A small church in Central Java, Indonesia, that has struggled for more than a decade to keep its worship facility, celebrated a reopening in early December only to see it shut before Christmas, due to protests from hard-line Islamists.
The 41 Christians of the rural church in Pepanthan Dermolo village began worship-ing again in the building Islamic extremists had long denied them. Two weeks later, they did not dare meet there, due to threat of violence from a local group called the Muslim Solidarity Forum of Dermolo.
The church, a branch of an established Mennonite denomination called the Gereja Injili di Tanah Jawa (Evangelical Church on the Land of Java, or GITJ), has a valid building permit, the pastor said, but an order was made which temporarily stops the services there.
The church, which began in 1999, enjoyed the support of many moderate Muslims. In 1999, the village head suggested that the Christians build a worship facility and the congregation scraped up enough money to purchase land in 2000. After a long process involving meetings with local Muslim leaders, they obtained a building permit.
Later in the year, the Muslim Solidarity Forum of Dermolo objected to the presence of a church. The Christians paid little attention to the opposition and completed the building in 2003. Some local Muslims actually helped in the construction of the church building, and Muslim women helped cook for the work crews.
Soon after completion of the building the Forum raised its objections, and a long series of struggles began.
