Taiwan Church News 3233 Edition February 10 - February 16, 2014 Editorial Editorial: Here am I. Send me! When the Indigenous Ministry Committee just achieved her 60th anniversary, this moment made us felt hopeful and appreciated. Theoretically, we should be jubilant with enthusiasm to expect a more wonderful future; yet, under a dazzlingly volatile and disappointed Taiwan society replete with so much injustice, cheating and oppression, there are kind of bitterness and sigh behind the hilarious celebration of the 60th anniversary's evangelical ministry. So, how to carry on our indigenous ministry? Retrieving the struggling history of the indigenous people in the last two years, many compelling issues related to land, community and human rights started to emerge more speedily in a complicated outlook: the development case of A-Lan-I ancient path in the Paiwan tribe; the BOT invasion into the traditional preserving territory of the Tsou tribe; the Anti Miramar Resort event at Taitung; the event of graveyards removing of Katibu village in the Puyuma tribe; the prosecution the aboriginal hunter bringing his shot-gun; the event of protecting log at Knkreygan/Dumung village in Hwalien; the storage of nuclear waste in the aboriginal land and etc. Evidenced from such biased government policy and her corruptive performance, the living conditions of the indigenous people would have no chance to be better off in the future. From a demographic point of view, the indigenous population registered their living places at the non-indigenous areas has reached around 220,000 people. It means 43% of the indigenous are living in the city or town, not their aboriginal tribe or villages. If the emigrating indigenous workforce, not registered officially in the city or town, are included, then it is estimated that in fact over 50% of the indigenous had emigrated into the city! Let's have a second thought and raise some questions for these indigenous people: Who are their neighbors? Who are their spiritual pastors? Not to mention the indigenous students who desperately need the pastoral care from church. PCT only has 4 indigenous college student center caring about only 540 aboriginal students in 23 college campus. But the whole Taiwan island have 20,000 more indigenous students with 162 campus. Especially when the indigenous student ministry's evangelists and pastors are destitute of the financial and personnel support from each tribal presbytery or district, who would come to take care those indigenous students exiled on the wilderness? In the same time, confronting the emergence and challenge of the urban aboriginal ministry, we also found that lots of task force and resources have to be invested to care and maintain the daily ministry of tribal churches. There are many social problems we have to engage: the education of single parent family or the family with grandparent bringing grandchildren, the unemployment problem in the far off country, the shortage of the education resources, inferior environment for living and health, the decline of local church attendance and etc. How should we carry on our indigenous ministry? The problems seem so complicated and beyond our capability to handle. Who will be our partners in this indigenous ministry? Though there are lots of uneasiness and challenges, let us carry on sticking to our faith and stand firm to be friend and partner of the poor and the oppressed. We still want to respond to God who call us to serve Him: Here I am. Send me! |