wfn.org | Editorial: Building partnerships and sharing God’s blessings

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

>Taiwan Church News

>3020 Edition

>January 11~17, 2010

Editorial: Building partnerships and sharing God’s blessings

>Translated by Lydia Ma

In the past, Taiwanese Christians in Vienna, Austria would attend a  local church service with their European neighbors. As the number of  Taiwanese students in the area increased, a Christian fellowship was  eventually created to meet the needs of these students. Sadly, this  fellowship was eventually disbanded due to lack of funding and staff.

Several years after, when PCT General Assembly met up with members from  Reformed Church in Vienna, the latter offered a place for Taiwanese  people to meet when PCT announced it’d send a missionary to Vienna.  The PCT in Vienna held its first service on October 4, 2009 and the  occasion also marked the first PCT in the European continent.

Looking back at the history of Taiwanese churches founded abroad we can  see a recurring pattern, especially among Taiwanese churches in North  America. These churches typically begin with a group of Taiwanese people  attending a local, Caucasian church. Once the number of Taiwanese  reaches a certain threshold, a Bible study is created because, after  all, cultural and language barriers still exist between Caucasians and  Taiwanese. Once the number of attendants at these Bible studies  stabilizes, the next step is to begin a Taiwanese Christian fellowship.  If attendance increases from then on, an independent Taiwanese church is  eventually born.

Some of these Taiwanese churches rent a local church building to meet,  while others build their own buildings eventually. Regardless, most  Taiwanese churches abroad enjoy good relations with other denominations  in their area and are active in the local Taiwanese association too as  it’s a great means to reach Taiwanese people residing abroad for  Christ.

However, a look at Aborigines living in urban areas of Taiwan tells a  completely different story. Aborigines share many commonalities with  Taiwanese immigrants living abroad. They, too, left their hometown for  schooling or employment purposes. According to PCT Indigenous Ministry  Committee and government demographical data, Aborigines flocking to  urban areas is an irreversible trend. Urban migration also translates  into more and more Christian Aborigines residing in cities and leaving  their former home churches. Once these Aborigines settle down, they will  either join a Mandarin church or stop attending church altogether. In  short, there aren’t sufficient PCT churches ministering to  Aborigines in urban areas, let alone Aborigine PCT churches.

In light of this situation, PCT Indigenous Ministry Committee began a  program dubbed “partner churches” in 2009, with the goal of  enabling city churches to help Aborigine churches and also further urban  Aborigine ministries. After several meetings between Aborigine pastors  and a general census, PCT mapped out urban areas across Taiwan with high  concentrations of Aborigines. Then, with help from PCT Evangelism  Committee, Aborigine churches began building partnerships with urban  churches to increase the number of meeting places in urban areas so that  Aborigines can meet to worship and grow together using their own  language.

As PCT strives toward increasing the number of members among its local  churches through proactive one-on-one evangelism, the goal for Aborigine  churches is to bring Aborigine Christians back into the church fold. PCT  has begun promoting a program where one city church adopts one Aborigine  church so that both can be strengthened through mutual cooperation and  sharing of experiences. Now is the time for city churches to get  involved in Aborigine outreach ministries and we pray that Taiwanese  churches and Aborigine churches can experience exponential growth  together.

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