Taiwan Church News

3343 Edition

March 21 - 27, 2016

Church Ministry

PCT Pledges To Support Indigenous Mission In Urban Taiwan

Reported by Simon Lin

Based on a demographic statistics of Taiwan's Ministry of Interior, that over 240,000 population of the indigenouspeople, which are estimated around 530,000 people inhabited now in Taiwan, have emigrated into urban areas, PCT's Indigenous Mission Committee(IMC) feels compulsory to take a substantial measure to take care of the Christian lives of the indigenous peoples and hold fast PCT's missionary vision as One-Leads-One New Doubling Movement.

Therefore, a ministry workshop organized by IMC is held at the Presbyterian Bible College in Hsin-chu County from March15 to 17. In this workshop, IMC pledges to support the indigenous church's evangelical mission in urban area with a missionary project, named as Urban Mission Cooperative Partnership(UMCP). In this project, PCT will support NT$ 15,000 per month to any indigenous church with an evangelical vision to build an urban church in 4 years' schedule. To forge such a missionary project of cooperative partnership, IMC will help locate suitable urban churches to match with the indigenous church inspired by this evangelical project.

"Proclaim the message and be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable!", says Rev. Sud Tada,Vice Moderator of PCT General Assembly. Indicating the indigenous mission has come to a crisis in the 21st century, Rev. Sud Tada remarks that the future of indigenous mission depends on UMCP. Six aboriginal presbyteries, including Paiwan, Rukai, Bunun, Tsou, East Pai-wan and Taroko, are listed among the first batch of churches to implement UMCP.

From a PCT's statistics, it is estimated that around 1,200 Pai-wan believers emigrated to western Chang-huacounty; 100 Rukai believers settled at Kang-shan area of Kaohsiung city; 20 Bunun believers joined a unit of fellowship at Hsiang-san of Hsin-chu county. Rev. Cihaw Teymu, general secretary of Taroko presbytery, expresses his deep appreciation on IMC's visions to help develop UMCP which absolutely inspire their future urban missions in Tan-shuei and Hsin-chuan in New Taipei City.