About YABN
In 1997, some employees and a member of SIL Indonesia in Papua grappled with the question, “If SIL had to leave the country, what would be a viable local initiative to continue the important work of language development, multilingual education, transparent Bible translation, and Scripture use in Indonesia?” It spurred on the idea of the formation of a legal national Foundation / Yayasan with a national identity and the following original vision:
The [Yayasan] will serve and empower the language communities of Indonesia so that they will have access to Scripture and other materials in the languages and media that best serve them.
However, the vision was put on the back burner until a fiduciary challenge propelled the urgency to implement the legal formation of the Yayasan. SIL had a valuable asset – the Papua Training Center (PTC), which needed to be preserved and transferred to the Yayasan in order to achieve SIL’s vision. PTC had no legal Land Deed. In 2009, Yayasan Abdi Budaya Nusatara (YABN) was legally established to launch the vision of Yayasan and to secure legal ownership of the PTC facility.
In 2010 YABN was officially registered with the Indonesian Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. As a nonprofit national foundation for social, religious, and humanitarian development, YABN is committed to engaging Indonesian ethnolinguistic churches to provide God’s Word openly, transparently, and legally under the guidance of the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs, while doing language development and multilingual education under the guidance of the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs.
Sure enough, the concern that was raised several year ago became reality and SIL Indonesia has to be closed. The leader of SIL International decided to transfer its activities to Yayasan ABN. However, after three years of transitioning SIL Indonesia to Yayasan ABN, SIL International changed its course of action, and decided to set up its own Yayasan SIL.
Today, Yayasan ABN has reestablished itself as a self-governing national foundation with its own unique national identity, independent from any International NGO.
PRINCIPLES, BELIEFS AND VALUES
The Foundation is based on first of the Five Principles of the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia, modified to incorporate the Holy Trinity in God. Central to the guiding principle of the Foundation’s daily activities is the belief in One God who exists in three persons – God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, God as the creator of the universe, and in the inerrant Word of God as outlined in the Old and New Testaments[1].
(2 Timothy 3:16-17, NIV)
[1] “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
(Titus 2:11-14, NIV)
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
YABN strives to operate under the following biblical values:
Respect – we respect and affirm the dignity, capacity and potential of those we serve, donors, partners and staff
(John 13:34)
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
Forgiveness – we are committed to make amends and resolve conflicts
(Col 3:13)
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Humility – we work without our own ambition and “in humility value others above” ourselves
(Philippians 2:3)
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves
Integrity – we act consistently with our mission, being honest and transparent in our actions and statements and accept responsibility for our collective and personal actions
(Philippians 4:8)
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Excellence – we give it our best to deliver the best sustainable result.
(Col 3:23)
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
Commitment – we are committed to working effectively to serve language communities
(Philippians 3:14)
press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Faithfulness – we work by abiding in Him and growing our relationship with Jesus
(John 5:15)
The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Servanthood – we live to serve and not serve to live by serving Him and others as seen in the life of Jesus
(Mark 10:45)
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.