Taiwan Church News
3759 Edition
March 11 ~ 17, 2024
Weekly Topical
PCT Seminar Held on Community Civil Resilience and Creative Youth Ministry
Reported by Hong Tai-yang from Taichung
A 2024 PCT Ministry Seminar, organized by the PCT Church and Society Ministry Committee, was held at the Wu Feng Church of the Taichung Presbytery from March 5th to 6th. During the meeting, Rev Song Cheng-yoh of Wu Feng Church briefly introduced the renowned Lin family in Wu Feng area and its role during the process of Taiwan’s democratization.
For pastors and co-workers from various PCT Presbytery and Indigenous District Assembly, Rev Song also invited two famous speakers: Dr Sia Ek-hong, CEO of Academia Formosana, to explain the plans of Community-Based Civil Resilience; Ms Yang Nisin, cartoonist, to talk about how to tell Taiwan’s stories to young people through creative ways.
In his lecture “National Defense for All: Academia Formosana”, Dr Sia Ek-hong says that facing the threat of the Chinese military coercion, Taiwan needs to prepare in advance once the war breaks out, and especially the church shall prepare ready to respond such crisis.
He stresses that the advantage of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan is that it has more than 1,200 churches scattered among the plains or mountainous across Taiwan, and it has experiences of responding to natural disasters and providing first-aid relief to the victims. So, facing of the China’s increasing threat of military force, the PCT should treasure each local church in ways to equip them as a center of providing spiritual comfort and first-aid relief in the community.
Against the potential warfare eruption across Taiwan Strait, Dr Sia Ek-hong also reports Academia Formosana’s solution, coded ” Noah Ark”, with the purpose of saving lives, protecting the lands, and using practical actions to proclaim the redeeming gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Noah Ark plan is divided into three parts: first, local congregation shall fill in a safety assessment questionnaire and start to stock various resources in the church; second, local church shall conduct safety drills to respond to various emergencies from warfare destructions; finally, an assessment of local church’s response should be completed to deliver an emergency SOP manual once the China invasion starts on the island, Dr Sia Ek-hong concludes.
In her speech, entitled as “Country of Animation and Comic: My Name”, Ms Yang Nisin shares her career of creating animal cartoon protagonists over the years: from the early comics’ engagement with policemen and firefighters, to the later creations devoted to the history of Taiwan, portraying early church missionaries such as Rev MacKay and Rev Barclay, to the lately descriptions of Green Island scenarios during the age of 228 Massacre and White Terror. Through cute cartoonist characters, she says, her comics tries to present her ideas of Taiwan’s future and her observation about social issues.
Ms Yang Nisin points out, when collecting a large amount of historic data and information before creating her comic cartoons, to her surprise she finds many different yet overlooked perspectives about the subjects she studies. For example, when she prepares to draw a comics story about Taiwan’s baseball history, she discovers that a fair education to pursue adequate knowledge for many country boys are actually exploited, during their heavy training to become an elite-player sacrificed for the so-called “National Baseball” of Taiwan.
Ms Yang emphasizes that the skills of storytelling are also very important when communicating with readers. It depends on how each writer uses his or her talents and interests to “showcase” a fascinating story, she remarks.
Rev Lin Wei-lian, secretary of the PCT Church and Society Ministry Committee, says that the seminar introduces the mainstream issues and concerns in the current Taiwan society. It includes how the church should respond and prepare in the military coercion from China and how to implement the functions of rescue, faith and comfort in our community, Rev Lin says.
The seminar also explains the forgotten history through comics which could attract the attention of young people more efficiently, Rev Lin indicates, so it is worthy of all PCT presbyteries and local churches to learn and think about how to design suitable missionary ministries to respond to the demands of contemporary young people.
Translated by Peter Wolfe
