wfn.org | Much-anticipated Rukai Presbytery finally becomes reality

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

>      Taiwan Church News

>3034 Edition

>April 19~25, 2010

Much-anticipated Rukai Presbytery finally becomes reality

>Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong

>Written by Lydia Ma

“We’re very grateful for the support we’ve received  from the General Assembly 
and from local

churches. Their help has enabled us to grow from district to  presbytery. We’re 
very excited,”

said Rev. Pelenge, General Secretary of the new Rukai Presbytery.

Rev. Pelenge added that seeing Rukai District become a presbytery  is a 
milestone many

people in the church had been anticipating. This goal was finally  attained 
when PCT General

Assembly approved a motion during its recent annual assembly.

Rukai Presbytery staffs are extremely excited and already convened  the first 
Rukai Presbytery

Assembly on April 10; just one day after the motion had passed in  the PCT 
General

Assembly. They elected the presbytery’s first moderator, Rev.  Kaynwane, during 
that

presbytery assembly and will convene another assembly shortly to  discuss 
presbytery affairs.

According to Rev. Pelenge, Rukai celebrated its 22nd anniversary  since 
becoming a church

district last year. Many people have been looking forward to  seeing it grow 
into presbytery for

a long time. However, because Rukai Aborigines are such a small  population in 
Taiwan and

there are only about 2,000 Rukai Aborigines within the PCT, this  goal seemed 
unattainable.

However, after a lot of hard work and evangelism, the district  built 16 
churches over time and

is finally a presbytery now. It plans to hold a thanksgiving  service on June 
16 to thank God for

>blessing and leading its ministries.

Incidentally, 3 of the 16 churches belonging to Rukai Presbytery  are located 
in Pingtung City,

Kaohsiung City, and Taipei County. Rev. Pelenge said many  aborigines have a 
hard time

finding jobs at home and the government has closed down schools  with 
insufficient students

near Aborigine reservations. As result, more people are leaving  Aborigine 
reservations for life

and work in urban areas. To care for these people, Rukai churches  have been 
founded in a

>few cities.

If Rukai Aborigines stop meeting with one another as they adjust  to urban 
life, they will

eventually lose their sense of identity after they adopt new  lifestyles and 
mainstream culture,

said Rev. Pelenge. Hence, churches play an important role in  keeping ethnic 
traditions alive

>as well.

Having explained these challenges, Rev. Pelenge said he hoped  urban churches 
would join

him and other Aborigine churches in protecting the ethnic  diversity within 
PCT. He urged city

churches to assist Aborigine churches with enthusiasm and remember  Rukai 
Presbytery in

>their prayers.

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