March 14-20, 2011
Church Ministry News
Mengchia Presbyterian Church celebrates 135th anniversary and Mackay’s zeal
Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong
Written by Lydia Ma
Mengchia Presbyterian Church in Taipei was founded 135 years ago when Dr. George Leslie Mackay arrived to the area and began sharing the gospel. Mackay’s greatest calling at the time of his arrival was to make the invisible God visible and the untouchable God felt among the townspeople.
Mackay’s hard work helped people at the time to hear and accept the gospel and the ways in which he made God visible and touchable to people who’d never heard of Jesus is also the reason churches continue to exist today.
Mengchia Church celebrated its anniversary on March 13, 2011, with much prayer and praise and students and staff from the church-affiliated kindergarten and Pine Life University attended this celebration and performed. They also sang old songs written by Mackay.
Rev. Hsieh Hsi-ming who presided over the celebration said during the sermon that evangelism should be every Christian’s calling, but many churches today are struggling to get the gospel message out into the world. He reasoned that one of the reasons sharing the gospel has become a challenge among churches is because many Christians are simply waiting to be fed, waiting to be served, and waiting to die.
“But what God wants is to make Jesus Christ front and center and known,” Hsieh countered, adding that Jesus also warned that branches (churches) that didn’t connect with the vine (Christ) would dry out.
Hsieh went on to use this verse to remind Mengchia Church not to grow complacent or base its faith on a rich heritage, long history, and beautiful cathedral, otherwise, the church would lose its purpose.
What is the church’s purpose? According to Hsieh, it’s simply “to help people see the invisible God and feel the indescribable God.” And for churches to fulfill this purpose, Christians must remain deeply rooted to God’s truth and continually on the road to sanctification.
