; ), abbreviated GRII, also Indonesian Reformed Evangelical Church, is a

Reformed Reform is beneficial change Reform may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine *''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...

Christian church that is headquartered in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, 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 Stephen Tong Tjong Eng (, born 1940) is a Chinese Indonesian Reformed pastor, evangelist, teacher and musician. He heads the Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia, which houses the megachurch Messiah Cathedral, and is the largest Christ ...

, 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 found ...

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 to ...

established the Southeast Bible Seminary in

Malang Malang (; ) is a landlocked List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of East Java. It has a history dating back to the age of Singhasari, Singhasari Kingdom. It is the second most popul ...

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 Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...

and 2 years later become a guest lecturer in

China Evangelical Seminary China Evangelical Seminary ( or abbreviated as ) is a private non-denominational, evangelical seminary. Before moving to Taoyuan City in 2019 Fall semester, its main campus was based in Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China) for the first 49 years. H ...

. *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 in Philadelphia, PA. Stephen Tong founded the Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia in 1989 to establish a

theology-based church and congregations who are committed to evangelism. The GRII is headquartered in the Reformed Millennium Center, in Sawah Besar,

, where it has its largest church, the

Messiah Cathedral Messiah Cathedral ( id, Katedral Mesias) is an Indonesian megachurch of the predominantly Indonesian-Chinese Indonesian Reformed Evangelical Church ( id, Gereja Reformed Injili Indonesia (GRII)) in Kemayoran, Jakarta. It was opened on 20 Septem ...

. 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 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 The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), one of the Three Forms of Unity, is a Protestant confessional document taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Calvinist Christian doctrine. It was published in 1563 in Heidelberg, ...

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. *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

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

(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 Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

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 Westminster Theological Seminary.

Other centers

There are churches in

Bandung Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...

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 Semarang ( jv, ꦏꦸꦛꦯꦼꦩꦫꦁ , Pegon: سماراڠ) is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today. ...

, Denpasar,

Palembang Palembang () is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River on the eastern lowland of southern Sumatra. It had a population of 1,668,848 at the 2020 Census. 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 main ...

, Batam, Samarinda,

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, borde ...

, Balikpapan,

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

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 Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

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 is ...

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 n ...

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 Taiw ...

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 flow ...

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 Delt ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

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

München Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

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 ancho ...

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 largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. 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 World Reformed Fellowship.

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