Two years of learning under CHC brings about growth to this church in Indonesia.
Located right at the heart of Jakarta, Indonesia, is GPdI Lippo Cikarang, a 691-strong congregation. The church was birthed forth by three complete strangers who shared the same desire to build a church to minister to the people of Lippo Cikarang. The church held its first service on May 5, 1996 with four members, at a shop house owned by Sylvia Tjondro (one of the three pioneers). Daniel Martono from GPdI Bethlehem was commissioned as senior pastor.
In order to better equip himself for ministry, Martono enrolled himself into the School of Theology in Singapore in 2003. At SOT, he saw how God was working among the churches globally and came to the realization that he and Lippo Cikarang were part of what God was doing in Asia.
This caused him to have greater faith and to dream bigger dreams for his own church. He was so deeply moved by what he saw in Singapore and City Harvest Church that he purposed in his heart to bring the same experience back into Jakarta.
Martono started to apply whatever he had learned in SOT. Through prayer and preaching, he strengthened the members and encouraged them to become effective witnesses in the midst of opposition. Together, the church hung on to their faith and focused on serving God wholeheartedly.
Serving Through Ministry
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| PHOTOS COURTESY OF GPdI LIPPO CIKARANG | |
The relationship between GPdI LC and CHC grew in 2008 when the latter sent several mission teams to help with growing the church, making home visitations and ministering to the people in cell group meetings. In one memorable trip, members made a total of 125 house visitations over four days and spoke to over 100 teachers in the Cikarang district alone.
Through fellowship and ministry, the members in GPdI LC found themselves growing in their passion for God. This translated into action as members actively witnessed to those around them. Many of them also began to embrace the vision of their local church and took ownership of the needs in the spiritual house.
As the church grew in number, it extended its influence and help to the local community and other churches in the surrounding areas. One such endeavor was the setting up of Grace School, which offers affordable education for pre-schoolers.
Seeing the need for English education in Lippo Cikarang, the church not only provided an English teacher to help the school, they also invited the CHC team to encourage the local people to learn English. Martono himself got actively involved in community work, giving motivational talks frequently at the Boys Brigade Asia Academy.
Helping The Community
The children’s ministry in GPdI LC has grown tenfold—from 30 to 300 children—in three years. This happened because outreach programs were extended to schools in the district, with churchgoers befriending students and inviting them to various church functions. Through this, many bridges were built between the church and schools. Some of these schools became so familiar with the church that they approached GPdI LC to help organize their school events.
News of the effective children’s ministry reached the ears of the developer of PT Lippo Cikarang and other private companies, and they made requests for the church to help with their events for children. Some of the events that the church organized include a nation-wide drawing competition called the “5,000 Eggs Party” for 700 children, and a pre-school holiday program for the biggest private school in Lippo Cikarang.
Through CHC, GPdI LC also learned to organize Big Days (large-scale outreach programs) for their church. The biggest event they have had so far was “Reach for the Star,” which saw a total attendance of 857 children. They invited a famous celebrity, Angel Idola Cilik, to perform.
During the Christmas 2009 services, GPdI LC had a total of more than 1,900 attendees, which was three times their usual weekend attendance. It is also the church’s highest record attendance thus far.
Blessed To Be A Blessing
Having been blessed abundantly, GPdI LC is now giving back and helping other churches, sending their own members to aid the various aspects of ministry such as cell group, evangelism and organizing events. As a result, these churches have seen tremendous growth. For example, GPdI Maranatha (Malang, East Java) which did not have a cell group system, now has 39 cell groups. Their congregation has also grown from 300 to 500 members. Another church, GPdI Palangka Raya (Central Borneo) has grown from 15 to 200 members in under three years.
Looking ahead, the church’s vision is to have 1,000 members by 2011. It is also in the heart of the leadership to move out of the shop house that is their current church location and to have a building of their own that can accommodate 700 people. To that end, the church started its own Arise and Build campaign in 2009, and believe God for greater breakthroughs ahead.
