In 1906 an American Meth mission brought the Gospel to West Kalimantan (Singkawang), where a great number of ethnic Chinese were living. In 1927/28 the mission handed its work over to the Chinese Christian Church, which, in the meantime, had been established there. In 1928 the church was assisted by the Basel Mission and the Protestant Church in the Netherlands Indies; it also received support from China. In 1935 the Chinese Christian Church in Pontianak, the capital of the province West Kalimantan, was established. During the Japanese occupation the Chinese of West Kalimantan went through much suffering; one of their pastors was murdered. After 1950 the church was assisted by the OMF, the former China Inland Mission. After 1965 the “Indonesianization” of the ethnic Chinese in Kalimantan accelerated, and, as a consequence, in 1967 the church changed its name from Tiong Hoa Kie Tok Kauw Hwe (Chinese Christian Church) to GKKB, with a more Presb structure. The change was completed when the church joined the PGI (1972). According to the church order, the doctrinal basis of the GKKB is belief in Holy Trinity, and in Jesus Christ as the only Savior, Head of the Church and source of Truth and Life; the church accepts the inspired Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament as the living guideline for the faithful. Today the church has a number of schools from kindergarten to secondary school. It publishes a tri-monthly periodical,Zion.The GKKB considers 1935 as the year of its birth.
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