Mobilizing the Minority: Church Networks and Political Participation in Muslim-Majority

Wahid Abdulrahman, Pamela Setya Miliasari, Muhammad Yanwar Darmadi Putra, Dendy Lisna Wansyah

Abstract


Electoral mobilization in Indonesia is frequently influenced by informal religious networks alongside formal political parties. This article examines the capacity of a minority church network to function as a non-party actor during the 2024 Semarang mayoral election. Utilizing a qualitative single instrumental case study design and reflexive thematic analysis, this research analyzes data gathered from in-depth interviews with five key organizational leaders at Grace Community Church, triangulated with internal documents and official electoral records. The findings demonstrate that the church network strategically operationalized centrality, community, and connectivity. By integrating mechanisms of civic mobilization, the study reveals how pastoral leadership skills, homophilous social networks, and external institutional linkages fostered high political awareness. This value-driven mobilization contributed to a fourteen-year peak voter turnout of 71.25% within the municipality. The empirical evidence highlights a distinct phenomenon of political volunteerism that actively resists entrenched clientelism and money politics. The research concludes that informal faith-based associations can operate effectively as autonomous moral networks. These insights provide contextualized analytical propositions on how minority religious social capital strengthens citizen participation and local democratic quality in developing polities without relying on transactional incentives.

Keywords


church networks; Indonesian election; political participation; religious factors; minority mobilization.

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abbasi, M. A., Zafarani, R., Tang, J., & Liu, H. (2014). Am i more similar to my followers or followees? Proceedings of the 25th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media, 200-205. https://doi.org/10.1145/2631775.2631828

Amelung, N., & Baumgarten, B. (2017). The Transnational Perspective of Political Participation: Linkages and Differences between Social Movement and Public Participation Studies. Global Society, 31(1), 3-22.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13600826.2016.1236011

Anderson, S. E., Butler, D. M., Harbridge-Yong, L., & Nemerever, Z. (2024). Legislator Pivotality and Voter Accountability. Political Research Quarterly, 77(3), 904-914.

https://doi.org/10.1177/10659129241251843

Arifianto, Y. A. (2024). Melawan Money Politics dalam Elektoral: Upaya Mereduksi Kejahatan Politik Masuk Gereja. KHAMISYIM: Jurnal Teologi Dan Pendidikan Kristiani, 1(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.71415/jkmy.v1i1.1

Aspinall, E., & Berenschot, W. (2019). Elections, Clientelism, and the State in Indonesia. Cornell University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctvdtphhq

Aspinall, E., & Sukmajati, M. (2016). Electoral dynamics in Indonesia : money politics, patronage and clientelism at the grassroots. NUS Press.

https://doi.org/10.1355/cs38-2j

Assyaukanie, L. (2019). RELIGION AS A POLITICAL TOOL: Secular and Islamist Roles in Indonesian Elections. JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN ISLAM, 13(2), 454.

https://doi.org/10.15642/JIIS.2019.13.2.454-479

Bakar, A., & Wahyu, Muh. (2022). Gereja dan Partisipasi Politik. Vox Populi, 5(1), 61-69. https://doi.org/10.24252/vp.v5i1.29646

Berenschot, W. (2018). The Political Economy of Clientelism: A Comparative Study of Indonesia's Patronage Democracy. Comparative Political Studies, 51(12), 1563-1593. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414018758756

Birnir, J. K., & Overos, H. D. (2019). Religion and Political Mobilization. In The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity (pp. 169-186). Springer Singapore.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2898-5_22

Borgatti, S. P., Mehra, A., Brass, D. J., & Labianca, G. (2009). Network Analysis in the Social Sciences. Science, 323(5916), 892-895.

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1165821

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2019). Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4), 589-597.

https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2019.1628806

Brown, R. K., & Brown, R. E. (2003). Faith and Works: Church-Based Social Capital Resources and African American Political Activism. Social Forces, 82(2), 617-641. https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.2004.0005

Calhoun-Brown, A. (1996). African American Churches and Political Mobilization: The Psychological Impact of Organizational Resources. The Journal of Politics, 58(4), 935-953. https://doi.org/10.2307/2960144

Cammett, M., Novaes, L. M., & Tuñón, G. (2026). Special Interest Trade-Offs: Campaign Finance Reforms and Religious Influence in Politics in Brazil. The Journal of Politics, 88(4), 1496-1510. https://doi.org/10.1086/736804

Campbell, D. E. (2013). Social Networks and Political Participation. Annual Review of Political Science, 16(1), 33-48. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-033011-201728

Castillo, I., & Medel, R. M. (2025). Evangelicals and Support for the (Far)Right in Chile's Rural South. International Journal of Latin American Religions, 9(1), 90-112. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41603-024-00272-7

Chen, H.-T., Chan, M., & Lee, F. L. F. (2016). Social media use and democratic engagement: a comparative study of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. Chinese Journal of Communication, 9(4), 348-366.

https://doi.org/10.1080/17544750.2016.1210182

Choi, D.-H., & Shin, D.-H. (2017). A dialectic perspective on the interactive relationship between social media and civic participation: the moderating role of social capital. Information, Communication & Society, 20(2), 151-166.

https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1154586

Choong, P. Y. (2023). Political mobilization of the Malaysian Christian minority in the 1980s. South East Asia Research, 31(4), 435-449.

https://doi.org/10.1080/0967828X.2023.2283505

Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2023). Research design : qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (Sixth Edition). SAGE.

Dahal, N., Neupane, B. P., Pant, B. P., Dhakal, R. K., Giri, D. R., Ghimire, P. R., & Bhandari, L. P. (2024). Participant selection procedures in qualitative research: experiences and some points for consideration. Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/frma.2024.1512747

Dahan, C., & Monogan, J. E. (2016). The consequences of religious strictness for political participation. The Social Science Journal, 53(2), 190-198.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2015.11.004

Djupe, P. A., & Neiheisel, J. R. (2022). The Religious Communication Approach and Political Behavior. Political Psychology, 43(S1), 165-194.

https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12848

Eveland, W. P., & Gee, W. (2025). Independent Political Networks: Comparing the Discussion Network Size and Composition of Partisans, Leaners, and Independents. Political Behavior, 47(3), 1191-1211.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-024-09985-z

Favian Aryanda, D. (2026). Money Politics and Electoral Clientelism in the 2024 Legislative Election: A Case Study in Malang City. Journal of Politics and Policy, 8(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.21776/ub.jppol.2026.8.1.2

Fossati, D. (2019). The Resurgence of Ideology in Indonesia: Political Islam, "Aliran" and Political Behaviour. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 38(2), 119-148. https://doi.org/10.1177/1868103419868400

Freeman, L. C. (1979). Centrality in social networks conceptual clarification. Social Networks, 1(3), 215-239. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-8733(78)90021-7

Froehlich, D. E., Van Waes, S., & Schäfer, H. (2020). Linking Quantitative and Qualitative Network Approaches: A Review of Mixed Methods Social Network Analysis in Education Research. Review of Research in Education, 44(1), 244-268. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X20903311

Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The Strength of Weak Ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), https://doi.org/10.1086/225469

Hicken, A. (2011). Clientelism. Annual Review of Political Science, 14(1), 289-310.

https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.031908.220508

Ibrahim, I., Haryadi, D., & Hidayat, N. (2024). The manipulation of identity politics in Indonesian electoral democracy today: Between regulations and practices. Journal of Infrastructure Policy and Development, 8(7), 4211.

https://doi.org/10.24294/jipd.v8i7.4211

Ida, R., Mashud, M., Saud, M., Yousaf, F. N., & Ashfaq, A. (2025). Politics in Indonesia: democracy, social networks and youth political participation. Cogent Social Sciences, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2024.2432071

Ishfaq, U., Khan, H. U., & Iqbal, S. (2022). Identifying the influential nodes in complex social networks using centrality-based approach. Journal of King Saud University - Computer and Information Sciences, 34(10), 9376-9392.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksuci.2022.09.016

Jamal, A. (2005). The Political Participation and Engagement of Muslim Americans. American Politics Research, 33(4), 521-544.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X04271385

Kitschelt, H., & Wilkinson, S. I. (Eds.). (2007). Contents. In Patrons, Clients and Policies: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition (pp. v-vi). Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/product/47DB871485C65DB4A9A45731CA258D03

Lawrence, B. S., & Shah, N. P. (2020). Homophily: Measures and Meaning. Academy of Management Annals, 14(2), 513-597. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2018.0147

López González, J. L., & De Santiago, M. (2020). difícil encaje entre referéndum y democracia representativa : reflexiones desde España. Novum Jus, 14(1), 75-104.

https://doi.org/10.14718/NovumJus.2020.14.1.4

Lussier, D. N. (2019). Mosques, Churches, and Civic Skill Opportunities in Indonesia. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 58(2), 415-438.

https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12589

Lussier, D. N., & Ahnaf, M. I. (2024). Neutralizing the sacred space: pre-election messages in a typical Indonesian city. Politics and Religion, 17(2), 341-361.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755048324000117

Ma, Z., & Cao, Y. (2023). Political Participation in China: Towards a New Definition and Typology. Social Sciences, 12(10), 531.

https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12100531

Mares, I., & Young, L. (2016). Buying, Expropriating, and Stealing Votes. Annual Review of Political Science, 19(1), 267-288. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-060514-120923

McCubbins, M. D., & Weller, N. (2020). Coordination, Communication, and Information: How Network Structure and Knowledge Affect Group Behavior. Journal of Experimental Political Science, 7(1), 1-12.

https://doi.org/10.1017/XPS.2019.10

McKenzie, B. D. (2004). Religious Social Networks, Indirect Mobilization, and African-American Political Participation. Political Research Quarterly, 57(4), 621. https://doi.org/10.2307/3219823

McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27(1), 415-444. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.415

Nagy, S. (2025). The Political Activities of a Catholic Church Leader During the Period of Secularization in Hungary. Religions, 16(8), 1065. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16081065

Nichter, S. (2014). Conceptualizing vote buying. Electoral Studies, 35, 315-327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2014.02.008

Norris, P. (2002). Democratic phoenix : reinventing political activism. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511610073

Oskooii, K. A. R., & Dana, K. (2018). Muslims in Great Britain: the impact of mosque attendance on political behaviour and civic engagement. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44(9), 1479-1505. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2017.1330652

Park, P. S., Blumenstock, J. E., & Macy, M. W. (2018). The strength of long-range ties in population-scale social networks. Science, 362(6421), 1410-1413.

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau9735

Patty, J. W., & Penn, E. M. (2016). Network Theory and Political Science (J. N. Victor, A. H. Montgomery, & M. Lubell, Eds.; Vol. 1). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190228217.013.12

Ronda, D., Darmawan, I. P. A., & Diman, H. S. (2025). Churches Political Participation in Indonesia: The Case Study of GKII. Transformation: An International Journal of Holistic Mission Studies, 42(3), 224-236. https://doi.org/10.1177/02653788241308728

Schaaf, R., Otjes, S., & Spierings, N. (2025). The Role of Networks in Mobilization for Ethnic Minority Interest Parties. Political Behavior, 47(3), 1253-1274. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-024-09988-w

Semarang City Central Statistics Agency. (2024). Number of Religious Adherents (Souls).

Sembiring, W. M., Subhilhar, Kusmanto, H., & Ridho, H. (2023). The Politicization of Religion and Polarization of Hate in the 2018 North Sumatra Regional Head Election Indonesia. Pharos Journal of Theology, (104(3)).

https://doi.org/10.46222/pharosjot.104.328

Septiana, L. N., & Wardana, D. J. (2024). The Effectiveness of Religious Influence in Electoral Participation. LEGAL BRIEF, 13(4), 1069-1076. https://doi.org/10.35335/legal.v13i4.1129

Sihotang, H. T., Sihotang, D., & Sihotang, M. (2023). Exploring the Influence of Christianity on Political Behavior in Contemporary Society: A Comparative Study. Ministries and Theology, 1(1), 23-32. https://doi.org/10.35335/69ett422

Smith, A. E. (2019). Religion and Brazilian Democracy. Cambridge University Press.

https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108699655

Soares de Freitas, C., & Ewerton, I. N. (2019). Networks for Cyberactivism and Their Implications for Policymaking in Brazil. In Crowdsourcing (pp. 1363-1378). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-8362-2.ch068

Sobolewska, M., D. Fisher, S., Heath, A. F., & Sanders, D. (2015). Understanding the effects of religious attendance on political participation among ethnic minorities of different religions. European Journal of Political Research, 54(2), 271-287.

https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12081

Solo, A. M. G., & Bishop, J. (2019). Network Politics and the Arab Spring. In Civic Engagement and Politics (pp. 877-882). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-7669-3.ch043

Tawakkal, G. T. I., Damayanti, R., Subekti, T., Alfian, F., & Garner, A. D. (2020). Social networks and brokerage behavior in Indonesian elections: Evidence from Central Java. Asian Affairs: An American Review, 47(4), 227-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/00927678.2020.1765473

Tuñón, G. (2026). When the Church Votes Left: How Progressive Bishops Supported the Workers' Party in Brazil. American Political Science Review, 120(3), 1150-1166. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055426101427

Williams, A. L., King, D. P., & Fulton, B. R. (2024). Politics and preaching: how religious elites justify addressing or avoiding political topics. Politics and Religion, 17(4), 627-647. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755048324000270

Yuniarto, B., Kusumawardhani, T. A., Nurfadillah, F., & Latif, M. K. (2024). The Role of Political Parties in Maintaining Democratic Stability in Indonesia. International Journal of Engineering Business and Social Science, 3(1), 28-32.

https://doi.org/10.58451/ijebss.v3i1.170




DOI: https://doi.org/10.33373/jtp.v10i2.9584

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


EDITORIAL OFFICE:

Department of Government Science, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences - Universitas Riau Kepulauan - Indonesia

Telp: (0778) 39275 | Email: jurnaltriaspolitika2017@gmail.com

Jurnal Trias Politika (JTP) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. © 2017-2025 Authors