List of church buildings in Indonesia

These are lists of church buildings in Indonesia, based on:

Around 10% of Indonesia's total population are Christians, and there are approximately 61000 churches across Indonesia. This list strictly only includes notable church buildings and their historic significance in Indonesian history.

In Indonesia, church buildings in the first stage of their creation were simple, shed-like structures, built from bamboo or wood. Once sizable congregations had been established, more permanent buildings were erected, which seated hundreds or even over a thousand.

There is evidence of the presence of Christian communities (Chaldean Church) in north Sumatra as early as the 7th century.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in Indonesia. They sought to dominate the sources of valuable spices and to extend their Roman Catholic missionary efforts. Francis Xavier was the most well-known Portuguese missionary in the archipelago, the mission began in 1534 when some chiefs from Morotai came to Ternate asking to be baptised. He later returned to Moluccas and spent his time at Halmahera, Ternate and Amboina in 1546-1547, baptizing several thousand locals.

Dutch documents state that nearly all inhabitants of Ambon were Catholics, introduced by the Portuguese Jesuits, mostly arrived from Goa. Ambon had four fine church buildings and a small hospital, La Misericordia. The Jesuit Church of St. James was from mid-1605 used for Protestant services. In 1630 it was replaced by a stone building called St. Paul's Church.

Catholicism in Indonesia came into a dark age when the Protestant-Dutch VOC defeated the Portuguese and took over their possession at Mollucas in 1605 and Solor in 1613. Dutch East India Company or Vereniging Oost Indie Compagnie (VOC) suppressed the Catholic religion within their conquered territories and banned any Catholic missionary activities. Many Catholics were forcibly converted to Protestantism and Catholic churches were changed for Protestant purposes. As a result of their successful campaign in the East Indies and strong sentiment against the Catholics, many of the earliest surviving well-documented church buildings in the Indonesian archipelago are Protestant churches; most of them are concentrated along the north coast of Java and the islands of Moluccas.

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