Spreading the Gospel among the Chinese immigrants in Indonesia, who have lived there from at least the beginning of the colonial era, was only begun in earnest in the second half of the 19th century. In a number of cities in the island of Java, small congr sprang up, which cooperated with Dutch missionaries. In 1905, the Episcopal Methodists’ Board of Missions started work in West Java. When the Methodists left Java again (1927), the congregation which had formed in the Manggabesar area of Jakarta became independent, with the name Tiong Hoa Kie Tok Kauw Hwee (THKTKH, January 1928, in 1939 the name changed into CHCTCH). What moved them to opt for a separate existence was not only their Meth background, but also a difference in cultural (Malay or Mandarin) and political (Netherlands Indies or China) orientation. However, there was a gradual adaptation to the Indonesian environment. In 1950, the CHCTCH was among the founding members of the Council of Churches in Indonesia (DGI/PGI; the church did not join any international denominational or ecumenical organization). In 1958 the church took an Indonesian name, Gereja Kristus, and in 1963 it adopted a presbyterial-synodal church order instead of the congregationalist structure it had had up to that year. Of its 17 congr in West Java and Southern Sumatra, 9 are in Metropolitan Jakarta. Only in one of these is Mandarin still in use besides Indonesian. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated four times a year, as in most churches. The church has a theological school in Cipanas (West Java), a number of elementary and secondary schools, and several medical and social facilities. It considers June 12, 1939, as its birthday.
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