Taiwan Church News
3404 Edition
22 – 28 May, 2017
Church Ministry
Ligang Presbyterian Church Celebrates 150th Anniversary Of Mission
Reported by Lin Wang-ting
Established in May 1867, Ligang Presbyterian Church celebrated her 150th anniversary of mission with a thanks-giving service on May 21. Hundreds of believers assembled in the churches to sing their praises, listen the sermon, retrieve the history of church, and give their sincere blessings for the future of the evangelical mission.
Unveiling the statues of Rev Hugh Ritchie and his wife Mrs Eliza C Cooke as a starter, Rev Wu Jih-ren gave his sermon, entitled as “Ebenezer(The stone of help)”, expressing thanks-giving to God’s grace and Rev Ritchie’s pioneering ministry to help establish Ligang Presbyterian Church in 1867.
Rev Hugh Ritchie, as the first English missionary to serve in Taiwan from 1867, established 26 churches in southern and eastern Taiwan. Ligang Presbyterian Church was one of the churches established via the help from Rev Ritchie.
According to the records of Ligang Presbyterian Church, Hwang Seng-ho was one of the major contributors to set up the church. Because Hwang received the faith at the same time when Dr James Laidlaw Maxwell healed his feet around 1866, an influential witness of Hwang started to spread and some assemblies in worship were initiated after his return from Kaohsiung to Ligang.
This evangelical story was learned by Rev Ritchie, when he arrived at Kaohsiung, therefore he went to Ligang and help Hwang to establish Ligang Presbyterian Church in 1867. As many believers of Ligang church then also came form the towns of Jiuru, Yanpu, Gaosu and etc, now these towns have established their own churches to carry on pass the good news to their neighbors in communities.
Translated by Peter Wolfe
