The video was shown at the 50th Jubilee celebration on Saturday, 30th October 2021 in Batu, East Java, Indonesia
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Beloved Dr. Mandang, dear leaders of P G L I I, dear leaders of the churches and institutions, who together form P G L I I, beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,
From early childhood the growth of the church in Indonesia and the Fellowship of the Indonesian Churches and Institutions (P G L I I) has been an inspiration to me. The reason is, that my parents were on the board of the German WEC and Dr Petrus Octavanius or „Pak Octav“ visited our home.
1 – here you see a photo I took whenI was nine years old in 1969 with Pak Octav, Detmar Scheunemann and my parents –
And thus over the years I heard about every step of development of P G L I I and the situation of churches in your incredible large and diverse and beautiful country. My sister and brother in law were WEC missionaries in Batu, my nice and nephews were born there, my parents spoke in Batu. I visited Batu and Indonesia as a student in 1981.
2 – here together with my mother in Batu – and started to draw maps by hand, which people groups in Indonesia are there and still have to be reached (3). Later I have visited Indonesia many times, always having contact with P G L I I.
4 – here for example in 2013 (5) – and of course for the General Assembly of WEA in 2019 – here during a plenary on the future of world mission.
I congratulate P G L I I from the deepest of my heart,
+ personally for all the inspiration it meant to me, that the concentration on the Great Commission lead to a outburst of the Holy Spirit and the largest growth of the church in a country with the majority religion of Indonesia,
+ for keeping up the centrality of the Great Commission through decades and generations, where churches easily slip into nominalism,
+ for all the blessing that have gone from P G L I I and the evangelical churches and movements to Asia and to the whole world by sending missionaries and by inspiring other countries to go for the large picture,
+ for being a vital and important member of the World Evangelical Alliance, as the generosity and hospitality around holding WEA’s General Assembly in Jakarta in 2019 proved beyond anything, people would have expected.
May God the Father guide and protect his church in Indonesia for the years to come, may God the Son, Jesus Christs, make himself known to many more hearts of people from the many languages and ethnic groups in Indonesia, and may God the Holy Spirit fill all believers in Indonesia, so that they unite around sharing the gospel and any spirit of disunity may not hinder the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
Thomas Schirrmacher, Secretary General, World Evangelical Alliance
The Fellowship of Indonesian Evangelical Churches and Institutions (PGLII) will be holding the 50th Jubilee celebration on Saturday, 30th October 2021 in Batu, East Java, Indonesia. We are grateful that due to the less restriction on Covid-19 procedure in Indonesia, this event will gather 250 Indonesian Christian leaders via offline and thousands online with the theme “Let the torch of the Gospel keep on burning” PGLII have the honor to invite H.E. Bishop Professor Thomas Schirmacher, Secretary General / CEO of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) to give a recorded speech to commemorate PGLII 50th Jubilee and its commitment to the Great Commission. The duration of the recorded speech could be up to 3 minutes.
