Finished at the Synod

I've finished my work with the Synod for the time being. I'm a bit sorry to leave as everyone has made me feel very welcome, especially Diana but looking forward to next adventure. It has been good to be able to help with some of the English correspondence, proposals, reports and Powerpoint slides. I have certainly learnt a lot about how the whole GKPB church works.

I am now living in the rectory of the Dhyana Pura church with Rev Made Budiarsa, Deborah his wife, and Giovani and Debbie his kids. Their home is very comfortable and they've made me feel very welcome.

PS If it seems that lots of men have the same names it is because the tradition here is to call the first son Wayan or Gde (pronounced as the Aussie "giday"), the second Made, the third Nyoman etc. Sometimes quite confusing but the positive is that there a lot less names to remember. Of course not every family follows this tradition.

Blimbing Sari Church

On the Sun morning I went to the main church of Blimbing Sari for the Sunday school and then church of about 800 people. Sunday school was great with all the kids standing in a circle for the first part of singing and prayers and then moving into the classrooms for the lesson. There was lots of chanting as well singing so very noisy.

The church is a very big building which is basically a roof without walls. It is great for this climate.

The church service was very formal and an obviously "fire and brimstone" sermon. I had someone who interpreted for me and I've found it is easy to sing in Indonesian because I know most of the tunes and the words are pronounced as they are written. Again, after the service no-one stands around and talks, they all go home.

After the service we went to visit the only remaining founding father. He is now 105 and I'm not sure how much he took in but obviously knew a bit of what was happening. Quite a life.

Meet Vincent

On the way to Blimbing Sari last weekend we stopped off for coffee with Vincent. Vincent is a curate at the Lalng Jinggang. He is originally from West Timor but studied theology on Java. After his graduation he was posted to this church where he had been for 3 years. The good news for Vincent is that his congregation has recommended him for ordination and this will take place later this year. He will probably stay another couple of years before he moves to another church.


This area is very agricultural and Vincent has about 30 people in his congregation.

The Engagment Party at Blimbling Sari

On the Sat afternoon we went to an engagement party of the daughter of the local preacher. The party was in the grounds of their home, which is a beautiful garden and quite large, which was just as well as there were about 300 people there. There was a formal church service for the engagement and I was surprised that there were vows and the exchanging of rings. It felt more like a wedding. However the wedding will take place after 3 months. After the ceremony 300 people all got their meals in a very short time from the buffet and then went home just as quickly. Not much standing around talking. However, I understand that there had been a party the previous night for the young people.

An amazing weekend in Blimbing Sari

On the weekend I was taken, with some visiting church pastors from Jakarta, to Blimbing Sari. This is a remarkable village about 3 hours drive from Dempasar. It was originally founded in the 1930's by Christians who were being persecuted for their faith and decided to go to the jungle to for safety. At the time the saying for Christians was, "no rice, no famiy, no death (ie no burial)". They were excommunicated from all aspects of community life.

They set up a village for Christian families and it reminded me a little of my home town of Hillston. It was well set out with sealed roads and houses sitting on quite spacious blocks. Each household is given 2000 sq mtrs for their house and garden, as well as 2ha to farm. As it is very quiet and not much traffic it feels very much like a country town and makes quite a change from the very chaotic traffic of Denpasar.

I visited one of houses and their 2ha was just at the back of the house. Most people in the village grow coconuts, bananas and cocoa plants so their farms look a bit like jungle. From what I could gather the farms are passed on to the next generation and there doesn't seem to be a way for people to buy more land, but it was a bit confused. It seems that most of the younger people go away to get more qualifications and work and come back when their parents or grandparents die. For the farm we visited the daughter was a pharmacist and the son was at University. As the settlement is only 70 years old I guess they still have some inheritance issues to work out.

While in Blimbing Sari we stayed at one of the 7 orphanages run by the GKPB. This one is in a beautiful setting with 82 kids. About 10% are actual orphans and the rest are from single parent families or poor families who can't afford to give their kids education. The children range in age from 3 to 17 and I had a great time with them. They are all learning English and can converse to varying degrees. But they have learnt some English songs and on Sat afternoon a group of them sang for us and then I was able to teach them "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree".

On the Sat night they were practicing some of their traditional dancing and music, as they take a touring group to Singapore very couple of years. It was a wonderful performance and then a couple of the girls tried to teach me. No photos of that thankfully! If you would like to see some pictures of the kids and where they live you click on this link. I have permission from the Director to put these photos on the Internet.

One of the kids I met was Juliawan, who decided that because our names were so close he would be my friend. He's English was quite good so we were able to have a few conversations. He is 12 years old and has been at the orphange for 3 years. His parents are still alive and live at Singaraja which is quite some distance away but they come to visit each month. There are 3 older children but he is the only one at Blimbing Sari. He is staying at the orphanage so that he can get a better schooling and he tells me that when he finishes school he wants to be a pastor, but in the meantime he is likes the orphanage and the school.

A nice way to relax

Just near Orin and Made house is one of the church members who gives massages and facials, so I had a very nice couple of hours this afternoon being thoroughly spoil. Rita is most unusual in Bali as she spent a year working in Turkey as a masseur. However she tells me that she didn’t like the food! Her husband is now retired and they have two daughters 18 and 12. Cheris the oldest is going the church hospitality college to become a waitress. This is Rita and Cheris outside the shop.

A church that has the emphasis on the economic as well as the spiritual

I spent a little bit of time with the Bishop (equivalent to our Moderator) yesterday and he was telling me that it is very important that the church have an economic mission as well as a spiritual one because it is part of the world. He went on to tell me that the economic was not just about making money but using the resources  of the church to grow the church and also to be doing business in a Christian way. It is certainly a principle that the GKPB seem to have embraced.

One of the projects of the GKPB church is to use some of their unproductive land to plant fast growing trees. These trees will mature in 5 years and help to capture carbon and reduce green house gases. The sale of the wood will go towards the costs of running the orphanages.  It is part of a broader program in the church to make themselves self-sufficient and be able to fund the work that they do. It is one of the many very innovative projects.

One of the other ways that the work of the broader church is funded is that every congregation, both rich and small, contributes 31% of their income to the Synod. This money is used to supply pastors for small congregations, support the Synod and fund many of the other programs. It is a real example of everyone in the church acting for the good of the whole. I’m not quite sure what would happen if we asked all the Uniting Churches in the NSW/ACT Synod to contribute 30% to the Synod!

A very warm welcome

The church here has made me feel very welcome and I am staying in the home of the Rev Made Pirana and his wife Orin. During the day I am working at the Synod office which is a very impressive building that the Synod built about a year ago and sits on a compound with their Rural Bank, the Diaconate etc

The day in the Synod office starts at 7.30am with staff devotions and on the first day found myself needing to have a contribution on Ephesians 4 as well as make a welcome speech. Everyone was very gracious. Devotions were followed by a tour of the Synod secretariat and meeting too many people to remember their names. But one of the best bits was hearing about some of the amazing projects that this church has underway. I heard about 15 schools, 7 orphanages, tree planting and goat raising projects to bring in money, a hospitality college to teach tourism skills, a hotel where some of the students  from the college work, a program with aids victims, community development and much more. I hope to write about some of these over the next few days. In the meantime I have been helping to correct the English on various documents, layout some PowerPoint presentations and have “conversational English” lessons over lunch on the roof top. All very enjoyable.

Pictured are the building and Made with his secretary Diana who has been working very patiently with me.

What I am doing

I approached Uniting World last year to see if I could be useful somewhere for 4 weeks. They came back to me with an offer from the Balinese National Protestant church to work in their Synod office in Denpasar.

This church has many things happening including teaching hospitality skills to youth at risk kids by running a guest house (where I will be staying), projects with the urban poor and projects in the rural areas.

At this stage I will be helping Synod staff with English, helping with admin and doing some stuff with their chaplains but I will let you know as it all unfolds. I would value your prayers for my time there that it will be useful to the local church.