Taiwan Church News
3057 Edition
September 27~October 3, 2010
Churches in Puli commemorate 921 Earthquake with evangelistic outreach
Reported by Chen Wei-chien
Written by Lydia Ma
Just as residents living in southern Taiwan scrambled to clean-up the mess left by Typhoon Fanapi, Christians in Puli got ready to mark the 11th anniversary of another national disaster – 921 Earthquake.
On the night of September 24, 2010, Christians from various denominations and churches in Puli held an evangelistic meeting at a local night market that included performances by Music Stone and sharing by Elder Liao Ming-fa. The event attracted an enthusiastic crowd of listeners, many of which most likely never heard of the gospel before.
To make sure that God’s salvation was proclaimed on that night, many Christians from Taichung and Atayal presbyteries, as well as Christians from non-PCT churches, helped at this event by distributing gospel tracts and offering counseling to people who wanted to accept Christ. They also helped collect contact information left by people who said they wanted to know more about Christianity.
Rev. Chen Ching-en from Ai-Lan Presbyterian Church in Taichung said many religious organizations rushed to help victims in the aftermath of the earthquake. Now, 11 years later, that passion witnessed then needs to be rekindled.
“Almost all of the elementary schools and high schools in Puli were rebuilt by Buddhist Compassion Relief,” said Chen, adding that Buddhist organizations have an extensive ministry in the area, including sending volunteers on home visitations and gifting residents with Buddhist prayer beads. In short, Christians have their work cut out for them in Puli, including more prayers and more inter-denominational outreach events.
