wfn.org | School principal favors Christian life education over Buddhist aphorism

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

>      Taiwan Church News

>3037 Edition

>May 10~16, 2010

School principal favors Christian life education over Buddhist  aphorism

>Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong

>Written by Lydia Ma

Four years ago, a small church in Sinpi Village, Pingtung County,  decided to 
hold a

children summer camp every year. Since Sinpi Presbyterian Church  had very

limited resources, it enlisted the help of youth from  Taipei’s Chien-Cheng

Presbyterian Church. Since then, youth from Chien-Cheng have  traveled to

>Pingtung every summer to serve at this camp.

One of the beneficiaries of this summer camp is Shiang-Tan  Elementary School, a

small school that has received a lot of help from both churches in  the past few

years. Chien-Cheng Church recently held a concert to raise funds  to help 
Shiang-

Tan School provide healthy lunches to students. 21 students from  the school

traveled to Taipei and performed at this concert.

When interviewed by Taiwan Church News, Shiang-Tan Elementary  School’s

Principal Chen Te-shing said he deeply appreciated and agreed with  the life

education program run by Sinpi Church at his school. He was aware  of the

tremendous work volunteers had invested in designing this program.

More importantly, he has seen first-hand how many students mature  and widen

their perspectives after attending life education classes. That is  one of the 
reasons

he has repeatedly turned down Buddhist Compassion Relief (Tzu Chi)

Foundation’s version of character education programs –  even though such a

>decision may cost him his job.

Chen cited several reasons for turning down Tzu-Chi Foundation,  including his

conviction that schools don’t need to display or teach Master  Cheng Yen’s

aphorisms because Taiwan is no longer under martial law.

He added that allowing an organization that practices class  differentiation to 
teach

morality to children is self-contradictory. He also felt that  Tzu-Chi spent 
more time

proselyting than actually teaching students and helping them widen  their

>perspectives.

Surprisingly, parents are agreeing and supporting Chen’s view  on this matter –

perhaps after having witnessed how much churches have truly helped  their

community become a better place in the past few years.

According to Chen, the borough where the school is located is  notorious for 
people

with drinking and gambling addictions. Many people in the area are  also 
extremely

superstitious because of their devotion to folk religion.

However, this non-Christian school principal has witnessed the  sincerity with 
which

Christians minister to people in the community and help their  children get 
proper

life perspective by addressing important issues during classes.

“Sinpi Church is like a light to this community –  it’s the hope of this 
community,”

>said Chen.

Every Sunday, Sinpi Church sends out a few vans to pick up  students from 
Shiang-

Tan School in time for Sunday School. This pick-up service has  been in place 
for a

>few years already.

Based on the enthusiastic response and transformation of children  after 
attending

Sunday Schools and summer camps organized by Sinpi Church, school  officials at

Siang-Tan School are more than happy to partner with the church in  offering 
more

>after-school programs.

According to Chen, the church exerts positive influence on  students by 
instructing

them to do their homework diligently and observe basic moral  principles. That 
is

why school officials have always taken initiative assuring parents  that their 
children

>are in good hands.

The church also encourages children to go to church on time on  Sundays. For 
non-

Christian parents to feel comfortable letting their children go to  church is a 
powerful

testimony of the impact church members, young and old, have left  on Sinpi 
Village.

>********************

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