Socio-historical Reflections on the Existence of the Protestant Church of Maluku

Abstract

The tragedy of social conflict 1999-2005 in Maluku archipelago has driven the Protestant Church of Maluku (GPM) to realize that such conflict doesn’t help to bring benefit for every ones in any way. Along with the Muslim brothers/sisters in Maluku, the GPM totally realized that “we were all useless victims”. Since then, based on such horrible experience, GPM develops so-called “pro-life theology” as a way to provide new theological perspective and practical ecclesiastic acts for sustainable peace-building. With this clear vision, GPM desires to strengthen its call to develop a better system of life together. This paper is a literature review to identify the people’s traditions that can be used for triggering of conflict and even closely related to the increasingly widespread radicalism. The article tends to answer some research questions: What is the crucial viewpoint for GPM on its 80 years existence as a church in Maluku? Is it only an organization? What is the meaning of GPM as church for her congregations in Maluku archipelago? The prime loyalty is not on the organization enterprise but merely to God in Jesus Christ. Speaking theologically, church is the body of Christ. The institution is only a tool, not the power of the church. The power of the church is the power of Holy Spirit. Keywords— multicultural, tradition, ecclesiology, Maluku Island