Vaudine England – Christians in Jakarta have come to know December as a time when their faith, commitment and tolerance will be tested.

Christmas this year came at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when predominantly Muslim Indonesia changes its business and social hours to cater to religion. It can be a trying time for those not of the Islamic faith.

One Christian professional woman, who chose not to give her name, said: "Last week I was thrown out of my health club ... they told me I could not swim there because I am a woman and this is fasting month and women are not supposed to swim while fasting. Men can swim, but women can't."

She decided to swim anyway, and was asked by the club to take a month's leave. She refused and demanded her membership fees back. She said club officials were aware of her Christian religion.

She lives in an area dotted with mosques that blare out sermons daily during Ramadan. But she remains stubbornly committed to celebrating what's left of Christmas in a multi-faith way. Her Christmas tree carries Islamic symbols and her dinner guests included Muslims and Christians.

"I have to start religious tolerance at home, and it's a long road ahead," she said. "It's very strange being Christian nowadays and it's very sad. It shouldn't be like this, lots of people here are not like this. I had hoped that this year, with Christmas and Eid al-Fitr [the end of the Ramadan fasting month] so close together, that maybe there could be peace. But that hope has gone astray."

Another Christian woman, Ratnawati, said that Christians were more afraid these days and more aware of their minority status. "I am proud to be a Christian. We know that we live in plurality here, and we are a minority," she said. "But I live together happily with my Muslim neighbours. I have so many friends who are Muslims and we all have no problem with this. To us, as friends, what is more important is the condition of our country, the need for political change.

"The danger is that because of these events, people easily become sensitive to religious difference – and that makes it easier to provoke trouble, for us to be burned by issues which divide us. Why does it have to happen again and again?"

Church leaders also worry about the impact the bombs will have on already fractured communities further afield. "The people I am most worried about are the Christians in the outer islands, such as in the Maluku, Manado [North Sulawesi] and Irian Jaya," said church leader in Jakarta Frans Tumiwa. All of us in Jakarta are sending messages to them now, not to be provoked into any retaliation. It is so important that we do not fight back."