GAPPI SYNOD MEETING

Pastor Jeffrey Khoo

The Synod meeting of the Bible-Presbyterian Church of Indonesia—Gereja Alkitab Presbiterian Protestan Indonesia (GAPPI)—held at GAPPI Grace in Medan, Indonesia, 13-16 March 2023 was a reunion of sorts for the alumni of Far Eastern Bible College (FEBC). I thank the Lord for the blessed time of fellowship with fellow FEBC graduates, namely, Rev Dr Haposan Siregar (BTh 87), Rev Agus Siregar (DipTh 86), Rev Kiantoro Lie (BTh 92, MRE 98, MDiv 05), Mariana Siregar (DipTh 96), Peter Yoksan (MDiv 05, ThM 09), Ajin Thu (DipTh 05), Efendi Ginting (MRE 06), Timbagan (CertRK 06), Shobastian (BTh 16, MDiv 18), and Deddy Manalu (BTh 18).

GAPPI currently comprises 16 churches in North Sumatra, West Kalimantan, and Batam. A total of 21 pastors, preachers, elders, and church workers attended the meeting. The doctrinal constitution of GAPPI was the main item on the agenda.

I was there as an invited speaker to give (1) a morning devotional message and (2) a lecture on the doctrine of the Bible. At the morning devotion on the first day, I spoke from Psalm 133 on the beauty and sweetness of Christian unity, and how such a unity must be based on the glory of God and the absolute authority of the Scriptures. On the second day, I was called upon to answer the question “Is the Bible 100% Trustworthy?” I answered in the affirmative because of the Bible’s 100% inspiration and 100% preservation based on Matthew 5:18, 2 Timothy 3:16–17, Psalm 12:6–7, and the Westminster Confession of Faith. The Church today has a completely trustworthy Bible in the Traditional Text (Hebrew Masoretic Text and Greek Textus Receptus). The lecture was well received.

GAPPI (like a guppy) is small. Let us not despise the small and the weak for God specialises in using the small and weak to do great things for Him, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.” (1 Cor 1:26–29).

Pray the Lord to use GAPPI to advance His Kingdom and His Truth throughout the length and breadth of Indonesia in fulfilment of the Great Commission (Matt 28:18–19, Acts 1:8). True Life BPC is supporting Pr Shobastian and Sis Supartik of GAPPI Getsemani in Batam.

GAPPI GETSEMANI BATAM REPORT

Pr Shobastian

Greetings in the blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank God for His grace and mercies in our lives and ministries here in Batam. We want to thank True Life BPC for all your prayers and support for us.

First of all we thank God that we are well under God’s help and protection. He has enabled us to worship and serve Him every week. The ministries are doing well.

Worship Service and Children Sunday School

We thank God that every Sunday we still worship the Lord without any problem. Only we have stopped the evening service because of the lack of people in serving. Dn Hartoni Aritonang is sick. He has a mental health issue. He and the family decided to move to their own hometown for the sake of his health. Please pray for him and his family.

We have replaced the evening service with a Bible study class. With that I know I am the only one who needs to serve and prepare the lessons. Thank God every Sunday evening, starting at 7pm, members of the church as well as those who can join through ZOOM can learn from God’s Word.

We thank God for the Children Sunday School too. The Lord has brought the children to come and worship Him every Sunday. Now from two classes, we divided the children into three groups. It is because of their age variations. With the lack of rooms, we thank God we still have places for these classes. One group inside the church and another outside the church under the canopy, and the last group under the tree. God has blessed them, and we pray that God will help them to grow in His knowledge.

Sunday Evening Bible Study

There are a dozen people, young and old, joining this Bible study. This time I am teaching them from Pastor Jeffrey Khoo’s book, Fundamentals of the Christian Faith. I pray and hope that these members of the church can be clear of the fundamental doctrines that we believe and hold in this church. May God grant them an increase in their understanding, and may God help them to love Him and serve Him more abundantly.

Prayer Meetings and Fellowship Meetings

We thank God that the prayer meetings every Tuesday evening and the fellowship meetings (Family, Ladies, Men, Teens and Young People) are doing well.

We thank God for the Ladies in the Church who are so eager in their fellowship and service unto the Lord. Need to pray for the men because some of them are not interested even to come to fellowship meetings. May God be merciful to grant them awareness of the importance of this fellowship meeting. In the Family, Ladies and Men’s Fellowship Meetings we focus on the topics concerning family, namely, family devotions, spiritual growth, and parent-child relationship. In the meetings, we have group discussions to discuss some practical lessons they can learn from the Word of God. May the Lord help them to grow.

Please pray for the Teens and Young People’s Fellowship. We are planning for a Bible Camp for them in the month of April. There will be a public holiday on those days. The camp will be held at the Ocarina Beach. I am preparing a Camp Theme, “Follow God Bravely.” With many temptations in this city for young people, it can cause them to be so scared in following God—scared of not having friends, scared of not having or losing their jobs. May God help them to be brave in following God. Please pray that all our preparations and needs will be blessed and provided by God.

Children's Ministry and Joyful Saturday

We thank God for the Getsemani Children’s Ministry where we could gather the children to teach them English using the KJV and godly books. We thank True Life for sending us the book, Ten Parables of Jesus. We are using this book for their reading. So they learn to read and understand English, and at the same time learn many lessons from the Bible.

From the Getsemani Children’s Ministry we can reach out to many children, and invite them to come to Joyful Saturday. Joyful Saturday is focusing on worshipping God and evangelising the children. We thank God that more children are coming to this ministry. Please pray that they will truly believe and follow God.

We could reach out to more children if we have the transportation to pick them up, for their parents are working, and because of the distance. We are considering renting a car every Saturday and it costs about $15 a week. But we are still praying and we see how the Lord will lead. If there is really a need for this, we know that God will provide.

We thank True Life BPC for the invitation to attend the church camp in June. God willing, we will join the camp. God willing, we hope to hold the church anniversary on June 11 with Pastor Khoo as the speaker.

May the Lord bless True Life BPC with His abundant grace and mercy for His own glory. Thank you so much.

With FEBC Alumni in Medan for GAPPI Synod Meeting