Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary will award Jakarta-based evangelist and pastor Stephen Tong the 2025 Kuyper Prize.
The award, named for Dutch theologian and politician Abraham Kuyper, is given to scholars or community leaders whose contribution reflects “the ideas and values characteristic of Kuyper’s Neo-Calvinist vision of religious engagement in matters of social, political, and cultural significance.”
Based in Indonesia, the 84-year-old Tong is well-known in the Chinese-speaking world for his large evangelistic crusades and for introducing many to Reformed theology. According to his website, he has preached to 37 million people around the world in his 66 years of ministry. He founded Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministries International (STEMI) in 1978, opening offices around the world to support his evangelism efforts.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to receive this recognition,” Tong said in a statement. “My only desire has been to serve God and spread His truth to the nations.”
Tong was born in Xiamen, China, but his family escaped to Indonesia during the Chinese Communist revolution. In 1989 he founded the Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia, which he still pastors today. The megachurch compound, which Tong designed himself, sits in the bustling city of Jakarta, where 84 percent of the population is Muslim. It includes sanctuaries that can seat 6,500 people, a concert hall, an art gallery, a seminary, and a K-12 Christian school. Tong has also composed more than 200 hymns.
In his evangelistic crusades in Asia and around the world, Tong often incorporates Chinese history, Western philosophy, and Reformed theology into his sermons and takes questions from the audience. He’s also a vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party. Although China has banned him from entering the country, his messages have spread among Christians in China, initially through taped recordings and more recently on the internet.
“Reverend Stephen Tong’s lifelong dedication to evangelism has had a profound impact on millions around the world,” said Greg Elzinga, the interim president of Calvin University who was just announced as the school’s 13th president. “His unwavering commitment to spreading the gospel, especially in regions where Christianity is often challenged, is a remarkable testament to his faith and vision.”
Previous recipients of the Kuyper Prize include businessman Sid Jansma Jr., artist Makoto Fujimura, Colombian theologian Ruth Padilla DeBorst, attorney Rachel Denhollander, columnist David Brooks, pastor and civil rights activist John Perkins, and Daniel Bourdanné, past general secretary of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), who died in September.
In 2017, Princeton Theological Seminary reversed its decision to award the Kuyper Prize to Tim Keller following controversy over his views on women in pastoral leadership and LGBT clergy. Since then, the prize has been hosted by Calvin.
Keller and Tong both spoke at a conference for Chinese church leaders held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2020. The talks focused on how the gospel relates to culture, especially perseverance amid persecution. Later, five Chinese Christians were arrested for attending the conference.
Past Kuyper Prize winner Richard Mouw noted the global spread of Kuyper’s theology.
“The Kuyperian movement, once confined primarily to pockets of Dutch Calvinism in North America and the Netherlands, is growing internationally,” said the Fuller Seminary president emeritus. “Serious work on Kuyper’s thought is happening, for example, in mainland China.”
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