INDONESIA: STUDENT SARI SHARES HER JOURNEY AS A UNDERCOVER CHRISTIAN

SARI* WAS JUST 14 WHEN SHE MADE THE BRAVE CHOICE TO FOLLOW JESUS. SHe’S FROM INDONESIA, AND HAD GROWN UP IN A MUSLIM FAMILY, BUT EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN SOME HANDED HER ONE OF THE GOSPELS ON THE STREET.

Reading through the stories about Jesus struck a deep chord with Sari, and she felt she had discovered the truth she had long been searching for.

“At that time, I felt empty with the religious teachings I had followed,” she said. “I felt that something still didn’t sit quite right, and I kept searching for the real truth. And what I read in that gospel tract changed everything.”

Sari chose to follow Jesus, leaving behind her former beliefs. Her family reacted with silence and fear. “Don’t speak of this with the neighbours,” her parents warned.

BRAVELY SHARING HER FAITH AT SCHOOL

Despite the pressure, Sari couldn’t hide her her new faith. She shared about Jesus at school, but when her teachers found out they tried to intimidate her.

“My decision to follow Jesus was irreversible,” she said. “I just longed for my friends to know Him too.” The pressure from her teachers eventually led her into depression, and she made the painful decision to leave school.

New beginnings through new skills

Thanksfully, God led her to the Women Training Centre (WTC), run by Open Doors partners. There, she learned sewing and knitting, and grew spiritually. After a year, she was given a sewing machine to help her make a living. “I am so grateful for this sewing machine,” she said. “Not only have my sewing skills improved, but the clothes and products I’ve made with it have helped sustain me financially to this day.”

Image: Sari with her sewing machine (we’ve hidden her identity for her safety)

UNDERCOVER AT UNIVERSITY

Now 21, Sari is studying management at university on a scholarship. But because she couldn’t change the religion on her ID card, she had to apply as a Muslim. “I’m afraid to reveal I’m a Christian,” she admits. “If they find out, they might take away my scholarship.”

In her first year, she was required to attend Islamic classes, wear a hijab, and read the Quran. “My heart was torn every time,” she confessed. She failed the course twice, but then something changed. “God softened my lecturer’s heart,” she said. “To pass, I only had to send a video of myself reciting the Quran. I still remembered how to do it.”

“It’s the price I’ve had to pay for not being able to change my ID,” she reflected. Yet even in secret, Sari remains faithful—quiet, courageous, and unshaken.

*Name changed for security reasons. Top image is representative and not of Sari.