ICOC - International Church of Christ

ICOC (International Churches of Christ) is a Protestant Christian family of churches within the non-denominational movement (that is, not tied to any particular Christian denomination).

ICOC believes that the Bible is inspired by God Himself, and therefore its teachings place emphasis on the word of God. 

The ICOC church consists of people who believe in Jesus, without being limited by any differences: age, race, or socioeconomic background. They are people who have found God and are committed to serving Him and the people around them. 

Its focus is to help every person have a heart that loves God and others. 

Beginning with only 30 members, ICOC grew to 37,000 members in just its first 12 years. And now its membership is more than 128,000 worldwide, spread across more than 150 countries. ICOC churches in each city are named after their respective cities, such as Los Angeles Church of Christ, Tokyo Church of Christ, Mumbai Church of Christ, Singapore Church of Christ, and so on. 

ICOC Indonesia = GKDI (Church of Christ in Indonesia)

In Indonesia, ICOC has also been present since 1990. However, in Indonesia, people do not refer to it as ICOC, but rather GKDI, Gereja Kristus di Indonesia. The beginning of ICOC in Indonesia started with a mission team sent from the Singapore congregation. There were 9 people, 5 of them Indonesians, and the rest Malaysians. 

With faith and a strong fighting spirit, they started their first worship service in the living room of a house in the Central Jakarta area. God kept adding to their number until eventually the room they used was full, so they had to rent a hall in a hotel for worship. Although at first most people felt skeptical about this movement because most of its members were young people, God continued to work through leaders who had faith and perseverance. God added to their number year by year.

In 1992, John Philip Louis and his wife, Karen Louis, came from Singapore to lead the congregation and train the leaders in Jakarta. In not quite a year, the congregation grew to 280 people. At first the congregation was under the covering of Gereja Elim Tabernakel in the Central Jakarta area. The name given at that time was Jemaat Kristus Penginjilan Nusantara (the word Jemaat indicates that it was under a church). Then in 1993, the first mission to Surabaya was sent and led by a young couple, Budi and Liphin Kusmartono.

The Nusantara Evangelism Plan

In 1994, in line with the World Evangelism Proclamation to bring the church to all nations within 6 years, John Louis, during that mission seminar, introduced the Nusantara Evangelism Plan (OPN) for Indonesia. Missions were sent successively to major cities on Indonesia's large islands. In 1994, 12 people led by Johnson and Alin Sibuea were sent to start the church in Medan, then Manado (1995) led by Donald and Monica Warouw, Denpasar by Hocky and Sharon Purwanto, Pontianak by Muksin and Lily, as well as Bandung by Sahat Hutagalung and Lily Djohan (1996).

Toward the end of 1996, Harliem and Vania Salim were appointed to lead Indonesia while John and Karen Louis moved to strengthen the churches in Australia. In 1998, a mission led by Agustinus and Silvi was sent to Jayapura, as the final point of the first phase of the Nusantara Evangelism Plan (OPN) (evangelizing the major cities on the largest islands: Java-Bali, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Irian Jaya).

The next missions began in other major cities, such as Batam (2000), Semarang and Yogyakarta (2002). By God's grace, Jemaat Kristus Penginjilan Nusantara was able to stand on its own as a legally recognized institution and was acknowledged by the government in 2001, and its name was changed to "Gereja Kristus Di Indonesia" (GKDI). Peter Smith, an English teacher from Milwaukee, United States, played an important role in this. He came to help the mission team, driven by sincere love for the Indonesian nation.

The naming of GKDI churches is adjusted to the name of the city where they are located, such as GKDI Jakarta, GKDI Medan, GKDI Balikpapan, GKDI Denpasar, GKDI Palu, GKDI Manado, GKDI Manokwari, and so on. At present GKDI has spread to 35 cities throughout Indonesia. 

Activities in GKDI

GKDI adopts the system and teachings of ICOC, where the focus is for people to understand God's will and do it. Therefore, GKDI has Bible Study and also Bible Talk, commonly called PDA (Bible Discussion Meeting). In addition, we still have many other exciting events and activities. 

That is a brief overview of ICOC in Indonesia, which is more commonly known as GKDI. If you would like to know more about GKDI, or would like to join, please visit the website: https://gkdi.org/

-

Church GKDI has Bible Study activities in 35 cities. If you need information or would like to get involved, contact us through the WhatsApp 0821 2285 8686 below.

Enjoy our worship music playlist at the following link: http://bit.ly/gkdi-music

And, find more interesting & inspiring content through our social media:

Website: https://gkdi.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GKDIOfficial/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gkdiofficial/ Blog: https://gkdi.org/blog/ Youtube: https://bit.ly/yt-gkdi Whatsapp: https://bit.ly/gkdi-wa