From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org


Mass Festival Of Repentance Re-unites Divided Taiwanese Presbyterians


From "pctpress" <pctpress@ms1.hinet.net>
Date Fri, 19 Nov 2004 14:11:12 +0800

Taiwan Church News 2751, 15 to 21 November 2004
Reported by Hsiao Shiuh-ching.	Trans. & rewritten by David Alexander

After 32 years of separate operations the Kaohsiung and Longevity Mountain
Presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) gathered on 14th
November for a mass festival of repentance and reunion.  Over ten thousand
members of the two presbyteries' 138 congregations went to the campus of
National Kaohsiung University in bright sunlight for a two-hour long service
of worship.  The event was prepared by a joint committee and featured a
sermon
preached by PCT General Secretary William J. K. Lo.

The division that occurred in 1972 culminated recurrent friction between
leading clergy of what was then a single presbytery.  Disagreements on
policies regarding the planting of new churches, the election of presbytery
officers and other aspects of mission life led to an intractable situation.
The General Assembly gave a small coterie of dissenting pastors and
congregations a window of opportunity to see if they could find a sufficient
number of churches to join them.  In the end they gathered 24 and on 4th July
1972 the Longevity Mountain Presbytery was formed by official transfer of
these congregations out of Kaohsiung. Both presbyteries continued to be part
of the PCT, stiffly competing with each other in church planting in Kaohsiung
City and County. As the years passed, the wounds healed.

None of the leaders, and few of the followers, from the late 60's and early
70's continue to hold major positions in either presbytery today.  The
current
generation of church leaders have found much in common across the presbytery
lines.	Five years ago their campus ministry centers were united.  Currently
the church & society and senior citizens' ministries of both sides work
closely together. The event on November 14th celebrated the unity of spirit
and purpose in the hope that administrative issues preventing complete
organic
union can soon be worked through.

Operating "decently and in order", as Presbyterians are wont to do, the event
began promptly at 9:30 and ended on time at 11:30.

For More Information: Kaohsiung Presbytery tkkk@ms48.hinet.net
		      Longevity Mountain Presbytery sspr@ms11.hinet.net
Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local languages.
Visit our web site: www.pctpress.com.tw


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