Taiwan Church News 3283 Edition January 26 - February 1, 2015 Headline News Tainan Church Day, A Joint Effort Between PCT And Tainan City Government To Commemorate Church Mission Initiated From Tainan And Beyond Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan from Tainan In order to celebrate the 150th anniversary of PCT mission in Taiwan, October 24 and 25 in 2015 is planned as Tainan Church Day by PCT General Assembly. And seven events, for example like memorial services and thematic shows, are scheduled to invite Tainan citizens and PCT members back to the initial time and space of Taiwan's evangelical mission. In the afternoon on January 21, Rev. Zeng Wen-ren, Chief Operation Officer of the celebration committee for the 150th anniversary of PCT mission, together with many PCT pastors, pay their visit to Tainan City Mayor Lai Chin-der in the Sin-ying District government center, and present a brief about the two-days' events of Tainan Church Day to invite all Tainan citizens to be part of this hilarious celebration. The idea of Tainan Church Day is actually illuminated by the renown Deutscher Evangelisher Kirchentag(DEK), which began from 2003 in Berlin and gained a big success henceforth as a Church Unity Day between Catholics and Christians. DEK was also initiated as a German Christian movement after WWII about 66 years ago, and intended to find how out the social roles of Christians within that contemporary German society. In 2011, when PCT was invited to take part into the 33rd DEK, entitled as "Spiritual Care and Social Responsibility", 2 minutes long of clapping applauds at the end of concluding service gave an impressive experience to PCT representatives and proved a strong affirmation for such church engagement with the public society. Reference to the motivation and achievement of DEK, PCT celebration committee of the 150th anniversary of PCT mission chooses Tainan, the initiating place where the church missionaries contacted Taiwan, as the most suitable place to commemorate the beginning of gospel in Taiwan and hope to cooperate with Tainan City Government to set up a Tainan Church Day with two-days' activities. Rev. Lo Ren-quei, PCT General Assembly Moderator, says that Tainan is a city with remarkable significance in Taiwan history: she is not only the beginning city of the gospel in Taiwan, but also the most friendly city to receive many PCT churches and institutes. Through the joint efforts to celebrate Tainan Church Day, Rev. Lo hopes PCT hopes to maintain such good and historical partnership between PCT and Tainan City. Rev. Lyim Hong-tiong, PCT General Secretary, reveals that because at the 4:00 p.m. on October 25, 2015, PCT will hold a thanks-giving and missionary sending service for the 150th anniversary PCT mission, which is scheduled to be the climax of the two-days event of Tainan Church Day, Rev. Christopher Ferguson(Secretary of WCRC) and Mr Lai Chin-der (Tainan City Mayor) will be invited as PCT's special guests to witness this historical moment! Translated by Peter Wolfe |