3152 Edition
July 23-29, 2012
Church Ministry News

Reported by Simon Lin

Written by Lydia Ma

Shoushan Presbytery celebrated its 40th anniversary recently and a thanksgiving service was held at Fengshan Gymnasium, attended by more than 6,000 people. The ceremony began with a review of key milestones in the past 40 years and an exhortation to press in for the next decade and promote more Bible reading and discipleship.

Dahu Presbyterian Church pastor, Rev. Chen Chung-hui, thanked God for helping Shoushan Presbytery grow from about 20 churches to 71 churches in the past 2 decades. This was followed by an elder who said a prayer of repentance for falling short of fulfilling all the evangelistic goals set out in previous years and asked God for strength and wisdom to overcome current challenges in sharing the Gospel.

During the presentation, it was revealed that the growth rate of the presbytery in the past 40 years had exceeded the growth rate of the PCT’s Doubling Movement. However, there are still many non-Christians in Kaohsiung area and God’s desire is that none may perish and all may be saved. For this reason, evangelistic ministries need to be revamped and Bible reading needs to be further emphasized.

Shoushan Presbytery Moderator, Rev. Hsieh Kung-te, said during the sermon that Bible reading is a basic task for all Christians but the younger generation nowadays are too busy for it. For this reason, youths these day may be well equipped in music and multi-media ministries but weak in Bible reading. Hsieh underscored that Christians cannot expect their lives to be renewed and their ministries to be strengthened without reading the Bible. To help members read their Bibles, a Bible reading movement and training seminar has been put in place by the presbytery this year.

After assessing the distribution and presence of PCT churches and churches from other Christian denominations in Kaohsiung, Shoushan Presbytery plans to build a new church in Renwu District because there are very few churches in that area. This objective was announced during the service. Kung underscored that Shoushan Presbytery’s policy has always been to avoid competition and overlapping ministries with other denominations. For this reason, it has been working closely with the local Christian Council of Churches to promote unity and evangelism among local churches.

Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen Chu and various local officials were also present at this celebration. Chen said that the PCT had played a key role in the development of democracy in Taiwan. She cited Rev. C.M Kao, former PCT General Secretary, as an example. Kao had been imprisoned during martial law for acting on his religious convictions and obeying the teachings of the Bible by helping Shih Ming-teh in the aftermath of the Kaohsiung Incident. The PCT was also a pioneer in the democratization of Taiwan when it issued “A declaration on Human Rights” in 1977. Chen said that these examples truly impressed her and she wanted to express her gratitude to the PCT for its contributions to the country.