Indonesia Facts

Indonesia is the fourth most populous nation in the world and the world’s largest Muslim nation. Java, the most populous island in the world, is home to 141 million people on a land mass the size of Eastern Washington. That is more people than all those who live west of the Mississippi River in America!

Open Life is taking a team to our partners ICA Surabaya in Indonesia. We will be helping them reach out to the island of Sumba, where we will be doing outreaches with local pastors and missionaries. Using soccer, due to our team having some people with soccer skills. It will take the team 30 to 36 hours in travel through Taipei to arrive in Surabaya, and travel to Sumba will go through Bali. Therefore, our team will experience Muslim and Hindu cultures as well as a very unique spiritual practice in Sumba.

We will be giong to Sumba. Sumbanese follow a religion called Marafu characterized by a belief in marapu, a collective term for various gods and spiritual beings. While many people here claim to be Christian, we discovered just how tenuous that claim was when a local pointed at a Christian grave marked with a cross and said, “Muslim grave.” Religious realities are best displayed in Sumbanese death rituals. When a person dies, the family members must sacrifice large numbers of horses and buffalo to appease the marapu and allow the dead person to enter the invisible world. Families spend enormous sums on these sacrifices and the economic toll on surviving family members can be devastating. It’s an interesting topic to take up with more modern Sumbanese living in towns.

Sumbanese culture is beyond fascinating. For this reason, Sumba is – without a doubt – one of the most unique and rewarding regions we have experienced in Indonesia. While change is definitely coming to Sumba, there are few places on the planet where you can encounter such deeply traditional people and explore such authentic villages.

The Open Life team will get to see the majority of the ministries of our global partner ICA Surabaya led by missionaries John & Korie Taylor. Below is their highlight video from the ministry and objectives they are pursuing.