RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS, HOSPITAL INFORMATION DEPARTMENT,& HEALTH CARE DEPARTMENT
From here, you can see the residence towers. The Bethel family lives in two of those buildings. From the very beginning of the project to relocate the branch to Jakarta, the Headquarters asked the Computer Department to pull network cables and set up a dedicated branch network in the residences. This was no small task—it required a great deal of time, effort, and resources. But the brothers in the Computer Department understood the importance of this work. In the long run, it saves a significant amount of money. More importantly, having our own secure Bethel network ensures a safe and reliable internet connection. This became especially important during the pandemic, when the Bethel family had to work from their own rooms. With many people online at the same time, a strong and stable connection was absolutely essential.
As you leave this area, you’ll see the Health Care Department and the Hospital Information Department. The brothers and sisters in the Health Care Department work hard to care for more than 950 special full-time servants serving in our branch territory. Every month, the department receives 450 health care requests from across Indonesia. The health care system in small towns, remote areas is often lacking, so the department frequently arranges travel to larger cities to ensure patients receive proper care.
The Hospital Information Department works with 23 Hospital Liaison Committees across the country. We have around 500 cooperative doctors in more than 200 hospitals, and these numbers continue to grow.
BRANCH COMMITTEE OFFICE
Thank you for not taking pictures in this conference room. This room is used for weekly meetings held every Wednesday by our branch committee. Equipped with the latest technology, it supports both in-person discussions and virtual participation via Zoom or Microsoft Teams. This is especially helpful when committee members are traveling to remote islands across Indonesia—they can still join and contribute to the meetings from afar. On the screen, you can see pictures of our nine BC members.
If you look outside these windows, you can see the rooftop of our newest branch building. That’s the very place where we first met earlier today, the starting point of our tour. You might recognize it by its location at the corner.
COMPUTER DEPARTMENT & TRANSLATION DEPARTMENT
The Computer Department is responsible for everything related to computers and the internet. These brothers and sisters take care of the maintenance of more than 800 computers used both at the branch and remotely for branch-related work. Many volunteers receive training from the organization to provide effective and expert support to all Bethel members and remote workers handling their respective assignments. That’s all for the Computer Department. Next, we’ll head over to the Translation Department. A tour guide is waiting in the room just over there to share some details about the department.
Welcome to Translation Department! In our displays, you could see a few examples of the 700 languages spoken by more than 280 million people in this country. However, most people speak Indonesians, the national language of Indonesia. Please feel free to take a picture of the display so you’ll have more time to see all the interesting tidbits later.
Among all these language fields, we are seeing exciting growth in the sign language field. We currently have two circuits, 16 congregations, and 19 groups. To support this growth, we are translating virtually all sign language publications for meetings and field ministry. And what’s really special is that the Governing Body has approved the translation of the New World Translation into sign language, which will be released incrementally! So far, we’ve already published 29 books.
Now we’d like to share one encouraging experience. This is Suwono. He was a skateboard enthusiast who loved alcohol and tobacco. A few years ago, around this time of year, he came to our Kingdom Hall just to say Christmas greetings. Why? Because he heard that many deaf ones usually gather at “the JW house”—our Kingdom Hall. After the meeting though, he realized that Jehovah’s Witnesses were different, and he accepted the offer to study the Bible. A few days later, he showed our brothers two pictures that he had received from a Muslim religious teacher. One of a person who prays regularly and goes to heaven, and another one of a person who doesn’t pray and ends up in hell. Our brother immediately showed him a video in Indonesian Sign Language, explaining that it is impossible for our loving God to torture humans eternally in hell. After watching it, Suwono tore up the paper and said, “The Bible is right, Jehovah’s Witnesses are right.” Despite numerous oppositions and challenges, he finally got baptized.
We are happy to be able to help the faithful slave provide spiritual food at the proper time for all kinds of people, we hope that many more will come to know Jehovah and remain faithful until the end.
LEGAL DEPARTMENT & PUBLIC INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
Working with government officials in a multi-ethnic vast archipelago requires flexibility and perseverance from Legal Department personnels. Many islands have a certain level of autonomy granted by the central government, which means regulations in each province can vary quite a bit. There are approximately 280 million people in this country, spread across 38 provinces.
In addition to cases involving law enforcement officials and court proceedings, we also face challenges in our interactions with government agencies. However, despite the challenges, we’ve seen numerous occasions where Jehovah’s name is praised through the appreciation shown by government officials. They often commend us for our respectful and cooperative approach.
One example comes from a provincial office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs. They specifically praised us for consistently submitting complete and well-organized applications, which made their review process much easier. Another example is when the Directorate General Immigration switched from paper-based to an online system. We took time to learn and adapt to the new system. In fact, an officer from one Immigration Office once asked us for advice on using a feature in their system—because we had already implemented it successfully while they were still learning how to use it.
As you leave this area, you will see the Public Information Department. This department works closely with the Legal Department to maintain communication and convey accurate information about Jehovah’s Witnesses to government officials, the media, and, when necessary, academia.
HISTORY PANELS
At the Service Department we mentioned that the School for Kingdom Evangelizers is held at the Bible Educational Center in the city of Bogor, about 60 kilometers from here. That facility was built during the time in when the work was under banned in Indonesia (from 1976 to 2001). It served as the branch office for over two decades.
Because of the ban, the facilities were constructed in a remote, out-of-the-way location to avoid drawing attention. After construction was completed, the complex was officially known as an education center. This Ciawi branch facility is closer in look to a conventional Bethel complex, where a few buildings are grouped closely together in a small compound. So our current Bethel facilities are very different in terms of layout! Not only that—the whole atmosphere was a lot different too. Bethel work had to be carried out discreetly. Neighbors didn’t know what the facility actually was, and Bethelites refrained from preaching in the surrounding areas so as not to draw attention to our activities there.
SERVICE DEPARTMENT
Welcome to the Service Department! The Service Department occupies a large space on this floor. This is fitting, because when the field is busy, this department becomes very busy too.
Currently there are almost 33,000 active publishers in our country, and every month, around 7,500 brothers and sisters are involved in some kind of full-time service in the field, such as regular or special pioneers, or as missionaries and circuit overseers. This represents 23% of all publishers in the country.
Our territory is a vast archipelago consisting of some 17,000 islands, spanning 5,000 kilometers from West to East. Many publishers are located in large cities, but there are also many small and isolated congregations and groups throughout our territory. Some of these are located on remote places that are difficult to reach, such as in the middle of the ocean, in mountainous regions, or in forested areas. Despite such unique challenges, Jehovah has blessed the preaching work all over our territory. In the last 10 years, 10,000 people were baptized, including many in remote areas.
The School for Kingdom Evangelizers, or SKE, contributes to the growth in our territory. Annually, we hold 4-5 classes in our Bible school facility just outside Jakarta. Many graduates are appointed as temporary special pioneers and sent to far-away places.
A nationwide special preaching campaign was held in 2023. More than 5,000 brothers participated, preaching in over 130 territories. And the results were truly encouraging—more than 2,000 Bible studies were started. In one location alone, the group started over 125 Bible studies in just one week. Indonesians are known for being very friendly, so starting conversations is generally quite easy. This warm and open nature played a big role in the success of the campaign.
BETHEL OFFICE & LOCAL DESIGN/CONSTRUCTION DEPARTMENT
Welcome friends! This office space is normally used by the Bethel Office. Here, you can see all the branch facilities that the Bethel Office oversees. In recent years, we were blessed to have had volunteers from other countries assisting us with the branch renovation project. During the renovation, our branch had to accommodate around 60% more construction volunteers in addition to the Bethel family, so this department was especially busy keeping track of the construction volunteers, attending to their needs, and at the same time, making sure that all the other regular arrangements at Bethel continued to run smoothly.
At this first stop of our tour, we’re pleased to share information about our Local Design and Construction (LDC) Department. The LDC office is located in a different building, which is not open for tours today. In this display, you’ll see the many types of Kingdom Halls built in our territory, including a simplified Hall, as well as a many steps required to obtain a legal permit. There are also 3D replicas of Kingdom Halls at various stages of construction. Please feel free to take pictures of the display so you can enjoy the details later at your leisure. Now, I’d like to share an experience that the department received from a Kingdom Hall construction team in Nias, a small island about 800 miles (more than 1.000 km) away from Jakarta.
A man kept passing by the Kingdom Hall construction site and couldn’t help but notice all the workers in bright green and orange vests. You see in Indonesia, worldly construction crews quite often disregard safety standards. They dress in whatever clothing and footwear they want, often only wearing sandals or even working shirtless. So when our brothers wear proper safety gear, even something as simple and basic as helmets and high visibility clothing, they really draw the attention of those around them. This was what happened in this case. One day, the man finally asked, 'Which company are these guys from? They look so organized and so serious about safety!' One of our brothers explained, 'They’re not from any commercial company — they’re Jehovah’s Witnesses, volunteering from all over Indonesia.' The man was stunned and said, 'Wow, in my church, we never work together so well like this. There’s always drama—one problem after another.' He was so impressed by what he saw that to this day, he’s still happy to receive visits. It just shows that seemingly small things, like our safety gear, can be a great way to start a witness. And we know that to Jehovah, safety is never a small thing.
LOBBY
Welcome to our “branch office in the sky” on the 31st floor. This is a piece of wooden art, carved entirely by hand by in the city of Jepara, Central Java. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the scene—it’s the picture of paradise found on pages 2 and 3 of the Listen to God brochure. As you can see, this is a very delicate piece of artwork, so we kindly ask you not to touch it. It was made from two logs of teak wood, weighing about 250 kg. It took the carver about seven months to complete. When it was first brought up here to the 31st floor, it took eight adults to lift this work of art and secure it to the wall.