Mission Taiwan

Changhua Navigators introduces the student fellowship to the incoming freshman.

Part 1

Part 2

Recently, as I was searching for some statistics to compare with the new Taiwan church demographic maps from TEAM, I found an article from this past summer about places of worship in Taiwan.  The numbers could be a little skewed considering the amount of unregistered temples around the island.  So I believe it would be extremely difficult to estimate a total, especially considering there are so many small temples along the road or on hillsides.  Thinking about how many temples are near the NCUE campus, I remembering spotting about 15+ in a kilometer radius compared to the two or three churches.

Please pray God will continue to show favor to Taiwan by revealing himself to the Taiwanese, as well as raising up Taiwanese believers and missionaries to share Jesus, so many more people will believe in the name of Jesus as their savior throughout the island!

Taipei Times – July 28, 2009

“There are 14,993 temples and churches for the nation’s 23 million residents, approximately one place of worship per 1,500 residents, statistics recently released by the Ministry of the Interior show. At the end of last year, Taiwan had 11,731 registered temples, 2,356 more than 10 years ago, and 3,262 churches, an increase of 145 over the same period. The 9,202 Taoist temples, many of which not only house Taoist folk deities but also idols of Buddha and the Buddhist goddess Guanyin (??), account for 78.4 percent of all temples. The 2,291 Buddhist temples account for 19.5 percent of the total and the 200 I-Kuan Tao temples account for 1.7 percent. Southern counties and cities have more temples than elsewhere in the country, with Tainan County leading the list with 1,245, followed by Kaohsiung County with 1,142 and Pingtung County with 1,068. Taipei City has the largest number of churches, with 432, followed by Hualien County’s 300 and Taitung County’s 266. Protestant churches outnumber Catholic churches by approximately three to one.”

On every sports team I have played on, I remember the coach leading us through a few drills or practices focusing on the fundamentals at the beginning of each season. He would generally try to paint a picture for the team of the importance of being disciplined in the basics.  As we focused attention on these skills, they became more and more natural to each of us on the team.  We were able to work better together and depend on one another as we practiced more difficult drills and plays.  The goal of the tedious practices was always to preform better during the next competition and to possibly win the championship at the end of the season.

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”  (Colossians 2:6-7)

God gives us the same command in his Word that a coach would communicate to his players but with the powerful testimony of eternal life.  He does not want any of his children, or people, to be separated from him any longer, but to begin knowing him through the sacrifice and victory over death by his Son.  It is painful to see his creation settle for something less than his perfect designs while clinging to sin. Rather, he wants those who put their trust in his salvation to grow in the likeness of Christ Jesus.

As God continues to lead our church in Changhua to share the Gospel with family, friends, classmates, neighbors, and co-workers with the vision of many more new believers in Jesus over the next few years, we also want to look to the basics to build a good foundation in each of our lives.  Recently, throughout all of the church small groups and student Bible studies, we have started an initiative to build discipleship skills into each of the members in hope that they will grow stronger in their personal relationship with God and also be able to share about who God is and how to know him with others.  One of the tools we are starting to use is The Navigators “New 2:7 Series.” There are three books in the series: Growing Strong in God’s Family, Deepening Your Roots in God’s Family, and Bearing Fruit in God’s Family.

It is crucially important to be able to look into God’s Word for growth, searching the Scriptures to learn about who God is, his salvation, his promises, his will, and his plan.  As well as learning to apply the Word into daily life, by memorization, mediation, and prayer.

Our prayer for the next few years is that God will work in us as we take time to build tools into our daily lives.  Also we hope God will work through our lives so more people will worship him in Changhua and throughout Taiwan!

New 2:7 Series (US Navpress)

New 2:7 Series in Chinese (Taiwan Navigators)

Changhua Navigators Facebook link

Changhua Navigators website link

The seventh lunar month is considered ghost month.  This time of year is believed to be where hell is opened for the dead to return and wander amongst the living at previous residences, workplaces, liked restaurants, gathering places, etc.  Most people in Taiwan have a fear based preparation for the returning ghosts which includes large offerings of food, drinks, beer, chips, cookies, fruit, rice, cooking oil, or other edible things which are placed on tables at the front doors of personal residences and workplaces or temples.  Spirit money is also purchased for burning throughout the month to pass wealth to the spirit world.  As well as the use of incense to attract the ghost to the offerings.  If the ghosts are pleased with the offerings, they will divert any negative action from the worshipping area.

Superstitious fear also affects many other common areas of life.  Many families avoid moving to a new house, weddings are postponed, medical procedures are rescheduled, and beach vacations are not planned.  Being outside at night is also often believed to invite possible aggression from ghosts.  Others try to take advantage of the increase in ghost activity by attempting to contact spirits through mediums for fortunes or even lucky lottery numbers.

I am reminded of the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31.  Here the rich man pleads to have someone go and tell his family of the torments he is experiencing in hell so they may possibly avoid such a horrible torment.  Abraham responded to the rich man, “They have the Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them,” and “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”   Similarly, later, when the women went to the tomb of Jesus and two angels spoke to them in front of the empty tomb, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but has risen…”

Please pray Taiwanese Christians will continue to be a living example to their family and friends of who Jesus is.  Also pray that more Taiwanese will humbly look to the living God for his provision of salvation for our offensive sins with repentant fear and hope, rather than attempts to please many gods with perishable offerings to avoid possible temporary misfortunes.

It has ben about two weeks after the Father’s Day Typhoon hit Taiwan (8/8).  Many people throughout Taiwan and in the international community have partnered with local churches and the Chinese Christian Relief Association to give support to families in Southern Taiwan.  The numbers of missing or unaccounted is still growing, but there has been a daily rescue effort by the Taiwan government and the private organizations.  Although some villages in mountain valleys have been completely covered by mud and won’t be excavated, other towns are in need and receiving volunteers to help quicken the clean up effort of breaking through the crusted mud.

Below is the fax-flyer from the Chinese Christian Relief Association with some information of help needed and ways to contact them.

Please pray for Taiwan and the relief efforts.  Also pray for many of the Christian churches and volunteers who are serving in the devastated areas that they can be a bright light for God!

Wow, it has been a marathon summer so far!  There have been many people visiting Taiwan this summer.  It has been great to see how many people God has blessed through the short-term co-workers.  Jeremy and Carolee and the first Trinity team arrived a day after I returned to Taiwan for about a month.  Six days after they returned home, the Navigator student team arrived for a month and while they were still here the second Trinity team also arrived for a couple of weeks.  It certainly has been an answer to many prayers to bring workers to the ripe fields, because many people have heard the Gospel message as well as know more about God through the servant lives of these friends in Taiwan!  At times I have felt a little overwhelmed, but learned to depend more on God’s promises.  Especially one promise in Jeremiah 31:25 of God being my satisfaction and replenishment.  Although I have personally been busy, God has answered many prayers for his glory through the relationships created and strengthened this summer.  Please pray many of these new and old friends would continue to grow in their knowledge of Jesus’ life and love for them!

Silas, me, Gretchen, and Levi on the suspension bridge in Taroko Gorge, Hualien County.

We are back in Changhua, which is really nice after traveling for the past 18 days. Things are familiar again and it is nice not to pack up a bag to move every few days. This is the last stop for the team.  We will be serving at the church in Changhua for the next couple of days in an English VBS styled camp.  The last I heard there will be 20-30 children from the church and surrounding community attending.  This is a large group of students, but a great way to share the love of Jesus in the church neighborhood.  Some of the things we will be preparing are songs, skits, and games to play for the camp.  A few of the university fellowship students are also returning to Changhua from their homes in various cities to help with the students.  It has been a long trip and the time has been wearing on all three of us as we are nearing the last week for the team.  Please pray for endurance and strength from God for this last week.  We also hope to be able to share Jesus’ love with the campers (and their parents).  We also hope to continue to spend time with the university students we have met over the past month.  In everything, we pray for God’s glory!

-July 15 to July 24-

Part of our 55 university student team visiting the whale cave in Penghu.

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All the teachers were excited after the camp!

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Our entire group, including teachers and campers.

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Me and Amy, one of our students.

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The yellow submarine team.

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Daniel Tsai sharing his life story.

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ShaoU and I with the Taiwan University students.

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Ricky and Harry, the morning Bible study group.

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We are in Hualien County for the next week.  Gretchen, Levi and I will be helping out the Aboriginal youth in the area.  Please pray that we can learn to better share the love Jesus has given us and serve however we can. We will be serving needs in many ways while working with the ministries in Hualien.  One way will be helping them raise money by selling second hand items at the night market.  They use the money to support the children with no families and a special project each year.  We will also have a few opportunities to visit some of the Aboriginal villages.  Many of the villages we will be visiting do not have a lot of contact with the world around them.  The children are raised by the older generation while their parents are in other cities trying to earn enough money (usually working labor jobs) to make ends meat for their families.  The villages are isolated with little transportation, no internet, and little hope for their future because of the lack of educational discipline.  So many of the children do not see the point at trying to excel in school or dream big… We can not “do” much in such a short visit, but we hope to share the importance of their life by loving them the way Jesus has done for us!

-July 7 to July 13-