wfn.org | Ecumenical Links Forged in Taiwan Disaster

["pctpress" <pctpress@ms1.hinet.net>]

Taiwan Church News 2733, 12-18 July 2004
Reported by Yang Shu-hao. Translated and Rewritten by David Alexander

Taiwan is home to several different Protestant denominations and independent
congregations that at times take a "you do yours and we'll do ours" attitude
towards one another.  Events in recent years have served to increase
ecumenical communication and break down barriers based on political or ethnic
loyalties that drove wedges into church unity.	Typhoon Mindulle, which
struck
Taiwan on July 1 and 2 and was followed by landslides and floods has brought
about another round of cooperation.

The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) is only one of the denominations with
congregations in the remote mountain areas where the disaster struck the
hardest. Soon after the storm passed the phone rang at the offices of the
PCT's General Assembly. The call was from next door, the independent
Friendship Presbyterian Church, which for years had only the frostiest of
relationships to its neighbor.	The Rev. Chern Cheng said that his
congregation was concerned for the fate of the Aboriginal people in the
disaster area and offered what aid his church could give to the PCT to
administer. The first installment was one million Taiwan Yuan (approximately
25,000 Euros).

Friendship Church had begun "cooperating" with the PCT after an earthquake in
1999. Rev. Chern said that his church wanted to hear from the PCT's Tayal
Presbytery, because that way they could know they were getting true
information. (Following the 1999 quake aid sent by many groups to disaster
areas through non-ecclesiastical organizations was inappropriate, wasted or
stolen.)

Besides Friendship Church the PCT also heard from Hsintien Covenant Church,
Good TV (which ran a telethon) and the Red Cross society in Nantou County
(where a lot of the damage occurred). The Red Cross dispatched four
truckloads
of supplies to be distributed by Tayal Presbytery.

125 disaster photos can be found at
http://www.pct.org.tw/mindu/minp01/index.htm

For More Information:
Church and Society Committee, PCT  service@mail.pct.org.tw
Friendship Presbyterian Church www.hfpchurch.org.tw
			  www.fpctw.org
Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local languages.
Visit our web site: www.pctpress.com.tw