The Protestant Indonesian Kristusgemeinde Rhein-Main (Jemaat Kristus Indonesia -JKI) has been part of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN) for 20 years. We celebrated this in a special church service and with a concert by the Indonesian Children & Youth Choir Cordana – ICYC Cordana.
The Kristusgemeinde – JKI – is still a vibrant ecumenical community today, „supported by faith, characterised by our language, our culture, our hospitality and our music“, as Jens Balondo, Chairman of the Parish Council, explained in his welcoming address. The church services, congregational life, encounters and faith are characterised by cross-generational migration experience, diversity, intercultural togetherness and global Christianity.
The JKI became a member of the EKHN 20 years ago due to the many years of cooperation and partnership between the EKHN and the Indonesian Protestant Church in the Minahasa on the island of North-Sulawesi (GMIM) and the intercultural opening of the EKHN. With this step, it followed the Korean Evangelical Church Rhine-Main.
Together with my successor in the leadership of the Ecumenical Centre, Pastor Christina Schnepel, we were both invited to preach.
The intercultural openness of my church has always been very important to me. The international congregations still make an important contribution to this today. These relationships have ups and downs; there are always challenges that my church presents to the international congregations. In my sermon, I emphasised that we are „still learning from each other what church means to us, what is part of our respective identities and what significance church life has for us. We try to strengthen each other when it comes to becoming a more diverse church and recognising and overcoming forms of racism in our ranks. We are grateful for the bridges you are building with the Indonesian Protestant churches, especially the GMIM.“
The service can be streamed at the following address:
After the service, an Ulos ceremony – coming from the Batak tradition – was held to symbolise special solidarity, appreciation and belonging. Rev. Christina Schnepel as the new director of the Ecumenical Center together with her husband Rev. Markus Schnepel and Rev. Daniel Happel as the new secretary for development and partnership Asia in the Ecumenical Center received this special honouring.
In the evening the congregation had invited guests to a very special musical event in the Nikolaikirche. Under the title ‘Legacy’ the Indonesian Children & Youth Choir Cordana (ICYC-Cordana) presented a very unique program.
The ICYC-Cordana is one of the most respected children’s and youth choirs in Southeast Asia. It was founded to promote musically talented children and young people, strengthen cultural identity and represent Indonesia on international stages. ICYC-Cordana brings together young people between the ages of 6 and 18 to perform a repertoire ranging from traditional Indonesian pieces to international peace songs and classical works.
The choir is on its way to the World Peace Choral Festival taking place in Vienna from 17 to 20 July. The motto of the festival is ‘Coming together to sing, singing for a better future!’ The organisers – including the United Nations – are offering choirs from all over the world a platform for musical performances and cultural exchange. Find out more on the festival website https://www.wpcf.at/.