The province of Bali is 93 percent Hindu, while Indonesia as a whole is 85 percent Muslim. One doesn't have to walk into one of the 20,000 Hindu temples or shrines to realize that Hinduism is deeply embedded in Bali, traditionally called "Island of the Gods." Native Balinese practice a distinctive blend of Hinduism with indigenous animism, ancestor worship, and magic.
Compared with the rest of Indonesia, Christianity has made little headway in Bali. Christians make up only 2 percent of Bali's inhabitants. Christians are 15 percent of Indonesia's entire population. In Bali, it is easier to establish a mosque than a church: Pastors need approval from 50 families in the surrounding area and recommendation letters from the local district government. Islamic leaders do not face such steep requirements.
Yet new Christian outreach is taking root. A turning point occurred in 1972, when I Wayan Mastra, a native Balinese Hindu who became a Christian at a school on Java, was chosen as chairman of the Balinese Protestant church association. He contextualized the Balinese church, including introducing dance and traditional gamelan music, to divorce it from its Dutch Reformed colonial legacy. He cast a vision for a "mango tree" church, rooted in Balinese soil, not a "bonsai tree" church, potted artificially. Over time, Mastra's vision produced results. Christianity in Bali is now growing faster than the population in Indonesia.
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