WARC General Secretary Addresses Taiwan Presbyterians' General Assembly
Taiwan Church News 2826 24-30 April 2006
Reported by Yu Kao. Written by David Alexander
During the planning for the 51st General Assembly meeting of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT), General Secretary Chang Te-chien issued an invitation to Dr. Setri Nyomi, the General Secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) to participate and make an address. Dr. Nyomi arrived in Taiwan prior to the assembly's commencement and, on the evening of 19th April, spoke to the gathered ministers, elders and guests. He introduced seven core callings of the WARC that emerged through that organization's 24th General Council, held in Accra, Ghana in 2004. Based on two of those callings he challenged the PCT to interpret its own current theme of "Establish the Family Altar, Share Abundant Life" as it engages in mission and faces challenges.
Dr. Nyomi paired the fifth of the WARC's core callings, "Foster mission in unity, mission renewal and mission empowerment" with the PCT's "Establish the Family Altar, Share Abundant Life."
He pointed out that the PCT's theme is a demonstration of a powerful heart for mission, but noted that Taiwan's social context, which includes suicides of people who failing to experience abundant life have lost hope, calls the church to a mission on several fronts. The challenge is to wisely discern and fill the mission needs that are set before the church. He said that this discernment begins at the foundation of the family altar, where people together pray, and God opens the way.
He asserted that churches today face multiple mission challenges and need to move with the time, sharing Jesus' gospel and abundant life with all people. Every church must envision the questions and problems before it. He pointed to the Gospel according to John wherein Jesus is quoted as saying to his disciples, "As the Father sent me, so send I you." Christians are commissioned, he said, to give ourselves as offerings in the mission of Jesus.
He challenged the ministers and elders of the PCT to consider the form of church mission work and to face up to the challenges that have come. He asked all to be willing to commit themselves to the mission of the church, and for the church to be inclusive of Aboriginal people, Women, Immigrants and other marginalized groups in society. Holding up the model of Christ, who emptied himself, he asked if Taiwan's Presbyterians were similarly willing to become servants of God for the sake of helping others. He especially challenged his listeners to transform the sacrifice made by Jesus into love for "unlovable people" in Taiwan's contemporary social context.
In sum, he called on all sides to organize for mission, not dividing rich from poor, strong from weak, socially advantaged from socially disadvantaged, but for all to offer themselves as tools for God's mission and purpose.
For more information: www.pct.org.tw