Terence ChongandEvelyn Tan

Opinion | Why Christian expansionism is a quiet storm in Southeast Asia

Independent and Pentecostal churches across the region are expanding overseas in search of new believers, financing and a foothold beyond their traditional ethnic and cultural homelands

But in doing so, they risk conflict with established congregations and cultures while testing the limits of multiculturalism in Muslim-majority nations

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An Indonesian police officer stands guard in May last year near the scene of a bomb blast by a church in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. Photo: EPA

Terence ChongandEvelyn Tan

Published: 7:45am, 21 Nov 2019Updated: 8:15am, 21 Nov 2019

Christian expansionism in Southeast Asia has generally flown under the radar for several reasons. There are demographic limits to the growth of Christianity. With the exception of the Philippines, it is a minority faith in all Southeast Asian countries. In Malaysia, Brunei, and, to some extent, Singapore, the growth of the Christian community is capped by the size of their Chinese communities. These limits may have compelled churches to look beyond their shores. Churches and Christian conservatives in the region, with the exception of Singapore and the Philippines, are also less vocal in the public sphere in comparison to their Muslim counterparts. These factors have resulted in less attention being paid to the dynamics within the Christian communities in many parts of the region.

Expansionism has been purposefully undertaken with great discretion in light of the political challenges and sensitivities in Muslim-dominant countries. This is an important phenomenon because it tests the thresholds of multiculturalism. All Southeast Asian countries either claim to welcome different faiths, or profess tolerance of religious diversity. However, reality often fails to measure up to rhetoric when religious groups are perceived as threats to the dominance or privileged positions of other groups. The expansionism is also important to understand because it requires no small amount of planning, certitude, resources, and organisational know-how to execute. Such commitment of labour and resources only underlines the type of conviction that may come head to head with other religious groups which share the same intensity of conviction.

Catholic devotees jostle to touch the statue of the Black Nazarene on its feast day in Manila, Philippines. Photo: Reuters

DIGITAL EXPANSIONISM

Unlike solo missionaries of yesteryear who ventured into foreign lands to spread the Gospel, contemporary efforts to spread Christianity have become more organised and concerted. A growing number of Pentecostal churches today have taken on expansionist characteristics. Some openly reflect their transnational visions in their names. For example, Kingdomcity aims to “bring the kingdom to each city”, while International Full Gospel Fellowship (IFGF) replaced “Indonesia” with “International” to reflect its new mission to “reach out to people at every corner of the world”.

Such expansionist churches share several characteristics. Firstly, they are usually Pentecostal and independent in character, and multi-site in form. They may begin as a local single site church which grows and later develops plans for setting up branches within its national boundaries and overseas. Although many of the overseas branches claim to be financially independent, they are not administratively or theologically autonomous, but instead are overseas extensions of the original church. This expansion is unlike “church planting” in which a “planted” or “daughter” church is often expected to develop its own identity and administration after initial support from the “planting” church or “parent”.