Taiwan Church News
3190 Edition
April 15-21, 2013
General Assembly News

Reported by Chen Wei-chien

Written by Lydia Ma

The 58th PCT General Assembly Annual Convention took place last week from April 9-12, 2013, at Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei. The highlights of this year’s convention were the installation of Rev. Hsu Rong-feng as the new Moderator and the installation of Rev. Lyim Hong-tiong as the new General Secretary.

The opening ceremony began with a worship service that included a sermon delivered by the current Moderator, Rev. Pusin Tali, on the theme “Helping One Another and Building the Body of Christ”. This service also set aside some time to pay respects to foreign missionaries who had passed away in the past year, including Ms. Margaret Barclay, Rev. Harry Daniel Beeby and Rev. Carl Schroeder.

Another highlight of the convention was to recognize the wonderful work of current missionaries and pastors, such as Rev. Jonah Chang and Mrs. Judith Estell. Chang is a Taiwanese minister of the United Methodist Church in the USA. He has been very helpful in promoting closer relations between US and Taiwanese churches. He was also instrumental in helping the World Council of Churches publish an English biography on Rev. Shoki Coe. Judith Estell has been a missionary in Taiwan for the past 42 years and she will be retiring later this year.

One important segment at this year’s convention was the signing of partnership agreements with two churches – one from Burma and the other from Japan. Rev. Thla Lap, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Burma, represented his church in the signing agreement. Rev. Watanabe Kiyoshi, CEO of a Christian denomination in Japan for deaf people, represented his church in the signing agreement. Both pastors also spoke briefly at the assembly about their aspirations for this partnership. It is likely that collaboration in women and youths ministries will soon follow.

The farewell ceremony was held for the current General Secretary, Rev. Andrew Chang, on the 3rd day of the convention and this was followed by the installation ceremony of Rev. Lyim Hong-tiong as the new General Secretary. The new Moderator, Hsu Rong-feng, presented a gift to Chang to thank him for his years of dedication. Then, Hsu presided over the oath of office for Lyim. This segment of the convention concluded with an address from Lyim whereby he also introduced his new team of staff members.

Taiwan Church News interviewed the executive director of this year’s convention, Rev. Huang Che-yen, about the theme of this year’s convention and Huang said that it was Chang’s idea that the assembly would focus on introducing all the social welfare organizations supervised by the PCT’s Peace Foundation. “Besides social welfare services, we also want to extend Jesus’ love to others through our service,” he said. To highlight the PCT’s social welfare ministries, the litany used during the opening and closing ceremonies and the seminars during the convention revolved around the theme of service.

In related news, several PCT social service foundations set up booths just outside of the convention’s venue to promote their ministries and raise funds. Items such as lily flowers and organic purple rice grown in indigenous reservations could be bought just outside of Mackay Hospital. According to the Indigenous Ministry Committee’s Agricultural Development Center, these products are organic and dependable. The center hopes that parishioners can recommend these products to their families and friends and thus support indigenous peoples.