It’s a small world after all! Our friend wanted to introduce us to an associate professor of life sciences at National Chung Cheng University, who had been instrumental in organizing the Fellowship of Evangelical Students on campus. He was born in Hong Kong, went to Taiwan for university, then to the US for his graduate studies.
As we’re also from Hong Kong, we hit it off right away and chatted using a mixture of Cantonese, English and Mandarin. Since he went to Cleveland, Ohio for his doctorate, he asked us whether we knew a Chinese pastor in that city. We didn’t know anyone from Cleveland, but decided to inquire his name anyway. He said, “Pastor H.M. Yeung, he was also my chaplain when I was in high school.” E. jumped with surprise when she heard the name. “H.M. Yeung! Of course I know him; we went to the same fellowship when we were in high school!”
It turned out the professor attended the same Methodist middle school in Hong Kong as E., only years later. That started an exciting exchange as E. queried whether he knew various people, including her former classmates, teachers and the principal of the school. What’s amazing is that he “happened” to be the nephew of one of E’s friends at the high school fellowship, who knew E. and her siblings well. He quickly asked a grad student to take a group photo of us all and forwarded it to his aunt. E. reconnected with her after having not seen each other for decades, as she immigrated to Australia while we went to Canada.
All our missionary friend wanted was to refer us to her network, but by providence we have a deeper connection than just a casual acquaintance. It’s a small world because our great God is in control. Our new friend quickly gave me an invitation to give a lecture to his “Jewish Customs and Life Sciences” class, which is as close as you can get to teaching the Bible in a secular university. He is a Ph.D. in biology and has been using the Old Testament to teach this elective for the past six years. The enrolment is limited to 60 students each year and the class is always full. Quite a few became believers after the course, as the students encountered the Creator instead of the usual idols so prevalent in Taiwan. Since we would have left Taiwan already, we passed the referral to our colleague. He will speak on marriage from a biblical perspective, as cohabitation is becoming widely accepted in Taiwan.
If you want to reach the class who has a significant influence in Taiwan, you need to be involved in campus ministry. In America most church goers became Christians before the age of 18. This may not apply in Taiwan, as many parents are bound by tradition to ancestor worship and folk religion, and may not encourage their children to go to church. However, when the youth leave home for university, they found a new freedom to explore everything, including faith. Many young people found Christ when they attend university, so campus ministry is an important strategy in reaching Taiwan. What’s your strategy to reach your community? Of course you need the Holy Spirit, but you need a method too. What’s yours?
RayKLiu 