Taiwan Church News 3827 Edition June 30 ~ July 6, 2025 Weekly Topical Five Loaves and Two Fish to Share Love – Ki-Au Church Holds Charity Fair at its 160th Anniversary to Raise Fund for Ho-Tih Church Reported by Lin Wan-ting from Kaohsiung In the weekend, Chi-Jin tourists flooded in incessantly. In the downtown of Chi-Jin district, Ki-Au church of Kaohsiung presbytery set up a tent in front of its chapel, inviting people to enjoy snacks and stroll around Chi-Jin’s renown market in the afternoon on June 29. Brothers, sisters, the youth and high school students of Ho-Tih church came to sing hymns in turns, and an orchestra mixed with young and old musicians attracted many people to stop and listen. This year, 2025, marks the 160th anniversary of Ki-Au Church since its establishment in 1865. To inspire brothers and sisters to serve and share Jesus’s love in the spirit if “five loaves and two fish” in the ministry, Ki-Au church held a charity fair selling mango smoothies and some second-hand goods. All the money raised from the charity fair will be offered to support the finance of Ho-Tih church. Members of Ho-Tih church were also invited to participate in the charity fair, sharing God’s abundant grace and love with hymn and witnesses on the stage in front of Ki-Au church. In the interview, Rev Wu Chi-ho, pastor of Ki-Au church, said that the church began to think and plan for the 160th anniversary quite early. “ Especially, we hope that church members could be revitalized in faith through the charity event,” he said. “Therefore, the church invites brothers and sisters to attend Bible reading class and prayer sessions in each fellowship and group, and encourages all to participate in the Bible literacy test held by Kaohsiung presbytery.” “In addition to a regular participation in the event of Copying the Bible, organized by Kaohsiung presbytery, about 30 to 40 church members have finished copying the entire Bible in half a year,” he said.“The language used in Copying the Bible includes POJ (vernacular Taiwanese) and Indonesian language, which symbolizes that the church’s mission is rooting wide and deep into community.” The thematic slogan of Ki-Au church’s 160th anniversary celebration is entitled as –Believe in Jesus is Good. In the thanksgiving service held on July 13, a very special ceremony inviting church members to stand along the age amid family, symbolizing an ongoing and ever-lasting faith in God. “This ceremony is to remind the church members: not only we shall carry on the church’s evangelical mission, which is to invite new friends to come to the church, but also practice Christian education in the family and pass our faith to future generations,” according to Rev Wu. Meanwhile, to let more people learn more inspiring yet untold contributions of local church laypersons to the evangelical mission, Ki-Au church also plans to publish a picture book about the story of Elder Chou Ruei, a renown “locale-restricted doctor”, who wholeheartedly dedicated his medical expertises and private lands to serve the church. Over the years, Ki-Au church has attracted community residents to the church through education programs and children camps. To welcome the 160th anniversary, the church has also specially updated the hardware and refreshed the church outlooks, hoping community residents and tourists can come to visit the church, attend to the cross, and appreciate the church’s contributions to the community. As Ki-Au church also raises funds to build the church by selling mango smoothies, Rev Wu stressed that Ki-Au church is not a stand alone existence, but a catholic church as we proclaimed in the PCT confession. “We should reach out to serve each other with love, especially when we are in need,” he said. In the interview, Rev Chen Yu-cheng, pastor of Ho-Tih Church, thanked Ki-Au church for its passionate fundraising for Ho-Tih church in the past, and further invite them to attend such an amazing charity fair. According to Rev Chen, Ho-Tih church was established during the PCT’s Evangelical Movement in 2000. At that time, a flat house was rented as a meeting place for the congregation. Later, when the believers of Ho-Tih church increased, another flat next door to the church was rented again for sake of service and worship. Rev Chen pointed out that Ho-Tih church over the years did experience kinds of challenges, such as abrupt changes of landlords, steady increases of flat-lease and being obliged to payback house-loans in millions of dollars within a short period of time, but God always inspired many angelic believers and partner churches to rescue or deliver loan free of interests to the church. Like the generosity of five loaves and two fish story revealed in the Bible, the compassionate love that brothers and sisters willing to share and donate to Ho-Tih church are deeply appreciated by Rev Chen. And this charity does inspire more people to serve the church in faith, Rev Chen remarked. Phobe Orchestra of Ho-Tih church is particularly a living witness of such an amazing grace, according to Rev Chen, “church sisters, who have never been exposed to any musical instruments before, but after three months of trainings, are now being able to say greetings to fellow churches and raise funds for sake of church-building.” At present, as Ho-Tih church still has to pay house mortgages over NT$ 100,000 every month, financial support and prayers from brothers and sisters are desperately needed. Translated by Peter Wolfe |