wfn.org | Church invites neighborhood schoolchildren to a Christmas concert

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3016 Edition

>December 14~20 2009

Church invites neighborhood schoolchildren to a Christmas concert

>Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan

>Written by Lydia Ma

>Photo by Chen Yi-hsuan

PCT East Gate Barclay Memorial Church in Tainan has been offering

extracurricular classes at nearby Shengli Elementary School for  the past 10

years. On the night of December 13, the church invited the  school’s students and

their parents to attend a Christmas concert featuring lively  songs, hand bells and

>recorder performances, and a puppet show.

East Gate has been offering “Dayspring Classes” at  Shengli for 10 years and the

church currently teaches about 30 classes. Though school officials  have lauded

these classes and the positive effects they’ve had on  students and would like to

increase the number of classes taught, the church’s limited  human resources and

>time has prevented it from doing so.

“Dayspring Classes” are essentially character-education  classes that seek to

instill good character and values in children’s hearts.  According to Rev. Lo Ren-

kuei, East Gate’s pastor, some students who used to be  troublemakers at school

have turned around after attending Dayspring Classes.

During the Christmas concert, one of the teachers taught the  children to sing new

songs. This was followed by a Christmas medley presented by East  Gate’s hand

bell choir and a presentation of four lively praise songs by  Shengli’s recorder

ensemble. Finally, Lo went up and delivered a brief message to  introduce the

true protagonist of Christmas – Jesus Christ.

At the end of the program, everyone held up their light sticks to  the tune of Silent

Night and Dayspring teachers, donned in Santa Claus suits,  distributed candies

and refreshments. The event was an opportunity for children and  adults who

weren’t Christians yet to learn about the origin of Christmas  and have some fun

>during this holiday season.

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