wfn.org | Christmas concert reaches out to non-Christians and Morakot victims

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

>      Taiwan Church News

>3017 Edition

>December 21~27 2009

Christmas concert reaches out to non-Christians and Morakot  victims

>Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan

>Written by Lydia Ma

Just as a cold current swept across Taiwan on December 19, joy  radiated all around Tainan

Cultural Center when Dong-Ning Presbyterian Church and Tainan  Lifelong Learning

>Association co-hosted a Christmas show there.

The show featured praise dance, Aborigine dance, personal  testimonies, recorder

performances, skits, and a free raffle. Near the stage, event  organizers also set up small

booths featuring produce grown in regions devastated by Typhoon  Morakot to raise funds. In

other booths, a few doctors from Sinlau Hospital offered free  check-ups, and a few church

members held arts & crafts workshops and counseling for those who  wanted to know more

>about Christianity.

The program began with an all-women praise dance. One of the  performers later commented

that the team had been meeting at Dong-Ning Park every morning at  5:50 a.m. for some

exercise. She said that exercise had improved team members’  health and boosted their

energy as well, and encouraged anyone looking to improve their  health to join them. Some of

the exercises they did every morning were actually dance routines.

Throughout the program, several people wearing vests displaying  the church’s name,

distributed gospel tracts to onlookers gathered there. These  members had undergone training

beforehand. They warmly invited people passing by to stay for the  concert and shared the

>gospel with them.

As Dong-Ning Church celebrated Christmas, it also remembered  victims of Typhoon Morakot.

Aborigines from Chiayi and Pingtung were invited to perform and  set up stands promoting

their produce to raise funds to rebuild their homes.

During the program, Dong-Ning Church’s Rev. Lin Ruei-lung led  the crowd into singing a

popular Taiwanese hymn and later explained the real meaning and  origin of Christmas. The

church’s choir then led the crowd in singing “Silent  Night” and “Joy to the World” before Lin

gave the benediction. One thousand Christmas candies were  distributed at the end of the

>program.

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