A newsletter article on Mission in Taiwan

The 21st Century New Taiwan Mission Movement Project sets out The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan's approach to mission in their local and national context.

It is a bit like the United Reformed Churches 'Catch the Vision' but more resources have been made available to the local church from their giving to the central church.
The movement was launched in 2000 in the form of an A5 booklet which was freely given to each church member in the whole church to read! At it's heart it is about people in the church finding ways to 'identify with the people and be rooted in this land' - the renewal of society results in renewal of the church.

Aim: to actualize the Kingdom of God through building Koinonia

The movement has several goals to carry out the aim:

1. To engage the church to be an agent of God's kingdom as part of the church's mission
2. To enable church members to study and make real their discipleship asa body - to proclaim, to witness and to draw people to God
3. To enable churches in mission to discern the time and place and be in tune with God's intentions. The church will enter into society, community at all levels in cooperation to be salt and light as a witness to the Gospel
4. To go beyond the gosple community with the intent of renewing the spiritual life of Taiwanese society and bring about a new social order, to prepare people for the coming referndum for the future of Taiwan and establish Taiwan as a new home for the people

The Mission Movement shows the focus as the presence of the church in community as an agency of Christian faith, love and identification. Like a mustard seed or yeast; starting with humble beginnings but together will transform to a new communal Koinonia (community). This will be accomplished by pursuing goals in two areas:

1. Reading the Bible with New Eyes - deepening the insight of believers connecting the contexts of Taiwan with the purposes of God's salvation.
2. Spiritual Formation - the renewal of worship in congregations, in the spiritual and prayer lives of believers and, when applied, will renew the entire spirit of society and people of Taiwan.

These are not small! These are also very similar to our next phase of Catch the Vision in the United Reformed Church. The steps are visionary, hopeful and positive for the church in Taiwan and the peoples of Taiwan. Are these also ways for us to think about, sermonize and pray and act on in our Synod? In our local churches?

The mission movement is clearly a movement towards the Taiwanese peoples. In this way it is more 'go to be with them' than 'come to us' in approach. This has changed the make-up of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan in the local congregations. There are now many more marginalised peoples who are part of the church than in previous years and several centres have been established across Taiwan to further minister amongst certain groups in Taiwanese society eg a centre for fisherfolk, one for young women who are sex workers, a centre for differently abled people and an aboriginal (indigenous) peoples support and research centre. It is said " we need to suffer and identify with the people and be their hope, which is very important."

In our next phase of Catch the Vision in our Synod perhaps there are further areas in our local communities which will be key in transforming our communities and churches and how we are expressing church in relation to the changing world around us?

Some things we can learn from The Presbyterian Church of Taiwan:

• Find out individually & collectively what kind of things non-church people do, where they go and what they care about and listen for God there. How can your church support you in mission where you already are?


• Re-train our eyes to see and read the signs of our times - what is God already doing in our local areas and how can our church get involved?


• Re-read our bibles to discern and see how God was working with people in different times and places and how. Are there any helpful principals & pointers for our churches?


• Concentrate on doing one or two things with excellence rather than several with tired bodies and stretched resources.

The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan is different from the United Reformed Church but there could be much to learn from them - not by simplistic transferrance but by listening for the undertones of the Spirit, discerning the ways of Jesus and observing the work of the institutional organisation of the church.

To be continued...