Taiwan Church News 3857 Edition Jan 26 ~ Feb 1, 2026 Weekly Topical Taiwan Churches Hold Prayer Meeting for Church Unity Reported by Lin Yi-ying from Taipei The 2026 Prayer Meeting for Christian Unity, sponsored by the National Council of Churches of Taiwan (NCCT), was held on January 24 at Guting Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church. Praying for Christian unity, world peace and the suffering people in war, many pastors, brothers and sisters from major Taiwan churches, including the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, the Catholic Church, the Taiwan Lutheran Church, the Taiwan Episcopal Church and Methodist Church, gathered together to follow a Armenian Apostolic Church liturgy to respond to the theme of prayer – One Body and One God. Rev Kao Tang-en, chairman of NCCT and president of the Taiwan Lutheran Church, said that the core idea of prayer meeting this year is based on the scripture of Ephesians 4:4, “there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling.” After the solemn liturgy of confession, Rev Peter Chao Yung-chi, Bishop of the Catholic Church, Rev Peng Chi-hong, PCT’s associate general secretary of the General Assembly, Rev Kao Tang-en, Rev Chang Yuan-rung, Bishop of the Taiwan Episcopal Church, and Rev Chiu Tai-yao of the Methodist Church, jointly light the candles in the prayer service. When these five lighted candles slowly were raised up high in the church hall, symbolizing all Christians as one body among the light of Christ, irrespective of their respective tradition or denomination. In the prayer meeting, each church choir took turns to sing the hymns. When the beautiful choir singings echoed in the high church hall from the praise of “Song of Co-Workers” to the lyrics of “Pilgrimage of Hope”, the audience were blessed in the sacred tradition of church arts with one common faith. Rev Peng Chi-hong preached with the title of “The Church Unity.” He quoted the teachings of the apostle Paul and emphasized that the moral behavior of Christians should be correspondent to the grace of their callings. Rev Peng pointed out that it is a lesson of real life that we should let go of our senses of superiority in mind and learn to “see others better than ourself”. He advised Christians to be as humble as mature rice crops, “the more mature the rice crops become, the more lower their heads bend, and in the same vein we shall imitate to become more humble.” Rev Peng also expressed “church unity is the cornerstone for the Christian faith, and the ministerial service is the driving force of Church unity beyond doubt.” “When the churches of different confession and tradition are willing to put down their own insistence and serve together in the communities, such good works has the power of witness in darkness,” he said. Rev Raphael Ling, a priest of the Catholic Church, shared a warm testimony in the meeting. He mentioned that once his brother talked to one of his children, “Daddy love you most!” Trough this short conversation, he invited the audience to think: in the eyes of our Father, which denomination is his most favorite among Taiwan churches? He picked up a short stick as a metaphor: “People always think that they are the very center of God’s love, but in fact, God’s love is at the center of everyone to care everyone of us!” Meanwhile, Rev Ling said in emotions, “every Christian is basically a student in God’s eyes and His most ‘favorite’ one. Especially, when Christians are willing to put down their sense of superiority and self-righteous, they can truly appreciate the goods of other denominations because of God’s compassion and wisdom. Just as the Armenian Apostolic Church still keeps its faith in dark hours, all church denominations should go ahead jointly in the vision of ‘one Body and one God, just as we were called to the one hope of our calling’, and all the church on earth can truly become one family!” Translated by Peter Wolfe |