wfn.org | Palanquin-maker turned Christian now making and giving crosses

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

>      Taiwan Church News

>3044 Edition

>June 28~July 4, 2010

Palanquin-maker turned Christian now making and giving crosses

>Reported by Chen Wei-chien

>Written by Lydia Ma

There’s a palanquin shop in the town of Lukang owned by Cheng  Tien-lai, a 
Christian

affectionately known as Papa Cheng. In the past few years, Papa  Cheng observed 
that many

Christians liked to display crosses, but couldn’t afford to  buy them, so, he 
decided to make

and give crosses to Christians and churches for free. About 50  churches have 
requested

crosses in the past 4 years and he has given away more than 3,000  wooden 
crosses.

Papa Cheng’s life before becoming a Christian involved heavy  drinking, 
gambling, and mixing

with the wrong crowd, and these almost destroyed his marriage.  After hearing 
the gospel,

Papa Cheng accepted Christ and his life began to change. Overjoyed  by his 
transformation,

his family didn’t stop him from attending church and becoming  a Christian.

For Papa Cheng, the palanquin shop is an inheritance handed down  by his 
ancestors. But

upon becoming a Christian, he felt it was no longer suitable for  him to run 
the family shop.

However, some of his customers insisted that palanquins  aren’t idols and 
people who buy

them don’t worship them. More importantly, his family was  responsible for the 
livelihood of

many employees working in the shop and his understanding of folk  religion 
would help him

share the gospel with his employees and customers more  effectively.

Papa Cheng knows that many Christians want to hang crosses in  their homes to 
remember

Jesus but oftentimes don’t have enough money to purchase  crosses. In the past 
few years, he

has spent more than NT$500,000 making crosses to give away for  free. Because 
the cost of

making crosses is expensive, he hopes that those who request them  are people 
who really

cannot afford to buy crosses and he also welcomes anyone  interested in 
learning to make

>crosses to join him in this ministry.

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