http://www.omf.org/omf/taiwan/resources/articles__1/taiwan_or_china
A very interesting article on the situation in Taiwan that we wanted to share with you all. Something we are able to relate to as we've been working in this local village Church who see the needs to reach out to the unreached (working class and indigenous population).
Phil Nicholson was the previous Taiwan director for OMF.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Devotion
Just want to share with you all an encouraging devotion we had on a section from the book "Let the Nations be Glad" by J. Piper.
"The frontline work of missions is the preaching of the Word of God, the gospel. If this public act is displaced by prayer, the supremacy of Christ in the mission of the Church will be compromised. Where Jesus and his saving work are not proclaimed, there is no truth for the Holy Spirit to empower and no knowledge of Christ for him to exalt. (John 16:13-14) The proclamation of the gospel is 'the work of missions'. It is the weapon that God designed to use in penetrating thek ingdom of darkness and gathering the children of light from all the nations. Throughout Acts we can see the word of God continuing to go forth and the number of disciples increased and multiplied.
If the proclamation of the Word aborts, the purposes of God fail.
Not only has God made the accomplishment of his purposes hang on the preaching of the Word, but he has also made the success of that preaching hang on prayer. God's goal to be glorified will not succeed without the pwoerful proclamation of the gospel. And that gospel will not be proclaimed in power to all the nations without the prevailing earenest faith-filled prayers of God's people. The purpose won't happen without prayer. (2 Thess 3:1 - pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored)"
So to all our supporters back home in Aus, we thank you for praying for us. We are here to study the bible with students, so they too can hear the voice of God, understand and live out the foundations of the Christian faith, and most of all to bring light to this village of darkness.
We hope that the students we lead will too be inspired to lead others with the great truths learnt from the Word. Please keep praying for that!
"The frontline work of missions is the preaching of the Word of God, the gospel. If this public act is displaced by prayer, the supremacy of Christ in the mission of the Church will be compromised. Where Jesus and his saving work are not proclaimed, there is no truth for the Holy Spirit to empower and no knowledge of Christ for him to exalt. (John 16:13-14) The proclamation of the gospel is 'the work of missions'. It is the weapon that God designed to use in penetrating thek ingdom of darkness and gathering the children of light from all the nations. Throughout Acts we can see the word of God continuing to go forth and the number of disciples increased and multiplied.
If the proclamation of the Word aborts, the purposes of God fail.
Not only has God made the accomplishment of his purposes hang on the preaching of the Word, but he has also made the success of that preaching hang on prayer. God's goal to be glorified will not succeed without the pwoerful proclamation of the gospel. And that gospel will not be proclaimed in power to all the nations without the prevailing earenest faith-filled prayers of God's people. The purpose won't happen without prayer. (2 Thess 3:1 - pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored)"
So to all our supporters back home in Aus, we thank you for praying for us. We are here to study the bible with students, so they too can hear the voice of God, understand and live out the foundations of the Christian faith, and most of all to bring light to this village of darkness.
We hope that the students we lead will too be inspired to lead others with the great truths learnt from the Word. Please keep praying for that!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
First Bible Study Done
Thank God for a busy but very fulfilling day where it began with the middle school students watching 1/2 of "the passion of Christ". Despite the gory and explicit scenes, I felt that a lot of the kids were genuinely affected by the film. When the film finished, Vincent (the head preacher's husband) finished off the session with a reflection song.
As we ate lunch together, there was a family who came and visited ( who previously worked at the church). They came back from their missionary trip in Thailand. The highlight however, was our first English/Chinese bible study. We based the studies off "Just for starters" where today's session we drove home the message of God's grace. Initially we weren't sure how it was going to go but thankfully God was with us all the way. We also had a fellow helper/translator (Steven or Jia Ming) who was kind of enough to review the studies beforehand and translate when necessary. The overall feedback was positive from the students. We finished off the session with some songs which officially put an end to our study.
Although it didn't seem like much, we were exhausted and really thank God that we are able to currently kick back and relax. Our next study will be in two weeks since there is an event next week.
Please pray for this church:
- Pray that the kids attending the Saturday service will be receptive to what is taught.
- Pray that God's message will be passed through despite the language barriers of the English/ Chinese bible study.
- Pray for the leaders, who will be preaching tomorrow and will continue their ministry throughout the week.
- Pray for Mike's sleep as he has been finding it hard to get a regular sleeping pattern.
- Pray for the kids who no longer attend the "winnie the pooh" (children's club) who have stopped coming after they stopped the after the cancellation of after school care.
Praise:
- Praise God for blessing this church with such diligent and committed workers/leaders.
- Praise God for being with us during our bible study session.
- Praise God for bringing a healthy amount of kids to both the morning and afternoon sessions.
- Praise God for bringing kids to the after-school tutoring classes
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Inspiring.
Wow. Tonight I was blown away. Preacher Lily shared tonight about her trip to the US recently. Lily and Janice went to the USA for 3 weeks to share at numerous churches along the east coast to talk about this little church in YuChih and encourage the Chinese churches over there with stories.
Background info: Lily and Janice are the two missionaries who started this Church over 15 years ago in this little village. Now Grace and her husband have taken over and Janice has gone to lecture at a Bible College up north and Lily will soon be leaving as well. Janice was my first point of contact and was the reason why I was able to come work in this village 4 years ago and thank God her and Lily could speak English!
She finished the night giving a speech about how although this Church has gone through so many hardships and it's still slowly growing, it has been an immense joy for her to be a part of it. She shared about how it was a blessing that God brought Grace and Vincent (the new couple who run the Church) to YuChih. She shared how some prominent members of the Church like Aunty Axiang and another girl Amy have been with the Church for so long and come to know Christ only through this Church years and years ago. She also mentioned how God brought Australians (us) to this place 4 years ago via an email and a connection through a friend of my mum's in Taipei and how our work has really drawn more young people to this Church. She said that everything that has happened, all the blessings the Church has received, all the workers and missionaries that have come through, and how the Church has grown and is continuing to grow is all ultimately the work of our amazing Lord Jesus Christ. Even though I only understood 75% of it (it was all in chinese), it was sooo touching and encouraging and we can only pray that God will continue to work in this Church and bring light to this spiritually dark village. Praise God for the work Lily and Janice has done in this village and pray that Grace and Vincent will continue to be faithful ministers to this Church!
Background info: Lily and Janice are the two missionaries who started this Church over 15 years ago in this little village. Now Grace and her husband have taken over and Janice has gone to lecture at a Bible College up north and Lily will soon be leaving as well. Janice was my first point of contact and was the reason why I was able to come work in this village 4 years ago and thank God her and Lily could speak English!
She finished the night giving a speech about how although this Church has gone through so many hardships and it's still slowly growing, it has been an immense joy for her to be a part of it. She shared about how it was a blessing that God brought Grace and Vincent (the new couple who run the Church) to YuChih. She shared how some prominent members of the Church like Aunty Axiang and another girl Amy have been with the Church for so long and come to know Christ only through this Church years and years ago. She also mentioned how God brought Australians (us) to this place 4 years ago via an email and a connection through a friend of my mum's in Taipei and how our work has really drawn more young people to this Church. She said that everything that has happened, all the blessings the Church has received, all the workers and missionaries that have come through, and how the Church has grown and is continuing to grow is all ultimately the work of our amazing Lord Jesus Christ. Even though I only understood 75% of it (it was all in chinese), it was sooo touching and encouraging and we can only pray that God will continue to work in this Church and bring light to this spiritually dark village. Praise God for the work Lily and Janice has done in this village and pray that Grace and Vincent will continue to be faithful ministers to this Church!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sure why not?
Just a quick update.
We went to the junior high school today (in past years we'd go and teach english to the students and the Principal knew us quite well and we'd drink tea and pray with her, however, the principal has changed now) and we had a 10minute slot to intro ourselves to a couple of classrooms and play a game with them. We also talked to one of the teachers to discuss the possibility of teaching a few english classes if there are any spare times/classes so that'll probably eventuate soon. However, we also ran into a Pastor from another Church in Puli - the closest city next to YuChih and we've been there in the past to do evangelism events and she was happy to see us and invited us to her youth group and wants us to prepare something for 40 minutes!!! So looks like we've been given a fair bit of work now. But that's ok we can manage coz we didn't have much before today. (Although it seems like such short notice)
So please pray for preparations this week - we have our first bible study to lead with some of the older students on Saturday arvo and now sharing at Puli Church on Saturday night :)
Will let you know how it goes!
*latest news - we've delayed our Puli Church presentation for a couple of weeks because Mikey has developed a bad cough and sore throat...please pray? seems like immune system is broken or something*
We went to the junior high school today (in past years we'd go and teach english to the students and the Principal knew us quite well and we'd drink tea and pray with her, however, the principal has changed now) and we had a 10minute slot to intro ourselves to a couple of classrooms and play a game with them. We also talked to one of the teachers to discuss the possibility of teaching a few english classes if there are any spare times/classes so that'll probably eventuate soon. However, we also ran into a Pastor from another Church in Puli - the closest city next to YuChih and we've been there in the past to do evangelism events and she was happy to see us and invited us to her youth group and wants us to prepare something for 40 minutes!!! So looks like we've been given a fair bit of work now. But that's ok we can manage coz we didn't have much before today. (Although it seems like such short notice)
So please pray for preparations this week - we have our first bible study to lead with some of the older students on Saturday arvo and now sharing at Puli Church on Saturday night :)
Will let you know how it goes!
*latest news - we've delayed our Puli Church presentation for a couple of weeks because Mikey has developed a bad cough and sore throat...please pray? seems like immune system is broken or something*
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Taipei Missionaries
Wow what an encouraging weekend. We didn't have many duties this weekend except helping out here and there. A team from Taipei came (they come nearly once a month for the weekend) from the head church and they ran programs for the youth in the morning (teens) and the children/sunday school in the afternoon on Saturday. It was so encouraging to see a passionate team want to get involved and give up their weekend to come to this village to help out. Some also went to houses to witness to families too throughout the day. Ivan and I went out with this team last nite to have a coffee and debrief the whole day. It was great to hear them all share about their experience and what they did well and what could be improved and even asking us for our opinions too. We spent the weekend basically just working on our relationships with the students we've known over the years and encouraging to keep going to Church. We'll be leading bible studies next weekend.Prayer: Praise God for this passionate team of Christians who want to serve His kingdom and have encouraged us to focus on our mission and discipleship here.
Praise God for helping us to recover. We are both at about 90% better already.
Pray that we'll keep improving on our Chinese and having more opportunities to talk to kids about God. (Today I had an encouraging talk with a 12 yr old (Angel) about how she's baptised and to read her bible each nite even if for 5 minutes and she tells me how she prays before she eats and before she sleeps each day. She comes from a home where her mum is a drug addict and parents were in jail and she and her younger sister and brother lived with Jasmine for 18 months and Jasmine brought her to know God - please keep praying for Angel!)
Pray that we'll be safe. I just got a call before from a student saying that we make sure we keep a torch close to us because this time of year there are lots of earthquakes!! (Also, there are gigantic mozzies eating us alive at night.)
Mondays are our days off to rest! Yay! But students will be coming to the Church at night for tutoring so we'll see some tomorrow nite.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
The First Meeting
So we've arrived in YuChih and now Ivan has come down with a bit of a cold too. The weather is very hot and humid and we've been sweating like crazy. Please pray for our health! This cold has really affected our energy levels.
We've already had a short meeting with the preacher (for some reason, we don't call her Pastor we call her preacher, perhaps because she is female? I forgot to ask) at this Church, her name is Grace and she runs the church with her husband Vincent. These two have just started here at this Church about 18 months now and were here last time we visited. Sadly, a few faces (co-workers) have left this Church since we were last here yet we trust that God is using this couple to grow this small humble Church in this village.
As you all know, we'll be focused mainly on discipling the senior high school kids here and working on leadership skills as well as going through the foundations of their faith. We'll also be helping with English tutoring here and there and participating in other Church groups such as the elderly that congregate on Thursdays. We also asked for Chinese lessons when one of the co-workers/secretary (Jasmine) has time throughout the week. Praise God for Jasmine who has been faithfully serving at this Church and she has always been the friendliest and most helpful and welcoming face everytime we come here. Apparently too, we have to run some games here and there so if you have any ideas for fun games that aren't in difficult English - swing the ideas this way!
It's actually a big surprise that we're coming back and the workers here haven't told any of the kids or teens. We've already run into a couple and they were very surprised to see us. I personally am not looking foward to getting swamped by the kids but I know Ivan loves it. Nevertheless, pray that we'll be a shining light to the kids and show the love of Christ in humility through all that we do here :)
Please also pray for the language barriers - it has already been a bit of a struggle just communicating in our first meeting with the preacher.
We've already had a short meeting with the preacher (for some reason, we don't call her Pastor we call her preacher, perhaps because she is female? I forgot to ask) at this Church, her name is Grace and she runs the church with her husband Vincent. These two have just started here at this Church about 18 months now and were here last time we visited. Sadly, a few faces (co-workers) have left this Church since we were last here yet we trust that God is using this couple to grow this small humble Church in this village.
As you all know, we'll be focused mainly on discipling the senior high school kids here and working on leadership skills as well as going through the foundations of their faith. We'll also be helping with English tutoring here and there and participating in other Church groups such as the elderly that congregate on Thursdays. We also asked for Chinese lessons when one of the co-workers/secretary (Jasmine) has time throughout the week. Praise God for Jasmine who has been faithfully serving at this Church and she has always been the friendliest and most helpful and welcoming face everytime we come here. Apparently too, we have to run some games here and there so if you have any ideas for fun games that aren't in difficult English - swing the ideas this way!
It's actually a big surprise that we're coming back and the workers here haven't told any of the kids or teens. We've already run into a couple and they were very surprised to see us. I personally am not looking foward to getting swamped by the kids but I know Ivan loves it. Nevertheless, pray that we'll be a shining light to the kids and show the love of Christ in humility through all that we do here :)
Please also pray for the language barriers - it has already been a bit of a struggle just communicating in our first meeting with the preacher.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Landed safely :)
Just to let you know, we've arrived in Taipei safely and have been spending some time resting (as I've been ill), exploring the city and have plans to meet former members of the Church in Taipei to discuss the current situation in YuChih and for general catchup as well :)
Will be heading down to YuChih later this week!
- Mike
ps. our phone number here is 0955486224. take off the 0 if callin internationally :) i think the area code is 86 too?....
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Testing..1,2,3.
Hello friends, family and supporters!
This is our blogsite where we'll be updating regularly on our adventures at the Church, the people we meet, God's work in YuChih, and prayer points for the trip.
For everyone's information, we will be away from 12th of September to the 25th of November.
Currently Mikey has come down with a bit of a cold and needs some prayer for healing and recovery. Please also pray for a safe flight over to Taiwan :) and thank God for our dear friends who are sending us off to the airport on Saturday.
This is our blogsite where we'll be updating regularly on our adventures at the Church, the people we meet, God's work in YuChih, and prayer points for the trip.
For everyone's information, we will be away from 12th of September to the 25th of November.
Currently Mikey has come down with a bit of a cold and needs some prayer for healing and recovery. Please also pray for a safe flight over to Taiwan :) and thank God for our dear friends who are sending us off to the airport on Saturday.
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