Glove puppet show inspires masses, bridges gap between church and culture

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

      Taiwan Church News

      3051 Edition

      August 16~22, 2010

                                   

       

      Glove puppet show inspires masses, bridges gap between church 
and culture

       

      Reported by staff

      Written by Lydia Ma

       

       

      Fu-Tze Presbyterian Church in Kaohsiung recently invited a 
glove puppet troupe to the 

      church to put on a performance based on the stories of James 
Laidlaw Maxwell and the 

      prodigal son. 

       



      Combining traditional Taiwanese glove puppets, contemporary 
Taiwanese slangs 

      youths could easily understand, carefully crafted special 
effects, and evangelistic 

      themes, the show was a success in many ways.

       



      According to Fu-Tze Church’s pastor, Rev. Shih Jen-tung, who 
had long been praying for 

      a show that’d merge traditional arts and culture with the 
gospel message, he’d been 

      looking forward to this event for a long time. He hoped the 
show would encourage youths 

      to use their talents to serve God.

       



      The event was a breakthrough in terms of how the church did 
community outreach, 

      because many members used their God-given talents to make it 
successful and 

      reflective of Taiwan’s multicultural environment.  

       



      Many Christians remarked afterwards that the show had reminded 
them of God’s 

      salvation and grace and brought back fond memories of their 
childhood and also 

      expanded their horizons. 

       



      For children and youths who attended the play, it was a new 
experience altogether that 

      opened their eyes to aspects of Taiwanese culture that they 
weren’t aware of before and 

      reminded them of the gospel message.

       



      After the play, a few convenience stores and tea associations 
set up stands featuring 

      their latest moon cakes and high-quality tea for people to 
sample. This little exchange 

      gave the church a great opportunity to get to know local people 
and culture and a means 

      to share the gospel.

       



      ********************

      Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local 
languages. 

      You may translate and re-use our articles online only if you 
acknowledge the source as 

      "Taiwan Church News" and list the names of the reporter and 
writer. 

      Contact us before reprinting any of our articles for print 
publications. 

      Direct comments and questions about this article to: 
enews@pctpress.org

      Visit our website for more news at: http://enews.pctpress.org/ 
(English) 

      http://www.pctpress.org (Chinese) 

      ********************