The Christian Protestant Angkola Church was officially established in 1976 when it obtained its autonomy from the Protestant Christian Batak Church (HKBP), under the name HKBPA. It joined in 1988 with the Protestant Angkola Church, and the present name was adopted. The GKPA ministers to the Angkola Batak people in their language. It states its purpose as “strengthening Christianity in the Islamic environment” and tries to create good mutual understanding and tolerance between Christians and Muslims.

The church provides training programmes for youth and children, programmes for training in spirituality, and publishes teaching materials. It runs three junior and two senior secondary schools, one public health centre, and technical training programmes in agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, etc. It also conducts courses and training for pastors, presbyters, women and Sunday school teachers. The church is committed to promoting programmes such as overcoming violence, gender balance, justice, peace and integrity of creation, and workshops on HIV/AIDS. It is involved in mission work in areas of new settlement and transmigration. New materials in the Angkola language, including the Bible, have been produced and are widely used. The experience of working among the Angkola people – an ethnic group of some 450,000 – has contributed to the growth of the church.