Anselm Grun encourages and inspires thousands in Taiwan

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

3061 Edition

October 25~31, 2010

Headline News

Anselm Grun encourages and inspires thousands in Taiwan  

Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan, Chen Wei-chien

Written by Lydia Ma



Soon after his arrival to Taiwan, Anselm Grun, a Benedictine monk of 
the Abbey of Munsterschwarzach in Germany and a prolific author of 
more than 

300 books and renowned motivational speaker, was whisked to Taitung 
in time to start the first in a series of speaking engagements. 



Grun’s tour of Taiwan began in Taitung, inside Taitung High School's 
auditorium where more than 1,200 Catholics and Protestants in the 
area filled the 

venue to hear him speak on using “The Lord's Prayer” as a tool to 
experience God and change the world.



Grun’s itinerary in Taitung included two lectures, one in the morning 
and one in the afternoon, with different topics to cater to both 
clergy and 

laypeople. The morning session focused on “experiencing God and 
changing the world” using “The Lord's Prayer” as guide, while the 
afternoon 

session was geared at helping clergy in their outreach and counseling 
ministries. His seminars in Taipei, Hsinchu, Changhua, Tainan, 
Chiayi, and 

Kaohsiung followed a similar pattern.



Grun opened his morning session by pointing out that prayer without 
work is merely self-centered prayer, but work without prayer as a 
foundation is 

meaningless work. He underscored that discovering “The Lord's Prayer” 
sandwiched between Jesus' “Sermon on the Mount” is indicative of its 

importance. If “Sermon on the Mount” is one of the most important 
teachings of Christianity, then, “The Lord's Prayer” is arguably “the 
gospel of the 

gospel”.



Starting with “Our Father in heaven”, Grun explained that God the 
Father belonged to all and no one had exclusive ownership of God. 
“Hallowed be 

your name” is a reminder that churches must awaken humanity's 
innermost longings that invariably lead them to build a compassionate 
society. “Your 

kingdom come” is a reminder Christians are called to put their faith 
to action by being salt and light in this world and being leaders and 
influencers 

through their participation in every aspect of society.



Acceptance and companionship first; problem-solving second



During his address to clergy and ministry leaders at Tainan 
Theological College and Seminary on October 22, 2010, in Tainan, Grun 
underscored the 

importance of companionship and building trusting relationships when 
helping people. He alluded to Jesus’ healing of lepers and the 
paralytic beside 

the pool of Bethesda to underscore to clergy that their prime role 
wasn’t problem-solving, but rather, keeping company with suffering 
people as they 

worked through their problems.



Freedom from self-condemnation starts with self-acceptance



In Chiayi, more than 500 people came out to hear Grun speak despite 
work and classes having been cancelled due to an impending typhoon. 
Grun 

used one session to encourage pastors and reminded them how to 
nurture their own spirituality even as they reached out to broken 
people. An 

evening session shortly afterward was themed “7 Things: The art of 
enriching our souls and our lives” and it also included Jesus’ 7 
statements as he 

hung on the cross.



Youths who attended Grun’s conferences in Chiayi came away very 
satisfied at having long-standing questions answered adequately and 
biblically.