Pieter Jansz
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Pieter Jansz (September 25, 1820 - June 6, 1904) was the first Dutch Mennonite missionary in Indonesia. He arrived in Central Java in 1851 and began his missionary work. He encountered constraining influences from
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
throughout the area, recognizing the lack of religious freedom to become a Christian. He felt compelled to search for new methods in order to
evangelize Evangelism, or witnessing, is the act of sharing the Christian gospel, the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is typically done with the intention of converting others to Christianity. Evangelism can take several forms, such as persona ...
; in which he developed a theory that Christians should be evangelized in
colonies A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...
, as a solution. He was also known for his ability to translate the Bible into various languages which allowed the Javanese people to have access to the Bible.


Education

Pieter Jansz was born in Amsterdam on September 25, 1820. His theology was
Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
orthodoxy Orthodoxy () is adherence to a purported "correct" or otherwise mainstream- or classically-accepted creed, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical co ...
with a bias toward
Pietist Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life. Although the movement is ali ...
expressions. Within a three-month period in 1848, he lost both his father and his newlywed wife, Johanna Elisabeth van Ijzendoorn, through death. These tragedies affected him deeply and caused him to contemplate his future. As a result, he applied as a missionary candidate to the Doopsgezinde Zendungs-Vereeniging or the Dutch Mennonite Missionary Society (DMMS). He later got remarried, to Jacoba Wilhelmina Frederica Schmilau (1830–1909) and they had ten children, of whom their son Pieter A. Jansz was a successor of his father in the missions field. Jansz was an elementary school teacher in
Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...
. During his years of teaching he published textbooks and didactic stories for children. In preparation for his missionary assignment Jansz received private tutoring at the
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of Delft in order to become acquainted with the Javanese and Malayan languages, as well as with the
geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
and
ethnology Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Sci ...
of the
Dutch Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which declared independence on 17 August 1945. Following the Indonesian War of Independe ...
. The last years of his life (1902–1904) he spent at Kaju-Apu, at the home of his son-in-law, missionary Johann Fast, where he died 6 June 1904.


Missionary work

August 1851 Pieter Jansz and his wife Jacoba Wilhelmina Frederica Schmilau sailed to Jakarta to begin their missionary work. On November 15 they arrived as the first Mennonite missionaries of the
Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
period. Upon their arrival Jansz primary focus was to find an opening for a teacher rather than a missionary. As a teacher he would not be limited by the regulations the Dutch Indies government imposed on missionaries, especially in Java. Also the DMMS was convinced that education was the best way to raise the cultural and moral level of the native population and to make them receptive to the gospel. He worked as a private tutor on the property of Margar whom built a house for Jansz, in Japara, Margar Soekias(ian) was a land owner. who was a Christian patrician of
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
background. Jansz and Soekias(ian) began to collide because of a disagreement about promesis on the subject of sugar and rice(so it sayes in the diary of Jansz), and Jansz was forced to leave. Later on he opened a school for the Javanese children but had very little success in evangelizing because he had no help; this resulted in him leaving the school and becoming a full-time missionary. On April 16, 1854 he had succeeded in baptizing five Javanese people which started the first congregation of the native population in the area of Jepara. They joined a European congregation that already existed in Jepara, to become the Javanese Mennonite Church, which then formed part of the Protestant church in the Dutch Indies. Jansz's congregation grew slowly for two specific reasons: he was a very strong believer of coming to faith before baptism, and he pushed believers to become baptized. The second reason for the slow growth is because the area in which Jansz was working had a strong Islamic influence which continues to this day. Because there was a slowness of growth within the church, he wanted to adopt new methods. In doing so he wrote a book called ''Land Reclamation and Evangelism in Java'' in which he emphasized Christian communities or colonies where converts could find support and protection. Jansz strongly believed that evangelism had to be performed by the Javanese Christians because he was a Westerner who simply could not bridge the gap between himself and the villagers.


Colonial government

The colonial government allocated the
Mount Muria Mount Muria or Gunung Muria is a dormant stratovolcano on the north coast of Central Java, Indonesia, about 66 km north of Semarang city. It is located in three Regencies: Jepara on the west, Kudus on the south, and Pati on the east. Some ...
area in the Northern part of Java, to the Mennonite missionary organization. Jansz refused to ask legal permission to work as a missionary because he wanted to obey a higher authority than the colonial government. Jansz unwillingly was a subject under the Article 123 of the government regulations to the Dutch Indies, which gave the authorities certain control over the missionaries. Jansz faced much turmoil over Article 123, and in 1860 the Governor General withdrew his admission as a missionary, permitting him to stay in the country only if he remained as a teacher. The DMMS made changes within their organization; and without formal discussion the Mennonite missionaries decided to follow the lead of other mission boards in making use of the financial and legal facilities offered by the colonial government to lease large parcels of land and to build and maintain schools and hospitals.


Bible translation

Jansz knew that in order to facilitate a church service and
catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...
, he needed to translate parts of the Bible into the Javanese language. More specifically he put the Psalms into verse using the Javanese tone scale ''tembung''. Jansz resigned from his work as a missionary due to poor health in 1881, at which time his son Pieter A. Jansz took over his father's work. Jansz began his work with the
British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The ...
; in 1888 he published the
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
in Javanese, and in 1892 the
Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
. In 1895 he published the second edition of the whole Bible, as well as a Javanese dictionary in two volumes, with the titles Practisch Nederlandsch-Javaansch Woordenboek and Practisch Javaansch - Nederlandsch Woordenboek, both published at
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
. These literary efforts won him the distinction of a Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion.


References


Aritonang, Jan Sihar and Karel Steenbrink. ''A History of Christianity in Indonesia.'' Danvers, MA: Brill Publishing, 2008.
* Hoekema, Alle. "Pieter Jansz (1820–1904): First Missionary to Java." ''Dutch Mennonite Mission in Indonesia: Historical Essays'', p. 25-54. Elkhart, IN: Pandora Press, 2001. * Hoekema, Alle G. "First Mennonite Missionary to Java," ''Mennonite Quarterly Review'', 52, no 1 (January 1978): p 58-76.
Neff, Christian. "Jansz, Pieter (1820–1904)." ''Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online''. 1957.

Shenk, Wilbert R. ''By Faith They Went Out: Mennonite Missions 1850–1999.'' Elkhart, IN: Institute of Mennonite Studies, 2000.
*Springer, Nelson P. and A. J. Klassen, comp. ''Mennonite Bibliography, 1631–1961''. Vol. 1. ''International, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa''. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1977. The writings by Pieter Jansz are listed in the section on Indonesia – items nos. 15241–15380 as well as items 9311–9314, 9338, 9356.


External links


Stefanus Christian Haryano, "Mennonite History and Identity in Indonesia."
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jansz, Pieter 1820 births 1904 deaths 19th-century Dutch clergy Protestant missionaries in Indonesia Dutch Protestant missionaries Dutch Mennonites Clergy from Amsterdam Mennonite missionaries