wfn.org | Aborigine church proclaims Christ through community clean-up

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

>      Taiwan Church News

>3020 Edition

>January 11~17, 2010

Aborigine church proclaims Christ through community clean-up

>Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan

>Written by Lydia Ma

About one year ago, Paiwan Presbytery’s Jia-Chung Church  began sweeping a main road

bordering Kuei-Chung and Chi-Jia villages on the first Sunday of  every month. Very early in

the morning, some 20 church members head out to sweep this road  together just before

>Sunday services.

According to the church’s pastor, Rev. Galaigai, it’s  harder for villagers to darken a church

door, therefore, the church is going the extra mile in reaching  out to the community. The

ultimate purpose of sweeping this main road is to share the gospel  through community

service. “Christians should be more than happy to help out in  the menial tasks that people

>aren’t willing to do,” she said.

Though there are quite a few churches in the area, there  aren’t many Christian Aborigines.

“For the sake of furthering the gospel, we have to try  different ministries. But churches must

step out of church walls instead of waiting for opportunities to  drop on their laps,” said

>Galaigai.

With this in mind, she went about thinking of original ministries  that would create a win-win

scenario for her church and her community. After a lot of prayer,  God gave her this idea and

she began leading her congregation in sweeping this main artery as  a means to serve the

>community.

When interviewed, Galaigai emphasized the importance of beginning  every initiative with

serious prayer. “This ministry came about after a lot of  prayer and there’s no turning back after

we step out,” she said, underlining the fact that this  ministry is a covenant with God and will go

>on permanently.

Jia-Chung members chose the first Sunday of every month to sweep  this main artery. On that

day, they usually convene at 6:00 a.m. for a ride up the mountain.  After a saying group prayer,

they unload their tools and begin to sweep this 1 km long trail  that winds down the mountain.

In the beginning, only church members participated in this  activity, but some villagers soon

joined in and began sweeping portions of the road the church had  left undone. Now, every

time the church begins to sweep, majors from both towns will  usually show their appreciation

with an announcement through loudspeakers and they also remind  villagers to go out and help

>with the clean-up.

According to reports, about 8 Aborigines came to church for the  first time last year after

getting to know some church members through this road sweeping  project. From Galaigai’s

perspective, this is proof that the project is producing the  desired evangelistic effect.

Despite some success, Galaigai doesn’t shy away from  admitting that there are challenges as

well. For example, one Aborigine villager accused the church of  using this activity to show off

and sell a religious agenda, triggering a dispute between the  villager and a church member.

Though the incident was eventually resolved and the villager later  apologized and sent gifts to

the church, this incident serves as a reminder that churches must  use prayer and discernment

to handle delicate situations arising from outreach ministries.

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