wfn.org | Young and old in Changhua presbytery pair up in community outreach for elderly

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

>      Taiwan Church News

>3044 Edition

>June 28~July 4, 2010

Young and old in Changhua presbytery pair up in community outreach  for elderly

>Reported by Chen Wei-chien

>Written by Lydia Ma

As summer vacation draws near, staffs from many community and  church 
organizations are

racking their brains in search of interesting activities to  attract youth 
coming home for summer holidays.

But this year, Changhua Presbyterian Church is doing things a bit  differently. 
Instead of

entertaining youth, it’s asking youth to become volunteers.  Instead of letting 
youth become

receivers, it is encouraging them to become givers by visiting  seniors living 
near the church.

Changhua Church will begin a new ministry called “Center for  Community 
Outreach for

Seniors” beginning August 2010. It had originally planned  this ministry with 
its senior

fellowship members in mind – hoping those still able to walk  about and share 
the gospel with

people of their age would take the lead in this ministry. However,  it also 
hoped that youth

returning for summer vacation could participate too. In the end,  it paired one 
youth with one

>senior for house visitation rounds.

Changhua Church’s pastor, Rev. Lee Chih-jen, said he hoped  youth would have a 
chance to

reflect on their own faith through sharing the gospel with others.  He also 
emphasized how

important it was for the church to teach young people about  helping others in 
an age when

summer vacations are usually spent having fun or earning money.

Though not many youth have registered for this outreach yet, Lee  predicts that 
once school let

out and youth come home for summer vacation, the number of  participants will 
rise as more

>youth are encouraged to participate.

To avoid suspicion that church members might be con artists when  they visit 
the private home

of strangers, the church has already spoken to the city’s  district chief and 
the latter proceeded

>to advertise this ministry in the community.

In addition, youth participating in this ministry will attend  mandatory 
training sessions before

they begin knocking on doors. This training will come in handy in  the future 
as well when they

>share the gospel with their peers.

Because of Taiwan’s increasingly aging society, Lee feels  that churches should 
consider

adjusting how they do community outreach. Since the district where  Changhua 
Church is

located has the highest number of seniors in Changhua area, this  ministry 
provides a great

opportunity for public agencies and churches to cooperate in  helping seniors.

Who knows? Such partnerships might just help public agencies  fulfill their 
responsibilities and

help Christians and churches fulfill their calling and vision at  the same time.

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