Yuzo Adhinarta: An Interview

January 13, 2009

Langham Scholar Yuzo Adhinarta Preaches on the Holy Spirit in Indonesia

What does a Langham scholar do over summer break? But many scholars take advantage of field research grants from John Stott Ministries so they can return home, help the local church, and find that they are also able to stay connected with their home regions while at the same time enriching their studies. JSM Vice President Dave Hoffman, in a recent interview, found out that is exactly what Langham scholar Yuzo Adhinarta did last summer as he returned to Indonesia.

Yuzo has been featured in JSM’s Winter 2009 In the Gap.

Dave: You were in Indonesia for how long?

Yuzo: Two months or so, but I went to Australia for 12 days.

Dave: In your report you said you made 56 different presentations – is that right and if so tell me a bit about them.

Yuzo: I delivered 19 preaching sermons and I also did 39 teaching sessions including seminars, public lectures and then a course that I taught in my seminary in Jakarta. At the Reformed Evangelical Seminary at Indonesia. It was kind of a summer course, we call it “Intensive Course” because it’s summer all the time in Indonesia, and we don’t really have summer so we just call it “Intensive Course” because it’s all packed in seven days. The course was on the History of Theology.

Dave: In the teaching seminars you did, can you explain what a typical seminar would be like?

Langham Scholar Yuzo Adhinarta Preaches in Indonesia

Yuzo: Well, this year I picked the topic about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The theme of the seminar was the “Holy Spirit Most Adored, Yet Neglected.” In that seminar I talk about how the doctrine of the Holy Spirit has been most debated in church with the rise of the Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement. It seems that the Holy Spirit has been most adored person in the Holy Trinity. But then in that seminar, I presented that we have an unbalanced presentation of the doctrine. Because some people think that we can see the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the extraordinary works of the Holy Spirit. But what the Scripture teaches is that the Holy Spirit’s work is comprehensive and encompasses all aspects of our lives. It covers all the creation and providence and then in Christian spiritual life, as well as in society and in the church. So, I presented the biblical foundation of the teaching and then the confessional documents that teach about the doctrine and from there, I draw out what points of teachings we need to be aware of and how we apply this truth in our daily life. So that’s basically my seminar.

Dave: Were these typically held at a church or were they sponsored by an organization?

Yuzo: It’s kind of mixed. In Sarabaya, my home church sponsored the meeting and in Bandung, there was a church that sponsored the seminar, but this church also invited other churches to participate and encouraged their congregtions to come to the seminar. But in Melbourne, Australia, there was an organization call the Society for Leadership Learning (www.soll.org.au). This is the organization that invited me to lead the conference as one of the speakers. It’s a leadership conference for Indonesians that is held in Australia.

Dave: Is this primarily church leadership?

Yuzo Adhinarta Lectures at Calvin Seminary

Yuzo: Well actually these are lay people. Most of the attendees are college students and young Indonesian professionals who live in Australia – particularly in Melbourne – and work there as professionals.

Dave: Is it associated with any particular denomination?

Yuzo: No, it’s interdenominational.

Dave: About how many people attend these seminars?

Yuzo: It varies, but in Sarabaya we have 160-170 people to listen, in Bandung we had 60-70, in Melbourne we have 30, and in Perth another 30. So they varied in size.

Dave: But with over 30 seminars, there were over 1500 people – is that right?

Yuzo: Yea well, my seminars consist of two days. In some cities, in two days I did four sessions. But in Melbourne and Perth, they said they don’t have time for four sessions, so could I make it more concise, so I did only two sessions over two days.

Dave: How many places were you at?

Yuzo: I went to five cities: Sarabaya, Bandung, Jakarta, Melbourne and Perth. This was my first time going to Perth, but my second in Melbourne.

Dave: Was your family able to go with you for these two months?

Yuzo: Yes, but with my wife being pregnant, they did not go to Australia with me as they stayed in Jakarta.

Dave: How have your studies here at Calvin helped prepare you for this?

Yuzo: Well of course, since my study is focused on the doctrine in the reformed confession of the catechisms, and I am going to write my dissertation on the doctrine of Holy Spirit in the reformed Catechisms. So the seminar is what’s in my mind now and what I’m preoccupied with these past couple of months.

Dave: So even these conferences and the teaching you’ve been doing will help form many of the things that will be in your dissertation?

Yuzo: That’s right. It’s going to prepare me for writing my dissertation and help to get in touch with what people in the pews think of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. So when I have the Question-and-Answer session, I can learn what they are thinking now and can answer some of their questions in my dissertation. And that will make my dissertation more readable to them.

Dave: Sometimes many dissertations are not very readable to the layperson. So the interaction is always helpful, and it sounds like you were able to get some of this interaction to help make your dissertion more readable.

Yuzo: Yes, and I am so grateful to God for the experience he has given me these past three years. I had a chance to go back to Indonesia to preach and teach so that I can keep in touch with congregations, so that I can keep in touch with how they feel and think about these theological topics. Now when I preach, I always try to look for feedback so that I can monitor as to whether my sermon is too high up there, so they are understanding what I am talking about. Or is there something I need to correct so I can find a way to get to their hearts and their minds and can relate to them more?

Dave: This sounds like something that I would be very interested in reading, are you starting to write it now, or how far along are you?

Yuzo: Well please pray for me so I can finish it in time. I have two years. I am just starting to write my proposal first, and I hope I can get it done in the next few weeks and see where it goes from there.

Dave: With your travels and being able to return home in the summers and stay connected…Is JSM also helping with some of your expenses to maintain this connection?

Yuzo: Yes, this summer I got a support from JSM in the form a field research grant. I am so grateful for that because without it I would not have been able to go back home to teach and to preach. Now I have to go back there with all of my family — it would be impossible for me to go alone and leave my family behind. It’s unthinkable, so I would not be able to go there otherwise, and it’s very significant support I got from JSM to make it happen.

Dave: Can you elaborate a little more on how important it is to go back home and stay in touch with the context of Indonesia and how that will help in your dissertation.

Yuzo: Well I met my colleagues that are teaching in the same seminar where I will teach, and just by sitting there talking with them, we have very meaningful conversations and I can understand what they are struggling with. Then I also met the president of Scripture Union of Indonesia who was a Langham Scholar, too. I had a chance to meet with him and his wife and I was able to listen to him tell me stories of what churches in Indonesia are struggling with — it opened my eyes wide to see that churches in Indonesia nowadays are in deep need of good and sound teaching. Especially teaching that encourages people to read their Bibles by themselves. Not just to read through the inspiration reading, but the Bible as a whole.

Dave: Are there any good resources in Indonesia for pastors that are written by local people or hopefully by you one day?

Yuzo: Well, I don’t think we have commentaries on the Bible written by Indonesians, but we do have study notes and supplements for the Bible readings that are produces by Scripture Union. It’s very inspiration and expository reading.

Dave: What will you be teaching when you graduate and return home?

Yuzo: Because my major is in Systematic Theology, I will be teach Systematic Theology and Hisotorical Theology courses too.

Dave: I would assume that you will continue to teach these seminars at churches and leadership groups?

Yuzo: Yes, some of the church leaders, after they heard my seminar, encouraged me to write my seminars in a book as it would help all of us.

Dave: Are you planning on doing that?

Yuzo: I hope I can do that in the future, but first I need to write my dissertation and I hope I can modify it to be useful for some of these people.

Dave: If there was one issue in Indonesia that you hope your teaching can address, what would it be?

Yuzo: As maybe I have told you, there is an increasing need for teaching that not only talks to people’s brains, but also talks to their hearts, and not only sound, but also compelling teaching. That is why we need more teachers, more theological professors to teach in Indonesia. And I think that when I had a chance to visit some churches, I heard many complaints from congregations that said that their pastor is not teaching sound doctrines and is not teaching in a compelling way. They say, “Why don’t we hear this kind of teaching in our pulpits?” That is why we need these seminars.

Dave: Can you generalize the types of teaching people get in Indonesia– what would that be?

Yuzo: Well in some churches, they are preaching the prosperity gospel of wealthy and healthy theology, but in some mainstream churches now, they have been restless to try and attract people, as people have moved to some of these churches in the charismatic denominations. So they are more concerned with the way they preach than what they are preaching about. It’s more of an entertainment message. They try harder to attract people than to teach people more seriously. They don’t have the courage to start preaching in an expository manner, as they are afraid that people will go to other churches. But I think that if they had the courage, they would find that people do respond and their churches to grow. That is why I told many church leaders that you have to have the guts to preach the gospel. And those who want to grow in Christ will come to your churches. People are looking for food, and once they learn that what you are preaching is the truth and not sugar-coated food, they come to the church. I got a lot of feedback from my seminars that we need more solid “food” like what you are giving us.

They are also aware that not all pastors can preach in this way. Partly because they don’t have the courage, and partly because they don’t have the training.

Do you know that many churches in Indonesia have cafeteria-types of pulpits? They invite preachers to come over every week and their senior pastors maybe only preach once a month, and getting a consistent message is very hard. I asked the elders, why do you keep doing this and they say that the senior pastors don’t have courage enough to preach every week and they are afraid that people will get bored with hearing the same pastor preaching every week.

Dave: I will be praying for you that you will be able to make difference in this when you return home.

Yuzo: Yes – Hope so!