'To build a generation of stars': Megachurch identity, religion and modernity in Indonesia. (December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yip, Jeaney; Hoon, Chang-Yau
• Is Part Of: South East Asia research. Volume 24:Number 4(2016)
• Page Start: 477
• Page End: 491
• Publication Date: 2016-12
• Subjects: Discourse -- Indonesia -- megachurches -- modernity -- religion -- Westernisation; Southeast Asia -- Periodicals; Southeast Asia; Periodicals; 959.005
• DOI: 10.1177/0967828X16674132
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0967-828X

Abstract

Against the backdrop of dominant Muslim presence, an aspiring middle class and the modernisation of Indonesia as an emerging market, we explore how a contemporary megachurch in Indonesia constructs a corporate identity and examine how 'Western' ideals and modernity influence organisational practices and communication in a religious setting. We deploy discourse analysis as our approach, which includes a critical reading and semiotic analysis of corporate artefacts to understand their underlying structures and discourse in enacting the corporate identity. We examine how discourses of self-empowerment, Westernisation and modernisation, business and nationalism coalesce to construct a marketable corporate identity for the megachurch. From this perspective, we argue that corporate identity is fluid and is shaped by meaningful choices taken to discursively construct a particular image for its intended audience(s).