Ed Stetzer and the Lifeway Research team visited Taiwan a few months ago to ask questions and observe the religious climate of the island. He explains the religious culture he was confronted with is far from what is usually published in almanacs. The Buddhism and Taoism are more like umbrella to some of the deeply underlying animistic and ancestral worship characteristics of the people. Check out his video in front of the Long Shan Temple in Taipei. He also reviews many of the highlights of the trip here: Taiwan Vision Trip Recap.
The need in Taiwan is apparent in only viewing the people worshipping at one temple in Taipei, but throughout the island there are thousands of other temples people are fearfully worshipping ancestors and gods. Ed interviews a church planter about his heart and call about sharing making the name of Jesus know in Taipei.
He was also able to interview several other pastors and missionaries while visiting Taipei. Check out some of the links below to connect to his website and view the videos.
Over the past weekend, the Taiwan Navigator staff and close ministry partners, about 60 people, met for a weekend seminar about Biblical relational healing. In hopes of building stronger Biblical relationships so we can all better live in a “discipling from the inside out” way.
The seminar concentrated on our relationships with God, others, and how Satan may attempt to disrupt relationships. Some of the key points I took home from the weekend focused on our responsibility as Christians to go and try to make a relationship that is hurting or in conflict better. The responsibility is not only for the person who committed a wrong to forgive, but also the person that was wronged to go share how they were hurt (Matthew 5:23-24 and Matthew 18:15). This is also above and beyond the commandment by God to make every effort to keep unity in relationships (Ephesians 4:3). I think this generally is a very unnatural approach to dealing with hurt relationships; most people commonly run away, try to ignore, or assign blame when confronted with hurt and conflict. The true Biblical approach is to see the conflict as an opportunity and assignment from God which can produce spiritual growth through the discovery of sinful attitudes and practices.
Ultimately, the only answer for relational healing is through forgiveness. Forgiveness involves releasing another of a liability, canceling a debt, offering a pardon without resentment or desire for revenge. Completely reflecting what Jesus did in love for every sinner by dying on the cross. I pray that I can continue to learn how to apply this throughout my life since it is impossible to live life without relationships!
John 13:34-35 ”A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Bill thinking over an inquiry during the Q&A time.
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American and Taiwanese Eric with a student from Taiwan University.
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Navigator staff from around the island and US at lunch.
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‘Sisters’ from Taichung, Changhua, and Jhongli.
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Bill, Cathy, Terri, and Dave receiving a thank you from Terry (co-president of the Taiwan Navigators).
This is a prayer request from the OMF Facebook page sharing about Taiwan and asking God prepare new workers to go to Taiwan:
Religion in Taiwan is extremely complex. it is a mixture of folk religion and traditional Chinese religion.
Folk religion in Taiwan may be described as animistic, polytheistic and syncretistic. It is animistic because Taiwanese people firmly believe that spiritual forces have power over their daily lives. It is polytheistic because people believe in and worship multiple gods. It is syncretistic because Taiwanese have blended many varied and even contradictory religions and folk beliefs.
Various occult practices like fengshui, fortune telling, buying amulets, conversing with spirits, and spirit possession are extremely common.
Traditional Chinese religion is a combination of ancestor worship, Taoism, and Buddhism. Although each religion has its own deities and teachings, they are often mixed so thoroughly that it becomes impossible to determine what is Taoist and what is Buddhist. For example, the Taiwan folk deity, Mazu (Goddess of the Sea) and the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, Kuanyin, are frequently worshipped in the same temple.
More than 16,000 registered temples cater to the spiritual needs of Taiwan’s people. In fact, Taiwan has more temples per capita than any other country in the world.
The Taiwanese working class also believe in ghosts. They believe that every person who dies becomes a ghost. There are happy ghosts and hungry ghosts. Happy ghosts are those who are “fed” or worshipped with offerings of incense, food, and “spirit money”. Hungry ghosts are those who are not worshipped. Hungry ghosts bring havoc upon an individual or family in the form of sickness, family relationship trouble, or financial loss. These hungry ghosts are often believed to be deceased family members who are not being worshipped properly or those who have died under tragic circumstances, such as drowning.
No one wants to be a hungry ghost. Therefore, ancestor worship has two main purposes. One is to ensure that one’s ancestors do not wreck havoc on one’s life. The other is to set a strong example to one’s own children so that they will worship their parents after their death. As a result, worship of ancestors is considered extremely important. So important, in fact, that children (especially oldest sons) are told by their parents not to become Christians because then “you will not be able to worship me after I am dead, and I will become a hungry ghost.”
Worship of gods is slightly different from that of ancestors. Taiwanese appease ghosts/ancestors but make deals with gods. Usually, a person provides a god with worship, incense, and food in exchange for protection, assistance, or blessing. The most desired type of blessing is generally related to money.
Taiwanese people are very religious. But all this religious activity provides no assurance for a happy life, both now and beyond the grave. Rather, it leaves people in fear and uncertainty.
Only about 2% of the Taiwanese are Christian. Half of these regularly attend church. The majority of Taiwan’s Christians come from the more highly educated and western-influenced middle class.
Changhua Buddha
Pray
An ongoing need is for more workers in the harvest fields of Taiwan. We desire is to establish new ministry teams and consolidate and expand our current ministries. In order to do this we are praying for at least 25 new workers (20 front-line & 5 support personnel) over the next five years. Join with us in prayer that the Lord will send these workers into the working-class harvest fields of Taiwan.
The Lord has sent us 9 new workers in the last 12 months and others are planning to come to Taiwan in the next couple of years. Most face significant challenegs in preparing to arrive here. Please pray for the preparation, health, financial support and visas for those preparing to join our teams.
Thank you for your partnership with us in serving the gospel in Taiwan.
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 the church 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 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.
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!
The front of the church in Changhua.
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Lydia leading worship in the Sunday morning service.
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Dennis sharing the morning announcements.
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GuanU leading worship at the student fellowship night on the second floor of church.
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Jerry sharing about how to be a disciple of Jesus at the student fellowship night.
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!
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!
