Evangelistic Meetings

Praying for those who decided to follow Christ

Last weekend we were given opportunity to share in two services. The first one was with the Taiwan Industrial Evangelical Fellowship (TIEF). They conduct their worship on Sat. evenings to fit the schedule of their participants. About 25 attended, many of whom were non-believers, some being neighborhood residents. Four adults and two children responded to the invitation, of whom two became believers within the last two months and didn’t know that they do not need to receive Christ again and again! One was a visitor who came for the very first time, while another one was a senior who commented that “if everyone would trust in Jesus the world would be a much better place!” We passed their names to the pastor of the gospel center for follow-up.

With couple in pre-marital counseling

Vietnamese Fellowship

The second was with the Vietnamese fellowship. Sixteen twenty-something attended, excluding workers. Unlike most church groups, this one consisted of more men than women, as quite a few are migrant workers who came on a permit to work in factories. A sister translated my message into Vietnamese, and one responded to the altar call, as four had already responded to an evangelistic meeting just the last week by an US short-term team.

Ultimately all conversions are the work of God, but we attribute the result to the labor of the missionary as well, in ploughing the field to loosen the soil. Sometimes churches conduct an evangelistic meeting once a year to satisfy themselves that they are committed to the Great Commission, but do not do much outreach the rest of the year, nor train/encourage their members to do personal evangelism. They are only fooling themselves. Evangelism needs to be part of your lifestyle, not an occasional program. If you want to harvest, you must sow. No sowing, no harvesting. It’s that simple. Think through what’s priority in your church.

Witnessing Encounters

Tanzi Sports Park near gospel center

Setting up garage sale to attract people

Found KSP’s favorite monkey!

The Tanzi Gospel Center goes to the nearby park every month to do street evangelism. Normally the young people would play guitar music to attract people, and they would share the good news over a public announcement system. However, this time they collected donations of toys, handbags, clothing etc. from volunteers, and held a garage sale instead. So while they looked after the stall to sell the merchandize, we walked around the park with flyers looking for people we could share the gospel with.

We found several Indonesian caregivers who wheel-chaired the seniors they were looking after to the park to have some fresh air, and to have some chat time themselves with fellow nannies. It turned out that they knew not only Mandarin, but English as well! So E. witnessed to them in English. They readily admitted that everyone is a sinner, including themselves, but when it comes to receiving Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they hesitated because they were Muslim. We explained that Islam does not and cannot provide a solution to their sin problem, because only the one true God of the Bible can forgive sins.

They needed time to think it over because for a Muslim to become a Christian meant being rejected by their own people. They do not have a day off to come to church meetings, but they go to the park everyday. So we left it to the missionaries and volunteers to follow-up. Fear of being ostracized is the grip that Satan has over many who belonged to other religions. We witnessed to a Vietnamese Chinese lady and it’s the same story. When she was young she joined a Buddhist cult which required its followers to swear a curse on themselves if they ever leave the cult. She was afraid to receive Christ because of that curse. Pray that the stronghold will be broken and that the people will be saved.

Sharing the gospel with two Indonesian caregivers

Kinds of Faith – Seeing is Believing?

Q. In Jesus’ second miracle (Jn 4:54) He healed a nobleman’s son. The word “believe” appears three times in the passage (Jn 4:46-54):
• v 48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.
• v 50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.
• v 53 So the father knew that [it was] at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.
Based on v 48, does v 53 mean the nobleman believed only when he saw the sign that his son was healed at the time Jesus spoke in v 50? Did he have a progression in his faith?

A. No, not quite. There are two Greek verbs translated “believe” in English:
• pisteuo, meaning to place confidence in, to trust, and signifies reliance upon, not mere credence;
• peitho, meaning to persuade.
However, all three “believe(d)” in this passage are just different tenses of pisteuo, so no inference can be made just from the word “believe” alone.

The problem is in another word, “you”, in this passage. Here the KJV did not convey the meaning of the Greek fully, and translates v 48 as Jesus said unto him. The Greek for you is actually plural, twice in this verse. This is corrected in newer translations e.g.
• NKJV Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”
• NIV “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”
• NASB So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.”
In v 48 Jesus was in fact addressing the crowd, not the royal official.

My opinion is that the official had a certain degree of faith in Jesus to begin with, otherwise he would not have gone and begged Him to come and heal his son. The faith was not as strong as the centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant (Mt 8:10, Lk 7:9), and who believed could heal by just saying the word without being there. Nevertheless, he took Jesus at His word and departed (v 50). A person with less faith would probably have insisted that Jesus go to his son instead. When he realized that his son was healed at the exact time that Jesus spoke, he and his whole household believed. I interpret this as he deepened in his conviction and trusted or relied on Jesus even more. However, the entire incident is focused on temporal faith for healing. Nothing is said about saving faith in the sense of placing his trust in Jesus alone for his eternal salvation. So I cannot conclude definitively that he believed and was saved.

To many people, seeing is believing e.g.
• Jn 2:23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.
• Acts 8:13 Simon (the sorcerer) himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
But keep reading and you’ll find out about their so-called belief:
• Jn 2:24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.
• Acts 8:21-23 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

You can see and believe e.g. Thomas:
• Jn 20:29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
But to believe having not seen requires more or a higher faith as then the trust is in the person, not the signs and miracles as evidence. The biblical definition of faith is actually Heb 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. I believe the official had this level of faith in Jesus as he took Him at His word. Beyond that I cannot tell as the Scripture is silent.

Resurrection of the Saints

Q. What does Mt 27:52-53 mean “and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.” How come I never heard any sermon on this?

A. A. You’ve never heard any sermon on this probably because Matthew is the only one evangelist who recorded it, and there is no other reference in the Bible to this event. The Bible says:
• When Jesus died the earth shook and split the rocks, including the tombs;
• After His resurrection many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;
• They came out of the tombs and entered Jerusalem and appeared to many.

I believe this is the sequence because of 1 Co 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. I don’t think they were raised immediately after Jesus’ death, stayed in the tombs three days, and did not come out until after His resurrection. Who these saints were is not specified, but I believe they were similar to other people Jesus raised:
• Widow of Nain’s son (Lk 7:13-15)
• Jairus’ daughter (Lk 8:52-56)
• Lazarus (Jn 11:43-44)
who eventually died again. Others believe they may have been raised with glorified bodies but the text simply did not say, hence my premise to not go beyond what’s stated.

Their resurrection symbolized at least two things.:
• Christ had conquered death 1 Co 15:26-27 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
• The resurrection of all believers, who shall be recognizable and known by others (Mt 27:53). Jn 6:40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

Earthquake!

Photos downloaded from newspapers of damage to buildings near the epicenter, which is about 100 km away.

Taichung’s seismograph third from left

Crack in ground

Crack on side of building

Crack in apartment

Shelves toppled & books throw on floor

An earthquake with magnitude 6.0 struck Taiwan today at 10:03am. We were working in our third floor apartment, getting ready to go downtown, when we felt the building moving. The floor began to shake and we heard a crashing sound, but did not know what fell. I remarked to E. that it’s an earthquake, and hung onto the table as the vibrations increased in intensity. The swaying movement lasted probably 10-15 seconds, and then stopped just as suddenly as it started.

We went downstairs to the office to find out what was going on, and found other missionaries were there too checking the news. One phoned home to see if his family was alright, and was informed that everyone was fine, but some utensils were thrown to the ground. Another was planning to clean his fridge which was on coasters. The fridge rolled across the floor and then slid back, A third asked me “Were you scared?”, to which I replied, “A little.” We had experienced earthquakes before, but of lower magnitude. This one caused the building to sway only sideways, but there were no vertical upheavals which would have been more frightening.

Ultimately, our security is in God’s hands. If He still has work for us to do, we will be preserved despite the circumstances. If it’s time for us to go Home, then no human precaution can prevent that from happening. Place yourself in His hands and there is no need to fear.

Ministering to the Under-privileged

Tanzi Gospel Center

Doing Bible study with the Mom’s group

We visited the ministry of another missionary, who served the Vietnamese brides and the grass-roots community. She is Taiwanese whose home was in Toronto, studied in Canadian Theological Seminary, retired from Bell Canada, and then joined SEND Taiwan six years ago to serve the under-privileged full-time, partnering with the Taiwan Industrial Evangelical Fellowship (TIEF) as her platform.

There are over 427,000 foreign brides in Taiwan, mostly from Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and China. They came in search of a better life, but often married Taiwanese blue-collar workers or men in rural areas who could not find a wife locally. Because of language and cultural barriers many are unhappy or depressed. That’s where her ministry comes in. She is a one-staff “team”, offering Chinese and English classes as the bridge, but providing counseling, a shoulder to cry on, and practical assistance e.g. accompanying them to court, wherever needed.

She is assisted by several volunteers. One is a Vietnamese Chinese from Los Angeles who acts as her interpreter when she preaches. Another is her cousin attending the same home church in Toronto, who supports her ministry and spends more time in Taiwan than Toronto! Together they would visit Vietnamese restaurants where many of the foreign brides hang out, or visit the night market to find prospects they could strike up a conversation with. “How can I help you?” is still a good way to open doors for ministry. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Pray the Lord of the harvest to raise up more workers.

Visiting neighborhood families

Flyer distribution in the night market

Needs-based Outreach

DaXiCou community center

After-school tutoring as outreach

We visited a district in Chiayi called DaXiCou (which means Big Stream Houses) to which one couple plus a sister were assigned. The husband is Indian and the wife Taiwanese, and had served 10 years in the Philippines doing church-planting and teaching in a seminary. They then went to Taiwan to minister to foreigners for 17 years. The sister is formerly a nurse, from Hong Kong.

When they first went to Chiayi two years ago, they applied to start children’s ministry and were declined. They then applied for seniors’ ministry, which was rejected also. Then they had a stroke of inspiration and asked, “How about foreign brides?”, and social services said yes! Foreign brides are women from Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, and China who came to Taiwan to marry Taiwanese men, often in rural areas. So they started Mandarin and English classes for the women. But these foreign wives have children, some of whom do not do well in school, and cannot afford tutoring. So out of this came the after-school tutoring program, where the missionaries recruited local teachers to provide free tutoring for elementary school students.

Every Wed. between 20-30 children would come between 1-3 pm for assistance with their homework, and then watch a Christian video from 3-4 pm before they go home. They have to go low-key because of resistance from the families, who often are steeped in folk religion and ancestor worship. For example, a sister and brother received Christ as their Savior, but the grandfather did not want them to watch the Christian video because he was a medium. Find a need and meet it. Find a hurt and heal it. That is still the way to speak to the heart. Pray that the spiritual stronghold of pagan worship would be broken, and that the people would come to know the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rented house for meetings

Visiting Mission Posts

Dalin Train Station

We visited Dalin and Chiayi, two towns about 90 minutes south of Taichung by regular train or intercity bus. Our missionary host picked us up from the train station and the first stop was to visit the widow of an Episcopal (similar to Anglican) bishop in Dalin to offer our condolences. The bishop was the first Taiwanese to become a bishop in his denomination, and the principal of a local seminary. He was also instrumental in opening his home to welcome SEND missionaries into the area. He was a godly man who influenced many students, and widely respected by many church leaders across denominations. He had always had good health habits, but in Feb. he discovered he had advanced pancreatic cancer and by Mar. he had gone on to be with the Lord. There were hundreds at his funeral, and a memorial service will be held in Taipei as well. His widow is a strong Christian lady who in her grief submitted to God’s sovereignty.

The bishop’s favorite quote: Trust, don’t fret; Thank, don’t pine

The Episcopal and Anglican church in N. America had leaned towards liberalism e.g. in their acceptance of homosexual ordination and same-sex marriage, but that’s not the case elsewhere e.g. here and Africa. Do not generalize by putting everyone under the same label. There will not be denominations in heaven, just true Christians who have trusted in the Lord.

Our hosts had spent 30 years in Taiwan. The first dozen years they learned Taiwanese, and served on a team which planted a Gospel church in Taichung. Then they learned Mandarin, and established an Evangelical church in Taichung, while teaching part-time at a seminary in Taipei. The next phase involved teaching at two seminaries, and helping to establish two churches, one Baptist, one Presbyterian, in Taipei. Again, which denomination is not important, whether you are true to God’s Word is. They then switched to the administration side and most recently championed Vision 119, planning with team members to plant 4 churches in the greater Chiayi area.

God provided them a new 4-storey house as the home-base for reaching out to the community. Many people had wanted to buy the house, but the owner did not want to sell. Other wanted to lease the building and put up walls to partition the house into rooms, but the owner did not want that either. So in the end, they were able to rent the 2,500 sq. ft. building for the price of NT$10,000 (about US$350) a month, because God had reserved it for His servants.

Missionary’s home as base for outreach

Apartment with walkout to rooftop patio

It reminds me of Eugene Peterson’s book “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction”. You need persistent obedience to bear fruit. We are not fruitful because we are unwilling to obey, or because we do not persevere. But when you do what pleases the Lord, He gives you the desire of your heart. May God help us to have a willing heart to obey, and persevere.

Start them Young

A Family Committed to Serving the Chinese

The more you learn about the missionaries, the more you’ll find they are different from ordinary folks like us. Many have the notion of responding to God’s call to serve Him in a foreign land drilled into them when they were young. His grandma was born in China, and his parents spoke Mandarin. Although he initially enrolled in pastoral major at Moody Bible Institute, God laid the burden to serve the Chinese on his heart when he was on a short-term mission trip to Ireland.

He met his wife while she was on a STM with her parents. They got married and served for a number of years in the US. But the mission call never left them, so with the support of their home church, they went to Hong Kong over a dozen years ago. He was involved in church-planting, while she served as a school teacher. Both worked hard to learn Cantonese, and three of their children were born and home-schooled in Hong Kong.

After several years the mission believed that the time was ripe for it to pass the baton to the local churches. However, personally they were still committed to church-planting. They reassessed their call, and felt that a change in field would be appropriate. So after two terms they returned home for a year of furlough, and then went to Taiwan. Here they learned Chinese again, but Mandarin this time, all for the sake of reaching the Chinese who do not know the Lord yet.

I don’t have statistics to prove it, but I suspect that many missionaries received their calling when they were very young, when they heard stories from faraway lands during missionary conference, or when they read biographies of missionary pioneers. When the call is from God, the conviction does not go away, but becomes stronger and stronger until the person responds in submission and obedience. That’s why mission education in children’s ministry is so important. If you wait till after the individual enters adulthood, God’s still small voice might not be heard over the clamor of the distractions of the world, the flesh, and Satan. Pray the Lord of the harvest to raise up workers, and start educating our children early about missions. Often that’s how you get the best workers.

The 8-year-old beat us in a game of `Sequence`!

Language Learning

There’s a quote, often attributed to Francis of Assisi, that I find questionable – “Preach the gospel always; when necessary, use words.” The implication is that your lifestyle is sufficient to share the good news, and verbal communication is only a supplement. I’ve always thought that deeds and words are like your two arms or two legs. Both are important and you will not be effective with just one.

The truth of that came home in our language orientation. The missionary shared that “presence in an environment conducive to language study does not automatically result in language mastery! You have to do something to learn another language; you can’t just lean back and absorb it.” In our evangelism context, presence or lifestyle alone does not automatically result in communicating the gospel, you have to use words. Or to look at it from the recipient perspective, going to church every Sunday does not mean you will automatically become a Christian. You have to embrace the message for yourself.

Many believe that immersion is the best method which guarantees that the learner will master the language. Immersion is helpful because it forces you to swim or sink, but it’s no guarantee as some give up and “drown”. We learned five steps which will help us to keep learning and progressing (quoted from SEND notes for language learners):

• Decide what to learn for the day.
• Prepare the desired conversation in the target language.
• Practice speaking and listening until you can express it fluently and understand likely responses to it with ease.
• Communicate the learned message to other native speakers.
• Evaluate your progress by discussing with your mentor, modifying the phrases if necessary and practice as needed.

Repeat the above again and again and again until it becomes second nature to you and the words flow automatically. Practice makes perfect. This is true in sports, language, and evangelism.

Our language school is located within this church`s property.

Taichung Language Center in basement

Waiting for our class to start