Pastoral Needs in Taiwan  

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We were told that only 2% of the Taiwanese people were members of Western Religions (1 % Christian and 1% Catholic). Of the Protestant Denominations over 50% were Presbyterians. Other traditional denominations: Methodist, Episcopal and Baptist  are represented. 

Lay Christian Leader members of the National Council of Family Relation Development  who sponsored Connie's and my trip to Taiwan. 

The growing force in the protestant world however were the non-denominational Pentecostal or charismatic churches. In Taichung a new non-denominational community church had grown to 600 in two years. Another in Taipei was already at 4000 members. However, there is little evangelistic outreach occurring in Taiwan. There were few missionaries. There did not seem to be a lot outreach to the other 98% of the country. If anything the growth of the two Churches mentioned earlier was due to bleeding from existing denominational churches. There were a number of catholic and protestant-affiliated colleges and universities in the country which serve a large majority of students with no western religious affiliation or belief. There are a number of church sponsored Hospitals in the country as well. 

Right: Pastor Honyi Liu  is the President of the Pastoral Council of Taichung. His organization makes an effort at bringing the leaders of the Christian Churches in his city and county to collaborate and support one another. This effort is tied in with the efforts of Robert and Sally Chang through the Family Wellness Center at Tunghai University in Taichung. 

Left: Pastor Charles Chen is the Senior Pastor of St. James Episcopal Church in Taichung and active supporter of the Family Wellness Center and active in the Pastor Conference in Taichung

The largest religious movement in Taiwan is their Folk Religion which is a mix of Taoism, Buddhism and worship of nature or idols which are based on dead relatives or a desired end goals for the family. Such goals being happiness, money, or warding off the evil spirits. There are many Buddhist Temples with Buddhist Monasteries. Buddhism is the next largest Eastern Religion in the country.  Taiwanese cemeteries are interesting in that the tombs are often small shrines to the dead ancestors. 

Right: Reverend Chen, the co-pastor with her husband of Southgate Presbyterian Church in Taipei gave a personal witness to the power of marital and family enrichment work sponsored by the Family Wellness Center at Tunghai University. She, as board member, also promoted the efforts of the National Council of Family Relation Development started by Robert and Sally Chang to promote emotional and spiritual revival in Taiwan marriages and families.

Left: Dr. Yeh Queen Tu, a medical doctor, and his wife Lu Shau Wah gave a stirring testimonial to the healing power of marital enrichment work in their own marriage and personal lives. They have worked with Robert and Sally Change in a couples enrichment group for the past five years and are open advocates of this model for all couples and families within Taiwan.

There are so many people who are despondent, lacking hope or direction and who suffer from fear of the unknown of after death and futility of their current lives in this country. The salvation message of Jesus Christ’s Birth, Death and Resurrection seems to be a message needing to be better broadcast in this country by His believers.

Right: In the front row from the Left are Paul and Lucy Alexander, who were missionaries to Taiwan for 37 years located at Tunghai University. They started the marital enrichment movement in Taiwan.

As for the active and practicing Christians and Catholics in Taiwan, there is a sense that few of them are experiencing the Victorious Living in Christ which their religious beliefs makes available for them. Although, I did find that Christian Taiwanese were easier to talk to, more open to their emotional lives. and more willing to hear the message of Christ’s Love in their life. In the main however I found them to suffer from the same depression and chronic despondency which permeates the island. 

Pastor Yumin Hayung (left) and his wife Kuo Chin Ming sit at dinner with Lin be Hui wife of another Tayal Tribal

A Pastor told me that the denominational churches are actually getting smaller. He pointed out however that on the Mainland of China the Churches were growing.. His conclusion was that the Church grows when there is persecution. He however also pointed out the phenomenal growth of the two churches mentioned earlier, which promote a more spirit-filled practice of Christianity.  

Pastor Hayung introduces Sally and Robert Chang to provide the Sermon at his church at Sunday Services in Wulai.

This main message of my pastoral presentation in Tainan was about how to experience Victorious Living in Christ by the Letting Go of Control. This results in the ability of people to experience unencumbered and anxiety-free living by surrendering and the letting go of control over their own lives to God.

The Elders of his church join Pastor Hayung and his wife to say farewell to the Changs and the Messina's. The worship was moving and beautiful. The Tayal Language was used and the singing and dancing were done in a meaningful mode to worship God with all our hearts, minds, souls and bodies.

We found all over Taiwan, a common thread of over intellectualization of Christianity and almost a disdain or distrust of anything which encourages Spirit Filled active proclamation of the message that God is with Us from the beginning of time, at present and for all time. There seemed to be dependence on rituals and traditions rather than trying new forms of ministry and outreach to spread the Good News to the people.  

In the Sanctuary of the Tainan Theological Seminary, the Seminarians had an ongoing Advent collage consisting of throw away items symbolizing the state of man on earth waiting for the coming of Christ. Even the candles were made out of old soda cans. The yellow stickers were petitions which students placed to remind them to pray for all of the victims and survivors of 921. The seminarians had an active ministry each weekend since 921 in Puli to assist with the children and families in that earthquake torn area. 

What is interesting, The Family Wellness Center and the National Council of Family Relation Development, both groups run by Sally and Robert Chang are out in the forefront of a renewal effort by bringing Marital and Family Enrichment programming to people all over the country through their workshops and books. This group is actively functioning as missionaries of Christian Renewal. Based on their de facto mission, our training programs this year were like seed planting activities to encourage a revitalization of emotional well being within all Taiwanese Christian Churches.

During our Pastoral Workshop in Tainan we had the participants interacting with one another. This mode of training is rare in Taiwan. The goal of our workshop was to learn how to apply Biblical Principles to work with people suffering from earth, spirit, and flesh based problems.

The native Taiwanese church we visited in Wulai was very spirit filled. The music was native and the entire congregation was involved in the praise and worship component of the church. The members seem very involved in the maintenance and operation of the church. It appeared to me that the members found hope in their worship of Jesus which made their day to day existences more doable. Because they are the outcasts of Taiwan, they all suffer from poor economic conditions, due to inability to obtain good jobs. If the church grows in persecution then the Church has an ideal opportunity to grow amongst the ten native tribes in Taiwan.

Right: The wife of the President of the Tainan Theological Seminary who was responsible for them inviting us to present our workshop there poses with the Chang's on the right and the Messina's center in the Sanctuary of the Campus Chapel. Although the seminarians did not attend this workshop over 200 pastors, elders and lay leader did. There is a goal to expand upon this effort by sponsoring a larger interdenominational pastoral counseling workshop. We have agreed to come back in Summer 2001 to provide such a program. 

Left: Here is Pastor Chi Ming Yie and his wife Shung Fong. Pastor Chi is the pastor of the Middle  Presbyterian Church in Kaohsiung. He is very committed to bringing revival to his people through praise and worship programming. His church also conducts a weekend mission in Puli in which they provide Sunday School Programming and Day care for the children.

Right: Rev. Jin C. J. Su, the Chaplain and Director of the Counseling Center at Chang Jung Christian University in Tainan was an active participant in the Tools for Coping Workshop in Kaohsiung. He shared

I believe that the Church in Taiwan, its pastors, lay leadership and members could benefit from ongoing programming which includes:

•  Assistance to learn how to live lives differently from the mainstream of   the country and to rid their churches, seminaries, and institutions of actual or defacto discrimination based on economics, social class, language or national origin

• Training in open Evangelism of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

• Experiential training on how to experience being Christian is blessing in one's life because a Christians have Christ upon whom they can rely to take control of their lives so that they can live more stress and worry free existence.

• Training in how to assist others to grow in their self-esteem by recognizing the irrational beliefs which keep them imprisoned in the wide gate way of thinking about life when there is the narrow gate model which is freeing and enriching by putting full trust and faith in Christ. 

•  Training in how to organize pastoral counseling programs which will assist the church members to overcome the chronic depression which permeates the island. Also to address the myriad of dysfunctional issues which the church membership presents to its church leaders.

• Greater encouragement of marital enrichment training within the churches due to the reality that Taiwan has the highest divorce rate of any country in the orient. That the churches need to train marital teams to work at coming up behind their members to train their couples how to create marital teams which can survive the onslaught of dysfunctional pressures currently wrecking havoc on Taiwanese marriages.  

• Establishment of required self-esteem enhancing programs and activities in the Seminaries and Theological Colleges which address the secondary low self-esteem of its students who might perceive themselves as not good enough as students due to being unable to be accepted to regular colleges.