Church leaders ponder membership decline among indigenous members in urban areas

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

3136 Edition

April 2-8, 2012

Headline News

Church leaders ponder membership decline among indigenous members in urban areas

Reported by Lin Yi-ying

Written by Lydia Ma

Urban Indigenous Christians Research Center of Taiwan Theological College and 
Seminary (TTCS) held a seminar in TTCS’ Activity Center on March 30, 2012, on 
“The present situation and future vision of urban indigenous churches”. Pastors 
and leaders from various indigenous presbyteries, including Atayal, Amis, 
Bunun, Rukai, Paiwan, were present at this seminar.

During the seminar, some pastors said bluntly that some indigenous rural 
churches in indigenous reservations view urban indigenous churches as their 
competitors and have discouraged its members of its congregation from attending 
or joining urban indigenous churches. As result, indigenous Christians turn to 
churches in other denominations instead to find spiritual nourishment and then 
begin attending church services there.

Another problem brought up during the seminar is that urban indigenous churches 
have slowly adopted the worship service format used by churches in other 
denominations. By adopting praise and worship, as is the trend in other 
churches, they have completely transformed the solemn and sacred form of 
worship used in Presbyterian churches and confused their congregations into 
thinking they are attending a church service at another denomination.

Rev. Behuy Payas from Singkayo Presbyterian Church remarked that an urban 
indigenous pastor’s vision of his ministry will determine the direction of 
urban indigenous churches. He is convinced that urban indigenous churches must 
return to their PCT roots and focus on holistic evangelism, which includes 
proclaiming the gospel, training God’s children, serving in love, social 
service, creation care, and connecting the gospel with the culture.

Rev. Behuy Payas also said that another problem facing urban indigenous 
churches is location and finances. Most of these churches are located on the 
3rd or 4th floor of apartment buildings, which is very inconvenient as 
neighbors may complain about noise levels. However, renting 1st and 2nd floor 
levels are usually more expensive and beyond these churches’ ability to afford 
as they usually receive very little in terms of tithes and offerings.

Another concern is the decline of the use of indigenous languages in these 
churches as most members working in urban areas have been living in the city 
for many years and have consequently grown accustomed to speaking Mandarin or 
Taiwanese because of their work environment. Behuy Payas expressed concern at 
the decline in usage or estrangement of indigenous languages among indigenous 
churches in urban areas.

However, the lack of trust between indigenous churches in rural and urban areas 
was deemed as the gravest and most pressing problem. Many pastors expressed 
that whenever members start going to indigenous urban churches because of the 
location of their work, their offerings to their offerings and time also go 
with them. In other words, “mother churches” or rural churches experience a 
dramatic drop in offerings and church volunteers as people return less 
frequently during weekends and start attending urban indigenous churches 
altogether.

This has resulted in rural churches viewing urban churches as their rivals, 
prompting some rural church leaders to be reluctant in letting their members 
know about the existence and location of indigenous urban churches when they 
move. Though some leaders hope that this will cause some of their members to 
come back home more often, it has actually resulted in indigenous Christians 
going to other denominations to find a spiritual home, which in turn means a 
loss of members for the PCT as a whole. 

Urban Indigenous Christians Research Center coordinator and TTCS professor, 
Cheng Yang-en, said that the purpose of this seminar is to provide a means for 
indigenous pastors in rural and urban churches to get acquainted and dialogue 
so that these problems can be resolved. He hoped that such an opportunity would 
help indigenous churches flourish and grow and underscored that TTCS would 
continue to hold such seminars if they can truly help pastors in their 
ministries.

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