wfn.org | Single pastor turned unlikely babysitter gets thumbs-up

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

>      Taiwan Church News

>3040 Edition

>May 31~June 6, 2010

Single pastor turned unlikely babysitter gets thumbs-up

>Reported by Chen Wei-chien

>Written by Lydia Ma

Would you be surprised if you saw your church’s single and  unwed woman pastor 
carry an

infant with her during house visitation rounds? That’s  exactly what one young 
pastor is doing

>after receiving an unlikely phone call.

Rev. Huang Yu-ching received a call for help from a local police  station 
recently, asking her if

she could take care of a 6-month-old male infant for ten months  because the 
baby’s parents

>were in jail.

Not long after she answered this call for help and took the baby  home, 
assistance poured in

from everywhere. Apparently, when local media reported on Rev.  Huang’s 
kindness, people

began donating items such as baby food and formula, diapers, baby  beds, and 
baby walkers.

According to reports, a 34-year-old woman surnamed Feng was  arrested by Wufeng 
district

police a while ago and was recently arrested again and sentenced  to 10 months 
in jail. Feng’s

husband is also behind bars on drug charges and her father-in-law  can barely 
support himself

>financially, let alone care for an infant.

When Feng was arrested once again, she asked Wufeng district  police chief, Lin 
Ching-po, to

contact any social service organization in Taichung area for help  in caring 
for her baby. In the

end, Lin contacted Jen-Hua Presbyterian Church in Taichung County  and asked 
for Rev.

Huang, who agreed to take care of the infant free of charge.

Rev. Huang said many of her colleagues advised and reminded her  that taking 
care of an

infant would involve many responsibilities. She would face many  challenges as 
she was a

single woman in her thirties and a full-time minister.

But at the time, the question that kept surfacing in Huang’s  mind was, “if I 
don’t receive this

infant, then, what good will my preaching do?”

Since she took the baby home, Huang has been taking him along with  her on 
house visitation

rounds. As members of her church got to know him, they became fond  of him and 
even

volunteered to cook porridge to feed him at times.

Now, when Huang needs to lead prayer meetings, some women in her  church will 
volunteer to

care for the infant. Church members are also volunteering to care  for the baby 
during

weekends when Huang is busiest with church ministries.

After hearing about her new “ministry”, Taichung  Presbytery Church and Society 
Committee

contacted Rev. Huang to lend her support. It also suggested the  baby’s mother 
be referred to

Prison Fellowship’s Halfway House division to learn some  vocational skills and 
receive

assistance when she reenters society later on.

Rev. Huang reported that the baby’s mother had heard the  gospel and was later 
baptized

while in prison. She urged Christians to pray for both mother and  child.

>********************

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