Taiwan Church News
3336 Edition
February 1 – 7, 2016
Editorial
Distinctive Church And Church Distinctions
In order to share PCT’s missionary efforts in “One-Leads-One, New Doubling Movement” since 2010, PCT’s Evangelical Committee and Taiwan Church Press have jointly worked together to report some distinctive PCT churches in their evangelical missions through the weekly Taiwan Church News.
During the historical “Doubling Movement” in between 1955 and 1965, PCT did an extraordinary ministry by bringing the church into every corner of Taiwan, be it on the mountain or at the seaside, urban or rural. It is through such a direct growth of the church numbers in “quantity”, the “quality” of PCT was implicitly changed in an indirect way. A deep-rooted PCT across this island started to learn the pains of the Taiwanese people in that industrial age!
In the subsequent “New Century Mission Movement”(NCMM I, 1965 – 1969), PCT therefore set her task in a method of “multiple-missions” to respond the drastically industrial impact on Taiwan society; in the “Royal Servant Movement”(NCMM II, 1970 – 1974) the missionary vision was switched on encouraging the church to care the needs of the society and do what Jesus taught; in the “Indepence and Cooperation Movement”(NCMM III, 1975 – 1979), the priority was set on establishing PCT as a consolidate faith community and help small church to become mature and independent. After a series movements of NCMM, PCT continuously to push forward kinds of mission movements like Ten Plus One Movement(1979 – 1986) and Year 2000 Gospel Movement in order to seek a break through in believers’ quantity and quality.
Through a series of the historical mission movements, PCT’s concern of Taiwan society and the class of social bottom gradually becomes her missionary distinctions. Taking to the streets for Taiwan’s future, concerning those overlooked minority peoples, speaking out for the polluted but silent environment and standing up against nuclear power, each individual actions play an indispensable role in PCT’s holistic mission movements.
Except taking to the streets to protest the government or lobby the public, PCT’s local congregations also practice “the love of Christ” in their respective local communities. For examples, PCT’s local engagements includes supporting the children’s learning after school, responding the demands of new immigrants, rejuvenating some old communities, taking care of the foreign care-workers and etc. Whatever kind of ministries, it requires local demands be identified first and then the love of Christ be poured down to the needy. In essence, such ministry is basically an daring brave event beyond cost and price. It’s simply to learn Jesus’ spirit of “Love Your Neighbor” and fulfill PCT’s confession as being “rooted in this land”.
As a matter of fact, each church’s local ministry has her own distinctions. Through a series of reports of distinctive churches by the weekly Taiwan Church News, either in literal investigative report or in the form of documentary film, we hope PCT member churches could learn from each other. Sometimes, though, the exponential growth of urban church captivates our envy and the magnificent service of mega-church seems so spectacularly admired, our missionary efforts at present stage deems frivolous in such a radical comparison.
But, please do not forget PCT has her own uniqueness which could not be replaced by any other denomination in Taiwan. We are aware that there are glorious moments but also set backs in our 150 years’ history of PCT’s mission movement. We have to face our problems in mission honestly, with an modest feeling neither arrogant nor inferior.
When every PCT church tells the grand story of Missio Dei in her own unique style, an entire collection of these mission stories is to form the PCT missionary history. And these stories will be carried on proclaiming among us to become our PCT distinctions in Taiwan.
