wfn.org | Editorial: Awakening the spirit of TTCS witnessed in the 1980s

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

>      Taiwan Church News

>3029 Edition

>March 15~21, 2010

Editorial: Awakening the spirit of TTCS witnessed in the 1980s

>Translated by Lydia Ma

In March of 1980, a sense of fear mixed with indignation washed  over Taiwanese 
people

because of the Kaohsiung Incident. These feelings were exacerbated  when news 
about the

Lin Family Massacre, which occurred shortly after the Kaohsiung  Incident, were 
reported.

Throughout those terrifying days, staff and students at Tainan  Theological 
College and

Seminary (TTCS) never stopped reaching out to victims, fighting  injustices, 
and expounding

on the significance of social events happening around them. Their  engagement 
in social

issues became a model and an integral part of theological training  for future 
seminarians.

When Rev. C.M. Kao was arrested and imprisoned, Christians in  Taiwan fasted 
and prayed

and a support network soon sprouted to help Rev. Kao and his  family. TTCS 
staff and

students were active in this network too and continued lending  support to PCT 
throughout the

1980s as PCT lived out its statement of faith.

TTCS kept on being socially active throughout the 1980s as staff  and students 
helped

disillusioned Taiwanese stay tuned to international events. During  those years 
under martial

law, TTCS was akin to a “voice in the desert” and was  portrayed as a 
courageous, avant-

garde, or rebellious religious institution. For the KMT government  at the 
time, TTCS was a

threat or a thorn in the flesh, and officials even hired some  students as 
secret informers to

create division and mistrust within the school.

As we approach TTCS Sunday, let us remember and re-awaken the  spirit of TTCS 
that we

witnessed in the 1980s, step forward, and not shy away from  discussing issues. 
Let us stand

up for what’s right, support those who are suffering, and  remain firm despite 
intimidation.

Though people may not understand us, though many may want to break  us, let us 
move

forward with love as our guide and live out PCT’s statement  of faith.

It is our hope that the spirit of TTCS seen in the 1980s will  speak to 
Taiwanese churches

again in this age of financial turbulence and political  uncertainty. May God’s 
love guide us to

become responsible stewards of God’s creation and may  churches be purified 
through recent

trials and emerge as rays of hope in Taiwanese society.

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