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IHiS (Indonesian Historical Studies) 4 (2), 155-169 © 2020 | E-ISSN: 2579-4213 

The Influence of Charismatic Church Development in the Religious Christians Life in Semarang, 1970-2015      | 155  

Received:  
November 27, 2020 
 
Revised:  
December 2, 2020 
 
Accepted:  
December 7, 2020 

The Influence of Charismatic Church Development in the Religious  
Christians Life in Semarang, 1970-2015 

 
Oni Andhi Asmara*, Endang Susilowati, Agustinus Supriyono 

Master Program of History, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Diponegoro,  
Semarang, Indonesia 

 
*Corresponding Author: aoniandhi@gmail.com 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/ihis.v4i2.8253 

 
Abstract 

 
This article discusses the development of the Charismatic church on the Christians 
life in Semarang City in 1970-2015 using historical methods and using social 
religion approach. Since its inception in 1970, the Charismatic church in the city of 
Semarang has had a major influence on the Christian life in the city. A series of 
innovations in worship and evangelism that are adapted to the times have made 
the Charismatic church much in demand by Christians in big cities, one of them is 
Semarang. Christian interest in the Charismatic church can be seen from the 
development of the number of Charismatic churches in the city of Semarang. One 
of the Charismatic churches that is experiencing rapid development is JKI Injil 
Kerajaan. In the beginning, there were 25 people in the congregations. One decade 
later it reached 3,557 people and continued to increase to 13,324 people on the next 
decade. This rapid development has brought significant changes to the Christians 
life in the city of Semarang. It can be seen, among others, from the increasing 
number of churches that are full of Charismatic churches at worship services. But 
on the other hand, the presence of Charismatic church with a new pattern of 
worship caused less harmonious relationship between non-Charismatic churches 
and charismatic churches as the result of the high increasing number of original 
church people who moved to the Charismatic church. It is because Christians in 
Semarang are mostly more interested in taking worship in the Charismatic church. 
 
Keywords:  Christian Community; Charismatic Church; Worship Innovation;  

Social Religion. 
 
Introduction 
Indonesia is a diverse country which has a variety of differences, one of it is the 
difference in religion. Based on Presidential Decree Number 6 Year 2000, there are six 
recognized official religion, namely Islam, Christian Protestantism, Catholicism, 
Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucians. Protestant Christianity is the religion which 
the largest population after Islam in Indonesia. By 2010, Christian Protestants 
accounted for 16.5 million people which means 7% of the total population in Indonesia 
as reported by Statistics Centre Republic of Indonesia (2010). As one of the large 
number of adherents throughout the world, the development of Christian Protestant 
in Indonesia also has broad dynamics. The problem that often arises is the number of 
denominations or sect. Since the enactment of Law Number 8 of 1985, every religious 



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The Influence of Charismatic Church Development in the Religious Christians Life in Semarang, 1970-2015      | 156  

organization must register itself as an association, foundation or organization to the 
government of the Republic of Indonesia. In 1990, there were 275 Christian Protestant 
church organizations and more than 400 ecclesiastical foundation or organization so 
that the overall issue is more than 700 Christian organizations that grow and develop 
in society (Aritonang, 2003, p. 1). 

The people in Semarang represents as multi-ethnic and they live harmoniously, 
side by side. Diverse religious life in Semarang are relatively calm and almost there is 
no religious friction which is reflected number of churches in the Semarang. It was 
recorded by BPS Semarang (2010) that in 2009 there were 279 churches and in 2014 it 
had risen to 289 churches in Semarang. However, the development of the number of 
progressive churches certainly increased the complexity of dynamic religious life in 
Christianity in the City of Semarang (Tim GBI Gajah Mada, 2014). 

At the beginning of 1980 emerged a denominational church which had a very 
rapid development and experienced a very impressive community growth in 
Indonesia, it was Charismatic church. Since the enforcement of the Law Number 8 Year 
1985 about community organization, charismatic church has grown rapidly in the city. 
The law requires every religious association in Indonesia to register to the Department 
of Religion. For this reason, Charismatic prayer groups massively enlist themselves as 
legal religious institutions  

The geographical location of Semarang which is the main gate of Central Java 
province and the strong pluralism of society in the Semarang are making Semarang as 
one of the capitals cities which the biggest development of Charismatic in Java. The 
roots of the Charismatic movement in the Semarang are the Pentecostal churches, so 
that the development of the Charismatic Church in Semarang cannot be separated 
from the development of the Pentecostal Church. Charismatic term came from 
Charisma in Greek which means spirit bounty. Spirit bounty relates to Roh Kudus 
roles in Christian life.  The forms of the bounty are such as prophesying, miracles, and 
uttering spirit language or glossolalia (Aritonang, 2003, p. 197). 

One of the Charismatic Churches in Semarang is the Church of the Royal Gospel 
(JKI), established by Peter Agung Purnomo. When it had just established, the church 
had a total of 25 people. The church continuously developed until in 2013 increased to 
13.324 people (JKI Sinode, 2013). JKI Injil Kerajaan has the biggest church building in 
Central Java with more or less 27-acre width which is named Holy Stadium and could 
accommodated 12.000 congregations. 

The rapid development of the Charismatic Church in the city of Semarang has 
made the Charismatic Church often seen obliquely by non-Charismatic churches, even 
labeled "sheep stealer churches". Since the emergence of the Charismatic movement in 
1970 through the parachurch organization until it became a church-based religious 
organization from the 1980s, the Charismatic churches experienced rapid 
development.1 The process of the Charismatic church enlargement and having strong 

 
1 Parachurch is a Christian religious fellowship group that is open and not affiliated with a 

particular church denomination, in fact this parachurch group usually comes from various 
denominations. 



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social services is a phenomenon. Social services such as free schools, public kitchens 
that distribute food every day, and cheap market events in collaboration with the city 
government raises the pros and cons in the community. The progressive evangelical 
movement and the following pros and cons will be interesting to study. 

The fundamental difference between the Charismatic church and the non-
Charismatic church is in the pattern of worship and the pattern of evangelism. The 
process of worshiping the Charismatic church takes place more expressively, both in 
the process of praise and intercession (Kooij & Tsalatsa, 2007, p. 33). Charismatic 
church followers will sing praises with full of expression, if the song sung contains a 
song of victory, the Charismatic congregation will scream and even jump up and 
down, but if the song sung contains confession, the Charismatic congregation will cry 
uncontrollably according to the feelings felt by each individual. This certainly 
contradicts the pattern of non-Charismatic church worship which emphasizes respect 
for God, so that the atmosphere of worship is more quiet and solemn in accordance 
with the order of the standard guidelines of worship of each church. The non-
Charismatic Church has a liturgy, the liturgy is an absolute ritual of worship and has 
been preserved since the church's inception. Unlike the non-Charismatic churches, the 
Charismatic churches do not have a standard liturgy, worship flows according to the 
spiritual conditions of the congregation and the pastor when the service takes place. 

There have been many studies examining the problems of the Charismatic 
church, but in general it is a theological study with the scope of religious science. 
Several studies discussing the Charismatic Church including Sutanto's dissertation 
(1986) to uncover the history of the development of JKI, which is one of the largest 
Charismatic church synods in Indonesia. Furthermore, study from Basri (2016) 
examines how the development of the JKI mission strategy of the Injil Kerajaan when 
Petrus Agung was alive, in growing congregations up to more than 13,000 
congregations in 15 years. Meanwhile, Rodemeier (2017) give contribution in 
contextual background of the rapid development of Pentecostal and Charismatic 
churches in Java by analyzing the cultural structure of the Javanese people. In 
addition, Wiraatmaja (2015) analyses on how the growth of the JKI synod based on 
the quantity of congregations and its branch churches, the data contained in this thesis 
is very helpful in the research process of this article to reveal the development of the 
JKI synod over time.  

There have been many studies examining the problems of Charismatic 
churches, but in general it is a theological study within the scope of religious 
knowledge. This article intended to uncover the development of Charismatic churches 
and its influences on the Christians religious life in Semarang through a social religious 
approach by using historical research methods.  

 
Method 
This research article was compiled based on the principle of historical research, namely 
the process of examining and analyzing records and relics of the past (Gottschalk, 1983, 
 

 



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p. 32), using a method that includes four steps, namely heuristics (collecting historical 
sources), criticism, analysis or synthesis, and historiography (writing historical works) 
(Notosusanto, 1984, 22-24). 

The sources used in this study came from several archival institutions and 
libraries such as the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI), Central 
Java Provincial Central Archives, Semarang Regional Central Archives, National 
Unity and Politics of Semarang City Office, Semarang City Christian Community 
Development Office, Semarang City Church Deliberation Office, STT Abdiel Library, 
Satya Wacana Christian University Library, STT Sangkakala, and Suara Merdeka 
Archives Depot. The collection of resources was also carried out in churches that are 
subjected to the study of historical events that are being studied. 

The oral history was conducted by interviewing some competent people who 
were living witnesses of the development process of the Charismatic church in 
Semarang. The results of this interview are used as a complement as well as a 
comparison to the written source (Gottschalk, 1983, p. 35). The data was then verified, 
analyzed and synthesized so as to produce scientific work with objective analysis. 

 
The Emergence of the Charismatic Church in Semarang  
The Charismatic Movement in Semarang began with the emergence of a small prayer 
meeting of young Christians. This prayer group developed rapidly from 1970 to 1980. 
The prayer groups which had a rapid development, were the Immanuel prayer group 
and the Sangkakala Family prayer group. The Immanuel prayer group is much in 
demand by adult congregants, actively carries out prayer services to visit and pray for 
the sick in various hospitals in Semarang, while the Sangkakala Family prayer group is 
much in demand by young people because of its active activity in providing services 
to various schools and colleges in Semarang. 

The Immanuel prayer group was founded by Lukas Sebadja and Hana Sebadja 
while the Sangkakala Family prayer group was founded by Adi Sutanto. The 
Immanuel prayer group was held at the Sebadja family residence at Jalan Gajah Mada 
number 84. The next development was the Immanuel prayer group was affiliated with 
the synod of the Indonesian Bethel Church (GBI). On April 15, 1989, the Immanuel 
prayer meeting was changed to GBI Bethany Semarang after Lukas Sebadja was 
ordained to be a priest of the church by Alex Tanusaputera who was a GBI Bethany 
Surabaya pastor. Thus, GBI Bethany Semarang becomes a subsidiary of GBI Bethany 
Surabaya. 

In addition to the Immanuel prayer group, the Charismatic prayer group which 
had a rapid development in the early 1970s was the prayer group of the Sangkakala 
Family. The Sangkakala Family prayer meeting was pioneered by Adi Sutanto and 
Yusak Kusama. The Sangkakala family prayer meeting is formed from Farmland 
Workers Conference Event I (KPLT I) 1967 in Bangsri Jepara. The event was attended 
by around 200 youths of the Indonesian Muria Christian Church (GKMI) who called 
themselves Sangkakala youth. In 1970 the activity was stopped due to financial 
problems, there was no support from GKMI, and the pioneers had to go to college or 



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work. The Sangkakala Family prayer group began to reactivate after Adi Sutanto 
finished his studies in America and settled in Semarang. The activities of charismatic 
prayer groups can be seen in Figure 1. 

 

 
Figure 1. Activities of Kapuran Prayer meeting which is one of the branches of the Sangkakala 

Family Foundation, 1978. 
 
Adi Sutanto's meeting with Yusak Kusama in 1976 in the city of Semarang led 

KPLT I alumni to establish a new prayer group, named the Sangkakala Family prayer 
group. This prayer meeting first held worship in 1976 at Cilosari 666 Semarang, which 
is the residence of Adi Sutanto. On May 2, 1977 the prayer meeting was registered as 
a religious organization under the name Tan A Sioue. In 1979, the association was then 
registered with the Department of Religion of the Central Java Regional Office under 
the name Sangkakala Family Foundation. In 1983 the foundation was recognized by the 
Indonesian Ministry of Religion as a foundation for the evangelism of the gospel. In 
1985 the foundation developed into a synod under the name of the Indonesian 
Christian Community (JKI), chaired by Adi Sutanto. The JKI synod member church 
that was growing rapidly in the city of Semarang was the JKI Royal Gospel founded 
by Petrus Agung Purnomo on February 20, 1991. 

Besides starting from the prayer meeting, the emergence of the Charismatic 
church in Semarang City also originated from a series of Revival Service (TRC) 
activities. There are three activities of the TRC which are considered as the momentum 
of the rise of the Charismatic Church in the city of Semarang. The first TRC took place 
on March 1-3, 1979 and was attended by around 400 people. The TRC was an early 
milestone in the rise of charismatic youth in the city of Semarang and bore out several 
great charismatic church pastors such as Petrus Agung Purnomo and Jimmy Oentoro. 
The second TRC took place on August 1-3, 1979, which was attended by 2,186 people. 
The third TRC took place on June 5 -7, 1980 in Mugas field and was attended by around 
40,000 people. The TRC was a declaration of the existence of the Charismatic 
movement in Semarang due to the high enthusiasm of the community for the KKR's 
activities. 



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The series of TRCs was interdenominational so that various church groups were 
allowed to participate in the activity. The majority of the TRC activities were attended 
by Christian youth from various regions. the series of TRCs events that took place in 
the Semarang was an early milestone in the development of the Charismatic 
movement in various regions in Central Java. The TRC was spearheaded by the 
Sangkakala Family prayer group and was supported by various Charismatic prayer 
groups around the city. 

 
Charismatic Church in Semarang, 1985-2015 
The development of the Charismatic church in the city of Semarang as a religious 
institution began to be seen since 1985, since the issuance of Law number 8 of 1985 
which requires religious organizations to be officially registered with the Ministry of 
Religion. The charismatic church movement is divided into two major groups. The first 
group is a prayer meeting that combines with the first charismatic church synod, the 
Indonesian Bethel Church (GBI), while the second group decides to establish a 
separate synod. One of the charismatic synods of churches that stands in Semarang is 
the Indonesian Christian Community (JKI). The development of the Charismatic 
church in Semarang was dominated by two synods, namely the GBI and JKI. The 
charismatic church that developed rapidly from 1990 to 2015 was GBI Gajah Mada and 
JKI Gospel Royal. 

In the period 1985-2015 the development of the Charismatic church in 
Semarang City can be divided into two periods, namely the period 1990-2000 and the 
period 2000-2015. In the first period, the charismatic church that developed rapidly in 
the city of Semarang was GBI Gajah Mada. It can be seen from the high church 
development. From 1994-1999 there were more than 1,000 members of the Gajah Mada 
congregation (GBI Synod, 2019). The Sunday worship activities at the GBI Gajah Mada 
had to be divided into four sessions. The rapid growth of the number of congregations 
is partly due to social programs carried out by GBI Gajah Mada under the leadership 
of Lukas Sebadja, such as health services and prayer visits in hospitals, visits to nursing 
homes, detention centers, and providing assistance to the poor around the church area. 
These proved to be able to attract the sympathy of the community so that many 
Christians in the city of Semarang moved the church to GBI Gajah Mada. The 
expressive, vibrant, and charismatic style of worship is also a special attraction for 
Christians in the city of Semarang. 

In the second period, the development of the Charismatic church in Semarang 
was dominated by JKI Injil Kerajaan, led by Petrus Agung Purnomo. JKI of the 
Kingdom began to develop rapidly since 1999, after the multidimensional crisis in 
Indonesia. Social service activities in the form of distributing groceries, cheap markets, 
and spiritual meetings (KKR) in Simpang Lima proved to be effective in attracting 
congregants. This can be seen from the increase in the number of JKI Injil Kerajaan, 
which in 1998 only 896 congregations later in 1999 increased to 2,094 congregations. 
This success has made JKI Injil Kerajaan continue to innovate through the process of 
deconstruction of evangelistic patterns. 



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In 2000 JKI Injil Kerajaan initiated to establish the first Christian spiritual radio 
station in Central Java (“JKI Injil Kerajaan” n.d.). The idea of Petrus Agung received 
the support of prominent American evangelist John Avanzini, the support was poured 
in the form of providing assistance of 50,000 US dollars to support the spiritual radio 
development activities. On November 24 2001 the radio was completed and 
inaugurated with the name Radio Rhema FM. Radio Rhema is a pioneer of Christian 
spiritual radio in Central Java. Because the number of congregations continues to 
increase and the number of worship offerings also continues to grow, in 2003 JKI 
Gospel Royal built a new church with a very large capacity in the Marina Complex 
area, West Semarang. The new church was completed in 2007 and named the Holy 
Stadium. 

Table 1. Number of JKI Injil Kerajaan Congregation, 1991-2013 

Year 
Number of  congregation who 
has Congregation Registration 

Number 
1991 200 
1992 400 
1993 570 
1994 500 
1995 550 
1996 600 
1997 700 
1998 896 
1999 2.094 
2000 2.670 
2001 3.557 
2002 4.007 
2007 6.762 
2009 11.630 
2013 13.324 

Source: JKI Injil Kerajaan, 2013. 
 

Petrus Agung innovated the pattern of worship by incorporating elements of 
the Jewish tradition into the worship process. The worshipers used Jewish war robes 
and symbols used in Jewish traditions such as shofar, menorah, Sharon roses, crowns, 
star of David, and the ark of the covenant of Moses. JKI Injil Kerajaan also celebrates 
Jewish holidays such as the commemoration of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) 
and the anniversary of God's peace with the people of Israel (Yom Kippur). The 
addition of Jewish elements is used to make the atmosphere of worship more solemn. 
Innovations in worship patterns and social services carried out by JKI Gospel Royal 
proved to increase the number of congregations. In 2007, when the Holy Stadium was 
completed, the number of JKI Injil Kerajaan members had increased to 6,762 people. 



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Entering 2009 the number of JKI royal congregations reached 11,630 people. The 
complete development of the number of GKI congregations in the Gospel of the 
kingdom can be seen in Table 1. 

The development of the Charismatic church until 2015 was still dominated by 
JKI Injil Kerajaan. This can be seen from the JKI Church Gospel congregation data 
which continues to increase until it reaches 13,324 people. However, the development 
of the number of congregations is not too significant when compared to previous 
years. This was allegedly because other churches in the JKI Injil Kerajaan work area 
began to make efforts to improve congregational recruitment, among others by 
modernizing patterns of worship as did the JKI Injil Kerajaan. For the charismatic 
church in 2010 to 2015 it can be said to be an uncertain period because of the emergence 
of the tradition of the congregation of the streets, namely the congregation who came 
to a church just to enjoy the atmosphere of worship but did not intend to become the 
church's congregation. In addition, non-Charismatic churches also began to improve 
themselves so that the movement of congregations that occurred in the previous 
period can be minimized. 

 
Charismatic Church and the Christians Religious Life in Semarang 
The massive development of Charismatic church in the last three decades has led to 
pros and cons in the Christian community and religious leaders. The pros and cons are 
mainly from churches that have different sects and churches that feel disadvantaged 
by the evangelistic activities carried out by the Charismatic Church. This can be seen 
from the statement of Hans Maris, a pastor from the mainstream church.2 He doubts 
the truth of the language of the Spirit spoken by the Charismatics because it is not 
certain that the gift comes from God. Hans Maris also doubted the attitude of the 
Charismatic church that did not criticize the revelations and prophecies delivered by 
the Charismatic church leaders claimed to come from the Holy Spirit, even though in 
reality many prophecies and revelations were not Biblical (Maris, 204, pp. 34-36). This 
is one of the problems that sparked debate between Charismatics and non-
Charismatics. This debate certainly affects the harmony between Christians because of 
the pros and cons of the teachings of the Charismatic church. 

The influence of the development of the Charismatic church on anti-
mainstream non-Charismatic churches are seen in the theology of prosperity and 
offerings by non-Charismatic mainstream churches outside.3 Pentecostal Churches 
initially did not prioritize or even rejected theology of prosperity views.3 The rapid 

 
2 Mainstream churches hold closely the spirit of reform initiated by Martin Luther. Mainline 

churches have liturgical grounds and religious ceremonies (sacraments) that can not be changed. 
Meanwhile, the antimainstream church does not hold tightly to the spirit of church reform, and does a 
lot of liturgical and sacrament changes. The Charismatic Church belongs to the antimainstream church 
group. 

 
3 Theology of prosperity is the view that humans live on earth as in heaven, so that everything in 

heaven also exists on earth. Manifestation of life in heaven in the form of abundant wealth, health and 
free from all problems of life as it should be in heaven. 



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development of the Charismatic church in the city of Semarang, especially JKI the Injil 
Kerajaan over the past three decades had sufficiently proven how prosperity theology 
is in great demand by Christians in the city of Semarang. This made Pentecostal 
churches, like the Church of Jesus Christ (GIA) Pringgading begins to be pragmatic. 
GIA Pringgading did a lot of introducing the law of sowing when the church will make 
offerings (Hendropuspito, 1983). It was also happened to other Pentecostal churches 
such as the Pentecostal Church in Indonesia (GPdI) and Mawar Sharon Church (GMS). 

Since the 2000s GIA Pringgading began to follow Peter Agung steps to develop 
the teachings of prosperity theology. This was done so that the congregation remained 
in the GIA Pringgading church, considering that many GIA congregations had moved 
to the Charismatic church, one of which was due to the theology of prosperity 
(Suparta, 2019). The efforts can be seen from the themes of the event at GIA 
Pringgading, such as when the commemoration of Thanks Giving day with the theme 
"Victims of Thanksgiving Habakkuk" on December 5, 2010 (Pelita Kasih, 2011, p. 23). In 
addition, the Pelita Kasih published by GIA Pringgading also reveals the prayer of 
Jabez. Jabez's prayer is the prayer of the prophet Jabez so his life is abundantly blessed, 
his territory expanded and kept away from all calamity. Jabez Prayer is a prayer that 
is often chanted by the Charismatic church that embraces theology of prosperity. GIA 
Pringgading began to realize a shift in Christian views about wealth. Christians start 
to see that wealth is not a mistake, rather wealth is good for helping others as long as 
it is obtained in the right way and based on the Bible (Rodemeir, 2016).  

In addition, GIA Pringgading since 2005 has also opened several business 
entities that aim to establish churches and congregations, such as the cooperative 
"Manna Sejahtera" which is a board formed for the welfare of the people. In addition, 
GIA Pringgading also established a radio station called Agape FM in 2007 (KPID 
Central Java, 2018). Radio Agape FM is one of the radios established by the church in 
Central Java after the founding of Rhema FM Radio belonging to the JKI Injil Kerajaan 
church. The establishment of cooperatives and radio is a form of church awareness to 
be more independent and not only rely on offerings from the congregation. 

Changes in views did not only occur at GIA Pringgading, but also happened to 
churches from other denominations around anti-mainstream church (Utomo, 2019). 
The non-Charismatic anti-mainstream church thought that it was done to survive the 
influence of the Charismatic church, but actually the effort made to survive was proof 
that the anti-mainstream church has been influenced by the teachings of the 
Charismatic church. GIA Pringgading also seeks to make the church economically 
independent by providing entrepreneurship training, one of them is making salted 
eggs training to the North Semarang area people. 

 
The relationship among the charismatic church and other churches in Semarang 
Innovations made by the Charismatic Church in interdenominational worship and 
evangelism patterns had a profound influence on the relationship of the Charismatic 
Church to other churches. The rapid development of the Charismatic church that was 
able to attract congregants to thousands of people made many other churches did 



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introspection while at the same time looking down on the Charismatic church 
activities. This is because the non-Charismatic churches had lost many congregations. 

From the results of the study noted that the reduced congregation of non-
Charismatic churches is mainly due to their interest in worship and evangelism 
patterns of the Charismatic churches that are adapted to the up to date development 
towars congregation’s conditions, especially young people. The Charismatic Church 
conducts worship in a more expressive way. Worship activities in the Charismatic 
church have their own uniqueness. For example, JKI Injil Kerajaan includes elements 
of Jewish tradition and worship takes place in wisdom and romance while GBI Gajah 
Mada offers more relaxed and casual worship. The songs sung at the Charismatic 
church are also more dynamic and there are many new songs that are interesting to 
the congregation. The Charismatic Church also re-arranges old songs so that they are 
fresher and more modern in accordance with the tastes of today's congregations. In 
addition to the charismatic church worship, it also offers a more interesting and 
effective evangelistic process that is through social services, the social service activities 
that many charismatic churches do and attract congregations are Revival Service 
(TCR) activities and cheap market events.  

As explained in the section on the development of the Charismatic church, from 
1999 to 2013 the number of JKI members of the Injil Kerajaan continued to increase 
significantly. The increase in congregations turned out to raise suspicion pastors from 
other churches because some congregations no longer worship in their church. The 
Charismatic Church is suspected of having taken part of the congregation from other 
churches, resulting in a negative stigma against the Charismatic Church. The 
Charismatic Church has been called the "sheep stealer" church. "Sheep stealer" is a 
term for a church that is considered to steal a church’s congregations from another 
church. Actually, it happened because the congregation did not notify the origin 
church about their move to another church. 

Since the beginning of the Charismatic prayer group was formed, some of the 
congregations that followed the prayer meeting were indeed from other churches. 
Members of the Charismatic prayer group come from various denominations. For 
example, Lukas Sebadja was originally an activist of GKI Karangsaru and Adi Sutanto 
was an activist of the Indonesian Muria Christian Church (GKMI). The founders of the 
Charismatic prayer group then invited their fellow activists to join the Charismatic 
prayer group. 

This condition continued until the prayer meeting became a new church and 
congregations from other churches left their original church to join the Charismatic 
church. For example, in 1972 the emergence of the Immanuel prayer group had 
influenced the number of church members from the founders, the GIA synod. The 
emergence of the prayer meeting resulted in the reduction of the congregation in the 
GIA Dokter Cipto. The development of church attendance can be seen in Table 2. 

 
 
 



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Table 2. The Number of GIA Dokter Cipto Congregation Attendance, 2005-2019 

Year 
Average Congregation 
Attendance Number 

2005 1.378 
2006 1.363 
2007 1.352 
2008 1.348 
2009 1.340 
2010 1.326 
2011 1.288 
2012 1.256 
2013 1.230 
2014 1.209 
2015 1.205 

Source: GIA Dokter Cipto. 
 

From the data in Table 2 it can be seen that from 2005 to 2015 there was a decline 
in church attendance. The data above shows that in 2005 the number of church 
attendance at GIA Doctor Cipto was 1,378 people, while in 2015 the attendance rate 
fell to 1,205 people. Meanwhile, in the same year the number of Charismatic church 
members, such as JKI Injil Kerajaan increased from 11,630 people in 2009 to 13,324 
people in 2013. Based on these data it can be assumed that some of the congregations 
of the GIA Doctor Cipto moved to the Charismatic church. However, these 
congregations were still members of the GIA Doctor Cipto congregation. When the 
Charismatic church began losing prestige in early 2016 because of the death of the 
priest Peter Agung Purnomo, many of these congregations returned to their original 
church. 

The charismatic church activity not only affects the anti-mainstream church 
congregation, but also affects the number of mainstream church congregations. One of 
the main church synods affected by the activities of the Charismatic church in the city 
of Semarang was the Javanese Christian Church (GKJ). According to Yahya Tirta 
(2020), the activities of the Charismatic church attracted a lot of young church members 
of the GKJ because the charismatic church worship was more expressive, some young 
people joined the charismatic church worship but there were also congregations that 
were still registered as members of the GKJ congregation.  

The number of GKJ congregations in Semarang from 2003 to 2006 was decrease. 
It is caused the GKJ to add an area that was originally only two classes, namely South 
and East Semarang and developed into three classrooms with the addition of the new 
West Semarang class. Class is the unity of the church area under the auspices of the 
synod. The addition of classicism carried out by the GKJ synod aims to make the 
services of the congregation more optimal considering charismatic church movement 
in those years was very massive with methods of social service to the villages. One of 
the coverage areas of the West Semarang cluster is the North Semarang area which 



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The Influence of Charismatic Church Development in the Religious Christians Life in Semarang, 1970-2015      | 166  

was the JKI Injil Kerajaan evangelistic mission area. Besides, the addition of the cluster 
also aims to stem the influence of the Charismatic church in the area of North 
Semarang and West Semarang. The effort was carried out by transforming itself into a 
missionary church through more active deaconess (social service) activities. Its 
primary activity was to provide scholarship compensation from elementary to high 
school level. GKJ is also developing a Santosa school, a free school for underprivileged 
children managed by the Urbanist Commission in the Bandarjo Village (Tanjung Emas 
Port). 

 
Table 3. The Relation between Charismatic Church and Mainstream Church 

Synod  Relationship with Charismatic Church Ecumenical Institutional Relations  
GKJ  Difference theology caused the difficulty 

in working together directly, except 
through PGI. Relationship is limited to 
being active in the local Inter-Church 
Cooperation Agency (BKSAG). 

Members and founders of PGI, PGI 
Regional Cooperation with GKI (SW 
Central Java): LPPS, Health Services 
(Yakkum), Scholarship Commission, and 
Education Foundation (YPK). 

GIA  Relationships are quite good although 
there is a filtering on the inclusion of 
charismatic movements. 

GIA members of PGI, PGIW and CCA 

GKI  Begins adapting the Charismatic liturgy 
through the Faith Refreshment Service 
and the organization of the TRC 

The members and founders of PGI and 
PGIW. 

GKP  Begins to adapt the Charismatic liturgy 
through Faith Refreshment Service. 

Members and founder of PGI, PGIW. 
Involved with church organizations at the 
national and regional level. 

GPIB  Difference theology caused hard to work 
together, except through PGI. 

The members and founder of PGI, PGIW 
collaborated with other equal churches. 
Joining BKSAG tendency because of 
political reasons 

Source: Litkom-PGI Research Team, 2010. 
 

The Charismatic church generally was congregation from another church and 
was still registered in the original church. The lack of an orderly administration of the 
church congregation coupled with the weak communication between pastors in the 
city of Semarang made the membership status of the congregation ambiguous, so that 
there were many misunderstandings between pastors from one church and pastors 
from other churches, especially pastors who felt disadvantaged because the 
congregation had moved to many Charismatic churches. This condition was worsened 
by the lack of awareness of the congregation to orderly by removing the membership 
of the congregation from the previous church. It seems that the congregation is 
reluctant to give up membership in the original church because the family system in 
the mainstream church is so strong that if there is marriage or death, many 
congregations have moved to the Charismatic church and then returned to the original 
church. These various conditions have caused a rift in relations among churches in 



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Semarang. The relationship between the Charismatic church and the mainstream 
church can be seen in Table 3. 

From Table 3 it can be seen that the majority of mainstream churches reject the 
presence of the Charismatic church. Criticism and rejection as shown in table 4 are 
conveyed normatively, but implicitly the statement "theological difference" is a form 
of rejection and incompatibility of the majority of mainstream churches against the 
Charismatic church. Table 3 also shows that some mainstream churches have begun 
to adapt the patterns of worship and evangelism conducted by the Charismatic 
Church. Activities that have been adapted by many mainstream churches are 
refreshing the faith through the Revival Service (TRC) and strengthening social 
services to the community so that it becomes missionary church. 

The Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) which has existed since 1950, 
actually makes the relationship between the synods of churches in Indonesia more 
active in communication. But along with the emergence of the Charismatic church, not 
all PGI members want to accept the Charismatic church as a member of PGI. The 
rejection can be seen from the attitudes of other churches towards the GBI synod, the 
first charismatic church that became a member of PGI in 1990 (SK PGI No. 11 / PGI-XI 
/ SKET / 1990). GBI became the 61st member while JKI became the 89th PGI member 
in 2014 through the PGI Complete Workers' Assembly (MPL) session in Nias, North 
Sumatra. Although there are some PGI members who disagree with the existence of 
the Charismatic church in PGI, the inclusion of the two Charismatic synods indicates 
that the Charismatic church is actually also beginning to be accepted and recognized 
by the mainstream churches. 

The merging of Charismatic churches into the PGI facilitates supervision of the 
activities of the Charismatic church and expedites communication with the church, 
bearing in mind that the Charismatic church's mission program is to win new souls; 
and many new souls won also came from other churches. The existence of PGI is 
expected to be able to maintain communication and harmony of the church in 
Indonesia from various denominations. 

Besides PGI, there are other institutions in charge of resolving disputes between 
priests. The institution formed by the priests is the Inter-Church Consultative Board 
(BAMAG) which is a forum for pastors to establish communication. In Semarang 
BAMAG was officially established in 2005. The presence of BAMAG is enough to help 
strengthening the communication network among pastors so that every problem can 
be resolved through mediation before it spreads to the people. According to Bambang 
Mulyanto (2019), One of the problems that was successfully resolved by BAMAG was 
the conflict that occurred among Pastor Petrus Agung and several nearby churches at 
the beginning of the Holy Stadium establishment. The surrounding churches feel 
disturbed by the social service activities carried out by JKI Injil Kerajaan that caused 
some of their congregations to disappear. The churches were indicated to have joined 
the JKI Injil Kerajaan. The conflict could be resolved by mediating and asking the 
congregation concerned to choose one church membership. BAMAG also seeks to 
strengthen communication between priests in Semarang by holding holiday 



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The Influence of Charismatic Church Development in the Religious Christians Life in Semarang, 1970-2015      | 168  

celebrations together such as Christmas and Easter across the city. BAMAG Semarang 
also integrates with government agencies such as the Kesbangpolimas, the Semarang 
Christian Community Guidelines, and the Central Java Christian Community 
Guidelines. Integration between agencies is done to minimize conflicts in the religious 
life of Christians in Semarang. 

 
Conclusion 
The emergence and development of the Charismatic church in Semarang brought a 
new wind in the pattern of Christian worship. The pattern of worship which is 
expressive, up to date and social activities that touch the wider community, especially 
the lower classes, has changed the religious life of Christians. However, the positive 
development of charismatic churches poses problems for non-charismatic churches 
because some congregations leave their churches to join the charismatic churches. 
Friction between the priests had happened because of suspicion of the Charismatic 
church. The dynamics in the religious life of Christians in the city of Semarang is a 
history fragment which can certainly be a lesson in religious life and harmonious 
relations between religious people. 
 
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