Title: Director of Taiwan's Evangelism Explosion Organization Dies Taiwan Church News 2821 20-26 March 2006 Reported by Li Hsin-ren. Written by David Alexander
Chuang Sheng-hsiung, an elder of Hsin-hsing Presbyterian Church in Kaohsiung and long term director of Evangelism Explosion/Taiwan (EE/T), died at mid-day on 19th March. He was 57 years old. Since 1989 he had given his full attention and energy to his church and to Evangelism Explosion.
In 1987 the Rev. Wang Ming-ren, then the associate pastor of Hsin-hsing Church (now the senior pastor of Barclay Memorial East Gate Church in Tainan) invited Mr. Chuang to participate in the first Evangelism Explosion training clinic held in Taiwan. He later testified that through the training his eyes were opened to see the work of the Holy Spirit through personal evangelism. The experience of sitting with people for 40 minutes, ushering some of them to confess faith in Christ, was sacred to him. He gave himself to support of the programme of Evangelism Explosion.
In September of 1989, at the age of 40, he went to work full time to establish the Taiwan EE/T center in Kaohsiung. During the 17 years he headed up the organization and gave it his attention he was unstinting in his work to train clergy and laypeople in the theory and practice of personal evangelism. This involved work both in Taiwan and overseas. He was instrumental in the conduct of 60 training clinics here, as well as assisting work in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and other places where Chinese language churches were seeking better grounding in evangelistic work.
He worked tirelessly to bring Evangelism Explosion training materials to Taiwan. This included those focused on work with adults, youth, children and the elderly. Even at times when his health was below par, he still promoted the work. In February of this year, members of the organization¡¦s board received the final drafts of his material focused on the needs of the elderly, which he had vowed to complete before his demise.
Four years ago Elder Chuang was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In 2003 lymphoma was also found. He underwent therapy and went into remission, and for the past three years redoubled his work for EE/T, completing two sets of specialized material. He also led a local delegation to an Asian regional conference of Evangelism Explosion facilitators in Manila.
In his will, one million Taiwan Dollars (25,600 Euros,US$30,625) is left to EE/T for the continuation of its work. A memorial service is scheduled for 2PM on 1st April at Shin-hsing Presbyterian Church.
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