Taiwan Church News

3309 Edition

July 27 - August 2, 2015

Church Ministry

TSCM Attracts Record-High Hong Kong Students To Care About The People And The Land Jointly

Reported by Hwang Yi-lek

The event of 2015 Taiwan Student Christian Movement(TSCM), organized by PCT Higher Education MinistryCommittee, was held from July 13 to 19 with the primer class of "Urban Rural Missionary(URM)" as the phase I activity; from July 20 to 24 with "Love and Non-Violence Seminary(LNVS)" as the phase II training.

Over 20 students attended the URM primer class, and near 40 students took part in the LNVS. As half of the LNVSstudents came from Hong Kong, it was a history-breaking record with big significance.

The central message of 2015 TSCM was entitled as "Industrial Taiwan as An Uncontrolable Train". The 2015 TSCMmembers went to visit Kaohsiung's Dalingpu village, a site besieged by petro-chemical industries with kinds of pollution and noise, understanding the stories how local residents fight against the establishment of a special petro-chemical zone. Ms. Wang Ming-ling, Deputy CEO of "Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan", explained the background information of Dalingpu village to the TSCM members and hosted the following inquiry and discussion.

The primer URM class invited Rev. Tsai Cheng-dau, pastor of Fu-chiang Presbyterian Church, offering 4 practicaltools to analyze the problems confronted by the people, participate in the real struggle and search for liberation together with the people; Mr. Chen Bin-hen, President of "Matsu Fish Conservation Union, Taiwan", was invited to teach how to maneuver an environmental campaign creatively based on his experience in anti-Kuo Kuang Petroleum Plant; Rev. Stephen Lakkis, Direcor of Public Theology Center of Tainan Theological College and Seminary, was invited to explain the public nature of church theology and illustrate the public concern with meanings from Christian faith.

Initially the phase II LNVS activity of 2015 TSCM was scheduled to be an extended training, based on URM primer course in phase I, but due to the members participated in LNVS overwhelmed what the project expected, five different workshops were set up to discuss respective concerned issues. Hong Kong students discussed the issues: how to influence HK church to suggest the available 10 voting representatives in the 2017 HK Chief Executive Election; the issue of media monopoly in HK; how to enhance the interaction between church and community. Taiwan students discussed the issues: the aftermath of PCT's pastoral letter with her anti-GLBT stance; a reflection on the activity content and budget control of PCT 150.

Translated by Peter Wolfe