Highlights of All Saints History

1 Revival, Missions and Ultra-Ganges

In the year that Raffles founded Singapore (1819) John Slater purchased a piece of ground on the Tan-abang road in the area called Pangarangan for 800 Spanish dollars. Slater had arrived from Malacca the same year as a missionary of the Ultra-Ganges Mission of the London Missionary Society. LMS was one of a number of missionary societies that had sprung up in the aftermath of the great eighteenth century Evangelical Revival (of which Wesley, Whitfield, Newton, Wilberforce were part). Other societies included the Baptist Missionary Society (founded 1792), the Church Missionary Society (1799), and the British and Foreign Bible Society (1804). LMS started in 1795.

In 1822 Walter and Eliza Medhurst arrived from Penang to help, and stayed for 20 years until they were able to enter China following the Treaty of Nanking.

Dale

You can read the summary story here. Or read the full story in Andrew Lake's book, Changes and Chances. More information is available here.

Try our History Quizzes! How much do you know about the history of All Saints?

Links to Historical Photos and Memorial Stones

2 What to do while you are waiting

In the years between the Great Revival of the 1700s and the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, a great movement of enthusiasm and deep commitment developed in Europe and Britain. Some of the energy went into reforms at home. Anti-slavery movements, and working conditions for example.

But the newly discovered lands to the east had captured the imagination of thousands of Christians. Missionary Societies were formed. Christians were challenged, trained, and sent out as missionaries. In many cases entering new lands on the heels of the East India Company, or the Dutch East Indies Company or following traders and government officials.

One of the great destinations was China. The pioneer of Bible translation in China was sent by the London Missionary Society and worked as a translator and linguist for the East India Company in the trading base of Canton. Despite bans by the Chinese government on the printing of Christian literature, Robert Morrison wrote a Chinese grammar and dictionary and translated the whole Bible into Chinese.

But China remained closed to missionaries until 1842. So Malacca, Penang, Singapore and Batavia became bases for missionaries preparing to enter China. From the mid 1830s Walter Medhurst was one of the most experienced of the missionaries, having arrived in Batavia in 1822. He was an evangelist as well as a printer.

Printing had been a major ministry of the base in Malacca, and now Batavia also became a centre for printing. 168,600 books were published by the Batavia mission press between 1823 and 1836. The press employed workers to cut out of wooden blocks the thousands of Chinese characters needed to print in Chinese.

Medhurst and others in the mission started an orphanage, Parapattan, in 1833, which celebrated its 175^th anniversary last year. Schools were established in Malay and Chinese. Young men were taught trades, especially printing. Tracts were distributed, services held, mission trips to other islands and through Java were undertaken.

Towards the end of the 1830’s Batavia became a gathering place for missionaries in waiting. In some ways Medhurst was the attraction with his experience and ability to work with others. It must have been an interesting time. Missionaries had come from Congregationalist, Methodist, Baptist, Dutch Reformed, American Episcopalian, Lutheran and other backgrounds, with a variety of missionary societies.

No doubt there were tensions, but there was also a great spirit of wanting to see people turn to Christ, of wanting the gospel to be made known in the language of the people. The fruit of this was not only found in Java but especially in China with the flourishing missions that developed later in the 19th century.

Dale

3 Grateful hearts

This Sunday Menteng congregations have a chance to look back at 190 years of mission and ministry centred on the Menteng site. Some of us know the main parts of the story, some have favourite stories or characters. Some have been here for long enough to be part of the history ourselves.

Looking back at history is always selective. Partly due to our lack of knowledge, partly due to what interests us. When Christians look back at the history of a Christian mission or ministry, one of their interests is in what God has done, as well as what his servants have done.

Whether we look back a month, a year, or a century we can see the evidence of God at work in and through his servants. We can give thanks for what God has done. We can also give thanks for what people have done. The apostle Paul often thanked God for his Christian friends.

There are some stand out people in the history of the ministry here. There are some stand out events. Sometimes it is the chaplain who stirs up the people to fix or improve the building. Sometimes it is a Consul or Ambassador who fights and works hard to protect the property. Sometimes it is a lay minister who builds up the people, or a chaplain or missionary who spreads the gospel in the face of difficult opposition. Sometimes it is enthusiastic members of the congregation that work to improve the facilities.

In some ways the history of Menteng could be seen as a history of the changes to the buildings over the years. It could also be seen as a history of Christian mission – initially to local people, and later to the English speaking communities scattered around western Indonesia.

While there are no doubt many things we should learn from the last 190 years of mission and ministry, there is much that we should give thanks for. An old hymn finishes with the lines:

“and, what thou most desirest,

Our humble, thankful hearts.”

Thankful hearts are what we need every day. 190 years has so much to thank God for.

We stand looking two ways. The view forward is always unclear and filled with possible difficulties. But Christians look backwards as well as forwards. Looking back fills them with praise and thanks as they remember how good God has been. How he has carried out his work, often in the face of opposition, sometimes despite his own people. Usually through the faithfulness of his people.

So give thanks – with a grateful heart.

Dale

4 Sarah

Sarah Medhurst was born on 16 November 1819, presumably in Malacca, where her parents were missionaries. When she was less than a year old her parents moved to Penang and then two years later to Batavia, as Jakarta was then called. On their arrival in Batavia they stayed with John Slater, a missionary who had bought the plot of land where All Saints Church now stands. The Medhursts later rented their own house where Walter Medhurst set up a printing press and dispensary while engaging in mission work amongst the local Chinese community and preaching to a group of Balinese Christians.

In 1836 the Medhursts planned to return to England on leave, but there was a problem with Sarah. She had fallen in love with Henry Lockwood, an American missionary who had recently arrived in Batavia. She did not want to be parted from him for the long period a trip to England took in those days, and so they got married in February 1836. Only six months later, while her family was still in England, she died. She was 16.

Robert Greaves

5 The big picture

Our All Saints history month of March is at an end and so the quiz now finishes with the last main section of history; the time from the end of the second world war until now.

As I have look over the whole 190 year period what has struck me as important to note is that the church has been a great influence amongst the local population – be they ‘Indonesians’ or ‘Expatriates’, but also at times the church has been very small and seemingly insignificant.

Yet what has never changed, nor ever will, is the work that God does in this land. He wants people to know Christ and so God will always leave representatives of his people here to be a witness for him.

How effective we work with God is very much in our hands and His in this partnership we call church.

Ian Hadfield