THE GOSPEL – CULTURE ENCOUNTER: A REFLECTION ON NOMMENSEN’S MISSIONARY STRATEGY TO THE TOBA BATAK PEOPLE (1862-1918)

Introduction

This paper will discuss about the encounter between the Gospel brought by western missionaries and the Batak people in eighteen century. The dynamic of this encounter becomes very challenging because there was Batak War led by the greatest and most influential raja (king) in Batakland, king Sisingamangaraja[i], fighting against the Dutch colonist and all kinds of western influences including Christianity. But interestingly, during Nommensen and RMG’s[ii] missionary activities in Batakland, Christianity grew and was gradually accepted by the Batak people. The focus of this paper is to evaluate RMG’s missionary strategy in the context of the Batak people and in the midst of king Sisingamangaraja’s rejection against western colonialist and Christianity. This reflection will give us some insights and challenges on how we, as Christians today and in the future, deal with the problem of the Gospel and culture encounter in our effort to fulfill the Great Commandment of Christ.

Batak Culture and Traditional Society: the Context

‘Besides worship and fear of the High God called Mula Jadi Na Bolon (the Great Beginner), Batak religious life actually centers on giving offerings and sacrifices to their ancestral spirits (sumangot) in order to receive supernatural power and material blessings (sahala).’[iii] Adat (customary law and traditional social system) comprehends the whole dimension of life: physical and spiritual, present and future and interpersonal relationship. Raising the dignity of clan (marga/ family name with strong patriarchal line) is important for the Batak. The Bataks also believed that being faithful to adat’s rules and demands would protect the people from supernatural sanctions, disasters and harm. Besides observing adat, the main purpose of Batak worldly life is to gain hamoraon (wealth), hagabeon (many wives and children) and hasangapon (social prestige). Children have important value for Batak people and they express this as: ‘Anakkhonhi do na ummarga di au, Anakkhonhi do hasangapon di au, Anakkhonhi do hamoraon di au.’[iv] Therefore, we can say that Batak life is ‘adat and clan-centered’ directed to strive and possess greater sahala (worldly success) and to gain social prestige in society. ‘The possibility to have different interpretations of adat in the practical level always caused conflicts and wars between villages, clans or even between brothers.’[v]   

Nommensen’s Missionary Strategy

‘Nommensen landed at Sumatra in May 1862, spent some months in Barus studying the Batak Toba language and lived together with some Toba youth before he moved to Sipirok and joined some other RMG missionaries there.[vi] He longed to press on northwards to Silindung, but the Dutch authorities did not allow missionaries to go and work northwards where they had no control.[vii] ‘However, some missionaries had traveled through Silindung and made contact with a friendly and powerful chieftain, Raja Pontas Lumbantobing. Their report and trip convinced Nommensen to go to Silindung valley.’[viii]

‘In November 1863, in his first journey to the inland, Nommensen met raja of Saitnihuta village Ompu Ginjang Lumbantobing. He was suspected as the Dutch spy but he introduced himself as a missionary and he was not interested in colonizing their country. He said: “I want to live here in this valley, build a house and a school. I shall teach everyone who wants to be clever and happy.” Although this raja did not allow him to live in Saitnihuta, ‘they actually enthralled when Nommensen played harmonica and picked out a Batak tune he had learned before. Nommensen sang for them a simple hymn in German and then in his own Batak translation.’[ix]

‘His next journey to the Silindung Valley was in November 1863 where he made contacts with many rajas. These rajas still did not allow Nommensen to live in Silindung, but because of his friendly manner and his medical skill, he slowly gained trust and confidence from the rajas. Finally they agreed to let him settle in a piece of land called “Huta Dame” (the village of Peace).’[x] Nommensen helped the Bataks to cure many kinds of illnesses and also those who were wounded because of the clans/ village wars.[xi]

‘In September 1864, while they were celebrating a great feast to honor ancestor spirits, Nommensen challenged the datu and the people of Saitnihuta that they were deceived by the Satan. When they wanted to kill him, suddenly the skies opened and a torrential deluge thundered down to put an end to the feast and Nommensen walked home unharmed.’[xii] His life also was threatened when one datu named Panalangkup put strong poison in his food, but when Nommensen consumed the food, nothing happened to him.[xiii] This datu then became Christian because he believed that the spirit who protected Nommensen was more powerful than the spirits that he worshiped before. ‘In 1865, Nommensen baptized eight adults and five children but all were expelled from their villages as traitors to adat, and their lands were seized because they would no longer contribute towards ceremonies asking the spirits to bless the crops. Nommensen took them in and asked them to live in Huta Dame.[xiv] 

‘Nommensen baptized Raja Pontas Lumbantobing in 1867 where later Raja Pontas became a model of a Christian raja because of his leadership ability to create peace among the Batak clans. His conversion really influenced other rajas to accept Christianity. Once a raja decided to be a Christian, all his people and related clan members would follow him. Beside that, Raja Pontas also asked these rajas to accept colonial government in Batakland, and some of these rajas then were appointed as government officers by the Dutch.’[xv] Therefore, besides fighting against the Dutch, Sisingamangaraja also intended to attack western missionaries, but a quarrel broke out between Sisingamangaraja and Raja Pontas and Sisingamangaraja was forced to withdraw.[xvi] In 1878, Dutch troops were stationed in Silindung after a request from the missionaries and Batak Christians who felt threatened by Sisingamangaraja.[xvii] But in 1883, Sisingamangaraja attacked and burnt missionaries’ home and the church at Sipoholon. The Dutch reacted by attacking Sisingamangaraja’s headquarters at Bakara. Sisingamangaraja was killed and defeated by the Dutch in 1907.[xviii]

As part of their efforts to christianize the Batak, Nommensen and other RMG missionaries built many schools for Batak children. ‘In 1881, Nommensen decided to divide the Batak people into several districts according to the four biggest clans relationship in Batakland: Sipirok, Sigompulon-Pahae, Sibolga, Silindung, Humbang and Toba and the Batak people in these areas wanted the missionaries to build a special school for every clan.[xix] ‘During the Batak War, RMG missionaries allowed the Dutch troops to use these school buildings as their garrison. The missionaries also received compensation for all losses experienced (homes, churches and school buildings) which had been burnt during the war between the Dutch and Sisingamangaraja.’[xx]   

Reflection

In his early contact with Batak people (1862-1863), Nommensen finally was allowed to live in Huta Dame. Some of the reasons are because the Batak was impressed with his medical skills, friendly manner, and his ability to communicate in Batak language and songs, and his statement that his purpose was to bring education to the people and he was not interested in colonizing the Batakland. During this period, the Batak people witnessed the manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit in saving Nommensen’s life from dangers and murders. The Batak people believed that Nommensen had power which was greater than the power of their ancestor spirits. In 1865, Nommensen baptized the first Batak converts but all of them were expelled from their society. When they lived in Huta Dame, Nommensen strictly forbad them not to involve in all Batak traditional ceremonies because these were regarded as against Christianity, including playing Batak traditional music instruments (gondang) which were regarded as having elements of evil spirits in it.[xxi] We notice here that the reason why people rejected Christianity is because Christian’s teachings and practices made the Batak people far from Batak adat and society. But on the other side, people started to see what he did in Huta Dame in providing school to the children[xxii] and introducing them western culture, improving health condition of the people improvement, and teaching them agricultural skills as one alternative way to gain wealth, material benefits and social prestige in Batak society. All of these activities relate to Batak’s philosophy of life of ‘hamoraon, hagabeon, and hasangapon.’

The popularity of Huta Dame attracted Raja Pontas Lumbantobing to accept Christianity. His leadership in Batak society played an important role in spreading the popularity of Huta Dame and Nommensen’s Christianity which influenced many rajas to accept Christianity. When these rajas together with their clan members became Christians, Nommensen usually appointed the rajas as elders in the local church. For these rajas, their position as elders in the church raised their clan dignity and social prestige. Therefore, we can say that conversion among the Batak people generally were not because of their commitment to Christ, but because it was believed as a short-cut to gain wealth, power and social prestige. For the Batak, they actually were not interested in Christianity, but they were more interested in obtaining knowledge and education brought by these missionaries. If Islam could do the same thing as what RMG missionaries have done, there is no problem for the Batak people to accept Islam as their religion.

Sisingamangaraja’s influence as Batak religious leader and arbitrator in Batak society lessened because most of the Christian rajas were already discontented with wars among themselves and gave this matter to be handled by the involvement of the Dutch government with its troops who have better military equipments than Sisingamangaraja. Later, when the Bataks were forced to pay taxes to the Dutch, some of the rajas asked help from Sisingamangaraja, but because there was no unity among the rajas, especially because there were no supports from Christian rajas to fight together against the Dutch, Sisingamangaraja’s opposition was very weak. Therefore, Sisingamangaraja rejected the presence of Christianity in Batakland because it was closely related to the expansion of the Dutch colonial power. Nommensen’s inconsistency to reject the Dutch colonialism in Batakland and the influence of the Christian rajas (who focused their efforts to increase their own status and social prestige by accepting Christianity and co-operating with the colonial authorities) extinguished the flame of Sisingamangaraja’s fight against the Dutch.  

It is important to notice that RMG missionary activities in Batakland actually were influenced by RMG policy in Barmen Germany. They thought that ‘Christian nations in the West, because of their standard of civilization, had a duty to spread Christianity and western civilization to the rest of the world.[xxiii] The first step must be the direct proclamation of the Gospel, followed by baptism, and only afterwards would they teach those already baptized. Education was the evangelistic means or method for winning a whole people or society for Christendom. [xxiv] We notice here that mission was understood as western cultural, religious and ecclesial expansions and it was a duty for them to spread Christianity and western civilization to the rest of the world. This understanding defines their mission strategy to the Batak people. Therefore, RMG missionary strategy to provide education, health and economic improvement only touched the Batak materialistic attitude of life. RMG perspective of Christian missions and their silent-ness to colonialism[xxv] made the Batak lost their dignity as free human being created by God (imago Dei). RMG failed to bring Christianity that brought holistic healing and true peace (reconciliation to God and others) to the heart of the Batak people. They failed to understand that the goal of mission is to raise the true dignity of the Batak people as imago Dei which calls people to have personal relationship with God. Through RMG missionary activities, the Gospel and Batak culture encounter did not provide answers for Batak spiritual needs and quests. It also did not encourage faithfulness, obedience and commitment to Christ.

The Challenge for the Batak Church (HKBP)

The Batak Church nowadays has 1445 ordained pastors[xxvi] ministering to about 3 millions members.[xxvii] ‘Today, the Batak Church plays its role as a fellowship of Christian Bataks where the elements of western Christianity is dominant than the elements of Batak culture.[xxviii] There is an emergence of many Batak-clan organizations (marga), especially in big cities in Indonesia, where the main program is prayer meeting (partangiangan) and exchanging information among the Bataks. In the cities, because of the wave of modernization, the influence of adat for Batak people diminished. The influence of the Church is still more dominant than the practice of adat. In contrast, in the villages, adat is more dominant, and the Batak Church becomes part of the adat. Some practices of adat forbidden by Nommensen during his ministry appear again now in a new form, e.g. the Batak traditional music (gondang) with its Christian songs in Batak tune.’ This situation actually challenges all Batak Christians and theologians to reflect and reconsider on how the Batak people can express their distinctive form of Christianity, independently from the influence of western theology inherited from RMG missionaries, and how the presence of the Batak Church can be the salt and the light for the adat (Mt 5: 13-14). The continuous and dynamic encounters between the Gospel and the Batak culture in the present days and in the future must be encouraged in order to construct an independent and authentic Batak Theology which raises the dignity of the Batak people as imago Dei and provide answers for Batak spiritual needs and quests. The purpose of this effort is to avoid Christianity become foreign in Batak soil, but to make Christianity deeply rooted in and transform Batak’s heart and life. The challenge of the Batak Church is also the challenge of all Christians who respond to the call of God, to be used as the agent of God’s mission (Missio Dei) in raising the dignity of the people as the image of God (imago Dei) and to bring people to come and commit their life to Christ.

Ps Yusuf Silangit (BD.MA)

---

ENDNOTES
[i] Batak people recognized a powerful authority of the raja (village king/chieftain) in maintaining the observance of adat’s (customary law and traditional social system) obligations and handling village disputes, and the role of datu (priests and physicians) to perform religious ceremonies and rites. Someone also could be called ‘raja’ if he pioneered and established a new village (huta). Sisingamangaraja was respected as the greatest raja and religious leader in Batakland. He was known as an arbitrator between villages in disputes, seeking peaceful settlement and avoiding war among the Bataks, in Pedersen, Paul B., Batak Blood and Protestant Soul: The Development of National Batak Churches in North Sumatra (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm B Eerdmans, 1970), p.35.       

[ii] Rheinische Missionsgessellschaft (RMG) was a Protestant mission society founded in Barmen Germany in 1828. Hasselgren, Johan, Rural Batak, Kings in Medan: The Development of Toba Batak Ethno-Religious Identity in Medan, Indonesia 1912-1965, Studia Missionalia Upsaliensia LXXXIX (Stockholm: Elanders Gotab, 2000), p.80.

[iii] Ibid, p.71.

[iv] It means ‘my children are the most valuable to me, my children are my honor, and my children are my riches’, in Aritonang, Jan S., Mission Schools in Batakland (Indonesia) 1861-1940 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994), p.42.

[v] Pedersen, p.28.

[vi] In 1860, the grammar and the dictionary of the Toba Batak language and translations of parts of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, and the Gospel of John) written by a linguist van der Tuuk from the Dutch Bible Society were already available. In Aritonang, pp.88-89.     

[vii] Sipirok and the southern part of Batakland were already under Dutch’s control and Silindung valley was disrupted at that time by fighting between rival Batak clans. Ruck, Anne, This Child Must Die (Singapore: OMF, 1991), p.3.  

[viii] Ibid, p.2.

[ix] Ibid, p.6. It seems that Nommensen already identified that the Batak loved music and singing.

[x] Pedersen, p.58.

[xi] Ruck, p.7.

[xii] Ibid, p.9. Nommensen actually did not know that he was actually the one who would be sacrificed.  

[xiii] Silitonga, Arfinus, Is the Batak Christians Understanding of Sin in Line with the Christian Doctrines?, a Thesis (Singapore: TTC, 1983), p.15. But his dog which also ate that poisonous food promptly fell writhing on the ground and died, in Ruck, p.12.

[xiv] Ruck, p.10. Later Huta Dame was known as a place of refuge for the Bataks who converted to Christianity and Nommensen was regarded as the raja of Huta Dame but he rejected to be called as their raja.     

[xv] Extracted from Schreiner, Lothar, Telah Kudengar dari Ayahku: Perjumpaan Adat dengan Iman Kristen di Tanah Batak, (Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, 1978), p.45.

[xvi] Ruck, p.52. I think Sisingamangaraja was in dilemma here. He rejected western Christianity and the Dutch colonialism but on the other side he tried to avoid fighting against his own people.    

[xvii] Silindung valley was incorporated in the Dutch colony in 1878, in Hasselgren, p.76. And then military posts were established at Tarutung, Laguboti and Sipoholon, in Ruck, p.52  

[xviii] Ruck, p.53. 

[xix] Schreiner, p.47. Even some of the rajas forced and threatened Nommensen that they would convert to Muslims if missionaries did not build school in their villages.

[xx] Aritonang, p.121. 

[xxi] Schreiner, p.53. We notice here that RMG missionaries neglected the spiritual dimension of gondang for the Bataks and did not make any efforts to transform the playing of gondang as part of Batak’s authentic expression to glorify God in Christ. 

[xxii] Please refer to the importance value of the children among the Bataks in footnote No.4. Schools would be provided especially for children who had been baptized, in Aritonang, p.83. 

[xxiii] This is Fabri’s statement (he was the RMG Inspector from 1857 to 1884), in Hasselgren, p.82.

[xxiv] RMG also was influenced by Gustav Warneck’s theology of mission. Warneck (RMG Inspector 1884-1889) shared the common idea about colonialism that Germans were superior to ‘pagans’ in matters of culture and religion and had the right to have colonies. Aritonang, p.87.  

[xxv] In my opinion, RMG missionaries actually should involve in promoting true peace among the Batak clans based on Christian love, rejected Dutch colonialism, encouraged unity among the Bataks and helped the Batak people, including Sisingamangaraja, to defend Batakland from the Dutch colonial expansion.

[xxvi] This data is taken from http://www.hkbp150tahun.com/news-detail-93-87.html (Monday, 09/05/2010)

[xxvii] Statement from Ephorus HKBP Rev. Dr. Bonar Napitupulu, (http://www.in-christ.net/blog/yayasan_dan_gereja/gereja_top_ten_hkbp_no_2)  

[xxviii] For example: Liturgy of worship service, Catechism, and Hymns in Batak Church are still dominated by western Christianity.