Critical factors that facilitated the conversion of muslims in the Garut District West Java province Indonesia
Abstract
Java Province, Indonesia. The
study was conducted among 280 Garut Seventh-day Adventist
church members. They were asked to respond to a selfconstructed
instrument validated within the context of
Garut community. Descriptive statistics were used to find
out the level of agreement to the factors such as barriers
to their conversion, internal and external influences that
led to their conversion, evangelism and contextualization,
and church growth strategies used by pastors and church
members to enhance and nurture the spiritual growth of the
newly converted Garut SDA church members.
The study showed that Garut people give more emphasis
on informality and openness. They are friendly, show a
sense of respect to other people, very cooperative and
accommodating.
Although many obstacles impeded the path of evangelism
concerning Garut people, however, it is evident that many
open doors also existed for the Gospel. The study
discovered that there are specific contributing factors and
mission strategies which have contributed to the
significant growth of SDA church in Garut. Of first
importance is the role and work of the Holy Spirit as a
driving force for Garut conversion and growth. Furthermore,
cultural approach, community services such as charity
clinic and micro-economic development, training for pastors
and laymen, and contextualization strategies, were among
the very effective and applicable strategies.
Furthermore, based on the finding of the research, the
Garut conversion and growth model is proposed as effective
factors and mission strategy for winning the Garut people
for Christ and how they can be nurtured in their new found
faith.
The recommendations of the study include the equipping
and training pastors from other ethnic groups before
deploying them into the mission field. Community services
like charity clinics, health programs, nutrition seminars
including micro-economic development program can be
integrated with other mission strategies. Increased
contextualization and more nurturing strategies should be
employed to ensure authentic conversion and spiritual
growth.