Title: Breaking Barriers of Isolationism Between Northern Taiwan Churches
Taiwan Church News 2863 8-14 January 2007
Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong. Written by David Alexander
Christians in and around Sanchung City in Taipei County have decided to go beyond the loose coalitions they have occasionally formed in the past for special tasks and reach across denominational boundaries to form the Sanchung City United Churches Association. The local congregation of the Bread of Life Church has served as the convening organization, and congregations of the Assemblies of God, Church of Joy, Presbyterian and other denominations have joined. By forming a properly incorporated body these churches will be able to approach the local government for permission and support when sponsoring community celebrations and be able to increase both their influence and their areas of responsibility.
The Rev. Huang Chun-sheng, pastor of Chung-hsin Presbyterian church, said that cooperation across denominational boundaries in united prayer associations had formed the first bridge. The pastors and church members had received their first vision for ecumenical cooperation there. But the loose style of those coalitions did not carry enough weight to approach the government when something other than praying together was envisioned. Two years of planning and prayer ensued, and eventually several congregations chose to forego their denominational "turf" and reach out to each other. By joining the power of nearby congregations regardless of denomination the churches have a louder voice in community life than they do separately. They can even get government financial support for activities aimed at their town!
Even before the ink had dried on the agreements, the churches that learned to trust each other, and they have seen the fruit of that trust at joint celebrations of Christmas and a New Year's Eve programme. They assumed that a community event scheduled for December 3rd might draw up to 500 people, but that was before they really began to cooperate from the bottom of their hearts. On December the scheduled evening over 1,200 came out! Two weeks later, even in the rain, a jointly sponsored celebration drew over 3,000. The official founding of the organization was scheduled for 11th January, 2007
Though a few churches in the area have not chosen to join in the venture, that hasn't stopped the participating ones from launching things, or from continuing to extend their invitation to cooperate. Rev. Hwang asserts that different denominational labels are not indications of enmity, but parts of one body which, when joined together, can have a great influence on people all around.
For more information: Chung Hsin Presbyterian Church chunsheng@chunsheng.org
Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local languages.
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