Taiwan Church News 3791 Edition Oct 21 ~ 27, 2024 Weekly Topical PCT Youth Bible Reading Camp Held to Learn Unity in Christ Reported by Lin Yi-ying from Hsinchu To accompany PCT youth to walk on their pilgrimage in faith, PCT Campus Ministry Committee held a Bible Reading Camp, entitled as “Is the idea of ‘unity in Christ’ same as ‘uniformity in faith?’”, together with Campus Ministry Committee of both Taichung and Hsinchu presbytery at the Presbyterian Bible College in Hsinchu City from October 18thto 20th. An amount of 77 youth from across Taiwan island signed up to attend the event. During the opening service and worship, Rev Wu Pei-tzu, chaplain of Aletheia University, gave a sermon with the theme of “Abide In Him”. She encouraged the young people to praise God often, abide the Holy Spirit in their hearts, and learn the will and mystery of God according to His goodness and kindness. Praising the glory of God together constantly, Rev Wu said: “The Holy Spirit is the evidence of our faith inheritance. By abiding the word of truth as seal and receiving the promise of Holy Spirit as evidence, people can be united with Christ!” she said. Rev Isa Walis, a NT professor from Taiwan Theological Seminary, delivered a special lecture on the topics of “Mystery of Unity in Christ” and “The Body of the Christ” to help youth understand in-depth the nature of the church and how to apply it in the church lives to be united with the Christ and renew our lives via fellowship. Rev Isa Walis explained that his two seminars is based on chapters 1 to 3 and 4 to 6 of Paul’s letters to the Ephesians: First, through the Apostle Paul’s teaching of “Mystery of Unity with Christ”, establishing the Christ as the fundamental cornerstone of the church, God designates the church to grant people the redemption of Jesus via Holy Spirit, according to Rev Isa Walis. Alternatively, if the church is built on the mortal people or fashion, it will lead church go down to a secular world, which is no different than surrendering the Christian souls to the power of Caesar. Therefore, it’s the insight of the Apostle Paul to champion the unity in Christ as foundation of the church, Rev Isa Walis said. “Only through the redemption of Jesus can people be refreshed and all nations become united with Him,” he remarked, “the purpose of the church’s existence in the world is to promote reconciliation between man and man, man and God, and man and nature.” In the session of “The Body of the Christ “, Rev Isa Walis used the contrast between the emperor and the son of man as an example, indicating that the emperor only wants to be served, but son of man comes to serve. Through the understanding of Paul’s ecclesiology, he reminded youth to regard Christ as the supreme, unique and the only one savior. “No other gods, but focus on Christ,” he advised the young men, even in despair, depress and destitute, we still have to realize that the essence of the church is an integral part of God’s redemption. Therefore, he encouraged young people to receive God’s salvation and enter the church to appreciate the body of Christ. He reiterated the importance of engaging in a true fellowship rather than individual worship or online service. Only authentic fellowship and communion in a physical church can help people in faith, he urged. The workshop was also led by Sister Yeh Bao-guay in the courses of meditation and spiritual practice, which helped the youth relaxed their bodies in stress, calm down anxious minds, and confront contemporary women’s theology. Ms Lin Yuan-shu shared the audience on inner healing and instruct them how to deal with their spiritual lows. Evangelist Wu Chi-de, a church historian, led the audience to reflect on various relationship within Taiwan cultures; Ms Liu Chian-ling, trainer candidate of The Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC), shared how to be nice to yourself and communicate with others with kindness; Mr Wu Guo-wei, CNVC trainer candidate, introduced the assembly how to support and build up each other through careful listening and nonviolent communication. Rev Tsai Hen-wei, counsellor of the PCT Youth Bible Reading Camp, pointed out that the participants of this assembly came from different denominations and even included faith seekers. He expressed that the characteristics of the PCT youth Bible reading camp is convened to consider various backgrounds and needs of contemporary Taiwan youth, factors such as careers similarity, workplace experiences, Biblical literacy, demands of biblical theology, self-care techniques and etc. He sincerely hoped that more PCT youth can benefit from such Bible reading programs. In a Taize prayer service, hosted by Rev Cheng Jun-ping, the assembly of PCT Bible Reading Camp held its closing ceremony on Oct 20th. Translated by Peter Wolfe |