Advent Church Diaspora in the Raja Ampat Socio-Cultural Transformation in West Papua

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-503-4_14How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Adventist Church; Christianity; Raja Ampat; West Papua

Abstract

The Adventist Church diaspora in Raja Ampat, West Papua has played an important role in the process of social and cultural transformation in the region since the colonial era. This study discusses the dynamics and character of change that occurred gradually and relatively peacefully, in contrast to the pattern of transformation in a number of other areas in Papua, which are often coloured by conflict. Using critical historical methods and analysing colonial archives and missionary documents of the Adventist Church, this research traces the roots and course of social change brought about by the presence of the church. The Adventist mission was first established by Dutch oil workers who arrived in Southwest Papua in 1935. At that time, the Adventist Church headquarters was located in Bandung, and the ministry in Papua was organised by Manokwari and Hollandia (now Jayapura).Despite facing resistance in the early days, the Adventist Church's teachings began to spread to various areas in Papua. This spread became more widespread after the establishment of a mission flight program in 1974, which supported the Church’s mobility and ministry. The peak of congregational growth occurred in the late 1980s when there was a wave of mass conversions to the Adventist Church on the Raja Ampat Islands. This event caused friction with the local Protestant Church. Nevertheless, the Adventist Church continues to experience significant development, marked by the growth of hundreds of Adventist churches throughout West Papua, particularly in Raja Ampat. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of national unity, the archipelago perspective, and the importance of multicultural awareness in the context of cultural and religious diversity in West Papua.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Bryna Rizkinta
AU  - Ahmad Fauzan Baihaqi
AU  - Aslama Nanda Rizal
AU  - Muhammad Aiman Azhar
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/19
TI  - Advent Church Diaspora in the Raja Ampat Socio-Cultural Transformation in West Papua
BT  - Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Culture and Sustainable Development (ICOCAS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 108
EP  - 116
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-503-4_14
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-503-4_14
ID  - Rizkinta2025
ER  -