The Church in Indonesia

Latter-day Saint missionaries arrived in Indonesia in 1970, and the first stake in Indonesia was organized in 2011.

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History of the Church in Indonesia

In June 1969, after years of association with foreign Latter-day Saints residing in Indonesia, a man named Sutrisno became the first Indonesian to be baptized in the country. Later that year, Church leaders visited Indonesia to formally establish a foundation in the ethnically diverse country that spans more than 17,000 islands. The first Latter-day Saint missionaries to Indonesia—assigned initially from the Southeast Asia Mission headquartered in Singapore—arrived in Jakarta, on the island of Java, in January 1970. Over the next few years, membership grew and expanded to other Javanese cities, and in 1975 the Indonesia Jakarta Mission was created.

Limitations on foreign missionary visas in Indonesia created challenges for several years, leading to periodic mission closures. However, local Indonesian missionaries continued to serve in their home country as part of the Singapore mission. Indonesians Effian and Mary Kadarusman served as mission leaders from 1985 to 1989, extending their mission a year while the new mission president faced difficulties obtaining a visa. This led to the calling of Piet Tandiman in 1989 and his son Juswan in 1992 to serve as full-time counselors to the Singapore mission president while residing in Indonesia. The Indonesia Jakarta Mission reopened in 1995, and missionaries were assigned to areas outside of Java. Branches were organized on several islands, including Sumatra and Bali.

In 2000, Church President Gordon B. Hinckley visited with the president of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid, and arranged for the Church to donate rice, hygiene kits, and clothing for refugees. More humanitarian aid was provided by the Church in response to the devastating tsunami that hit parts of Indonesia in December 2004.

The Jakarta Indonesia Stake, the first in the country, was organized in May 2011, and the second, the Surakarta Indonesia Stake, in April 2012. The first Latter-day Saint temple in Indonesia was announced to be built in Jakarta in April 2023.