Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Lutheran vicar ordination
and graduation service – Indonesia
Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio are the basis of Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Lutheran (STT Lutheran), the seminary of the Gereja Lutheran Indonesia, to produce reliable and faithful theologians. Based on the theologies put forward by Luther which rested on pure Bible teachings, STT Lutheran has produced many servants of God who work in his fields.
June 16, 2023 was a happy moment for five students, Danial Banunaek, Fekitaris Bonla’e, Johan Fotis, Septurial Kinbenu, and Yofni Tse, who graduated and were ordained vicars. They spent four years studying theology, both doctrinally and practically. The president of the Gereja Lutheran Indonesia, Pastor Medi Sutrisno, said in his sermon to the five students: “You will be God’s ambassadors who bring freedom to those who live in slavery to sin.”
Vicar Septurial Kinbenu said: “It is not because I have gone through a learning process for four years at STT Lutheran that I was appointed to be a servant of God, but these are all God’s miracles. I used to be the worst, but now I am entrusted with the sharing of God’s redemption. Through the STT Lutheran professors and the lessons that have been taught, I have the opportunity to enjoy pure biblical teaching,”
STT Lutheran has a doctrinal and practical theological education program for four years at the seminary. After that, students who have graduated from the seminary will become vicars for three years with the Injili, Konfesional and Mandiri (Evangelical, Confessional, and Self-supporting) program. They will serve in two different places for two years, then return to the seminary for one year to study again. After going through this process, they will be appointed as pastors and receive a new call.
“God works in every way to spread his gospel. This is what I felt while studying at STT Lutheran. God moved sincere people to teach us; he also encouraged our brothers and sisters around the world to become donors to support ministry in Indonesia. May they continue to support our ministry and always carry us in their prayers,” said Vicars Johan Fotis and Yofni Tse.
The Graduation and Vicar Call Service on June 16, 2023 was attended by a variety of people. Even some who are not believers witnessed and heard that Christ has freed us from sin, and now has entrusted that news to the five students who have been ordained as vicars.
A hymn that was created by Ms. Nani Warsito and the STT Lutheran Team was also sung as proof that STT Lutheran stands as an institution that brings love to everyone around it. The song in English says:
Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Lutheran
Carrying the commission of the Lord Jesus
Go to all corners of the world
Make disciples of all nations
Faithful in duty and devotion
Uphold his word of truth
Loving one’s neighbor
Based on God’s love
Sola Gratia and Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura
Become my passion
Grace, my lifeblood
Serving Jesus Christ my Lord.
Vicar Fekitaris Bonla’e said: “The Graduation and Vicar Call Service was something that amazed me, at which time I felt that God’s love is always present. I felt that I will be inadequate at first, but when I heard my call for the first time, I immediately realized that it is not about me, but about him I serve.”
In the new academic year, STT Lutheran will graduate an additional eight students who will be appointed as the new vicars. Let all this happen according to God’s will. May STT Lutheran be a means used by God to produce his servants. Please keep us in your prayers.
Submitted by Pastor Michael Simarmata
Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Lutheran 2023 graduating class
