Taiwan Church News 3837 Edition Sept 8~14, 2025 Weekly Topical Witnessing Unity of the Ecumenical, PCT Youth Sent to Serve in Hungary, Japan and Germany Reported by Lin Yi-ying from Taipei To facilitate the youth of Taiwan church with an ecumenical vision, enhance their faith and self-identity, PCT’s “Ecumenical Youth Exchange Program” (abbreviated as EYEP) sends youth annually to visit PCT’s ecumenical partner churches. The other way around, PCT also receives ecumenical church youth to Taiwan through EYEP exchange program. Rev Huang Hsin-lian, secretary of PCT Youth Ministry Committee, said that young Taiwanese used to live online can take the opportunity offered by EYEP to go abroad and share with young generation in other countries. “In addition to broaden horizons of the youth, EYEP can also do a great support for Taiwan’s difficult diplomacy via their ministerial service overseas,” said Rev Huang. From Sept 1st, Ms Fu Zi-yih, a young sister from Edward Ban Presbyterian Church in Tainan, was sent to serve as a one-year voluntary co-worker at Berliner Missionswerk (BMG) in Germany. BMG, on the other hand, sent Ms Isabelle, also a young sister to Taiwan to work as a voluntary co-worker for a year at Seamen/Fishermen’s Service Center (SFSC) of Ping An Foundation in Kaohsiung. During this summer vacation, there were also many EYEP activities: from July 12 to 21, Mr Zheng Ming-yang and Ms Hsu Chiao-wei went to Hungary to participate the Hungarian Youth Festival (Csillagpont [Starpoint] Festival) sponsored by The Reformed Church in Hungary (RCH); From August 19 to 26, a team of seven members, including Wang Chun-ling, Yang Hsan-en, Su Lou, Li Che, Mai-ia Istanda, Chang Shi-yu and Hong Jia-yin, went to visit local churches of United Church of Christ in Japan(UCCJ). In her participating report, Ms Hsu Chiao-wei, an youth of the West Gate Church of the Chiayi Presbytery and an alma mater of NTNU Evergreen Fellowship under Taipei College Student Center, said that more than 2,000 ecumenical youth from all over the world attended in the youth conference sponsored by RCH. “Through 200 sub-group discussions, all attendants feel quite relaxed to exchange their own thoughts and experiences in faith, proceed mutual intercessions, and hold an open and simple heart to share, especially because of every youth came from different ethnic groups, culture and language,” she said. “With the Christian faith as a link, they learn to relax their bodies, breathe slowly, exhale slowly, listen to the sound of nature, and personally experience Lélegezz fel (Hungarian word, meaning “to breathe”, also touted as the theme of this RCH youth conference).” Yang Hsuan-en, a young co-worker of the Ying-ge Church of Taipei presbytery, who went to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, shared their thoughts after visiting local churches of UCCJ in 2025 summer. He also reported their emotional touch to participate in the 80th anniversary World Peace Assembly at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, a commemorative site of the very atomic bomb to end World War II. After listening to personal experiences and life reflections of Mr Toyonag Keisaburo, a survivor of WWII atomic bomb explosion at Hiroshima, Yang was very shocked to learn Mr Toyonag Keisaburo’s first utterance was not a harsh blame on other adversary countries then, but to apologize for unrepairable harms caused by Japan to Taiwan in the last century. Translated by Peter Wolfe |