September 1 marks the launch date of the newest translation project for Clear and Simple Media. Simple Truths is being translated into Indonesian.

Locally known as Bahasa Indonesia (literally: “the language of Indonesia”), Bahasa is the official language of this country of 261 million. Bahasa is the language of education, commerce, governance, and mass media.

Indonesia is a country of islands and the second most linguistically diverse country in the world. More than 700 languages are spoken in the 17,000+ islands. Most Indonesians will speak multiple languages, but Bahasa is spoken by more than 210 million of Indonesia’s total population.

Indonesia is also the world’s largest Muslim country by population. There are more Muslims in Indonesia than in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, or Saudi Arabia.

For the past number of years, the church in Indonesia has been under growing pressure from the Muslim majority (87% of Indonesians register as Muslim). In some areas of the country, the church has been persecuted. Blasphemy Laws have been used in some Muslim-majority areas to limit Christian influence. This past year, Christian pastors have been jailed for saying clearly that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, a statement seen as blasphemous by many Muslims.

Simple Truths is a small, evangelical catechism that introduces and reinforces the basic teachings of the scripture. The book is used to disciple new believers by churches in many parts of the world. CSM is pleased to be able to put this tool into the hands of the church in this challenging part of the Southeast Asia.