Political Parties and Churches: The Process of Political Party Infiltration into GMIM Indonesia

The relationship between religion and secular political parties has shown a complex configuration and has given rise to various political dynamics. GMIM or The Evangelical Meshi Church in Minahasa is currently the most important religious institution in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, with a strong network and structure extending to the service environment. This article aims to determine how political party infiltration into GMIM as a church organization contributes to a broader and more comprehensive understanding. This qualitative research uses a case study approach with the number of informants targeted in this group category of 15 people. The results of the study found that the infiltration of secular political parties into GMIM occurred through various efforts; one of the efforts that led to the political infiltration of secular parties into GMIM was an effort to weaken BIPRA’s (Ministry of Fathers, Mothers, Youth, Teenagers, Children) strength which cut from within BIPRA itself. The occurrence of the infiltration process in GMIM is an internal problem in the Church itself. The weak regeneration of clergy is also a problem of easy infiltration in GMIM. This effort to weaken and marginalize church cadres lasted almost 49 years. The infiltration process occurs because of problems in decision-making at GMIM. Decision-making in GMIM currently ignores the role of the congregation’s elder missionary premise. The method of contesting the selection of structures in GMIM also has many problems. The paradigm of democratic elections with various sound stages has changed to a transactional-oriented election. This is the basis that the critical group in GMIM no longer provides filtering of influences that enter GMIM. The infiltration process or movement in the GMIM structure has been going on for a long time. Political parties, through their political elites, dominate the management structure of GMIM, which impacts church decisions influenced by political content.Journal: International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS)