JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BosNewsLife)– Millions of Indonesians are becoming Christians, often secretly, but authorities refuse to recognize this trend in the world’s largest Muslim nation, several evangelical leaders have told BosNewsLife. At least three to four million Indonesians “turned to Christ” over the past year, according to Christian officials with very close knowledge about the situation.
Muslims account for roughly 87 percent of Indonesia’s 260 million people, said the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), but the agency cited government estimates from 2010. Also, it has now emerged that the number of Christians, including Protestants (7 percent) and Catholics (2.9 percent) have been steadily growing. “We expect half of Indonesians to be ‘Christian,’ at least in name, within five to 10 years”, a senior church leader and evangelist told BosNewsLife. That could mean some 130 million Indonesians identifying themselves as ‘Christian’ by 2028.
