wfn.org | TCN: Yuenlin Youth Fellowship Event Becomes Town Event

["Lydia Ma" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>Taiwan Church News

>2962 Edition

>December 1~7, 2008

Yuenlin Youth Fellowship Event Becomes Town Event

>Reported by Chen Wei-jian

>Written by Lydia Ma

How do you attract people to attend a church youth event and then turn  it into a town event co-hosted with the local government and paid for by  town officials? One church in Taiwan’s Changhua presbytery did just  that recently. Yuan Dong Lu Presbyterian Church had originally arranged  for painter Yang En-Dian to come and share her testimony with the church  youth. Yang is a painter with physical disabilities. Born without upper  limbs and spinal deformities, she relies on her mouth and feet to paint.

As soon as Yuan Dong Lu Church announced that Yang was coming to share  about her life with the church youth, news quickly spread across town  and the general public responded warmly. In the end, the event was  co-hosted by town hall leaders and Yuan Dong Lu Church and the venue was  moved to the auditorium of a local vocational school to accommodate an  audience of over 700 people. Those who came to see and hear Yang  included school teachers and advisors, as well as parents who  accompanied their pre-teens and teenagers to the event.

The event began with the youth fellowship leading everyone in praise  songs. The audience also joined the youth in doing some praise moves.  After the singing, Yang shared about what God had done in her life and  testified to His love. She also invited the children to come onstage as  she began to teach them how to put on socks using only their feet. The  children also learned how to make paper doves and draw pictures using  their feet. At the end of the program, Yang presented some paintings up  for charity sale to support a Christian orphanage and children’s  home in Liou-Guei. The paintings got a warm reception from parents.

How did this church’s youth event turn into a town event? According  to church leaders, the youth fellowship had been doing Bible studies  during meetings and they were looking for someone to come and share  about life experiences so that youths could apply Bible lessons into  their lives. After a long search, they finally got in touch with Yang  who was very impressed to hear that church youths were so diligently  studying Scripture. Yang was more than willing to share her testimony  anywhere and to anyone who would hear it. The church announced the event  on the church bulletin as soon as it was confirmed and news spread by  word of mouth to nearby schools. Coincidentally, Chinese textbooks in  grade 5 elementary schools across the town of Yuenlin happened to  feature Yang’s story and students expressed a lot of interest in  attending the event once they heard about it. Even student advisors  wanted to hear Yang speak about her life.

When the town mayor got hold of the news, he phoned Yuan Dong Lu church  about the possibility of co-hosting the event. The mayor also offered to  move the event to a bigger venue, arrange for publicity promoting the  event, issue formal invitations to every school and pay for these from  the town’s own coffers. Though this turn of events took church  leaders by surprise, everything came together seamlessly. Students were  very interested in seeing Yang in person because they had read about her  in their textbooks. Seeing God’s love shine through the life of  Yang and the town’s response was an encouragement to Christians  across Yuenlin who make up 1% of the population in the biggest town of  Taiwan. Due to popular demand, Yuan Dong Lu Church invited Yang to share  about her life once more on November 30th during Sunday service.

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