Finding Kuyper in Indonesia

In mid-March I had the opportunity to travel to Indonesia with a group of faculty from Calvin University. Indonesia is an archipelago made up of over 17,000 distinct islands and with a population of 250 million people, it makes up the fourth most populous nation in the world. Its people represent a variety of faith traditions, the vast majority of which are Muslim who were observing Ramadan during our time there. It is also home to many Christians, making up the second largest faith group comprising roughly 10 percent of the population, and several large Christian universities.

Our time was spent on the island of Java where we visited Petra Christian University in the city of Surabaya. Petra is a large Christian university of roughly 6,000 students offering programs in areas like engineering, informatics and medicine. Together with two colleagues, we spent three days having conversations with administrators and providing workshops for faculty as well as Christian teachers and church leaders. The visit was facilitated by Calvin’s De Vries Institute for Global Faculty Development, an institute whose mission is to provide resources for Christian educators and leaders around the globe. We found faculty and administrators at Petra who were keen to learn more about faith integration to lean into their mission “to be a world-leading Christian University that transforms society for the glory of God.”

Reformed seeds

The second leg of our journey brought us to Jakarta to attend the annual Kuyper Conference. The Kuyper conference has been held at both Calvin and Redeemer University, but this was the first time the conference was held overseas. The number of attendees at the conference shattered all previous records, with approximately 600 people in attendance. While the conference drew people from around the world, the vast majority of attendees were Indonesians with an interest in Kuyperian thought. The conference venue was the Reformed Millennium Center, a sprawling complex which is home to the Reformed Evangelical Church and the International Reformed Evangelical Seminary (IRES). The impressive facilities included a large auditorium, a concert hall, a museum and several large meeting rooms.

Each year the Kuyper prize is awarded by Calvin University and  Calvin Theological Seminary to a scholar or community leader who has made an outstanding contribution to their chosen sphere in a way that reflects the Neo-Calvinist vision of religious engagement in one or more of the ‘spheres’ of society. This year’s Kuyper prize was awarded to Stephen Tong, a globally respected evangelist who is known for his strong foundation in Reformed theology and who has preached to millions of people across the world.

After arriving in Indonesia, I took a walking tour of Jakarta that included insights into the colonial history of Indonesia. The legacy of the Dutch East Indies Company did not make me proud of this aspect of my Dutch heritage. Later, at the Kuyper Conference, a keynote talk by Dutch professor George Harinck sketched Abraham Kuyper’s posture towards the East Indies (now Indonesia). While his stance seems paternalistic, Kuyper did advocate an “ethical policy” towards Indonesia. Kuyper declared that “Our country may no more exploit another people than I have the right to live off the field of my neighbor. That is a sin against the eighth commandment . . . ”

Despite the sad legacy of colonialism, the Dutch sowed other seeds that developed into a thriving Reformed Christian community. Those Reformed seeds have taken root, and have borne fruit in Christian educational institutions which are dedicated to the integration of faith and learning in every square inch.