The Trip to Batak Land
The Pilgrim Group of HKBP Kebayoran Baru in Lake Toba.
Author’s Note: Once again, I have returned to the subject of HKBP Kebayoran Baru. A church group there went on a trip to Lake Toba and its surrounding areas and I have been asked to write an article about the trip and the areas they had visited. Enjoy.
Author’s Note II: Readers may notice the footnotes in the article. I did not write them. They were the words of Pdt. Ferdinand Hutabarat of HKBP Kebayoran Baru who reviewed the draft version of this article. I decided to put them in as an additional context to my article.
Introduction
A few months ago, the Pilgrim group of HKBP Kebayoran Baru went on a tour of Lake Toba and what we would call ‘Batak Land’. This is to be expected, as a church made up of Batak people, its congregants are keen to get in touch with their ancestral roots. But it’s not a matter of ethnic pride or worshipping one’s ancestors, whatever virtues may be associated with them. It was a trip filled with spiritual meaning, as it recaptured the history of the Batak people as they escaped the darkness of paganism and into the light of Christ.
I have spoken to Mr. Bomen Lumbanraja of this church about his trip and what he hoped to accomplish for the Pilgrim Group and HKBP Kebayoran Baru. He told me that he wished to give thanks to God for the work of the missionaries who came into the land of the Bataks to spread the gospel - with a special emphasis on I.L. Nommensen, the Lutheran missionary who founded the HKBP and is known as the Apostle of the Bataks.
Yet this history isn’t always pretty. In fact, the history is more messy than anything. Yet understanding this history will help us understand the present, which will help us move forward into the future.
Speaking of the present... the Pilgrim Group of HKBP Kebayoran Baru visited four places in their visit:
The Tomb of Lyman & Munson
The Tomb of I.L. Nommensen
“Salib Kasih” (in Tarutung)
The Statue of Christ at Sibeabea
These four landmarks in the Lake Toba area provide an important insight into the history of the Batak people and their relationship to the light of Christ.
The Tragedy of Lyman & Munson
Let us first enter the first landmark the group visited, the tomb of Henry Lyman and Samuel Munson. They are American Baptist missionaries from Boston, and are amongst the earliest to have evangelized to the Batak people1. Unfortunately, their story was not a happy one.
The Batak people, those who lived in the interior of North Sumatra, was once known for being uncivilized. Unlike the cultured Malays who inhabited the coasts, the Batak remained a backward people even as late as the 19th century. More importantly, they held on to their old religion, a contrast to the Malays who have adopted Islam.
It’s very tempting to have a romanticized view of this old religion. But that’s because we are generations removed from their unrestrained version. Paganism isn’t just people “practicing their religion”, there is dark side to it. The Canaanites were known to have sacrificed children to Moloch, the gladiatorial games of the Romans was in fact a religious ritual that became commercialized. What about the Batak? What’s wrong with the pre-Christian Bataks? Some say they were cannibals, as shown by the fate of Lyman & Munson (more on that later).
Regardless, Our Lord Jesus Christ had commanded us to make disciples of every nation. In the Year of Our Lord 1833, Lyman & Munson were ready to do their part in this Great Commission. Unfortunately, the two Americans arrived in Northern Tapanuli at the wrong time. Despite their zeal, they were not well prepared for the job. For one thing, they didn’t even speak the Batak language, having known only a few words of greetings. Thus, they relied on a translator for their missionary activity.
At the time, the Padri War was still ongoing. Under the leadership of Imam Bonjol, Islamic purists known as the Padri launched a revolt against the Dutch authorities in Padang, located the south of Batak Land. While the Republic of Indonesia now honors Imam Bonjol as a national hero, the Bataks at the time did not share this sentiment. Indeed, the Padri under Imam Bonjol was estimated to have killed about 40% of the Batak population in their rampage across Sumatra.
Because of the violence that the Padri had brought, the Batak were now wary of outsiders2. Of course, it was not just the Padri that the Batak did not like. They also did not like the Dutch who at this point are extending their colonial dominion over the Indonesian archipelago.
Not only did the white American Lyman & Munson had the misfortune of sharing the same skin color as the Dutch, they also came from Padang, the home of the Padri. As to be expected, the Batak saw these missionaries with suspicion and interrogated them.
The locals who interrogated Lyman & Munson were of the Tobing clan. With their very limited knowledge of Toba Batak, they attempted to assure them that they were not a threat. But instead, they had accomplished just the opposite. A miscommunication led the Batak to think the two missionaries were enemies. The two missionaries were stabbed to death. Their bodies were then eaten.
Thus, one of the earliest attempts to evangelize the Batak ended with martyrdom. Yet as Tertullian once said: “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church”3. And the deaths of Lyman & Munson was not the end. Not even close.
Ingwer Ludwig Nommensen: Apostle of the Bataks
Two decades after Lyman & Munson came I.L. Nommensen. If there is one person most associated with bringing the Gospel to the Batak people, it was Nommensen. Where the American Baptist had failed, the German Lutheran succeeded. The Bataks, grateful for his work, called him the Apostle of the Bataks. He was buried not in his native Germany but rather in Sumatra.
This brings me to the next stop of the Pilgrim Group: the tomb of I.L. Nommensen.
Nommensen seek to accomplish what Lyman & Munson had failed to do, brought the light of Christ to the Batak people. But he didn’t do it alone. In a sense, he had enjoyed the good fortunes that eluded the Americans. For one thing, the Padri was long defeated by this point. More importantly, Nommensen had the support of the Dutch colonial authorities. I will get back into this later. Batak Christians may find this fact embarrassing given that Indonesia fought so hard to gain independence from the Dutch. But there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. God made use of what He will.
This isn’t to say that Nommensen was simply lucky to have succeeded. No. For one thing, Nommensen studied the Toba Batak language and the local culture. Clearly, he wanted to avoid the mistakes of Lyman & Munson who did not speak the language and was thus killed due to a misunderstanding.
Understanding another culture isn’t easy. We live in a globalized world where even the most alien of cultures seem familiar to us. Even so, miscommunications and misunderstandings still happen. There is also the issue of pride, the refusal to listen to what another person has to say. In the 21st century, Americans still struggle to understand (willfully or otherwise, I do not judge) the Russians or the Chinese and vice versa. Now imagine how alien the Batak was to a man from Europe in the 19th century, a world without airplanes or the Internet.
Yet we are all creatures of the Word. There was never a time when there isn’t language. When God created man, he gave him the gift of language. Even before the Fall, human beings already spoke to one another, and to God.
Nommensen’s strategy to reach out to the Batak people was sophisticated. For one, he aimed to improve the lives of the natives through education, healthcare, and the market economy. In other words, development. This made sense. People who struggle to make a living will also struggle to understand the Word of God.
The suspicion of the locals towards the white people as possible agents for the Dutch remained. But Nommensen was able to transcend politics and focus on helping the locals. For example, there was a miracle attributed to Mr. Nommensen when the wife of a Batak king fell sick. The king went to other villages in search of doctors who might cure her, but Nommensen told the king that the wife will be cured once he returned back to the village. And it happened.
This focus on helping the locals was why Nommensen put an emphasis on developing the Batak society and their lands. This led to the establishment of a separate village for the Batak who had converted to Christianity, known as Huta Dame, or House of Peace in the Toba Batak language. The village was also set up to protect recent converts from social pressure of those who remained unbelievers.
By this point, Nommensen had gotten further than Lyman & Munson in evangelizing the Batak people of Lake Toba. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t challenges. Ultimately, it was not the work of man that brought the light of Christ to the people of Lake Toba. It was Christ Himself, using missionaries like Nommensen.
Salib Kasih: The Triumph of the Cross in Lake Toba
Now let us continue the Pilgrim Group’s Trip to Lake Toba. The third spot they visited was a place known as ‘Salib Kasih’, Indonesian for the ‘Cross of Love’. And it was love that conquered the hearts of the Batak people for Christ the King. Yet this love was backed also by force, by power.
While many Bataks welcomed Nommensen and the Gospel he brought to Batak Land, there are those who resisted as they remained committed to the old religion. They are the Parmalim. One such Parmalim was a local king, Sisingamangaraja.
But Sisingamangaraja fought not just Christians, but rather the Dutch colonial authorities. As with Imam Bonjol, the Indonesian Republic currently honors Sisingamangaraja as a national hero. Yet can a Christian truly honor a man who tried to extinguish the light of Christ, even if he is of the same race? What is more important to us: our race or our faith?
And make no mistake, the “national hero” of the Batak people had no love for Christianity, perhaps associating the faith with the Dutch.
Yet another point of embarrassment for Batak Christians was Nommensen’s work for the Dutch during the war against Sisingamangaraja. Indeed, he accompanied the Dutch forces in what is now called the First Toba War. As thanks for his services, the Dutch authorities gave Nommensen and a fellow missionary (named Simoneit) a letter of appreciation and even some cash.
Thanks to the Dutch, the Batak mission (zending Batak) was able to grow swiftly in the northern areas of Batak Land. The Batak Mission is a distinct entity to the HKBP4; regardless, this demonstrated the extent of the Dutch help of Christianity in the area. That being said, Nommensen was also able to convince the locals that he was not a tool of the Dutch. To credit the success of Nommensen’s missionary activities to the Dutch would be an oversimplification.
No doubt that God made use of the Dutch, but again I will say: it was not the work of man that brought the light of Christ to Batak Land.
A story goes that the Bataks attempted to kill Nommensen in Huta Dame. Nommensen would have been martyred just as Lyman & Munson was. But instead, a thunderstorm appeared, so sudden and so strong. Nommensen’s would be executioners became afraid and fled. And the king who led the executioners converted and became a Christian himself.
Was this God at work?
As for Salib Kasih. It was said to be the location in which Nommensen promised to commit himself to the conversion of the Batak people.
The Light of Christ in Lake Toba
Finally, we get to the final place visited by the Pilgrim Group: Jesus Christ the Savior statue at Sibeabea Hill.
One look at the place, and one will be tempted to think of Rio de Janeiro. To be more specific, the Christo Redentor statue in Brazil. But interestingly enough, the Statue at Sibeabea is actually taller than the one in Rio. Indeed, the Jesus Christ the Savior statue at Sibeabea Hill is actually the tallest statue of Christ in the world.
Of course the more important thing at the end of the day is to live a life worthy of Christ. Even so, the fact that the tallest statue of Christ in the world is located in Batak Land is such a strange thing to even think about. Even stranger to think about is that this statue was inaugurated by a Bishop of the Catholic Church, Antonius Subianto Bunjamin.
Thus here we can see how Christian ecumenism works in Lake Toba and the land of the Batak people. One of the first martyrs for Christ were Baptist missionaries. Twenty years later, it was a Lutheran who was the first to have great success in converting locals. And now, we have the largest statue to honor Christ in the land, and it was inaugurated by the Catholic Church.
Conclusion
Thus was the trip of the Pilgrim Group of HKBP Kebayoran Baru. The four landmarks they visited provided an important insight into the history of Christianity amongst the Batak people. From the Baptist missionaries who were the first martyrs for Christ follows the Lutheran mission under Nommensen who successfully evangelized the land. And yet, he could have easily met the same fate as Lyman & Munson if it wasn’t for the help of the Dutch, who were Calvinists.
And while Protestantism remains to be the majority in Batak Land, there is a significant Catholic minority. They were significant enough that the largest statue honoring Christ was to be located not in Brazil or in Spain or in Italy, but in North Sumatra, in Batak Land.
The Pilgrim Trip of HKBP Kebayoran Baru to Batak Land was an attempt to remember the debt they owed to I.L. Nommensen - the founder of HKBP - for bringing the light of Christ to their ancestors. Yet it was not just the HKBP who benefitted from Nommensen’s work. Other Batak Christians, even non-Protestants like the Catholics, also owe Nommensen for their faith, even if indirectly.
The missionaries also brought other benefits to the Batak people. To quote Pdt. Ferdinand Hutabarat of HKBP Kebayoran Baru:
Another benefit brought by missionaries is attention to education and health. It was the missionaries who encouraged the Batak people to pursue the highest education possible.
This began with the missionaries' efforts to send several Batak children to school to study theology to prepare native pastors.
There were also efforts to teach mathematics to young children. Likewise, the Batak people became good at singing because the Missionaries often taught them notes and tones because singing was something that was mandatory in Christian worship.
This bit of ecumenism is only fitting. While HKBP forms a significant portion of the believers around Lake Toba (and the diaspora associated with the Toba Batak), Christianity in Batak Land is a tapestry of denominations. And they have all contributed to the Christian identity of the Batak people.
This isn’t to say that every Christian denomination is as equally valid as the other. Rather, I am pointing out that God will make use of those who call on the name of the Lord for His glory. Many times, His works will embarrass our respectable sensibilities. After all, what patriotic Indonesian wouldn’t be embarrassed at the idea that his faith wouldn’t have survived without the Dutch?
As the saying goes, ‘God works in mysterious ways’. And many times, His actions will truly surprise us. The Pilgrim Group’s trip to Lake Toba is a reminder of this fact.
Much Thanks to…
Bomen Lumbanraja of HKBP Kebayoran Baru, for his guidance and for providing me with the information I needed to write this article.
Pdt. Ferdinand Hutabarat of HKBP Kebayoran Baru, for giving my draft some needed corrections and for providing me with the context which can be found in the footnotes.
HKBP Kebayoran Baru as a whole, for providing me with the photos.
Pdt. Luhut Hutajulu of HKBP Taman Mini, for writing the articles that I used as source material
Lim Kym of Zenit, who wrote an article I used regarding the Statue of Jesus at Sibeabea.
Link: https://zenit.org/2024/09/23/indonesia-unveils-the-worlds-tallest-statue-of-jesus-a-new-symbol-of-faith/
Agung Muhammad Fatwa of ValidNews, who edited and put together this article about Henry Lyman and Samuel Munson.
Link: https://validnews.id/kultura/Munson-Lyman--Misionaris-yang-Terlupakan-di-Tanah-Batak-QtY
Hutabarat: They [Lyman & Munson] never reached Lake Toba. They died on the way in a village called Lobu Pining.
It is true that before Munson and Lyman arrived in Lobu Pining, they had preached the gospel to the villagers of Rampa, Sitapayan, and Adiankoting.
Currently, Lobu Pining to Lake Toba is a two-hour drive.
Hutabarat: There was one issue that developed when they [Lyman & Munson] were about to start a mission trip to Batak Land. The Batak people became suspicious of foreigners since the visit of Burton and Ward (English missionaries) who had come to Batak land first and had left it.
The suspicion arose because after Burton and Ward left, the Padri war occurred and claimed many victims. So it is possible that the Batak people suspected foreigners as spies.
Hutabarat: In 1907, a plaque was erected in Lobu Pining to commemorate the deaths of Lyman and Munson. The plaque reads: Munson and Lyman died because they were devoured by the Batak people, in German: gegessen und gefressen.
In 1934, the 100th anniversary of the deaths of Munson and Lyman, the inscription was removed because it caused discomfort for the Batak people who were accused of eating human flesh. The inscription was replaced with this statement from Tertullianus [Tertullian].
Hutabarat: Batak Mission is a different institution that was formed later when HKBP had become an independent institution.
-Thanks to Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft (RMG). It is one of the largest Protestant missionary societies in Germany in 1799.