Presbyterians celebrate 140 years of proselytizing

A young child standing in front of a choir of Aboriginals yesterday gives a heavy yawn at an event celebrating the 140 years of the Presbyterian Church's missionary work in Taiwan. PHOTO: SOONG CHIH-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Members of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan around the country yesterday prayed together throughout six counties and cities to celebrate 140 years of the church's missionary work in Taiwan.

Church members yesterday held worship services and festivals in Taipei, Changhua, Chiayi, Kaohsiung, Hualieng, and Taitung to celebrate the church's missionary work, which began 140 years ago when Dr. James Maxwell offered medical services and began missionary work at Kaohsiung in 1865.

Reverend William Lo (羅榮光), the church's general-secretary, lauded Christian priests for introducing Western culture and contributing to Taiwan's modernization through missionary work yesterday.

"In the face of moral deterioration and the dissolution of values, Christians should work harder to spread the Gospel as a means of averting Taiwan's moral crisis," Lo said during the service yesterday at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei.

More than 10,000 people participated in the Taipei service yesterday, including former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).

Addressing the service, Lee said that Taiwan is a promised land, which belongs to the people of Taiwan.

"We should cherish this promised land, which is a gift from God. All the people in Taiwan, regardless of ethnicity, should join their efforts to build this land as a peaceful and democratic country," he said.

Lee also praised the Presbyterian Church for its efforts in supporting the call for Taiwan's full membership in the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN, and rallying for the name change movement.

Commenting on the current constitutional reform at the National Assembly, Lee said that constitutional reform is crucial for the future development of the country.

"Pursuing constitutional reform is very important for Taiwan. The country should rectify its name from `the Republic of China' to `Taiwan' in order to be accepted and identified by the international community," Lee said.

Lo said that since Beijing took over Taipei's seat at the UN in 1971, Taiwan has become an international orphan.

"It was from that time on that the Presbyterian Church devoted itself to promote Taiwan's democratization and seek for re-entering the United Nations," he added.

Lo called on church-goers to cooperate with civilian groups and the government to spread justice and build a relationship between Taiwan and China based on justice and peace.

In 1856, Maxwell, a Scotsman, landed in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan. He was the first Western cleric with medical skills to preach in the country. He then formally started his preaching career in Taiwan when he moved to Tainan on June 16 that year.

Six years later, Canadian Reverend George Leslie Mackay arrived in Taiwan to open another chapter in the development of Taiwan's Christian history. Both Maxwell and Mackay were Presbyterian clergymen.

Currently there are 1,218 Presbyterian churches, with services in 16 languages, and 230,000 members in Taiwan.