Christmas Day is coming soon. December 25th is a day to look forward to. Christians rejoice while enjoying the holy night ahead.
Among the many Christians, there are people who specifically live in East Java. It doesn’t exist anywhere else. These Christians are very attached to the territory of East Java. Namely Christians from the Jawi Wetan Christian Church, Oost-Javaansche Kerk.
Historically, the presence of the Jawi Wetan Christian Church (GKJW) cannot be separated from the influence of two figures named Johanes Emde and C.L.Coolen. These two figures do not have a special theological background. So both of them were lay Christians who were moved to preach the gospel of Christ to the people they met. In addition, these two men seem to represent two shades of theological views on the Christian faith.
C.L Coolen paid great attention to local cultural issues. Meanwhile, Johanes Emde is very opposed to local culture or traditions. So in the end the two styles of theology spread by these two people more or less colored GKJW’s theology.
Emde said that being a Christian means taking off the sarong or kebaya, in the sense of having to follow western (Dutch) cultural patterns.
Meanwhile, C.L Coolen said that being a Christian does not require giving up the traditions and culture that have colored one’s life. So after being baptized, they can still wear sarongs, kebaya, watch wayang, and so on.
The most important thing is the change in living and living a new morality that comes from the love of God in Jesus Christ. So that faith is not just a matter of the skin, but a matter of struggle and a very fundamental change of heart.
The first Holy Baptism occurred on December 12, 1843 in Surabaya. Since then, their numbers continued to increase and congregational associations were formed which then united themselves in one ecclesiastical association on December 11, 1931 with the name ꦥ ꦱ ꦩꦸ ꦮ ꦤ꧀ꦥ ꦱ ꦩꦸ ꦮ ꦤ꧀ꦏꦿꦶ ꦱ꧀ꦠꦼ ꦤ꧀ꦆꦁ ꦠ ꦤꦃ ꦣ꧀ꦗ ꦮꦶ ꦮꦺ ꦠ ꦤ꧀ “Christian Pasamuwan-pasamuwan ing Tanah Djawi Wetan”.
The government’s official recognition was stated in the Besluit of the Governor General of the Dutch East Indies who called this church association the name “Oost-Javaansche Kerk”. This name was later changed to “Jawi Wetan Christian Church” with S.K. Director General of Protestant Community Guidance (Christian) Ministry of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia in 1979.
What’s interesting about the group under C.L Coolen is that not only does it maintain local physical and cultural traditions in the form of clothing and other cultural forms, Javanese language and script are also part of what is maintained. At the Jawi Wetan Wiyung Christian Church in Surabaya, there was once a priest who used a sarong and songkok. Physically, the clothes worn are like those of an Islamic Kiai. Now he’s dead.
According to the source https://id.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulus_Tosari, the term Kiai is not foreign to GKJW. The term Kiai is used by a famous evangelist of Madurese descent who is based in Surabaya. His name is Paulus Tosari, who is better known as Kiai Tosari.
He is very well known among Christians in the East Java Christian Church or Jawi Wetan Christian Church. The existence of the Jawi Wetan Christian Church today cannot be separated from the results of its work. Kiai Tosari is also known by many people outside his area because he writes religious lessons in the form of Javanese songs or poetry.
According to one of the members of the GKJW Wiyung Surabaya church, Robert Olivandi, worship services using Javanese are still ongoing. This prayer service in Javanese is held on the third week of every month. He added that the use of the Javanese language and writing in Javanese script is a tradition and history of the church that should not be lost even though times are becoming more modern and advanced. In the city of Surabaya, to this day there are still several Jawi Wetan Christian Churches with Javanese script decorating the church buildings. (nng)