Kaohsiung churches celebrate Christmas and Kaohsiung’s upgrade with super-carnival
Reported by Sam Lee
Written by Lydia Ma
Kaohsiung City’s churches had much to celebrate this past Christmas – not only was the birth of Christ an occasion to proclaim joy to the city, the fact that Kaohsiung was now officially a special municipality was another cause to celebrate.
On the eve before all five special municipalities became officially “megacities” (December 25, 2010), various Kaohsiung’s churches got together and threw a Christmas party on December 24th to celebrate the birth of their Lord and the dawn of a new era for Kaohsiung.
Besides Kaohsiung City, Sinbei City, Taipei City, Taichung City, and Tainan City became 5 Special Municipalities or “megacities” on Christmas Day 2010.
This Christmas party or carnival was hosted by Presbyterian Churches and various other churches in Kaohsiung area and was held at the National Stadium (the venue of the World Games in 2010).
Throughout the night, several volunteers spread out to distribute Keng-sim, an evangelical brochure with heart-warming testimonies published by Taiwan Church Press, while others helped assist some 120 booths that had been set up to serve food and offer fun games to the public.
The best part of this carnival was that everything – including performances, food, games – was free because Kaohsiung churches simply wanted to share the joy of Christmas with the rest of the city.
The carnival’s convener, Rev. Chen Chien-yueh, was the speaker of the event. He said that God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son, Jesus, to the world. It’s because of God’s love that humanity can find hope again and this is a message worth sharing with the world.
Chen also said that Christmas 2010 is particularly special for Kaohsiung because the amalgamation of Kaohsiung City with Kaohsiung County spells much potential for the future. He hoped that the new Kaohsiung would become a loving, giving, and charitable city – just like Christ.
