Taiwan Church News

3326 Edition

November 23 - 22, 2015

Headline News

Sharing Good News, Missionary Story Wall Set Up In Mackay Memorial Hospital Taitung Branch

Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan

About 150 years ago, many brave Scottish missionaries kept arriving this far eastern island - Taiwan - to proclaimthe gospel of Jesus Christ. Two years after the historical arrival of Dr. James Laidlaw Maxwell in 1865, Rev. Hugh Ritchie, the first ever clergyman in the missionary history of 19th century Taiwan, arrived in 1867. In the meantime, Rev. Ritchie is the first ever missionary entering into Taitung area and sewing the seeds of the gospel in this primordial and mountainous territory.

On November 19, an opening ceremony of "The Missionary Story Wall Of Rev. Ritchie And Rev. Mackay" was held in the Mackay Memorial Hospital Taitung Branch(MMHTB), intending to remind the people how Rev. Ritchie, the "Founding Father of Mission in Eastern Taiwan", and Rev. Mackay, who was influenced by Rev. Ritchie to develop his ministry in northern Taiwan, devoted their pious faith to God and committed utmost love toward Taiwan society in their ministries of education, medi-care and evangelical ministries.

Mentioning about the convenience of using health-insurance card in MMHTB, Rev. Liu Bing-hsuin, Vice Moderator of PCT Eastern Presbytery, praised MMHTB is a hospital founded on the teachings of the Holy Bible and being effectively connected to modern technology.

And what is more important than these conveniences is that "the stories told on the Missionary Story Wall are the souls of this hospital!", said Rev. Liu, "and these are the building stones of which Taitung are made today". "Absolutely, except that these wonderful missionary stories would be incessantly to be told, in the meantime we would keep telling new stories", said Rev. Liu.

Rev. Pan Xi-chi, director of MMHTB Chaplaincy Dept., specially wore a wool jacket with tartan check bought fromScotland's Glasgow to commemorate Rev. Ritchie Hugh. Through his paintings and a mini-model church, Rev. Pan introduced Rev. Mackay's hometown and her church - "Old Log Church"- in Canada.

As Rev. Mackay had also brought in many kinds of fruit and vegetable to proliferate on Taiwan soils during his ministries, his contributions of introducing modern western civilization went far beyond our stereo-typed image in his dental services, medi-care and education only, remarked Rev. Pan.

Translated by Peter Wolfe