Hearing an analogy from one of his seminary professors changed the trajectory Pramana’s life. While he was growing up, Pramana’s Muslim father took him to mosque a few times each year, but the rituals and recitations left Pramana wondering about the validity of Islam when he compared behaviors he saw inside the mosque with those he witnessed outside of the mosque. Toward the end of Pramana’s high school studies, he met a Mobianto, a Christian man, who showed him a better way — the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pramana had some familiarity with Christianity already, but Mobianto’s authenticity and commitment nurtured a desire in Pramana to know more.
That year, he placed his faith in Christ and took the dramatic step of moving about 40 miles from home on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, to be closer to Mobianto and be discipled by him.
Later, as Pramana wanted to continue growing in his understanding of the
Bible, he enrolled in a seminary hundreds of miles away from home. “I excelled at my studies and increased my personal knowledge of the Bible while at seminary, but I was not there so that I could become a pastor, at least not in my mind,” Pramana recalls. But then one of his professors challenged him. “If you have grown, he told me, but do not share the gospel, you are like the Dead Sea.” (The Dead Sea is lifeless precisely because, while it receives water full of life from the Jordan River, is has no outlet, so the only way water leaves is by evaporation, leaving a deadly concentration of salts and other minerals behind.)
The analogy staggered Pramana, prompting him and his wife to pray about where they could effectively share the gospel with others. He submitted to the Lord’s leading to become a pastor and relocated once again, this time to a town nestled inside the southern rainforests of their island. As one of FMI’s newest supported church planters on Sumatra, it’s Pramana’s vision to train the members of his church for further evangelism across the community of rubber, palm oil, and coconut farmers.
Thank you for your recent gift to FMI. Your prayers and financial donations help propel indigenous pastors like Pramana and their church members along the Lord’s trajectory for their lives. As Jesus says of his followers, may you know the joy of rivers of living water flowing from your heart (John 7:38).
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