INDONESIA, December 2004: International English Service Involvement and the Kingdom Building Challenge

Tommy Pacatang, Church Relations Program Adviser – Asia Pacific, tells the story of Habitat Indonesia’s productive involvement with the International English Service church, which has donated funds and volunteers to Habitat since 2002.

" In February 2001, I was sent to Indonesia to help the country program as National Director. Before I came, I surfed the Internet and searched for a church that I could join. I found the International English Service (IES) church – a member of the Assemblies of God (AOG) in Indonesia.

Building Relationships in Indonesia

“On the first Sunday that I joined the church, I met Pastor Dave Kenney after the 8 o’clock service at Wisma BNI 46. I introduced myself and he told me that he had known of Habitat for quite a long time already. In fact, Millard Fuller, Habitat founder and president, had preached in his church more than ten years ago. He told me that Millard was one of the best speakers that he ever heard.

“IES held the yearly Missions Fair in the month of October. During that year, 2001, there were several strategic partners that the church had invited to participate. They had invited Habitat to join too. We were not included in the funding allocation strategy of the church at that time, we were just invited to display our pictures, brochures and do some marketing.At this point I introduced Habitat to Ari Wibowo, the local German-Indonesian actor. Ari was a big name in the local showbiz and he was also a member of the church.

“In December 2001, we had our first special event – the December Build 2001. I invited Pastor Dave Kenney to join as a member of the Steering Committee. He gladly accepted the invitation. Habitat for Humanity Indonesia aimed to build 15 houses that month – but we were able to build a total of 16 houses in three participating affiliates!

IES Involvement - The Beginning

“Year 2002 was a big year in engaging IES with the Habitat ministry. IES invited us to share a testimony, to share the Habitat story and to preach about Habitat.

IES House Building Begins

“In March 2003, IES built houses with Ari Wibowo, with the Young Adult Fellowship (YAF), with the Teens’ Church, and with the general membership of IES. Everybody was involved. There were more than 200 volunteers from the church! The church hired four big buses to transport volunteers from Jakarta to Sukakarya in Bekasi, Indonesia.

"During this year IES Teens’ Church adopted Habitat as one of the Teens’ Church Ministry. They regularly came out and built houses together with Pastor Steve Lunn, their Teens’ Church pastor. They also helped in promoting Habitat to Jakarta International School (JIS) and North Jakarta International School (NJIS).

“This year, 2004, Millard spoke again at IES. Right after the sermon, the church did a collection of offering for Habitat. The church members were blessed by the ministry of Habitat and donated a total of Rp68,000,000!

The Next Level

“Now, we are raising the barometer of engagement that we have with IES. We are now discussing to do a more holistic transformational development ministry TOGETHER!

“Pastor Dave said, ‘Habitat ministry provides everyone in the church a place to demonstrate his faith and a chance to participate in the mission of caring for the poor.’

"IES is committed not only to ”Soul Care” but also to “Social Care”. They see that building houses and becoming a partner in the holistic transformation of the community are practical ways to respond to Christ’s commandment to care for the poor. This is a concrete and lasting way of putting faith into action.'”