3077 Edition
February 14-20, 2011
Church Ministry News
Old, off-shore island church gets new life thanks to retired minister
Reported by Sam Lee
Written by Lydia Ma
Ever since its founding in 1965, Chiangjiun Presbyterian Church has served young students, foreign spouses, and fishermen from Penghu Island. In time, old people aged and passed away while young people left the island in search for better employment, leaving the church with only 17 regular attendees by 2008.
Hence, it was quite a remarkable feat for the church and its new minister, Rev. Lin Cheng-hong, to hold a Lunar New Year service and pot-luck this past January. It’s been 10 years since the last New Year service and pot-luck were held. Not only did Lin organize this gathering, he also managed to repaint the church building in time for it with help from a few people from his congregation.
According to reports, after Chiangjiun Church notified Kaohsiung Presbytery of its dwindling membership and its inability to sustain itself, the presbytery decided to send Lin to help the struggling congregation. Lin, a retired PCT minister who’d previously served as the head of Labor Concern Center in Kaohsiung, took over Chiangjiun Church in January 2011.
Not only did this new minister pull off a new year gathering attended by 16 people (3 families and a few seniors), he also plans for the church to start offering afterschool tutorial classes for children beginning February, a cooking contest for foreign brides on Mother’s Day, and more.
Chiangchun Church has always been committed to ministering in the off-shore island of Penghu and is now urging local PCT churches from all parts of Taiwan to support its ministries to people who live in the area. Lin welcomes churches to visit his church when considering annual church retreats and enjoy the beautiful beaches and islands surrounding Penghu.
