April 11-17, 2011
General Assembly News
PCT conference examines critical roles and goals of Church and Society Committee in a multicultural society
Reported by Sam Lee
Written by Lydia Ma
PCT General Assembly Church and Society Committee held a conference in Tainan on April 6-7, 2011, on various issues. Some issues have dominated recent headline news, while others have been long-standing issues of concern for the PCT.
“The Church and Society Committee is the gateway between the church and the masses. So, it’s only right for it to take special interest in intercultural issues and demonstrate God’s justice and love through its involvement in such issues,” said Committee Chairman Rev. Chen Ching-fa.
The conference included seminars on topics such as gender equality, urban-rural missions, non-violent defense, inter-ethnic marriages, opposing the Kuokuang Petrochemical Plant proposal, opposing nuclear energy policies, etc.
The main speaker for this conference was Dr. Albert Lin, a renowned scholar and member of Justice Action Church, and his presentation centered on “non-violent resistance” in the 21st century. Lin cited examples all around the world, including recent ones such as Egypt, Tunisia, etc. and attributed the cause of these clashes to the disparity of wealth between the rich and the poor that gave peasants in these countries much to be bitter about. He concluded that these countries needed more democracy, justice, human rights, and freedoms as they became more multicultural.
Asked as to why the PCT should learn “non-violent resistance”, Lin answered, “because we have a big goal, which is to build a peaceful, sovereign, and independent country. We must build a new country and we cannot fail!”
Besides learning about “non-violent resistance”, many new and young Presbyterian clergy also learned about important PCT programs and methods, such as urban-rural missions, open-space technology, and third-party neutral.
One Church and Society Committee member, Rev. Lee Hsiao-chung, commented that churches ought to never stop thinking about being on the same side as common people and that was why URM must never leave its grass-roots.
