; ), abbreviated GRII, also Indonesian Reformed Evangelical Church, is a Reformed Christian church that is headquartered in Jakarta,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It was founded by Stephen Tong, a Chinese-born Indonesian evangelist.

History

Andrew Gih Andrew Gih or Ji Zhiwen ( zh, t=計志文, s=计志文, first=t, w=Chi Chih-wên, p=Jì Zhìwén; January 10, 1901 – February 13, 1985) was a Chinese Protestant evangelist who cofounded the Bethel Worldwide Evangelistic Band in 1931 and foun ...

of the

Evangelize China Fellowship The Evangelize China Fellowship (ECF; ) is an American non-profit 501(c) organization, founded in 1947 by 20th-century Chinese revivalist Andrew Gih. The fellowship consists of churches, missionaries, and affiliated organizations that attempt t ...

established the Southeast Bible Seminary in Malang,

East Java East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean bord ...

in 1952, and Tong graduated from it in 1961, establishing the church in 1989 following many years of preaching and evangelism.

Timeline

*In 1974 Tong conducts seminars in Surabaya and 2 years later become a guest lecturer in China Evangelical Seminary. *Later in 1984 turned to Jakarta to uphold the Spirit of Reformed and Evangelical theology. Two years later in 1986 he was the co-founder of Reformed Evangelical School of Theology in Jakarta and Surabaya, and library and printing station that provides Christian Books. *In 1989 Tong founded the Institute of Reformed Evangelical Indonesia the LRII, which become Gereja Reformed Injili Indonesia. *1991 - 2007 Tong serves as Rector in the Reformed Evangelical Divinity School in indonesia *In 1996 Stephen Tong become the chairman of the church Synod and in 1998 heserved as a Rector in The Reformed Institute in Indonesia *In 2008 Tong received an honorary degree from

Westminster Theological Seminary Westminster Theological Seminary is a Protestant theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was founded by members of the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1929 after Princeton chose to ...

in Philadelphia, PA. Stephen Tong founded the Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia in 1989 to establish a Reformed theology-based church and congregations who are committed to evangelism. The GRII is headquartered in the Reformed Millennium Center, in

Sawah Besar Sawah Besar is a district (''kecamatan'') of Central Jakarta, Indonesia. Its neighborhoods are among the most historic, containing the 1820-established Pasar Baru ("New Market"), the new colonial city – Weltevreden – and the old cours ...

, Jakarta, where it has its largest church, the Messiah Cathedral. It has congregations in other major cities in Indonesia, as well as in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Australia, China, Taiwan, Germany and the USA.

Beliefs

The church subscribes to the

Reformed confessions Calvinist confessions of faith are the confessions of faith of various Calvinist churches. These documents express consensus on doctrine for the church adopting the confession. A few confessions are shared as subordinate standards (i.e. authorit ...

generally accepted by Reformed churches, but it has its own unique confession of faith. Some churches use the

Westminster Confession of Faith The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the "subordinate standard" ...

and the Heidelberg Catechism.

Church organization

Stephen Tong is currently the Head of Synod of the Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia. The Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia and its affiliated institutions have female evangelists, lecturers, and church council members. They are allowed to preach and assume authoritative roles, although they are not ordained. * Benyamin Intan, pastor, is a member of the board of directors for the

World Reformed Fellowship The World Reformed Fellowship (WRF) is an ecumenical Christian organization which promotes unity between confessional Calvinist churches around the world. History The World Fellowship of Reformed Churches was formed in 1994 by the Presbyterian ...

. *FIRES (Fellowship of Indonesian Reformed Evangelical Students) lead by Preacher Edward Oei. *STEMI (Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministries International) lead by Preacher Stephen Tong as movement to reach international community in Christ.

Recent issues

Stephen Tong has preached the Gospel to 1,5 million Indonesians in 2012. According to the International Evangelism Fellowship's adaptation of the press release by the Indonesian Evangelical Reformed Church until November 2012 the Reformed Evangelical Church's sermons have reached 1,5 millions. 700 preaching assemblies that was led by Stephen Tong were held. In October 200,000 people were able to hear the Gospel. The church reaped great evangelisation work in 2012. Indonesia is populated by about 250 million people, in which the majority are Muslims. Thus, evangelisation there is a long process. As Pastor Tong noted, if the GRII preaches to 1 million people per year it would take 218 years for all Indonesians to hear the Gospel. Therefore, he urged the church to not be proud of its accomplishments, because there is great distance towards the evangelisation of the entire country. In a four-days evangelistic outreach in December 2012 Tong preached in the Messiah Cathedral in Jakarta to 30,000 attenders. On December 28, 2019, at the National Reformed Evangelical Convention (NREC), an annually held convention in Indonesia, Pastor Tong brought up an issue that the church was currently experiencing: a crisis of male servants to serve as Sunday school teachers and a vacant of fatherly authority in children's life because Sunday school teachers are predominantly women. He called for the young generation, especially men, to surrender themselves as servants of God to serve as Sunday school teachers in their respective churches.

Worship center

In 2008, a new building for the Reformed Evangelical Church in Jakarta called Reformed Millennium Center of Indonesia (RMCI), which includes The Messiah Cathedral (a 4800-seat auditorium), was finished. It took 16 years to persuade the Indonesian government to issue a permit to build the church. The church building was personally designed by Tong himself. It is one of the largest Chinese Christian

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

church facilities in the world, with of space. In the Calvin auditorium, concerts were held in the opening of the Cathedral in 2008. The building also includes a theological seminary, STT Reformed Injili Internasional, founded by the Synod of Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia in cooperation with Reformed Institute for Christianity and the 21st Century (Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministries International). The seminary has a strong relation with

Other centers

There are churches in Jakarta, Bandung,

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...

, Semarang, Surabaya, Malang,

Denpasar Denpasar (; Balinese: ᬤᬾᬦ᭄ᬧᬲᬃ) is the capital of Bali and the main gateway to the island. The city is also a hub for other cities in the Lesser Sunda Islands. With the rapid growth of the tourism industry in Bali, Denpasar has e ...

, Palembang,

Medan Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four mai ...

Batam Batam is the largest city in the province of Riau Islands, Indonesia. The city administrative area covers three main islands of Batam, Rempang, and Galang (collectively called Barelang), as well as several small islands. Batam Island is the c ...

Samarinda Samarinda is the capital city of the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The city lies on the banks of the Mahakam River with a land area of . Samarinda ranks first on East Kalimantan Human Development Index and it ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

Balikpapan Balikpapan is a seaport city in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Located on the east coast of the island of Borneo, the city is the financial center of Kalimantan. Balikpapan is the city with the largest economy in Kalimantan with an estimated ...

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Sydney,

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Ta ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

Xiamen Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, München,

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. The church has approximately 56 congregations.

Notable churches

INDONESIA Jakarta *GRII Pusat *GRII Bintaro *GRII Karawaci *GRII Pondok Indah *GRII Kelapa Gading *GRII Buaran *GRII Cikarang *GRII Kebon Jeruk *GRII BSD *GRII Kuningan *GRII Depok *GRII Cibubur *GRII Bogor *GRII Pantai Indah Kapuk *MRII Gading Serpong *PRII Harapan Indah Java & Bali *GRII Andhika Surabaya *GRII Ngagel Surabaya *GRII Malang *GRII Bandung *GRII Semarang *GRII Denpasar *GRII Kertajaya *GRII Citra Raya *GRII Sidoarjo *GRII Graha Famili *MRII Yokyakarta *MRII Solo *PRII Kediri Sumatra *GRII Medan *GRII Palembang *GRII Batam *MRII Lampung Sulawesi & Maluku *MRII Manado *MRII Makasar *PRII Ternate Kalimantan *GRII Samarinda *MRII Balikpapan *MRII Pontianak *PRII Banjarmasin Nusa Tenggara Timur *PRII Kupang ASIA *GRII Singapore *MRII Singapore *MRII Kuala Lumpur *MRII KL-Klang Valley *MRII Kuching *GRII Taipei *GRII Guangzhou *GRII Shanghai *MRII Taichung *MRII Beijing *MRII Xiamen *MRII Xindian *MRII Hong Kong *MRII Tokyo *PRII Fuzhou *PRII Tianjin *PRII Hangzhou *PRII Nanjing *PRII Hong Kong AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND *GRII Sydney *GRII Melbourne *GRII Perth *MRII Auckland EUROPE *MRII Berlin *MRII Hamburg *MRII Munich *MRII Bern *PRII Stockholm

International organisations

Member of the

References

External links

* * NREC (National Reformed Evangelical Convention
https://nrec.stemi.id
*NRETC (National Reformed Evangelical Teen Convention) https://nretc.stemi.id *BCN (Bible Camp National
http://bcn.stemi.id
{{Churches in Indonesia Calvinist denominations established in the 20th century Evangelical denominations in Asia Members of the World Reformed Fellowship Reformed denominations in Indonesia Christian organizations established in 1989