Welcome to the social networking age! Oh yes, everything in the internet nowadays must carry that word ’social’ or they will be so outdated, or so 2009 as they say it.. In recent years the internet has become so accessible to all people, people no longer need a computer to exist in the internet. They can make their presence by their cellular phones, be it the iPhone, Blackberry, or even any humble Nokia 1210 series.

It is no coincidence also that the biggest name in the social networking world now is.. yes, you know I was going to say it, Facebook! (Sorry Twitter..)

Facebook trend seems to sweep the whole world, more than anything ever in the world of internet. MySpace and Friendster are still there, kicking around, but everyday more and more are switching to Facebook because all of their friends did earlier.

I got to admit I was underestimating Facebook two years ago (that was 2008). I signed up because my friend already signed up to it. In 2009 I got more active in the Facebook, checking it everyday but never participate much. In 2010, I spent my time more in Facebook than checking my email.

Why? Because it keeps on improving its features and those features makes people spent more and more time in Facebook. For example, in 2008 Facebook didn’t have the chat feature. There was also few applications, if anything useful. But it is really the goal of Mark Zuckerberg, the young genius behind the Facebook, to make people spent their online time in Facebook and not needing to browse to other websites. Sounds impossible? Well, let’s just see it two years from now.

Anyway, enough for the presentation of what I know about Facebook, now what are the things that you must know that Facebook can do for your church.

1. Reaching The Youth

You heard me saying that more and more people are spending their time in Facebook, and you should use it for your church advantage. Radio and Television stations all know about this secret, if you are having people’s attention, you have the power.

The fact is more and more youth are using internet, and more and more time they spend in Facebook. You’ve got to use this to reach them. You have the greater chance to get their attention now using Facebook than using radio or TV (unless it’s national TV of course).

Still don’t get what I meant? Here’s the step by step:
1. If your church doesn’t have a Facebook page, go create one.. now.
2. If your church doesn’t have a Facebook group, login to that account or your account and create one.. now.
3. Add as a Friend all the youth people in your church that exist in Facebook, and add all also the adults so they don’t’ get mad (just kidding..).
4. Try post an invitation that you are going to held a free lunch this coming Sunday in your house and see what happens.

Here’s my guarantee: If no one replies to your invitation, I will pay for the free lunch. (I’m not serious, you know it).

2. Increase The Non-Sabbath Interaction

Here’s a little problem with SDA youth communication channel; they only runs on Sabbath. Don’t believe me? Try to volunteer to help the youth leader this term and you will believe me in less than few weeks.

It’s really a classic story, you talk to your church friends about the plan that you are going to have next Sabbath, and you guys have divided the responsibilities and everything looks good until the next Sabbath you find out that no one has done anything.

Why? Because for the whole week none of you know what other’s are doing or maybe everyone forgets what they should do.

But like I’ve told you before, it’s so 2009 man! If your friends are in Facebook, high chance is they will check their Facebook at least once a day. You can send them message or even chat with them whenever they are online, or you can also post message on their wall to get their attention.

What if they are not checking their Facebook that often? Don’t worry, all the notifications from Facebook will be sent to their email address. It simply increase the chance they will get the message compared to the traditional method of emailing them only.

3. Maintain The Ties

However beautiful time we have with our fellow brothers and sisters in the church, at one point in our life we must go somewhere else for school, job, marriage, or whatever reasons.

Keeping the communication is important because it gives us a stronger sense of family and we might help each other in time of needs. With Facebook you can easily check what’s going on in the lives of your previous church members so you always have something to talk about, use this for your advantage.

You can even check how they look now and where they have been from the photos with their name tagged.

For example, from a Facebook status or Photos you know that a previous church member who moved to a new place two years ago just got married last Sunday. You can easily send her a congratulation message and share about what’s going on for the previous two years.

4. Have The Always Updated Contact Information

If you ever tried to create a church member database you know one thing for sure; having it updated is a lot harder than having it created. People change their cell phone numbers, email, or addresses. It’s not like few decades ago where people usually change their contact information once every several years.

Nowadays people change their cellphone number or email addresses often, and you may not always know this before you need it.

Here’s the good news, people update their own contact information on Facebook,  you don’t even need to do the job.

Even if they don’t, you still contact them through Facebook with the advantages explained in the point number two above.

To be Continued…

All right, those are the four things that you can use for your church advantage. I was planning to include the things that Facebook cannot do for your church but it seems that it will be too long for a single blog post, so check out next time for the part 2 of this post for the list of things that unfortunately Facebook cannot help you with.

As always, if you have any comment, ideas, or even better, experiences, about using Facebook for your church advantage, please leave your comment here.

Then, I thought, why there is no chord book for the songs that we Seventh-Day Adventist always sing every Sabbath?

So I decided to write down all chords for the whole Lagu Sion (SDA Hymnal in Bahasa Indonesia). I didn’t able to find the chords for all the song because there are few songs that I really don’t know how they sound.

One time, there was a young boy in my church who saw my Lagu Sion that was full of chord scratches and he said he wanted to borrow it. He photocopied the whole Lagu Sion and enlarge it. I then encouraged him to play guitar with the pianist in the church every Sabbath. At first, he was hesitant because he was shy. But I kept pushing him, telling him that he just need to play the chords from the Lagu Sion anyway, most of the songs are already covered. He agreed and now I think he is a better guitar player than I am.

This experience inspired me to publish the chords here in my blog, hoping that there are many guitarist, new and experienced, old and young, who will be benefited from it. If you find that the chords are inaccurate, you can tell me and probably give me the correct chords as well, and I will fix it immediately.

*if a song is not clickable, it means I haven’t have the chords yet

Lagu Sion

1. DI HADAPAN HADIRAT HU
2. KEPADA ALLAH BRI PUJI
3. TUHAN ADA DALAM KAABAH
4. SEMBAHLAH ALLAH YANG MAHA MULIA
5. SEMBAHLAH ALLAH

6. PIMPIN AKU YA GEMBALA
7. PERHUBUNGAN KITA
8. YA YESUS, YANG AKU KASIH
9. MARI MAHARAJA
10. KAMI DATANG PADAMU

11. ANGKAT DIA HINGGA NYATA
12. KAMI SEMBAH SUJUD ALLAH
13. TEGUHLAH ALASAN
14. JIKA KIRANYA LIDAHKU
15. YA ALLAH KOTA YANG TEGUH

16. SUKALAH KITA CRITAKAN
17. TUHAN SLALU PIMPIN AKU
18. TEGUHLAH ALASAN
19. JIKA KIRANYA LIDAHKU
20. YA ALLAH KOTA YANG TEGUH

21. SUCI, SUCI, SUCI
22. BANGUN, JIWAKU DAN SEDIA
23. BETAPA INDAH RUMAH-MU
24. IMAN ORANG SALEH KEKAL
25. JIKA KU KENANGKAN TUHAN

26. KAMI MAU LIHAT YESUS JURUSELAMAT
27. SEMBAH SUJUDLAH UMAT-NYA
28. HATI YESUS PENUH
29. BRIKANLAH, YA TUHAN
30. RAJA KEKAL, PIMPINLAH

31. KASIH SURGA YANG TERINDAH
32. SEPERTI BAPA KASIH ANAK-NYA
33. HAI PUJILAH NAMA YESUS
34. KU PUJI TUHAN YANG JADIKAN
35. ADA TEMPAT DIAM TEDUH

36. TUNTUN AKU AGAR KAKIKU, TUHAN
37. APABILA DAMAI PERJALANANKU
38. TUHAN, PIMPINLAH AKU
39. LEBIH BESAR DARI KASIH IBU
40. TIADA LAIN PELINDUNG SPERTI YESUS

…. (to be updated)

Just last night I was thinking if anyone has created a PDF of Lagu Sion (Indonesian Seventh-Day Adventist Hymnal book). I didn’t see any in the first and second page of Google results for “Lagu Sion PDF” so I assumed that it is not available yet.

Thank God, there are so many Powerpoint version of Lagu Sion available already. Because to create this Lagu Sion PDF, I use one of the Powerpoint version and copy the lyrics to a text file, then I create the PDF version with Microsoft Word. It really speed up the process, because I don’t need to type all the lyrics.

So here it is, the Lagu Sion in PDF format:

Download Lagu Sion PDF Version 1.0

Pastor Ginduk from Flickr by caB.jm’s photostream

I know that a position as Sabbath School group discussion leader is one of the unwanted position in some Adventist church. You got to come early and face a bunch of people who never study their Sabbath School lessons. Help!

Do it wrongly and you got a dull and boring SS discussion… And that was the case with my church youth SS group discussion few years ago.

I tried several ways on how to improve the live of our youth SS discussion. Some works, some don’t, but in the process I learned several things that I believe are essential to improve a SS group discussion.

In this post I want to share to you some of the things that work in my church.

1. Small is Beautiful (and Circle Formation is Advantageous)

When it comes to the size of SS discussion, I prefer a small size of 4-6 person. Why? Because it encourage everyone to speak.

Smaller size means that less number of eye contact and since what refrain most of the people to speak is fear of rejection, the small size becomes your advantage to make everyone speak.

For any new SS group leader I encourage you to try this as this also will build your confidence as you try to lead more and more number of people.

There are some cases where you cannot force this idea of small group discussion size, but you can have a list of question and divide the group to discuss the questions seperately.

If possible, also create the group discussion in a circle form. It will make everyone sees everyone and also encourage a live group discussion. I believe this is one of the critical factor for encouraging everyone to speak too.

Most of Sabbath School group discussion I know is setup similar to a class room where the SS group leader stands in front of several rows of pew. It’s not so hard to guess who do all the talking in this kind of setup.

2. Get Prepared

Preparation is what a SS group leader should do every week. As SS group leader you should read your Sabbath School lessons everyday, period. You cannot skim read the lessons on Friday night and hope everything will be allright the next morning. It doesn’t work that way.

Your group will easily notice whenever you lack of preparation. Those of you who have experience it, you know what I’m talking about.

3. Choose The Proper Weapons

If preparation guarantees you ready for the discussion, choosing the right materials guarantees you to have a great discussion. Although we believe in “Bible and Bible alone”, preparing with the right materials broaden your mind of what the lesson could lead to.

You can refer to my earlier post “Djitz Sabbath School Stack” to see my list of weapons before leading the SS discussion on Sabbath.

4. Pray

Pray in your heart before you read your Bible and SS lessons, and before you go to Church on Sabbath, and pray together before you start your SS group discussion. There is no such thing as too much prayer.

I learned my lesson when one of my youngest student in AY reminded me that we didn’t pray before we start the Pathfinder lesson.

(Wait a second, are we talking about AY or SS?)

The point is, you can forget anything in this tips but never forget to pray to God that He will lead you as you lead the discussion.

5. Ask Questions

SS group leader should not do all the talk, for it won’t be a discussion.
Besides your goal here is to make everyone thinks and talks (if possible) so go ahead, prepare some questions before you start the SS discussion and asks for everyone’s opinion appropriately.

SS lesson has some good questions you can easily ask. Most of the resources in my Sabbath School Stack will also give you some more good questions. You even may also ask some of your personal questions sometimes.

Here’s how I do the discussion:

First, I present the lesson title, have people read the texts and I explain briefly what the lesson of that particular day is all about.

Then I ask the group about the question that I have prepared in relation with the lesson.

Let the discussion flow from there, but keep it under the lesson context.

6. You Don’t Know Everything, Don’t Act As If You Do

Face it, nobody knows everything about Bible, not even your Pastor, so why should you act like you do?

Humbleness is one important characteristic for a SS discussion leader. However much resources you have read prior to the SS discussion you will never know all the questions that your group will ask.

Rather than trying to be the know it all, why not ask everyone’s opinion of the matter? You will be surprised on how much actually we can learn from everyone.

7. Smile

Don’t smile only to the cute girl (or guy) in the group, but smile generously to everyone in the group. People don’t go to church to see people frown, they go to church to feel how everyone is happy in the Sabbath day.

I believe Jesus must have smiled a lot during Sabbath when He was in this Earth.

I usually smile whenever I don’t know an answer. I smile whenever anyone try to tell me I’m dead wrong.

Control yourself and your words, don’t let emotion takes control when you lead a SS discussion. Keep smiling.

Conclusion

Believe me, becoming a Sabbath School group discussion leader is one of the most interesting responsibility in a church. When else you have the chance to talk and discuss about Bible with a group of people? You will also meet so many different types of people with their different understanding and perceptions.

Simply put, if you are one of the person who likes to meet different types of people, you’ll love it.

Moreover, a Sabbath School group discussion leader bears a heavy responsibility of leading the group to Jesus, the main reason of the Sabbath worship itself. Never take it for granted.

If you have some other tips that you can share here, please write them in the comment section.

God bless your Sabbath School discussion brothers and sisters!

Veneta SDA Church from Flickr by YoungWarrior

Quite a catchy title huh? Well, I just wanna talk about my theories of different church types. I’m not gonna talk about different church denominations here, but rather the different church of SDAs.

From my experiences going around the churches in Philippines, Singapore, Surabaya, Bali, and Jakarta, I see that basically SDA churches can be categorized into at least four types, they are:

1. Family churches

Family churches are churches that, well, consist of families. I know you gonna scream, “But aren’t all churches consist of families???”

Yes, but these churches are really full of different families that have known each other for several years and attend the church together.

This kind of church maybe small, or big, it doesn’t matter. But it is characterized by the strong bond of families inside, usually the grandfather, father, children, and great grandchildren are in the same church.

2. Tourist churches

Tourist churches are churches that looks full because 50% of the attendees are ‘tourists’ most of the time.

The word tourists here can mean literal tourist for the churches that is located in tourist cities, but it also can mean the SDA ‘tourists’ who have no permanent churches.

It’s quite easy to notice this kind of church, just ask several people beside you if they know who is the name of the church pastor. If the church is consists of tourists, at least half of the people will politely told you that they don’t really know it.

Other characteristic of tourist churches, if more than 50% of the people you see in the sermon was gone after the potluck, then it is indeed a tourist church.

3. School churches

School churches are churches that is located inside or near an Adventist school compound.

You can notice that more than fifty percent of the attendees are beautiful and handsome young people, high school or college age, usually they are in couples holding hands.

It is characterized by the higher number of young people classes during Sabbath School discussion time. However, though it is full in the Sabbath morning, 80% of them will be gone and no longer can be seen when AY program starts.

4. Social churces

Social churches is like a meeting point. It is a church with convenient environment and facilities located in a strategic location, making it the best place to meet old friends. Usually it is full after the Sabbath School time because people will need to prepare and show their best before meet their old friends.

It is usually characterized by fashionistas where the church attendees have the latest fashion trend and gadgets.

One more thing, potluck is the most favorite part of this type of church, as the attendees make discussions that far interesting surpass the Sabbath School discussions.

Closing Words

I believe you notice some of the churches that fall to four categories I mentioned above.

To be honest I’m not trying to attack nor disregard churches with this post, please consider this post as a ‘reality’ joke that actually happening around us. If you look closely, the churches are actually reflections of the church members and attendees.

Guests, newly baptized, and all other who want to know more about Jesus is actually judging Christianity through our behaviors and worship habits. It is a pity to show negative images to people who seek the wonderful Savior and His humble followers.

If you have comments or critics please let me know.

photo by Rafael Fischer (http://iasd.org)

AY Department is probably one of the most important department in a church because it prepares the next generation for their responsibilities to God and fellow men. Unfortunately in most churches it is also probably the department that has least attention.

I’ve had a year experience as my church Adventist Youth (AY) Leader. The church was a petite one, with only more or less 10 youth in total. However, the lessons that I learned I believe are quite fundamental and exist in other churches as well.

In this post I want to share some of the lessons that I have the great opportunity to learn during my AY leadership term.

Lesson #1. Every church has its own problem

So you see another ‘ideal’ church and you start envying how on Earth they could be so perfect in all AY aspects? Great programs, great parents support, cool officers, and other things that make you want to move to that particular church.

Well, believe me, there is no all-perfect church, and that church that you think is the heavenly church is no exception. That church must have one or more problems that it’s facing.

There is one church in Jakarta that is famous for its number of youth. It has a great choir group with full schedule, beautiful girls, and handsome guys, and very active AY members.

I happened to have a chance to talk to one of its AY member, and I was surprised with what I heard. She said that there is actually some internal problem among the youth. Well well well.., who would’ve thought?

What’s my point?

Don’t get panic and discouraged when you meet a challenging problem. That’s really the life fact since the second Adam and Eve sinned. Problems are in nature just like the gravitational force, and as the AY leader, you are the lucky person who should handle them. Hehehe..!

Don’t get mad at me yet. It’s really your responsibility to handle those AY problems, but always work with the other AY officers and church officers to solve the problem.

Lesson #2. Have a Purpose

Allright, I’m not actually promoting the book “The Purpose Driven Life” here, though yeah, the book is a great one.

Rather I’m encouraging every AY leader to have a deeper purpose rather than just be an AY leader.

What does it mean?

When I was the AY leader of my church, I always have this purpose of “teaching the teens and kids in my church so that they will be smarter and better person when they are at my age later.”

That way I always prioritize programs that are aligned with this purpose, such as Adventurer and Pathfinder programs.

Having a purpose means you have a higher goal than just completing your one year AY leader term. This will help you set out one year AY plan, help you cope up with problems that come to you, and feel more sense of accomplishment when you are done.

Please make it personally, not something that you got from the Pathfinder Guide Book or any pre-made sources. Because you won’t feel the passion to do it unless it really comes your personal thought.

Lesson #3. Be patient, have an open mind, and be tactful

Now I should admit that this is one of the toughest thing that I learned. I thought having seen so much in Philippines, Singapore, and Indonesia, I must already possessed enough level of the so called ‘open mind’.

Maybe, but there is no word ‘enough’ for this. There is really so many different people in this world, and this world always have a ready stock of people that can make you crazy.

So what should you do?

First, keep your head cool. Then talk to them and get to know them better. Try to know their passions, goals, and hobbies.

Why?

Because from my experience, people that are bad and kill joy at one event, may be the central of the universe and heroes at other events. They who you believe ruin one of your carefully planned program may be just the person who save your face in other program.

It’s similar to the colors of different painting. Blue may be the color of choice when you are painting a scene with lots of skies in it. But not be a good choice when you are painting a close up flower.

Knowing your AY members will give you a great advantage of choosing the right people for the right time. It will give a win-win situation for you and the AY members.

Lastly, never think that people should always think like you do, because naturally they just don’t. Keep your mind open for different opinions and options. Besides, who knows that these opinions and options may be better than your original ideas.

Lesson #4. Network With Other AY Leaders And, If Possible, AY Mentor

Who says that networking only work in business world? Leading a church AY will be a lot more fun and interesting when you have fellow AY leaders to share and discuss with.

Some problems may not be as hard as you thought before when seen from other person’s point of view. Some problems may already even solved by other person, so you don’t need to find out the solution further.

When I was an AY leader, I had a very good friend of mine who happened was the AY leader of her church. It is really encouraging when you can talk to someone who isn’t only understand the situation, but also can feel the problem.

Having an AY mentor is actually an ideal situation, a utopia for every AY leader, especially for a beginner. Unfortunately, it is a very rare condition because what happen most of the time is rather a sad fact.

Most of ex-AY leaders are usually very much tired and exhausted with the AY affairs. With several famous reasons such as ‘no longer a youth’, or ‘i’m already married’, these ex-AY leaders are actually wasting their precious experiences that can help any current AY leader to repeat the same mistakes.

However, I believe you still can consult them every now and then. To recognize them early is really important, because usually they play low profile once they complete their term.

One important notice though in networking, please don’t think that it’s an obligation for your fellow AY leaders and AY mentor to help you. They are just like you, so they probably have their own problems. Do return the favors and offer them help if you can do something for them. This will keep a healthy relationship.

Lesson #5. It’s Not About You, It’s About Jesus and Others

When I knew I was elected as AY leader,  I was not only surprised, I was outraged. How on Earth??? Why me? I almost never attend the AY when I studied in college, though it was Adventist college. Once even I got a ‘prize’ for being the person who attend the least number of AY. (It was the idea of the AY leader, she really knew how to recognize the lazy AY goers.. :p).

So I thought, okay, whatever, just let see what gonna happen.

To my surprise, it wasn’t actually that bad. Besides, it’s pretty cool to be an AY leader sometimes. It caught girls attention pretty good sometimes.

However, I realized it’s totally wrong to think selfishly when you are the AY leader. Jesus has showed us that to lead is actually to serve. I know it sounds cliche, but trust me, it’s hard to refuse the chance to use your position for some selfish reasons. Especially when people don’t notice and it’s all covered in great programs.

Always pray to God, ask for His help, and surrender yourself and your plans fully to Him. Because when He takes control, it just can’t get wrong.

Wrap Up

Remember guys, an AY leader has a really great responsibility. It’s the person who the younger kids are look up too. Whatever examples that the AY leader showed, they are what the kids will most probably do when they grew up later.

Don’t do it because you were elected and you have no choice. If you feel so, please consider resigning, because it will only hurt yourself and the AY.

So far, these five tips are what I can share with you. If you have problems and suggestions about AY, feel free to contact me.

Found this ebook from the General Conference Archive Website. Once again, I think this is a hidden treasure just like the “Believe and Work of Seventh-Day Adventist.”

The book was published back at 1877, more than a hundred and thirty years ago. It pretty much explained the old English words used, many that I don’t understand fully.

The book is probably an old version of ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ written by Adventist. It consists of short stories that are full of wonderful lessons.

It’s really a good book for read on Sabbath and a must read for everyone.

So as with one’s Sabbath School (SS) stack, I believe different people have different favorite Sabbath school lesson studies and preparation books that they read. Although if I’m not wrong, this only applies to less than 10% of church members who regularly read lesson studies to prepare for the Sabbath school discussion. (Don’t you think so?)

Anyway, I’m not writing this post to judge anyone, but I just want to share my Sabbath school stack, a list of my favorite tools that I use to prepare myself for Sabbath school discussion every Sabbath. The list is sorted in order of importance.

1. e-Sword
2. Adult Sabbath School Easy Reading Lesson Studies
3. Sabbath School U Video Cast
4. Adult Sabbath School Lesson Study Outlines by Bruce N. Cameron, J.D.
5. Sacramento Church Sabbath School Discussion Video Cast

I will discuss briefly about each of the tools above.

1. e-Sword

e-Sword is actually a Bible study software created by Rick Meyers. For those of you who have not tried this software, I strongly recommend you to try it. In default it only has the KJV version Bible plus Strong Bible Commentary. However, you can check the website for other Bible translations plugins, be them English or other language as well. There are commercial plugins and free plugins available in the website, and they are not limited to Bible translation only as you can find Bible commentaries, Illustrations, and Devotional plugins there.

The Bible Version plugins that is currently installed in my e-Sword are:
- Indonesian Terjemahan Baru (ITB)
- Indonesian Bahasa Indonesia Sehari-hari (IBIS)
- Good News Bible (GNB)
- Bible in Basic English (BBE)

I love comparing Bible verses in different Bible translation because doing such give me a better understanding and insights of what actually the verses could mean seen from different perspectives.

2. Adult Sabbath School Easy Reading Lesson Studies

This is my most favorite Sabbath School lesson study version, as compared with the regular Adult Sabbath School lesson study and CQ (Collegiate Quarterly) lesson study. Why? Because it’s short, easy to read… but yet it contains the same exact lessons from the other two lesson studies. It’s actually like a juice extract of Adult Sabbath School lesson study.

I totally recommend this lesson study for Sabbath School discussion leader. If you are a Sabbath school discussion leader, try to use it and you will understand why I said so.

3. Sabbath School U Video Cast

This is my another favorite Sabbath School “lesson study”. Sabbath School U is a 28 minutes video cast freely available to download. It shows a group of college and university students discussing Sabbath School lesson and lead by a youth pastor.

Why I love it? You certainly can find different insights from the young people as they tell their stories and how they see the practical use of the Sabbath School lesson. I also recommend this to Sabbath School discussion leader and those who fail to study Sabbath School for the whole week but don’t wanna look blank during Sabbath school discussion.

4. Adult Sabbath School Lesson Study Outlines by Bruce N. Cameron, J.D.

This is actually also one of my older brother Sabbath School stack. It’s a Sabbath School lesson outlines seen completely from different perspective as the author promise not to use any Ellen G. White book in it and only use Bible verses to explain the lessons.

It is actually targetted to other non-SDA Christians and thus may have different approach to the Sabbath School lesson as compared with the regular Sabbath School Lesson Study.

I “do not” recommend this to Sabbath School discussion leader. What I mean with “do not” here is this lesson study outlines may confuse the Sabbath School members who only study the lesson guide. Although this outlines talk about the same thing, it approach the lesson differently and so may be more that 50% different from the regular lesson guide.

For personal study, however, I recommend this study outlines because it uses Bible verses extensively and contain fresh insights delivered in interesting way.

5. Sacramento Church Sabbath School Discussion Video Cast

It is a 60 minutes video freely available to download from Amazing Facts website. The video start with a beautiful song services and continued with “traditional” Sabbath School discussion where the whole congregation discussion is lead by a Pastor, so there is less participation from the congregation beside the Bible verse reading help.

Summary

So those are Djitz Sabbath School stack, my Sabbath School tools of trade. Just like an application stack to a programmer, that enables the programmer to create a good software, Sabbath School stack is a box of necessary tools for everyone who wants to have a great Sabbath School discussion.

I invite you to list your own Sabbath School here at the comment section. It may inspire other people who are not interested to study their lesson studies to study the lessons regularly.

I personally create this guide as a quick guide for SDAs who travel to Surabaya and have no idea about the SDA churches there.
This guide does not discuss all the SDA churches in Surabaya, but rather only the churches that I visited, mostly located in the heart of Surabaya city.

Most of the SDA churches in Surabaya are named based on its street or location, making them easy to remember. Finding the route to the churches, however, is another story
since the road in Surabaya is quite “artistically” planned, and public transportation route information is not quite available, even when you ask most of the local residence. So it sure take some time to get familiar with the city.

My two cents, buy Surabaya Map from bookstore, it costs around Rp 30,000 but will be the best investment during stay in Surabaya.

The comment about the churches are based on my personal observation.

1 – Anjasmoro

Address: Jl. Anjasmoro No.12 Surabaya
How to get there: Find ways to Basuki Rachmat Street, take the “E” Mikrolet, go down at stoplight before Tidar street.

My Comment:
First church that I attended when I arrived in Surabaya.
It is quite famous, because it has the only Adventist School (from Elementary to Senior High) in Surabaya.

2 – Tanjung Anom

Address: Jl. Tanjung Anom 5 Surabaya
Phone: (031) 532 2429
How to get here: Find way to Basuki Rachmat Street, take Damri Bus going to Tanjung Perak, go down at stoplight before BG Junction, ask people where Tanjung Anom is.

Schedule:
Sabbath School: 09:00 – 10:30
Sermon Service: 10:30 – 12:00
Adventist Youth: 16:30 – 18:00
Midweek: 18:00 – 19:00
Vesper: N/A

My Comment:

I heard it is one of the largest Adventist church in Surabaya
It’s a compound that includes the Surabaya Conference office and Adventist Book Store.
Finding this church is kind of tricky for me because Tanjung Anom street is not listed in my map.

3 – Tanjung Perak

Address: Jl. Teluk Kumai Barat 2 Surabaya
How to get there: Take the Damri Bus going to Tanjung Perak, go down in the Jakarta Street where there is a boat monument, cross the street and walk till just before the railroad. See to your left, then you will see the church with the SDA logo.

Schedule:
Sabbath School: 08:30 – 10:00
Sermon Service: 10:00 – 11:30
Adventist Youth: 16:00 – 18:00
Midweek: 18:30 – 20:00
Vesper: N/A

My Comment:
A beautiful church.

4 – Diponegoro

Address: Jl. Diponegoro 24 Surabaya
Phone: (031) 713 54502 / 718 83302
How to get here: From Joyoboyo Station, find angkot that pass Diponegoro street, go down when you find the GKIJ church.

My Comment:
Since the church is actually a GKIJ church, you may easily missed this church.

Schedule:
Sabbath School: 08:45 – 10:45
Sermon Service: 11:00 – 12:00
Adventist Youth: 16:30 – 18:00
Midweek: 18:00 – 19:30
Vesper: N/A

5 – Sepanjang

Address: Jl. Senoputro 10, Karang Pilang, Surabaya
Phone: (031) 766 0983
How to get here: Ask the taxi driver

Schedule:
Sabbath School: 09:00 – 10:30
Sermon Service: 10:30 – 12:00
Adventist Youth: -
Midweek: -
Vesper: N/A

My Comment:
The church is located in the TNI-AL Complex, somewhere south, quite far from the city.

6 – Tidar I

Address: Jl. Kutisari IX No.54, Surabaya
Phone: 8433768
How to get here: Go to Joyoboyo station, take the H4 going to SEDATI, go down in front of Kutisari Tennis Center (after post office), cross the street, then use your instinct.

My Comment:
I noticed it is the church that has the most number of youth.