Patrick Comerford
I am on my way to Rome this morning [3 January 2017] for the next few days. This is planned as a city break before returning to work, but it is also an opportunity to visit some important sites in Church history, and to have time for prayer and reflection.
Of course, we are still in the Christmas season, and each morning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas I am using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), for my morning prayers and reflections.
This week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs and work of the Anglican Church of Indonesia.
All Saints’ Church (Anglican), which was established in Jakarta in 1819, is the oldest English-speaking church in Indonesia. Today, the church is under the episcopal care of the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Singapore.
The Deanery of Indonesia was established in 1993 with the hope of laying the foundations for the future Diocese of Indonesia. The Anglican Church in Indonesia is formally registered as the Gereja Anglikan Indonesia (Anglican Church of Indonesia), and reaches out to the indigenous people of Indonesia.
Since 1993, GAI has established 30 churches in 10 provinces. There are two foundations, working in micro-financing and education, one full school and three kindergartens.
All Saints’ Church in Jakarta dates from 1819 and is the oldest English-speaking institution in Indonesia. It was first a base for the London Missionary Society’s mission to China, then a colonial chaplaincy and for the last 50 years has been an international church.
The name only dates from 1950. For over a century before that, the Dutch new it as Engelse kerk and the Indonesians as Gereja Inggris, literally ‘the English Church.’ At its foundation, the Church was a collecting station for missionaries trying to reach China, Japan and other Asian nations, and was bought in 1819 in the name of the London Missionary Society Mission Station in Batavia.
In 1843 the church became the Church of the British Protestant Community (BPC) because it became increasingly less of a missionary station and more a place of worship for the growing foreign community of Batavia (Jakarta).
At that time, the BPC Committee also became responsible for recruiting and paying chaplains. In 1950, the Church became known as All Saints’ Church and has become an International Church of abbout 30 different nationalities and many church backgrounds.
In the USPG Prayer Diary, the Revd Henok Hariyanto, of the Church of the Good Shepherd, wrote this week about his work on the island of Batam in a poor slum community.
The USPG Prayer Diary:
Tuesday 3 January 2017:
Pray for the Anglican Church of Indonesia as it pursues its mission to plant churches in the capital [Jakarta] and key cities.
Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):
I John 2: 29 to 3-6; Psalm 98: 2-7; John 1: 29-34.
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty God,
who wonderfully created us in your own image
and yet more wonderfully restored us
through your Son Jesus Christ:
Grant that, as he came to share in our humanity,
so we may share the life of his divinity;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Continued tomorrow
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