Camelia Pasandaran – There will be no indoor Easter service this year for three embattled congregations in West Java still fighting to worship in their own churches, but that won't stop them from celebrating one of the most important dates on the Christian calendar.

The three church congregations – from GKI Yasmin in Bogor, HKBP Filadelfia and HKBP Taman Sari in Bekasi – will gather in front of the State Palace today at 10 a.m. in the hopes of sending a message about freedom to worship in Indonesia.

"We will make a giant Easter egg, about as tall as a human, and give it to the president," Palti Panjaitan, pastor of HKBP Filadelfia, told the Jakarta Globe. "The egg will be made from hundreds of colorful paper strips that members of the three churches have written their hopes on."

Palti added that he would write an Easter message to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, stating: "I want you to guarantee freedom and the right of every Indonesian citizen to worship according to their belief in their own house of worship."

In the past, the Easter celebrations at Palti's church were merry, filled with games for Sunday school students and other activities, he said.

"We had Easter celebrations at the church with egg hunts, egg decoration and poetry readings," Palti said. "We have not been able to do that for the past two years. Last year we held the service in front of the State Palace."

HKBP Taman Sari will be joining the Easter service outside the State Palace for the first time this year. The Bekasi district government demolished the church's half-constructed building two weeks ago.

The government was alerted to the church's presence by the Islamic People's Forum in Taman Sari (Forum Umat Islam Taman Sari), a militant Islamist organization, who claimed that the building did not hold the appropriate permits. Local authorities used an excavator to demolish the new red-brick structure.

"We will have an Easter service at 8 a.m. in front of the debris of the church," said Torang Simanjuntak, pastor of HKBP Taman Sari. "After the service we will clean up the debris and then join the service in front of the State Palace." Torang said that he would ask the president to give them the freedom to worship and to protect their rights.

"I will ask him to also provide us with a solution after they destroyed our house of worship," Torang said. "I will pray for [Yudhoyono] and for this country to find a better future for all religions."

Torang added that the church would not organize games outside the church for the Sunday school students this year, because the rubble would be dangerous for the children to play in. But the congregation remains determined not to move the church, as suggested by the authorities.

"We want to stay here because the residents living around the church support us," he said. "If we move to another place, we might be rejected by the residents."

Meanwhile, HKBP Filadelfia has been trying to secure a building permit for a church from the Bekasi government for years. In 2009, the Bekasi district head issued a letter banning the congregation from worshipping on the designated church land, forcing the 560 members to hold services along the side of the road fronting the property.

Local residents in Bekasi started to protest against the church in January last year, several months after the Supreme Court overturned the district government's ruling to refuse the church a building permit.

"We've done our best, we reported to the ombudsman, the presidential advisory board, the human rights commission, the national commission on the protection of children and the national commission on violence against women. The president has received recommendations from many organizations, including the United Nations, but there have been no changes," Palti said.

GKI Yasmin in Bogor faces a similar situation. The congregation successfully obtained a building permit for its church, but Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto revoked it after fundamentalist groups rallied against the church and the building was sealed by the district head. The Supreme Court ruled that sealing the church was illegal and ordered the government to reopen it, but the mayor refused.

The case has been taken to the Presidential Palace and several mediations have taken place, involving Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi. But there have been no new developments in the case.

The situation triggered Edward Matthew, a sixth-grade elementary school student, to write his own message to the president.

"I want the government to do the right thing," Edward said. "We have 'Bhinneka Tunggal Ika' as the country's slogan. It means unity in diversity. But why can't they implement it? I'll ask the president to give us freedom to worship."

Edward has joined regular services in front of the State Palace, though he says it is not always comfortable. Last Christmas he sent a letter to the president telling him how inconvenient it was to worship under the heat of the sun with few chairs outside the palace. He also spent last Easter outside the church, at the home of a church member.

Bona Sigalingging, spokesman of GKI Yasmin, said this would be his fourth Easter celebrated outside of church.

"My request to the president is the same as previous Easter and Christmas requests," Bona said. "We want to be able to worship in our own church. We have waited too long, the discrimination has been too much. The longer we wait, the smaller the possibility becomes of finding a real solution. Instead of a reaching a solution, the number of cases of intolerance has actually increased as other churches have experienced similar trouble."

After years of legal limbo, Bona said the church might do more than demonstrate and hope. He said that the last resort would be to file a complaint to the Constitutional Court in order to sue the president.

"We want to sue him over the state's failure to give us freedom to worship," he said. "We will still try even though the possibility of getting a final solution seems far away."