This is a little of the story about how God has been working through the people in Changhua to train laborers who are willing to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ by living out their faith where God calls them throughout Taiwan and Asia.  These stories and pictures are an accumulation of several months while we prayed together and tried to follow God in faith.  

(Summer 2009) After meeting in one location near the National Changhua University of Education (NCUE) for more than 10 years, our church is looking for a new place to meet. God has blessed our small church for several years with a great location to be able to reach out to the surrounding community and university. Over the years, hundreds of students have passed through the doors of the church, many hearing the story of Christ and his salvation for the first time, while others have grown closer to their savior Jesus through Bible study, prayer, and fellowship! Eventually graduating, many as teachers, and moving throughout Taiwan and surrounding countries to be able to share the life of Jesus with their students in the classroom.

In many ways moving out is an answer to prayer. Over the past few years as a church body, we have been continually approaching God in prayer about the right time to purchase a church building or find a new place to rent to meet the needs of the growing weekly attendance. There has not been any definite answers to this point until recently a couple months ago when the landlord of the building returned from abroad to share his desire to sell the property. A big answers to prayer! Really? God truly is answering our prayer by showing he is preparing the way for our church to continue to be a growing example of Christ in the university area. Especially recently, in guiding our church through more advanced 2:7 Bible studies to help prepare each person to share Christ and lead others to maturity in faith.

God is now leading our church in an adventure of faith as we seek him for a suitable place before the sale of our current location in early 2010. We are hoping to find a somewhere to rent near the university campus (so students would still have easy access) that would accommodate more than 150 people each Sunday. This seems impossible right now on such a short notice since the land near the university is very scarce and mostly divided into small living units for students.

John 4:21-23 We can pray for all this without any anxiety! It is already very clear God has been at work in the lives of our church and he will provide for us. It is exciting to live in the hope God is giving! 

Please join our church in prayer to continue to follow him and prepare ourselves as a body of believers so we can allow him to work through us in the salvation of many more people in Changhua. Also pray for the best and most suitable location (that would give praise to God and show his infinite grace and blessings) so we can meet and share his love in Changhua for many more years!

(Winter 2010) God has been completely involved since the beginning as our church as now successfully found a new place to rent. He confirmed our need to move when the landlord appeared one day at our current location to announce his desire to sell. He guided us through the search process through difficult times of faith when it seemed impossible to find any building near the university suitable to host more than a hundred people. He gave a location closer to the NCUE main gates than our current location. He is now providing through people the ability to renovate a few things in the new building. He is working in the hearts of our church members through these steps and is starting to work in the heart of our new landlord also.

Thank you everyone who has showered this impossible task and unimaginable outcome in prayer. It has been the platform on which we have been able to see first hand God working for his name’s sake! We are now praying forward over the next few months as we finalize lease agreements, small renovations and installations, and moving. Our church hopes to complete the moving process and come together to worship for the first time in the new location for Easter 2010.

Please continue to shower the new location in prayer that God will make it a place where many people will know his salvation and learn to follow him as disciples.

(Easter 2010) The Changhua Navigator Center is located in the middle of a neighborhood on the Northeast side of the NCUE campus. The neighborhood consists of many old residents, shops, and markets; many of these buildings and stores have been servicing this community since the beginning of the NCUE campus and influx of students. The building resides on a small alley and a five minute walk directly to the campus main gate.

The basement is a gift from God. Very few, if any, Taiwanese home buildings have basements, let alone a double basement big enough to fit nearly 80+ chairs and a couple other floors able to accommodate overflow as the church grows.

The basement area before and after the installation of the hanging ceiling and lights.

Wiring the church to be able to have sound and video feeds to the over flow room on the second floor and sound to the nursery/child care room on the third floor. Speakers in the upper floors will allow many more people, and families taking care of children, feel welcome to join us to worship each week.
The cross in the center of the basement meeting room.

Each Sunday afternoon for the past month, the church has been meeting to pray and approach God for his direction on how to proceed along each step. This has been a blessing to all of us as we grow in dependence on God through many of the steps he is leading. It has also helped us as we have been able to repent from any person pride, or selfishness, in the process and seek and fight for unity together as a church in following God together.Last night was our first meeting together at the new building! We remembered Jesus’ life and death on the cross through the sharing of Chaoron. He illustrated the importance of Jesus’ sacrifice and the hope we have together in our new life. Please pray for many students who heard the Scriptures shared last night about Jesus that Spirit will continue to work in their hearts as they continue to know Him.

After 20 years of meeting in the same location (as the residence changed from teacher's housing to hosting our church-plant) for the NCUE Navigator student fellowship, we will be moving to our new meeting location on LiSing Rd in a few weeks. This semester we are asking God for many things throughout our fellowship:restoration through the Gospel, new freshmen, more guys, understanding as we dig into the Bible, and a better practice of prayer are just a few. Last Friday, Dan brought us together for prayer in seeking and responding to God as he reveals himself to us through Isaiah 40. We pray for the next 20 years to continually be waiting on the Lord as we follow him and depend on him for all our strength, so he can reveal his everlasting greatness through our fellowship to the community of NCUE and Changhua.

Our group meeting together for the first time for Good Friday 2010!