Indonesian Churches Target 30,000 Missionaries Abroad by 2033
For nearly five centuries, the story of Christianity in Indonesia has largely been one of arrival, as missionaries came to the archipelago and churches grew from their work. Now, a coalition known as the Indonesian Alliance for World Mission, or ALUSIA, aims to reverse that direction. Formed in 2023, the organization has set a goal to see 30,000 Indonesian missionaries serving other nations by 2033, one year before the 500th anniversary of that arrival.
Building a Sending Movement from Past Revivals
The push to transform Indonesia into a sending nation draws on decades of domestic religious revivals. Dr. Bambang Budijanto, chair of ALUSIA and general secretary of the Asia Evangelical Alliance, points to the 1965 revival in Soe on the island of Timor, followed by movements among the Dayak people of Borneo in the 1970s and subsequent growth in major urban centers. These historical waves prepared the groundwork for a sending effort, according to Budijanto.
Previous efforts to build an international mission movement in the 1970s and 1990s repeatedly stalled. However, the founding of ALUSIA in 2023 brought together leaders from about 14 Indonesian organizations that already had experience sending missionaries abroad to align their strategies.
Defining the Missional Standard and New Metrics
ALUSIA faces a modest baseline, with Indonesia counting about 800 missionaries in 2020, more than half of whom were serving Indonesian communities abroad rather than people of other nations. To reach the 30,000 goal, the alliance calculates that this amounts to about 0.1 percent of Indonesia’s roughly 30 million Christians. Rather than relying on strict headcount numbers—which remain difficult to track because people may serve as professionals, migrant workers or in other roles—ALUSIA treats 30,000 as an aspiration and measures success by how many domestic congregations adopt missional characteristics.
The alliance evaluates churches using five distinct indicators:
- Giving to global mission.
- Sending people, or taking part in sending them.
- Praying for global mission.
- Building mission capacity through training or programs.
- Collaborating with other churches or organizations.
A local congregation meeting four of these five criteria qualifies as a missional church under ALUSIA guidelines. Budijanto estimates the total number of churches is closer to 100,000 when congregations meeting in shops and other spaces are included alongside officially recognized church buildings.
Engaging the Diaspora
As part of its international strategy, Budijanto speaks to Indonesian diaspora church leaders. He identified these overseas communities as opportunities for mobilization, noting that more than 500 Indonesian diaspora congregations exist globally, with more than half of them in the United States. Many of these overseas churches currently serve only Indonesians and face challenges retaining their second generation, a trend the alliance hopes to address by redirecting their focus outward.
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