ABSTRACT
Successful churches in Indonesia became associated with certain peoples such as the Dani in Papua, Minahasan in North Sulawesi, Sumbanese in East Nusa Tenggara, Moluccan in Maluku, Timorese in East Timor, and Batak in North Sumatra. The Christian communities in these regions have been a popular subject for scholars regarding the question of why a specific religion or religious denomination is adopted or spreads more easily in a certain area in tandem with existing geographical, ethnic, and racial identities, mainly in Indonesia’s Outer Islands 1 (Atkinson 1983; Aritonang 1994; Archer 1995; Hayward 1997; Aragon 2000; Farhadian 2005; Keane 2007; Schroter 2010). Christianity in the Muslim heartland of Java has long been marginalized in literature despite the fact that Java has a considerable Christian population and facilities. The increasing visibility of Christianity in Java, particularly since 1965, is critical in comprehending the religio-political landscape of contemporary Indonesia as Java has played a dominant role in determining national policies.
