Taiwan Church News

3787 Edition

Sept 23rd~ 29th, 2024​

Weekly Topical

Remembering the Evangelical Commitment at its 70thAnniversary, PCT Indigenous Mission Committee Responds to Hualien’s Challenges on its Round Table Seminar

Reported by Hsu Chia-wei, volunteer reporter, from Hualien

To commemorate the 70thanniversary of the Indigenous Mission Committee (IMC) of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT), a round table seminar, entitled as “The Indigenous Roots of Taiwan are So Amazingly Good”, was held at Yu-Shan Theological Seminary on September 21st. Guests invited to attend the seminar include church pastors and co-workers from the PCT Truku, Amis and Bunun presbyteries respectively.

The opening service was hosted by Rev Peto Ukan, director of IMC, who gave a sermon with the theme of “Christian’s Social Responsibility”. “The duty of the church is to comply and stick to God’s teachings,” he urged, “in addition, the indigenous church should take up the tribal problems as its own, connect the community through prayers, and give thanksgivings to God for His compassionate guidance.”

An indigenous documentary was also played during the seminar, showcasing the drastic social changes in Taiwan and the difficult struggles for survival and justice of the indigenous. Many indigenous pastors or tribesmen appeared in the film. Rev Omi Wilang, former IMC secretary, expressed his hopes that the PCT can take up the cross for Taiwan society and continue to work hard for the oppressed in various ministries and fields.

Rev Namoh Arang, pastor of Tafalong Church of Amis Presbytery, shared his thoughts about how the tribal agronomics being marginalized by church ministries in a lecture. He shared his views about the mother-tongue advantages of the indigenous church, the complex interactions between the gospel, local indigenous cultures, and the application of artificial intelligence.

He also raised warnings to the audience, regarding the indigenous church’s challenges in responding to environmental changes, household-economics decline and other urgent issues. In particular, he indicated, Hualien was experiencing a sense of powerlessness after the 2024 Hualien earthquake in April. “How the church can lead the tribal community to stand up and speak out,” he asked, “this is a serious task for the indigenous society!”.

He also stressed that indigenous agronomics needs to be combined with tribal stories, creativity, and leisure to become a mature business model. Meanwhile, the invisible “culture” and “faith” from the indigenous church to support tribal agronomics is also indispensable, he said.

“As the agronomic ministry of ‘Red Glutinous Rice’ in the Tafalong community is now in line with the planting cycle of farmers’ harvest,” he remarked, the Amis presbytery has since established an agronomic ministry committee to facilitate further development. At the same time, he stressed, the ideal of a green and circular agronomics is proposed to help Hualien’s post-earthquake reconstruction.

Mr Marco Ho, co-founder and senior advisor of Kuma Academy, led the seminar participants to think about the risks and preparations for the future wars in Taiwan. “In geopolitics, Taiwan owns a pivotal position on the first island chain in the Pacific West and plays a strategic role to block earth-bounded countries from an expansion of their powers into the Pacific Ocean,” he analyzed.

Facing more and more frequent conflicts occurred at gray zones, either on the sea or from the air, as exemplified in the recent bitter fights between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, Mr Ho warned about China’s potential tactics of information blockade and long-range missiles exercises to harass Taiwan.

“Modern wars showcased a mix of hybrid warfare with non-regular tactics,” he said, “which are very different from classical wars using traditional weapons only.” If the Taiwanese people could participate civilian defense by offering real-time feedback, medical care and etc., Mr Ho affirmed, it will absolutely enhance the overall combat capabilities and defense resilience of Taiwan society.

In the afternoon on Sept 21st, Wen-Lan Youth Fellowship presented a dance performance, with the theme of “IYAH DA! TRUKU (meaning ‘Come back! Truku’) ” as heralded in the 2024 Hsiulin Township Thanksgiving Festival. When the pastors from Truku, Amis and Bunun presbyteries jointly sang the hymnals in mother-tongues, the IMC’s 70thAnniversary roundtable seminar came to a harmonious ending with God’s abundant blessings.

Translated by Peter Wolfe