congregation the pastor positions her/himself as facilitator of the process. In the workshop most of this work was done in ten groups as we engaged in “doing theology” contextually.
The singing was fantastic; all in local Torajan melodies, many in the local tongue. In Tiku Rari the church has a first rate musician and composer. The workshop was run by the “Institut Teologi” – a centre for ongoing formation run by Pastor Ery Hutabarat-Lebang. She is the daughter of one of the first locally ordained pastors. Her father had just primary schooling and was ordained at the age of 16 after a crash course in theology during the Japanese occupation (1942-45) when the Dutch missioners were interned. (The Catholic Church was run by village catechists during the occupation; when the Dutch priests returned they reverted to their previous subservient role.) His daughter has a doctorate in theology from the USA and spent ten years in Hong Kong coordinating theological education for the Asian Churches. Such is the leap made b
y the church, as also by the country, within a short generation.
Fri) - I wasn’t quite the tourist, though. Some 131 pastors of the Toraja Protestant Church were at a two-week ongoing formation workshop (15-29 September 2008) for those ordained during the past five years. Over 50% of the ordained pastors are women. I was invited to accompany them for much of the first week.Protestant pastors live more simple lives than their Catholic colleagues. Married with children and 100% dependent on their small congregations for their livelihood, unsurprisingly some were not given permission to attend by the local congregation who had to find the cost of travel and accommodation from their slender resources.
We began each morning at 5:30 with lectio divina in contemplative mode. While the pastors were professional students of the bible and able preachers, very few had prayed the scriptures meditatively. Some were very struck by the morning exercises, mostly the women. (Overuse of the bible to instruct and advise, I expect.)
I took the pastors through the “pastoral circle”. First they identified key experiences that give rise to fundame
ntal questions; then they undertook a social-cultural analysis of the issues raised. This analysis was then correlated with their faith tradition and theology; social analysis sharpens our biblical insights while our biblical faith gives meaning to the social issues. This process then challenges them to take a stand, a clear option, which in turn should lead to our identifying further key issues and so the pastoral cycle or spiral continues. In a congregation the pastor positions her/himself as facilitator of the process. In the workshop most of this work was done in ten groups as we engaged in “doing theology” contextually.The singing was fantastic; all in local Torajan melodies, many in the local tongue. In Tiku Rari the church has a first rate musician and composer. The workshop was run by the “Institut Teologi” – a centre for ongoing formation run by Pastor Ery Hutabarat-Lebang. She is the daughter of one of the first locally ordained pastors. Her father had just primary schooling and was ordained at the age of 16 after a crash course in theology during the Japanese occupation (1942-45) when the Dutch missioners were interned. (The Catholic Church was run by village catechists during the occupation; when the Dutch priests returned they reverted to their previous subservient role.) His daughter has a doctorate in theology from the USA and spent ten years in Hong Kong coordinating theological education for the Asian Churches. Such is the leap made b
y the church, as also by the country, within a short generation.In Indonesia old labels are confusing. This is meant to be a “Calvinist” Church and yet they invite a Catholic priest to update their pastors. On Sunday I joined in one congregation who were celebrating a harvest festival (they celebrate harvests three times a year!); I have never returned from a Catholic Sunday liturgy, even in alcohol-drenched Flores, with my belly full of potent palm wine (tuak putih). However much Rome is reaffirming “Catholic” identity and attempting to “re-Hellenise” our theology, Protestant-Catholic distinctiveness is dissipating at the grassroots. Deo gratias. ~
