Abstract

Since the gospel entered Nias’s island, all Nias ethnic in North Sumatra Indonesia has experienced a conversion from tribe religion to followers of Jesus. However, this conversion process has been a problem to this day —parts and practices of ethnic religion adopted in the preparation of Christian worship. It can identify from some behaviors like prohibitions, customs, advice from parents, all of which originate from the animistic belief system. One of the most fatal is still going on in villages, and remote areas is there a custom to go to shamans, seers and prayers addressed to the dead, in this case, the ancestral spirit. The main argument, this happens because the church is powerless to make radical changes in the way people look at their new faith. The explanations began about how the process of entering the gospel in Nias and the challenges faced by missionaries. The involved discussion elements of animism that already existed in the Nias tribe as a pre-Christian religion. What follows is describing the integration of what the church has done in culture as a contextualization practice, which turns out to provide an entrance for the preparation of animism into the Christian faith. The last part is a proposal to overcome the problem, so that old cultural practices eroded. This study’s results provide input for missionaries who carry the gospel to tribes with reliable cultural power.

Presenters

Sonny Zaluchu
Student, Doctoral, Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Baptis Indonesia Semarang, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

Religious Foundations

KEYWORDS

Christian ethnic, Christianity, Nias ethnic, Culture and faith, Contextualization

Digital Media

Videos

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