wfn.org | TCN: Kaohsiung church foregoes 30th anniversary celebrations in favor of sponsoring overseas mission

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

>      Taiwan Church News

>2998 Edition

>August 10~16, 2009

Kaohsiung church foregoes 30th anniversary celebrations in favor  of

>sponsoring overseas missionary

>Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan

>Written by Lydia Ma

How can a church celebrate its 30th anniversary in a meaningful  way? Elders and

members of Da-Shuen Church in Shou-Shan Presbytery decided they  would

cancel special thanksgiving services, forego special commemorative  gifts and

channel all funding that would have been allocated to celebrating  its 30th

anniversary toward supporting overseas missions sponsored by the  General

Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. The church  committed to offer

$500,000 NTD every year for the next 4 years to support Rev. Divan  Suqluman

>who is a missionary in Hokkaido, Japan.

According to Da-Shuen Church’s pastor Rev. Chen Sheng-jeng, a  church must

have vision and engage in evangelism for it to grow. Anniversary  celebrations

are activities that last for a moment and using the money to  invest in overseas

missions would have more significant and long term effects. After  all, churches

>exist because we need to evangelize, he said.

Da-Shuen Church was founded in 1979 and Chen recalls there were no

buildings, equipments, or members when he first started the  church. The church

didn’t belong to any presbytery or mother church at the time  either. Today, it has

its own land and facilities, and about 200 members attend Sunday  services every

Sunday. On the eve of the church’s 30th anniversary, Chen  felt strongly that the

church should do something and he was tired of organizing  festivities as well.

After consulting with church elders about supporting overseas  missions, they

agreed to do it as a means to celebrate the church’s  anniversary.

“Churches that want to grow must have a vision. The purpose  of churches is to

proclaim God’s word. The best way to share the gospel is to  establish a church,”

said Chen, who originally had considered establishing a sister  church. However,

insufficient resources and other long-term considerations  redirected his attention

>to overseas missions instead.

The church plans to commit $500,000 NTD annually for the next 4  years toward

missions in Japan and support Rev. Divan Suqluman. It also plans  to post her

prayer requests on the church’s weekly bulletin so that  members can participate

in celebrating the church’s 50th anniversary by praying for  her and supporting her

>financially.

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