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Taiwan Church News 3046 Edition July 12~July 18, 2010
Early morning “Praise Dance” classes help church plant gospel seeds
Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan Written by Lydia Ma Photo by Chen Yi-hsuan
The church is calling on Christians who live nearby to invite friends and relatives to join this program so that more people can get some exercise every morning. Praise Dance Ministry is sponsored by the church’s women’s fellowship and classes are taught by a retired teacher.
This ministry first began in Dong-Ning Park more than 3 years ago. But the church began offering extra classes at a park near Tainan Municipal Stadium in April of this year. Now, it has begun offering lessons at a third location – a park adjacent to Taiwan Church Press on Youth Road.
In the past 3 years, each class has attracted more than 10 students, and there are currently over 40 regular students from all locations combined. More than half of these students are non-Christians who have never gone to church.
According to Cheng Ming-min, wife of Dong-Ning Church pastor, Rev. Lin Jui-lung, Praise Dance Ministry is one of the strategies the church has been using to share the gospel. The program’s purpose is to loosen the “soil” of people’s hearts and prepare it for “gospel seeds”.
Though most students in Praise Dance classes aren’t Christians and likely won’t darken a church door, they continue to attend classes on a regular basis. “We can’t be impatient. For now, we only hope that they’ll join us in shouting out “hallelujah!” during class or prayer,” said Cheng.
She added that students are slowly reaching out to one another and some non-Christians will even accept prayers of blessing over their families once they understand what prayer is about.
Each class usually requires one teacher, one administrative staff, and one usher to welcome people to join the class, Cheng said. “Oftentimes, we find people standing on the sidelines watching us. Because southern Taiwanese people are usually shyer, someone needs to be there to approach them and invite them to join in,” she explained.
The new class on Youth Road has so far attracted about 17 people, half of them non-Christians. The church hopes to use these classes and music concerts to get to know more people in the community and share the gospel with them.
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