Taiwan Church News 3220 Edition November 11 - November 17, 2013 Church Ministry News Rev. Thomas Barclay's Original Dedication Pledge Back To Taiwan Reported by Hwang Yi-lek On September 5th, 2013, there was a special service held at St. Columba's Church at Cambridge, England. Within the service, Mrs. Katherine Barclay Martin, grand nephew daughter of Rev. Thomas Barclay, donated the bequests of Rev. Barclay to the representative, Rev. Chang Ray-shiong of Tainan Theological College and Seminary (TTCS), including the famous dedication pledge and one church list in the years of Emperor Kwan-shu at Qing dynasty. And TTCS also planned to hold a repatriational thanksgiving service on Rev. Barclay's birthday, November 21st, to commemorate this amazing legacy of faith granted to Taiwan Church. Rev. Barclay was born in Scotland on November 21st, 1849. On his 16 years olds' birthday, Rev. Barclay wrote a dedication pledge to offer his whole life to God. In this dedication, Barclay expressed he will comform to God the shepherd and live by His will. Rev. Braclay signed his name on this dedication every year. When he married to Elisabeth A. Turner in 1892, he also invited Elisabeth to jointly sign their names on this dedication every year on his birthday until his death in 1935. From 1866 to 1935, Barclay signed his names 69 times annually on this dedication pledge. The most amazingly humble thing is that nobody knew the existence of such dedication pledge until his death. And this dedication was found during his bequests, when they were assorted by his colleagues to send back to his England's families through contemporary English Embassy in Taiwan. There is an fascinating story behind the repatriation of this historic dedication pledge. According to extant literature, the last time people saw this dedication was in 1953. It was an eye witness during Rev. Hwang Bu-dong's scholar studies in England. He was General Secretary of PCT south assembly then. When Rev. Hwang visited Rev. George Barclay, nephew of Rev. Barclay, he personaly saw the dedication pledge well preserved. But after the death Rev. George Barclay, nobody knows to where it had gone? Rev. Chang Ray-shiong, representative for TTCS, pointed out that he had contacted Rev. Braclay's families many times yet without any finding. It was through the help of United Reformed Church to learn this dedication was bequested and preserved by Barclay's nephew grandson - William Barclay Martin. After the approval of Barclay's families to donate for TTCS, this historic dedication pledge is finally come back home. Rev. Chang Ray-shiong said, the meaning of the repatriation of Rev. Barclay's dedication pledge is reminding Taiwan Church the importance of theological education, encouraging the youth to dedicate their lives to God and reclaiming our evangelical enthusiam. Rev. Wang Chong-giau, Principal of TTCS, excitely claimed that this dedication would certainly be "one of the great treasures of TTCS". He pledged to take a good care to preserve it and keep telling the spirit and stories of Rev. Barclay, in order to inpire generations of the youth to learn from Rev. Barclay and dedicate to God with whole life! Translated by Peter Wolfe |