Taiwan Church News
3709 Edition
Mar 27 ~ Apr 2, 2023
Headline News
Offering Soup-Food-Box as a Spiritual Exercise in Lent
Reported by Dalul
As 40 days of Lent comes to its end, most Christians are now either fasting or in penitence in order to enter the week of passion and the Easter on April 9.
During the Lent period, to encourage brothers and sisters to practice spiritual exercise, repentance, and to let more people know God through offering, the Gui-Ren Church of the Tainan Presbytery organized a charity event called “Soup-Food-Box Project” to care and connect local communities.
In the interview, Rev Lee Ying-hsien, pastor of Gui-Ren Church, expressed that the church has been long-term engaged in a Treasuring Food Project, jointly organized by 1919 Food Bank, the PCT General Assembly and the PX Market, to care for the needy in the communities.
When the Lent arrives this year, Rev Lee says, the church decides to recruit brothers and sisters in the church to prepare Soup-Food-Box and care for the needy as an alternative way of practicing spiritual exercise through fasting and repentance.
The ministry of Soup-Food-Box is the service to package the well cooked food into paper boxes, coupled with devotional scripture verses, and then distributed to local communities and the neighboring hospitals.
Rev Lee Ying-hsien pointed out that, except a break in the weekend on Saturday and Sunday, the church gave out 110 to 120 packs of Soup-Food-Box every day, sometimes even more than that. Local area served are not only limited in Gui-Ren, but also in the townships of Ding-Chou, Liu-Chia and etc.
To be able to contribute to the local communities during the Lent period, Rev Lee says “I would like to thank the whole congregation for your kind offerings, and I also witnessed the biblical miracle of five loaves and two fish. As long as you are willing to give, God will bless you abundantly for sure.”
Considering food safety, the church has also complied with legal codes accordingly, such as specifying the production date and buying relevant food insurance with a sincere wish that the foods should be safe and well delivered to the people in need.
In 2022, a total of more than 3,500 Soup-Food-Box were distributed around Gui-Ren Township. This year, much more Soup-Food-Box are expected to serve more people and institutes, so that the church and the community can witness Gods wonderful work, and the gospel can be proclaimed more widely.
Translated by Peter Wolfe
