Hery Susanto’s ministry has taken him into places where people can easily feel overlooked or forgotten.
As Director of the Christian Church Theological School of Indonesia (CCTSI), Hery helps equip emerging Christian leaders for ministry. His own experience has also taken him beyond the classroom and into prisons, rehabilitation centres and communities where people are facing isolation and hardship.
During a year-long ministry practicum in Bali, Hery encountered prisoners, young people without strong family support and people experiencing serious mental illness. Their circumstances were different, but Hery recognised something familiar in many of the people he met.
“They are people who need to be listened to,” he explained. “And that was me in the past.”
Those encounters helped shape Hery’s desire to “be a home for the lost”.
In Bangli and Karangasem prisons, he has provided counselling and shared the Gospel with prisoners. His ministry has also included people in a rehabilitation centre, children in Denpasar and others he regularly visits in the community.
“I love to see them knowing Jesus more and more,” Hery said.
Hery Susanto, Director of the Christian Church Theological School of Indonesia (CCTSI), is passionate about equipping future Christian leaders and sharing the Gospel with people often overlooked in their communities.
The same emphasis on practical ministry can be seen at CCTSI, where students receive theological education alongside opportunities to serve local churches and communities. During the latest reporting period, eight students were trained and prepared to serve as church leaders, with two already appointed as shepherds in church-planting ministries.
Hery also reported ministry among around 60 people in Bangli and Karangasem prisons. Across the different areas of ministry, around 15 people have come to know Jesus.
This work can carry a personal cost. Hery explained that people who choose to follow Jesus may face opposition from their families and communities, including rejection and isolation. Sharing the Gospel in these circumstances requires both courage and wisdom as he seeks to recognise where people may be open to hearing about Jesus.
“The boldness to share the Gospel” remains one of the challenges of ministry, he explained.
Australian churches have been part of helping Hery continue that work.
“I am thankful for each support that the Australian church has given me,” he said. “It really helps me to survive and encourages me to keep up doing good works for the Kingdom.”
The partnership has also given Hery something less tangible, but equally important.
“I praise the Lord that through this partnership, I am not alone in this ministry,” he said.
After three months that have taken him from training future church leaders to walking alongside people in prisons and rehabilitation centres, Hery described what God has been teaching him in just two words:
“Obedience and contentment.”
They are words that sit naturally alongside the ministry Hery describes: continuing to go where there is need, listening to people who are often overlooked and faithfully pointing them towards Jesus.