The southern half of South Sulawesi is inhabited by two peoples, the Makassarese in the southwest and the Buginese in the southeast and center. Christianity first came to the region in the 16th century through the Portuguese mission. Some local rulers were baptized. But the mission was not followed up, and in the 17th century Islam spread northward from Makassar. From 1667 the Dutch had a factory and a fort in Makassar, but they did not attempt to preach the Gospel to the local population. In 1848 the Dutch Bible Society sent a Bible translator who translated the complete Bible into the two local languages. An attempt by the mission to start missionary work was thwarted by the government (1858). A second attempt (1895-1905) was abandoned because it did not yield any result. But in the 1930s, in the island of Salayar, a heterodox Muslim movement offered points of contact with the mission which, from 1933 onward, had been established by the Protestant Church. At the same time, European congr of the GKN on Java started a mission on the mainland of South Sulawesi. Before World War II several hundred people were baptized. World War II and the Muslim rebellion, which started in 1950 and lasted until the sixties, caused much suffering for the congr. When peace returned, the congr of the two missions were gathered into the GKSS (1966). The church has been able to maintain itself but has made no headway among the Muslim population. The GKSS has a number of primary schools and provides elementary health care in some isolated areas. Social work is being done by several foundations. The church considers June, 12, 1966, as its birth date.
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