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Batak Churches. More than ten Batak churches based in Batakland, Sumatra Island,Indonesia*, with an overall membership of more than six millions, now including

congregations throughout Indonesia, some with non-Batak members.

The German Rhenish Mission brought the gospel to the Batak peoples from 1861until 1942, when the Batak churches claimed themselves as Lutheran and joined theLutheran World Federation. Earlier several Batak churches separated from the German

Mission, for nationalist and self-reliance reasons. Huria Kristen Indonesia became the

first self-reliant church in Indonesia (1927). After 1942, due to religious and ethnic

conflicts among sub-groups of the Batak people, other churches separated fromHuriaKristen Batak Protestan church, the successor of the German Mission.

As Lutheran, Batak churches regard preaching Gods Words as important to

communicate Gods grace and will, and Baptism and Holy Communion as sacredtradition. In the daily life, Batak carefully live out theiradat(customary law) because,

they believe, there are supernatural sanctions against those who disregard the adatthe

social and ceremonial system that regulates the rights and obligations among Batakrelatives and social categories. The practice ofadatis a potential source of tension for

the churches, but it has never been totally rejected. Indeed, the German Mission used

elements of the adatto spread the gospel. Batak Christians strongly hold to adat, even

though they follow most openly those elements ofadatthat do not conflict with Christianfaith.

Other churches (including charismatic* churches) criticize Batak for living out the

adatproduced by Batak ancestors in the time of darkness. Church servants (men andwomen elders, pastors, and bishops) sometimes criticize absence from church services

because one attends adatceremonies. But members of Batak churches keep observing

adat. Observance ofadatis defended as respect for ancestors (parents, Exod 20:12;

Deut 5:16) and the tradition they gave them for the goodness of life, Thus Batak churcheslive according to both the gospel and the adat.

Similarly, during New Years Eve every family conducts a night service in which family

members confess their weaknesses in the old year and ask forgiveness from one

anothera moving ceremony through which Batak enter the New Year with purifiedheart, forgiveness from family members, and Gods blessing. BATARA SIHOMBING (see

Indonesia*)

BATAK CHURCHES. BATARA SIHOMBINGAritonang, Jan Sihar

1994 Mission Schools in Batakland. Leiden, Holland: Brill.Hutauruk, Jubel Raplan

2001 Batak Churches. In Scott W. Sunquist ed.,A Dictionary of AsianChristianity. Michigan: Eerdmans.

Pedersen, B.1969 Batak Blood and Protestant Soul. Michigan: Eermands.

Sihombing, Batara

2004 Batak and Wealth: A Critical Study of Materialism in the Batak Churchesin Indonesia.Mission Studies 21: 9-38.

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Sitompul, Adelbert A.

1985 Christian Obedience in the Context of Adat. In A.A. Sitompul and A. Sovik,

eds.,Horas HKBP. P. Siantar: STT-HKBP.