Good morning everyone.

My name is Epiphany and today I’m going to tell you about the history of
how Christianity spread in the land of Batak.

Batak land is so famous in the eyes of the Europeans, Bataknese people considered as an
united group of cannibals and wild tribes. This presumption is supported with news of the death of
two missionaries sent by Zending, the Church Baptists from America, namely Pastors Samuel
Munson and Henry Lyman. This Event became a hot topic of conversation at Barmen. That incident
was what encouraged Nomensen's desire to carry out the mission of spreading Christianity to Toba.
Nommensen was born in 1834, his full name is Ingwer Ludwig Nommensen. He is from Nordstran,
Germany. Nommensen was not yet a famous person before migrating and living in Batak lands for 36
years. Before Nommensen's arrival to the Batak lands, there were already several priests who carry
out this special missions. This special mission is called Mission The Zending Protestant Church based
in Wuppertal, Barmen, and on Batak land is called Kongsi Barmen. Kongsi Barmen directs its Zending
Mission to Batak lands after the killing of their 7 missionaries in Borneo. From Borneo they were
transferred to Sumatra, to be precise to the Batak Land. Zending Kongsi Barmen sent Pastor Ingwer
Ludwig Nommensen to Sumatra on October 1861 to join with Van Asselt, Betz, Klamer and Heine. In
1861 to 1881, there was the laying of the first foundations of gospel preaching by Nommensen and
PH Johansen in silindung, with the strong support of the local ruler King Pontas Lumbantobing,
followed by the translation of the basic books for the churches, namely the Little Catechism in 1874
and the new testament in 1878. From 1881 to 1901, Nommensen moved his residence to Toba and
planned and conducted his own work. He made groups of congregations in a wider area in the Lake
Toba area and accommodated large groups, so that a tribal church was formed. In 1885 the first
pastors were ordained. In 1901, 48,000 Batak people were baptized. In 1918, Nommensen died and
was replaced by J. Warneck as Ephorus. This incident was marked by the formation of the juridically
independent Batak Church. In 1940, the Batak Church succeeded in being independent in a true
sense, namely when the German zendeling was interned and they chose a Batak priest, K. Sirait to
become an ephorus.

And that is the story of how Christianity spread in the land of Batak. Thank you for listening