Taiwan Church News 3890 Edition 14 ~ 20 September, 2026 Weekly Topical Back to Initial Chapel at Daliao, Cheng-San Church Celebrates its 130th Anniversary of Mission Reported by volunteer journalist Hsu Yi-ming from Tainan Cheng-San Church of Tainan Presbytery held a thanksgiving service on its 130th anniversary of mission on September 6. Many pastors, elders, deacons and senior church members were invited to “visit their mother chapel at Daliao”. Meanwhile, Koupi Church of Tainan Presbytery and three indigenous churches of Nanpu Presbytery, including Ainung, Lavulang and Avi, were also invited to offer their praise and worship in the service. A jubilant banquet after the service with more than 80 tables were opened and joined by more church members to celebrate and witness the historic mission under God’s blessings in the past 130 years. In the autumn of 1895, Bang Tiauh-ho, Lee Chah-nam and many sick inhabitants at Daliao and Lah-a-Kah, arrived Poah-Be to seek medical healings. And this is the occasion they came to contact and learn what the gospel is about. About the same period, Luo Wen-der also converted as a Christian due to the good news passed from Li Deng-fu, a believer of Gang-Lin Church. Therefore, these two different groups of Christians later rented a house at Daliao and held the first Sunday worship hosted over by Chuo Toh-seng on September 3, 1896. And this joint Sunday service became the original site of Cheng-San Church. In December 1897, these early believers built the first ever chapel, made by earth, bamboo and thatch, in Daliao village. In 1899, a thanksgiving service celebrating the chapel accomplished was held. The chapel, since established 1899, had been relocated and rebuilt many times, and the church’s locations had changed from Daliao, Lah-a-Kah, Suan-Bah to Cheng-San up to date. The fifth time to rebuild the chapel was launched in 1983 and finished on January 18, 1984. In its celebration of the 130th anniversary of mission, Cheng-San Church returned to the original chapel site of Daliao and built a temporary chapel to hold a memorial service on July 5. Rev Hseih En-hoh, chief pastor of Cheng-San Church, called all church members “come back home to their original site of faith” and give thanksgiving to the church pioneers for their planting the church and preaching the gospel since 130 years ago. Citing the biblical stories of Abraham, who builds an altar to worship God wherever he goes, Rev Hseih pointed out that the faith of our church pioneers sowed the seeds of the gospel in Cheng-San area. He encouraged the audience to commemorate and make a covenant with God, when they come back home to the original chapel site where our faithful church pioneers encountered and preached the gospel to our compatriots. The thanksgiving service of the 130th anniversary of the mission at Cheng-San Church was hosted by Rev Huang Chu-en, a veteran pastor of Cheng-San Church. His sermon, entitled “Inherit and Proclaim the Faith”, quoting 2 Timothy 1:13-14, calling the congregation to uphold the faith entrusted by the church’s pioneers. In the service, the assembly offered a jointly manually written Bible as a loyal pledge to carry on the mission after achieving its historical 130th anniversary. Elder Luo Geng-rong, a member of Cheng-San Church since he was a child, retrieved with a bit of sorrow on his father’s unfortunate death when he had just been elected as an Elder. “Now I have also come to an age, same as my father died, and knows more clear how our previous church elders expect on the younger generation,” said Elder Lou, “now after celebrating the 130th anniversary of Cheng-San Church, I am thinking what kind of assets we can give to the next generation to carry on the mission.” Rev Wang Zong-ren, moderator of PCT General Assembly, was invited to participate in the thanksgiving service. Rev Wang shared to the audience that his uncle, Rev Wang Dong-ming, had served as a pastor in Cheng-San Church, and he personally had also frequently visited Cheng-San during his adolescence days. “Though both the roads and the scenes stretched to the Cheng-San Church are totally different from the past,” said Rev Wang, “but when I drive near the Cheng-San Church amid the mountains, the wonderful memories of church ministries cannot help but gradually show up.” Rev Wang indicated the 130 years-old-mission of Cheng-San Church could be defined as “a story of one century plus one generation”. By the remarkable archives of PCT church history, compiled by Hon. Elder John Lai, Taiwan society can see the missionary history of PCT in one century; from personal experiences as member of Cheng-San Church, all church members do walk humbly with God in the mission amid one generation (30 years). Translated by Peter Wolfe |