Indonesian Christians are also Indonesian Citizens

IL News 004/2014

55^th Citizenship Education (Training-of-Trainers)

Palu (Central Sulawesi), 24-27 February 2014

Indonesian Christians are also Indonesian citizens. As Christians, we are called to be His salt and light in this nation. Anything that happens to this nation is also our responsibility. Therefore, this double citizenship identity—as citizens of the Kingdom of God and of the nation of Indonesia—must be voiced out continously to increase the awareness and willingness of Christians to actively participate in building the nation.

In order to raise the awareness among Christians of their double citizenship identity, the Leimena Institute held the Citizenship Education Training-of-Trainers program in partnership with the Donggala Indonesian Protestant Church (GPID), Central Sulawesi Christian Church (GKST), and Buol Tolitoli Indonesian Protestant Church (GPIBT).

The program aimed to prepare new facilitators who can participate in sharing the Christian worldview and its relevance in public life. Therefore, in this program the participants learned about Christian faith and citizenship, and how to teach the Citizenship Education module. Then, the participants held a Citizenship Education program at the Marturia Theological School in Palu.

Seventeen pastors and church elders from the GPID, GKST, and GPIBT churches participated in the Training-of-Trainers program on February 24-27, 2014, in Palu city of the Central Sulawesi province. The GPID Synod’s Discipleship Program Head Rev. Margotje Tresye Pandelaki opened the four day training program. On February 27th, the program was closed by the GPID Synod’s General Secretary Rev. I Wayan Ardiawan, who asked participants to work together to encourage Christians’s participation as Indonesian citizens.

The following are some comments from the participants:

From this program, I can now understand that being a good citizen is not enough only through sermon, but also how to lead the congregation to actively participate in building the nation. (Rev. Irwan Budjalemba, GKST Poso church)

Encourage more “action” to show our sense of responsibility. Being a citizen and a church member must go together. (Rev. Andreas Tonapa, GPID Palu church)

The program gives us understanding that Christians must participate actively in nation building. It also increases our knowledge and understanding of citizenship. (Victor Sumarow, GPIBT Tolitoli church)