MISSION AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

TO BE A NEW CREATION: MISSION AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION,


A REFORMED MINISTRY FOR TAIWANESE RURAL MISSION

______________________________

A Project Report

Presented to

The Faculty of

Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

Louisville, Kentucky

______________________________

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Doctor of Ministry

______________________________

by

Hau-Sheng Chng

May 2006

The Doctor of Ministry project of Hau-Sheng Chng is approved.

________________________________________________________

Dr. Dianne Reistroffer (Date Signed)

________________________________________________________

Dr. David Sawyer (Date Signed)

Dedication

Isaiah 3:19

Behold I will do a new thing; now shall it spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

In many ways this study and project are like my confession and spiritual pilgrimage. In 1988 Hsin-Hui, my wife and colleague, and I were appointed together to serve Tek-Tung Presbyterian Church by the committee of Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. Tek-Tung was a very small, poor, and broken rural church in 1988. Now it is totally different. Though it is still a small church with only one hundred members, now it is an active church with many exciting ministries.

First, I would like to dedicate this project to my Heavenly Father and pray for God’s Kingdom to come to Taiwan. God let me know that God never gives up on us in our weakness or gives up on our little churches. As a servant of God I am grateful for all things God has done in my life, the congregation and the community. God let me see how little things can make big differences.

I want to dedicate this project to my parents, Kong-Lee Chuang and Ai-Shi Liu, who nurtured my life and spirituality. Their love and full support made me commit myself into ministry.

I also want dedicate this project to my wife Hsin-Hui. She is my faithful colleague. I could not have finished my study and realized all these projects at the same time without her full support. Actually, she is the key person who carried out most of these projects. Her love enabled her commit to serve Tek-Tung Church alone while I studied at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary from 1997 to 1999.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapters Page

ONE THE INTRODUCTION...............................................................................1

The Motives of My Research ...........................................................1

Mission .................................................................................4

The Kingdom of God ...........................................................4

Social Transformation ..........................................................5

Naming The Missionary Issues and Problems .................................5

Significance of the Problem and Issue .............................................8

My Conviction Based on The Influence of Missionary

Projects in The Local and Global Church ........................................9

Three Hypotheses.............................................................................9

My Basic Convictions for The Research .......................................10

The Content of This Thesis ............................................................10

Methodology of This Research ......................................................11

TWO THE CASE STUDY OF THE TAIWANESE RURAL MISSIONARY CONTEXT .................................................................................................13

The Social Climate of Taiwan .......................................................13

Historical Context and Climate: History, Identity

and Nationality ...............................................................................16

The Cultural Context and Climate .................................................23

The Integration and Reformation of Taiwanese

Culture................................................................................24

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Identification of the Taiwanese Culture and

the Spirit of Identity ...........................................................24

The Political Context and Climate .................................................27

Independent Sovereignty ...................................................29

The Consciousness of Taiwan Nationalism .......................29

Political Innovation ............................................................30

Rotation of the Political Power ..........................................30

Self-Determination and Policy Making .............................30

Peaceful Relations with China ...........................................31

Economic Context and Climate .....................................................31

The Religious Context and Climate ...............................................33

The Ambiguity of Religious Consciousness

and Belief ...........................................................................33

The Deterioration of Religion ............................................34

The Transformation of the Perspective of Ancestor

Worship ..............................................................................35

The Social Context and Climate ....................................................36

The Family Context and Climate ...................................................37

The Transformation of the Family Structure .....................38

The Transformation of Taiwanese Family Ideology

and Function ......................................................................38

Some issues of the Taiwanese Family ...............................41

The Changes of Attitude Toward Marriage Among

the Taiwanese.....................................................................42

The Educational Context and Climate ...........................................42

The Moral Context and Climate ....................................................44

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The Specific Context of Taiwanese Rural Society ........................46

The Rural Cultural Context ................................................46

Culture of the rice field ..........................................46

Culture of religion and village gathering ...............48

Changes in moral and value systems .....................49

The impact of media and foreign culture ...............49

The Religion of the Rural Family ......................................50

The Educational System in the Rural Villages ..................51

Village and Family Context ...............................................52

Economy in the Farming Society .......................................53

The Problems Facing the Younger Generation

in Farming ..........................................................................55

The Specific Situation and Phenomenon of the Taiwanese

Rural Church ..................................................................................56

The Mission and Characteristics of the Taiwan

Presbyterian Church Today ................................................56

The theological meaning and impact of

the discipleship movement .....................................57

An emphasis on the needs and situations

of the current society ..............................................58

The emergence of an ecumenical and

generalized movement ...........................................58

The important and novel roles that the

Taiwan Presbyterian Churches play in

urban and rural missions ........................................59

Religious Status in the Chang-Hwa Presbytery .................59

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Common Problems Facing the Rural Taiwan

Church Mission Movement................................................64

The Unique Experiences and Tasks of Tek-Tung

Presbyterian Church Among the Rural Churches ..........................67

Mission History and Experiences of Tek-Tung

Church ................................................................................67

Members Who Have Experienced God in Hardship ..........70

Sharing the Gospel in the Midst of a Corrupting

and Deteriorating Society: Enlightenment of

Taiwan, Renewal of Heart .................................................70

Theological Reflection and Conclusion .........................................71

THREE THEOLOGY OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ...........................................73

Foreword ........................................................................................73

The Biblical Perspectives on the Theology of the

Kingdom of God ............................................................................75

The Linguistic Meaning of the Kingdom of God ..............75

English/Western terminology ................................75

Basileia in the New Testament ..............................76

Malkut in the Old Testament..................................79

Biblical Theology of the Kingdom of God ........................82

In the Old Testament ..............................................82

In the New Testament ............................................85

The Kingdom of God in Matthew ..........................86

The Kingdom of God In Luke and Acts ................93

The Kingdom of God in John and 1, 2, 3 John ......95

The Kingdom of God in Paul’s Letters ..................97

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Reformed Perspectives on the Kingdom of God ...............99

Realizing the different views of the Kingdom

of God in the past .................................................100

In the earliest period of the church’s

History......................................................100

In medieval Catholicism ..........................101

In the Reformed Tradition .......................103

In the modern social activists ...................106

The different interpretations in the 20th

century (the Reformed perspectives) ...................107

The futuristic eschatological kingdom:

J. Weiss and A. Schweitzer (in Jesus’

view)—“future eschatology” ...................107

The realized eschatological kingdom

(emphasized Jesus’ ministry): C. H.

Dodd and R. Bultmann ............................109

The consensus eschatological kingdom:

W. G. Kummel and G. E. Ladd ................112

Linguistic approach: A. Wilder and

Norman Perrin ..........................................113

The reflection on contemporary exegesis:

methodologies and approaches ............................115

The tensions in the Kingdom of God .......115

The exegetical approaches .......................116

“Models” as hermeneutic key to the

Kingdom ..................................................120

Integrating the understanding of the Kingdom

of God ..................................................................122

The reigns of the Kingdom of God ..........122

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The presence of the Kingdom of God ......127

God’s reign as the presence of the

Kingdom of God .....................................129

God’s divine action: new heaven and

new earth ..................................................129

Practical theology of the Kingdom of God in

Taiwanese context ................................................134

Reflection on the models of the Kingdom

of God ......................................................134

Building kingdom community: within

the power of the Kingdom of God ...........135

Practical concern in Taiwanese context ...137

FOUR PRACTICAL THEOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY ...................................141

Missiology and Social Transformation ........................................142

The Biblical Perspective of Mission ................................143

Missiology............................................................143

Christology: The spirit and theological

meaning of incarnation ........................................144

Ecclesiology .........................................................147

Mission for Social Transformation ..................................152

Biblical Definition ...............................................152

Reflection fulfilled ...............................................153

The manner of person in mission .........................156

Human Development and Social Development: Theory

and Its Practical Ministry .............................................................158

What is Human Development? ........................................158

Dynamics of Faith and Human Development ..................161

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Social Development and Social Justice ...........................162

The Theory of Holistic or Total Human Development—

Faith, Personality, and Values .........................................165

Organizing the People for Social Action .....................................168

Organizing the People ......................................................170

The meaning of becoming an organization ..........170

Power in becoming organized ..............................171

Making Disciples for Social Transformation ...............................174

The Educational Role of the Church ................................177

Church as educator ...............................................177

Educational ministries of the church and

Liberation .............................................................179

Educating for Life ............................................................180

Educating the reasonable wisdom—thinking

for life...................................................................180

Educating to do justice: to be the social

change-agent ........................................................182

FIVE DESCRIPTION OF THE MISSION PROJECTS LEADING TO

SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION IN A TAIWANESE CONTEXT ........184

Empowering the Local Churches and Congregations for

Social Transformation ..................................................................184

The Theological Perspectives of the Projects

Described in This Writing Project ...................................184

Mission for social transformation: based on

the theology of the Kingdom of God ...................185

Empowerment of the church and congregation ...186

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The holistic mission: both grassroots and

Ecumenical ...........................................................187

Three Active Projects .......................................................187

PROJECT ONE: Empowering the Regional

Congregations ..............................................................................188

Theological Reflection .....................................................188

The Formation of the Erlin Rural Mission

Institute (ERMI) ...............................................................189

The beginning ......................................................189

Mission statement ................................................189

Ten-year trial period ............................................189

The present projects .............................................190

The result and influence .......................................190

The organizational structure and programs

of ERMI ...............................................................191

PROJECT TWO: Empowering the Local Church ..........194

Theological concern .............................................194

The beginning of the Presbyterian Church

of Taiwan (PCT) ..................................................195

The action strategy ...............................................196

PROJECT THREE—Empower the People .....................203

Theological reflection: promote life education

and sustainable human development ...................203

The projects and strategies: life education

Program ................................................................204

SIX EVALUATION OF THE ACTIVE PROJECTS .....................................220

The Methodology of Evaluation ..................................................220

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Evaluation by Community and Congregation

Leaders .............................................................................220

Questionnaire and Interviews ..........................................220

Interview of the Er-Lin Rural Mission

Institute project (ERMI) .......................................220

Questionnaire of the Church Redevelopment

Training project (CRP) ........................................221

Interviews evaluating of the human growth and

development program ..........................................222

Evaluation By Community and Congregation Leaders ...............224

Evaluation of the New Paradigm of Taiwan Rural

Cooperative Mission—ERMI ..........................................224

The feasibility of the project ................................224

Defects and blind spots of the project ..................224

Difficulties in implementation of the

project ..................................................................225

Theological reflection and new insights ..............226

Evaluation of the Church Redevelopment Program ........227

The feasibility of the project ................................227

Defects and blind spots of the project ..................227

Difficulties in implementation of the

project ..................................................................228

Theological reflection and new insights ..............229

Evaluation of the Sustainable Home Growth and

Development Program .....................................................229

The feasibility of the project ................................229

Defects and blind spots of the project ..................230

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Difficulties in implementation of the

project ..................................................................231

Theological reflection and new insights ..............232

SEVEN CONCLUSION: TO BE A NEW CREATION ......................................233

Reconfirmation of Missiology: Taiwanese Churches need

a Holistic Missiology ...................................................................235

Sharing the Gospel of the Incarnation .............................237

Taiwan needs the incarnated church ....................237

The churches need to incarnate in Taiwan ...........238

To Be the Servant of God’s Kingdom............................... 238

Taiwanese Churches need the Practical and Feasible Projects

of Mission ....................................................................................239

Transforming Congregation for the Future:

Church Redevelopment Program .....................................240

Koinonia—Cooperative Ministry: Sustain and

Share ................................................................................241

Empower the People: Social Transformation

for Peace and Justice ........................................................241

The Mission-Driven Church Can Bring About the Social

Transformation .............................................................................242

To Be A Creative Minority ..............................................243

To Be A New Creation ....................................................243

APPENDIX ......................................................................................................................245

A. Statistics for the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, 2004 .....................245

B. The Occurrences of Basileia in the New Testament ..........................246

C. Time Table of the Transformation of the Contemporary

Exegesis of Kingdom of God .............................................................247

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D. The Different Interpretations of the Kingdom of God ......................248

E. The Dream-Work of Mission: The Erlin Rural Mission Institute ...249

F. The Handbook of the Church Redevelopment ..................................251

G. The six books of Life Education edited by Presbyterian Church of

Taiwan ..............................................................................................252

H. Workshop Pictures ...........................................................................254

I. The Transformation of Tek-Tung Presbyterian Church ..................256

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................257

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to thank the following for their support:

Tek-Tung Presbyterian Church—for the wonderful fellowship during my ministry. They accepted me and realized all the projects with me with their faithful love.

Elder Goan-Sheng Lim, who is a person who has fully committed to serving the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and works very hard for mission and church revival. He is the key person who supported my scholarship to study at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Hsin-Tek Hsu, the Associate Secretary of the General Office of Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, who encouraged and helped me to study at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary—for making possible an unforgettable and life changing opportunity to an International Student. I acknowledge the academic exposure and spiritual direction as a gift of grace. Many, many thanks.

Dr. Dianne Reistroffer—for being my mentor and director of my project, from her I learned how to become a supportive pastor. As an international student far away from LPTS, I could not have finished my study without her encouragement and support. I am grateful for her help especially when I needed an extension to finish my project at the moment of my mother’s sickness. Many, many thanks.

Dr. Loren Townsend, David Hester and all the professors who I studied with. Your guidance enriched my theological reflection and showed me how to be a teacher in a seminary.

Louisville Taiwanese Presbyterian Church—As an international student I felt at home there. Rev. Winston Wen and Mrs. Wen treated me like a member of their family and took care of me in so many ways. I enjoyed all the friendships and fellowship with this church.

Rev. Dr. Shun-Chi Wang, who serves as an Associate Director of Asia Congregational Enhancement in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Offices in Louisville, Ky.—for being a mentor. From him I learned how to be a mentor to young ministers. I want to thank him for introducing me to many conferences and seminaries in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). It has helped me to reflect on my project, especially for “the Church Redevelopment Project” component.

Cecilia Ou—for helping to correct the phrasing of my project.

Hau-Sheng Chng

May 2003

CHAPTER ONE THE INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE


THE INTRODUCTION

We know our efforts cannot bring in God‟s Kingdom.

But hope plunges us into the struggle

for victories over evil that are possible now

in the world, the church, and our individual lives.

Hope gives us courage and energy

to contend against all opposition

however invincible it may seem,

for the new world and the new humanity

that are surely coming.1

The Motives of My Research

As a Taiwanese rural minister, I have experienced both painful and joyful moments. The pain comes from experiencing the decline of the rural church. The joy comes from experiencing God‟s power and mercy though this same ministry. The purpose of writing this thesis is to examine my ministry in the Taiwanese rural church and also to integrate the ministries for the Taiwanese Rural Mission.

Taiwanese social development following World War II can be viewed in three stages: 1.) Economic Development Stage (Since 1950, to promote industry and modernization growth)—especially established the Industry Manufactural Regions during 1965, and the economic and industrial development had totally transformed the industrial

1William R. Phillipple, “The Role of the Teaching Elder: Calling the congregation to be God‟s instrument to bring about a more humane society,” Church & Society 83, no. 3 (January/February 1993): 109-114.

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structure.2 The economic development has made the people improve their wealth, but not their spiritual and cultural needs. 2.) Political Developmental Stage (Since 1970, to promote democracy and human rights)—There were many social movement involving the struggle for human rights and democracy during the 1970s and 1980s. There were also many transformations of the political situation during the 1990s (For example: The country experienced for the first time the re-election of National Assembly members, as well as the President that promoted the work of the Political Party and earned for many freedom of speech. 3.) The Cultural and Spiritual Developmental Stage (Since 1980)—The first official organization was the Culture Constructive Commission of Executive Yuan, which was set up in 1981 to promote cultural development projects. It promoted a new project “the Community Developmental Project, which was in place by 1994 and which became a community-cultural development movement. Moreover, there were several religious issues that emerged, the Song Chi-Li Issue and the Miau Tien Issue, which demonstrated the spiritual hunger of the people during the 1990s.3 The other reflection comes from the survey of the National Institute of Sociology (Academic Sinica), which indicates a growing percentage of people who feel the necessity of

2The Commission of Agriculture of the Executive Yuan, “The Human Resource of Taiwan, 1999;” available from http://www.coa.gove.tw/ch/stamon/t4.htm and http://www.dgbasey.gov.tw/dgbas03/bs8/look/loky.htm; Internet; accessed January 2006.

3Two religious issues that emerged in the 1990s were religious leaders who deceived the people through money for religious activities—Seven-Power Song and Heaven Miau.

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religion.4 Furthermore, the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church commenced a report on the Reformation of the People‟s Spirit in 1995. There was a vehement tone to the reflection on this issue, even President Lee identified the issue of spiritual reformation in his public speeches.

I was sent to a small rural church after graduating from seminary in 1988. The church was a very small congregation with only seventeen members in worship. I found that most Taiwanese rural churches were in the same situation—poor and small. As a minister, a number of challenges or questions struck me and kept coming up in my mind. Some were as follows:

 Do Taiwanese churches have hope for the future?

 What is the Gospel that Taiwanese churches can proclaim to the Taiwanese people?

 How can we help the churches that are suffering, because they are small and poor?

 How can we redevelop such downfallen congregations?

 What can we do to promote effective ministry for Taiwanese social transformation?

I began searching for the possibility to help my small congregation transform itself as early as 1988. The congregation was encouraged by its growth after a few years of effort. One of the elders said, “I almost thought that God gave up on our church, but by God‟s grace, I know that we are small, but not weak now.” For personal reasons, I wanted my thesis research to bring new insights for my future ministry in this particular

4Data referenced throughout this particular chapter and the next, as well as this project as a whole, comes from the National Institute of Sociology (Academic Sinica) in Taiwan and is accessible only through a limited Taiwanese language network. For purposes of proper documentation and to clarity the footnoting of this project, all future data and statistics will be assumed to originate from this organization‟s work on Taiwanese national survey research. The National Institute of Sociology (Academic Sinica), available from http://www.sinica.edu.tw/main_e.shtml; Internet; accessed January 2006. The particular question surveyed was: “Is religion important for you?” The percentage who responded “Yes” was 34.6% in 1990 and 44.2% in 1995.

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context. Moreover, I hoped that my research could offer to other church leaders some assistance for rural mission ministry in Taiwan.

Furthermore, the title of this project is To Be A New Creation: Mission and Social Transformation—A Reformed Model of Taiwanese Rural Mission. In this study, I believe that the missionary reflection on the Lord‟s Prayer should connect to social transformation. What does it mean when Christians pray for the coming of the Kingdom of God? How does the church act upon the distorted culture and society in ways that lead to change? These are the intents of my work here.

Mission

My understanding of mission is to participate in God‟s creation. The mission is “God‟s Mission.” The church represents the people of God, who are will to share and witness to the good news of God in the world. The mission impacts action toward the Kingdom of God. The mission is proclamation of the love and justice of God. The mission is proclamation of the liberation of God‟s people from bondage, including the physical, the social, the cultural and the spiritual realms. The mission also embraces service and ministry to the world by God‟s people.

The Kingdom of God

I believe that the Kingdom of God is the most wonderful promise to all the nations and peoples. The Kingdom of God is the reign of God in the world today. It could be within the spirit of the human person and also in the whole of creation. God‟s reign is also in the culture, social order, nature/universe, and personal spirit. My understanding of God‟s Kingdom comes from a biblical perspective. I find several images of God‟s Kingdom in the Bible—such as peace, kindness and justice. The

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churches are the first fruits of God‟s Kingdom, who pray and act for the Kingdom‟s coming. I hope Taiwan can be a new creation (new country, a new culture and a new people), a part or an expression of the Kingdom of God.

Social Transformation

My first concern about social transformation pertains to spiritual and cultural issues. The immediate concern of the Taiwanese people is the reforming of culture and the renewing of the people‟s spirit. Taiwanese find that Taiwan improved her economic and political situation, but while polluting the environment and the spirit of the people. As the Bible says, “See, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send times of great need on the land, not need of food or desire for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”5 People hunger for peace and life.

As a ministry concern, I advocate the importance of reforming ministry and empowering the congregation. Through this research, I will indicate the practical and the feasible projects of Taiwanese rural mission in fulfillment of these objectives. Finally, I will also evaluate these projects through the instruments of interviews and questionnaire assessments.

Naming The Missionary Issues and Problems

Through 17 years of ministry in a Taiwanese rural church, I have found two kinds of problems emerging. One is internal, and the other is external. The internal problem stems from the decline of rural churches in general, precipitated in large part by the

5Amos 8:11. The translation used in this biblical reference and in all others is the Bible in Basic English; available from http://basicenglishbible.com/; Internet; accessed January 2006.

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growth of the Industrial Manufacturing Areas since 1965. The rural population was 17.2% in 1988, compared to only 3.7% today. As a sociologist and scholar who had served the Taiwanese churches over a long period of time, Mark C. Thelin has also witnessed the decline of Taiwanese rural churches.6 I am also aware of the importance and difficulties of Taiwanese rural mission, since the rural Christian population is only about .5% of the total rural population.7 Many Taiwanese rural churches struggle to survive in this hard situation. How can they survive? How can they revive? How can they develop? How can they reinterpret the Gospel in their own experience and context?

The external problem is that the declining churches have lost their social roles and functions, especially because of the rapid social changes that have taken place in Taiwan. Many rural churches became smaller and more isolated with the changes, and thus were unable to function as a community with a larger mission. The Gospel became distant for some struggling rural churches. The teaching of “Salt and Light” became only an abstract ideology.8 Jesus taught his disciples to be the salt and light of the world. His words also became the call and command for the churches: To help the people to walk in the light, to keep safe the integrity of the creation. The churches should be the incarnated

6Mark C. Thelin, “Death by Out-Migration?—Prospects for the Rural Church in Taiwan,” Theology and The Church 23, no.1 (1997): 25.

7The Presbyterian Church of Taiwan is the mainstream of Taiwanese Christianity, having 1,202 churches (64.8% of the rural church count), while also being the only denomination across the whole nation.

8Matthew 5:13—“You are the salt of the earth;” Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world.”

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“Salt” for the world.9 But the smaller rural church is as weak as the smoking flax. It is so difficult to survive. How can they be involved in ministry and mission?

When we examine the Taiwanese early mission movement, we find that the Gospel not only meant “evangelism and conversion,” but it also meant “blessing and transformation (through education, medicine and spiritual care).” My questions are: How can we empower the rural congregations and prepare them to be apostles of the Kingdom of God? And could the rural churches be the apostles of the Kingdom of God and acting for social transformation in their own context?

What does it mean when Taiwanese Christians pray for the Kingdom of God? Taiwan has her specific socio-political-economic realities and needs. Therefore, when Taiwanese Christians pray for the realization of the Kingdom of God, the missionary activities should also be connected to the human development and social transformation needed.

From the very beginning, the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan (PCT) has been a grass-roots church. Most of the mission work deals with people‟s needs and their social development. The church‟s activities and the Christian life of the PCT has changed after more than 100 years of mission activity in this context. Many PCT congregations have become more closed and inner-focused on believers and less inclined to provide outreach to the community. The PCT still emphasizes the missiology of people, for people and with people, but the missionary activities are short on outreach. Secondly, Christians are a minority group in Taiwan. If the congregation is closed and engaged in less outreach, it

9When the salt dissolves in the water, it transforms the quality of the water. People cannot see the dissolved salt, because that salt transformed into the electrolytes. This reveals the theology of incarnation for me.

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will become isolated from the larger community to which it is to serve. It is a necessity to recognize the state of missiology in the PCT today.

In the coming chapter, I will offer theological reflection on the current Taiwanese social issues based on survey data from the Institute of Sociology Academia Sinica in Taiwan. Following a review of the insights garnered from this survey, I will point out critical missionary issues suggested by the data.

PCT is one of two Christian denominations spread across the nation. My assumption is that if the PCT can empower the congregations and encourage them to commit to their communities, then there will be widespread influence and possible transformation in the rural parts of the nation. How to empower the churches and congregation is the main focus of this thesis, as elucidated by the effective projects developed and implemented in the Taiwanese Rural Mission (See Chapter Five).

Significance of The Problem and Issue

“Jesus says to them, „Did you never see in the Writings, the stone which the builders put on one side, the same has been made the chief stone of the building: this was the Lord‟s doing, and it is a wonder in our eyes?‟”10 When I reflect on the Taiwanese missionary context, the questions arise, “How can a declining rural church become the witness of the Missio Dei?,” How can the Taiwanese rural churches be a new creation?” and “How can they be the effective and powerful ministers in their own context?”

The purpose of this research is not only to focus on my own needs as a rural church pastor (how to improve my ministry skills or how to reform the ministry projects), but also to discover new possibilities for rural mission. Moreover, my motivation for this

10Matthew 21:42.

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research is to encourage Taiwanese rural churches to work collaboratively. Furthermore, I hope that I can find out the “reforming and integrative” projects for Taiwanese Rural Churches.

My Conviction Based on the Influence of Missionary Projects

in the Local and Global Church

I am strongly committed to Mission for Social Transformation. There are some encouraging stories and experiences that enlighten my motivation for this research. They include: 1.) The early missionary experience of Taiwan, 2.) The missionary experience of Tek-Tng Presbyterian Church and 3.) The global missionary experience, such as the Basic Ecclesial Community in Latin America and the experience of Minjung Theology in Korea.

Three Hypotheses

1.) Effective ministry and mission could revive declining rural churches. Missiology has its important influences on the rural churches (e.g., to rebuild the self-understanding of rural churches, to reform the missionary attitude, and to renew the vision and commitment of the congregation.

2.) The proper missionary activities could transform the social roles and functions of the rural churches. Through the incarnated ministries, the rural churches can reform their social roles and functions.

3.) Through the incarnated ministries the rural churches can participate in God‟s mission and the realization of God‟s Kingdom. The blessing of the Kingdom of God could bring the needed social transformation (especially spiritual and cultural) by Taiwanese Christians.

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My Basic Convictions for The Research

1.) The small church can become the creative minority.

2.) Lay ministry and the lay movement (based on the priesthood of all believers) is an important tool for social transformation.

3.) Making disciples is an important mission of the church.

4.) Mission activity should involve the faithful working out of the prayer for “the coming of God‟s Kingdom.”

The Content of This Thesis

Chapter One Introduction

Chapter Two Case Study of Taiwanese Rural Mission: The Setting of

Taiwanese Rural Congregation

Chapter Three The Biblical Perspective of Mission (Missiology,

Christology, Ecclesiology)

Chapter Four Theories and Social Development

Chapter Five The Assumption Projects of Mission and Social

Transformation in Taiwanese Context

Chapter Six Evaluation

Chapter Seven Conclusion

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Methodology of This Research

In order to conceive and develop the practical projects, two main strands will construct my research. Those strands are “the research on the Taiwanese context” and “missiology and sociology of social transformation.” Only when the churches recognize the reality of social issues and people‟s needs can they address the proper missional projects. The churches need to do their theological reflection in order that they can adapt the right attitude and appropriate responses in order to act out their roles and missional responsibilities.

Finally, the evaluation of this research will be based on interviews with community leaders, lay leaders and rural ministers. This evaluation will be a theological and subjective reflection. I will interview at least ten lay leaders, ten rural ministers and other non-Christian community members. Those involved will be chosen from the local churches and community. The interviews will focus on their opinions of the programs designed as part of this project. After the interviews, I will integrate their reflections into a conclusion.

The basic topics of the interviews will discuss participant‟s opinions about:

1.) The meaning of the programs

2.) The value of the programs

3.) The operation of process/the practices of the programs

4.) The methodology of the programs

5.) The pedagogy and curriculum

6.) The suitability of the programs

7.) The difficulties of the practices involved in the programs

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8.) The ignored programs which are necessary

9.) The programs in terms of meeting contextual needs

10.) Specific concerns and/or suggestions by the interviewees

CHAPTER TWO THE CASE STUDY OF THE TAIWANESE RURAL MISSIONARY CONTEXT

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CHAPTER TWO

THE CASE STUDY OF THE TAIWANESE RURAL MISSIONARY CONTEXT

My theological reflection on mission is that an appropriate missionary plan can contribute to evangelism, realize the Christian‟s expectation of the Kingdom of God and promote the development and transformation of the community. In order to draft the appropriate ministry and plan, pastoral leaders who try to draw the missionary ministry strategy need to possess an understanding of their own context, the social context and the people‟s needs. Then and only then can they address their own theological reflection and missiology about the social context.

In order to formulate the images of the Taiwanese social context, I will present the specific climate of three different geographic categories and one case study in this chapter. In so doing, I will address the social phenomenon of Taiwan, the specific phenomenon of the Taiwanese rural society, the specific situation and phenomenon of Taiwanese rural church and my specific experience and ministry in Tek-Tng Presbyterian Church.

The Social Climate of Taiwan

First, I will discuss the Taiwanese social climate from the survey data of the Institute of Sociology Academia Sinica in Taiwan. There is a survey taken on Taiwan social change by the Executive Branch of the Taiwan Government (Chinese script) since

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1984. The project of Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS) is to serve the purpose of providing archival information for research on social change.1 This project is a long-term academic survey. All data collected since the first term of this project in 1984 has been released to the public to support academic research. Over the years, many scholars and students have utilized data from this project for their research and made significant contributions to the scholarly world.

There are many topics in the survey (with more than 300 questions) on Interpersonal Relations, Communication Behaviors, Economic Attitudes, Political Participation, Leisure, Family, Life Experiences, Mental Health, Mental State, Family and Mental Health, Estrangement, Social Stratification and Mobility, Family and Education, Social Stratification and Life Style, Political Culture, Communication and Social Order, Culture and Value Judgment, Religion, Estrangement, Economic Attitudes, Globalization, Social Problems, among others.

I find that the data of TSCS and the research emerging from it to be very important and helpful to my theological reflection on missiology. First, it helps me recognize what people want and how they think. Secondly, this data constitutes a

1This project was establish by the late Professor Hwa Yen, formerly a director of the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Development, National Science Council, and Professor Yeh Chi-Jeng, adjunct research fellow at the National Science Council. The first term of this project was conducted between 1984 and 1985, under the leadership of Professor Yang Kuo-shu, Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica. The second term included a period of five years between 1989 and 1994, during which ten surveys were conducted. The third term also contains surveys over a five-year period, by now five surveys have been completed within two years. The fourth term survey is now underway. Professor Chiu Hei-yuan, research fellow at the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, was in charge of the second and the third terms of the project. The fourth term is now under the leadership of Professor Chang Ying-hwa, research fellow at the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica.

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valuable academic resource. And finally, this survey is a long-term academic research, which demonstrates the transformation of people‟s thought during these two decades.

Since 1999, when I began to analyze the data of TSCS, I got a glimpse of Taiwanese social identification. Several interesting concepts can be seen from the data: more and more Taiwanese value Taiwan as a sovereign state; more and more Taiwanese identify themselves as Taiwanese; more and more people seek political reformation; more and more people expect the reins of the government to turn in a democratic way; more and more people think the future of Taiwan should be decided by the people; and more and more people expect peaceful relations between China and Taiwan.

I found on meaningful fact from the result of the Taiwanese Presidential Election in year 2000. Mr. Chen, who was one of the candidates, declared that he would promote political reform, purify the government, make Taiwan a sovereign state, realize democracy and improve public security and social order. As a result, he won the election and became President of Taiwan. It can be observed that the reason Mr. Chen won the election was that he was in touch with the needs and the hopes of most Taiwanese, the same ones that were shown in the TSCS data.

This reflection is encouraging in the fact that it helped me recognize the heart of the people and their expectations. I learned one thing about mission from this issue. There is one saying, “Mission is mission for people.” Furthermore, mission should be based on the people‟s needs.

Below is my theological understanding of the TSCS data.

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Historical Context and Climate: History, Identity and Nationality

When people are segregated from their own history, they are like a potted plant pulled from the soil, without an ability to grow up freely or independently. Thus, it can be said that, “Without history, there is no identity.” History is not just a story by nature; it is also a philosophy of the people. The people‟s identity comes from what they were. The philosophy of history will reform people‟s identify and ideology.

For people my age, there was no opportunity for them to learn the history of Taiwan, nor could they speak their mother tongue in the public education system. My personal experience was that I never read and never had the opportunity to read the history of Taiwan until I was 20 years old. Because of the lack of opportunities to learn history from the point of view of Taiwan, and because people were taught to identify with the history of China, some Taiwanese identify themselves as Chinese. Today an increasing number of people identify themselves as Taiwanese when they connect their life with this land and its history. To be a Taiwanese for me is not just narrow nationalism. It is a consciousness and a choice of belonging. I claim that the people of Taiwan have their own right to interpret their own history and not from the view of the ruler or the government.

Taiwan had her specific historical experience. She never was an independent country in the course of history. As the first residents in this free island, the native people have never been respected as the hosts. Their fate and sovereignty have always been held by the external powers, whether immigrant or regime. In the last four hundred year, Taiwan switched her sovereignty almost every 50 years. Taiwan had been a colony to the Dutch, the Ching Empire (Manchu Dynasty), the Japanese, and the Chinese

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military government. That is the reason why Taiwanese are so confused about their identity.

I am saddened about this historical legacy and people‟s identity. For example, Taiwan has ten native clans, most of whom are friendly and loyal. The colonial governments then abused their friendship and loyalty, resulting in the case of the native Taiwanese viewing themselves as Japanese under the Japanese rule—which resulted in loyalty to Japan during World War II—and identifying themselves as loyal Chinese and fighting with communist China (PRC) under the education of Kou-Ming Tang (so called KMT, the Chinese Nationalism Party who governed Taiwan after WWII). Actually, the native peoples are the hosts of this land, and the other incomers are the immigrants. But, the rulers colonized them and brainwashed them regarding their identity.

Taiwan has four ethnic groups because of her immigrant history. They are the native people (2%), the Ho-lo people (76%), the Hakka people (10%) and the Chinese (12%).2 Another new ethnic group has been added recently through the immigration of the south Asians into Taiwan for purposes of marriage. They have increased in number since the 1980s to 300,000. Taiwanese culture has become very diversified because of the variety of ethnic and historical traditions.

We know not much about the term “Taiwan,” but only know it came from the mountain native people.3 We can find it in the early documents that date back to the

2Taiwan has ten different native clans. Their population is about 4,000. Their ethnicity is related to Malaya-Polynesian, most of them dwell in the central mountain area and the eastern coast.

3Iok-tek Ong, Taiwan: A History of Anguish and Struggle (Tokyo: Japan, 1979), 16.

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fifteenth century. First, we find it in the book of Chou Ing, The Record of Eastern Dependency. The writer called her Taiuan.4 Secondly, we find it in historical books, which were published during the Ming Dynasty (1573-1620), most of which call her Taiuan. Portuguese sailors came to the north of Taiwan before 1541, and they called Taiwan Ilha Formosa (Beautiful Island). The Dutch called Taiwan Taioan when they came to Taiwan in 1624.

I will introduce the nation‟s history in several different periods as follows:

Before the Dutch rule, Taiwan was a free land. There were the native people and several thousand Han people who came from China. The Dutch rule began in 1624 and ended in 1661. The Dutch naval force came to Taiwan in 1624 to set up a base for their colonial policy in Eastern Asia. During the first one-third of the period, the Dutch colony adapted the plunder policy. The Dutch started to adopt the developmental policy until they found the resource exhausted.5

There were a few meaningful issues during the period. First, the Dutch army only had 900 soldiers initially, so they worked to win over and control the native people through conciliation. They also used the Roman alphabet as a tool for education and business contracts, because the native people were without a written language at the time. The use of the Roman alphabet decreased the cheating between the immigrants and the natives. Secondly, the Dutch improved the agriculture of Taiwan. They imported vegetables, fruits, plants, cattle, and also taught necessary skills.6 Thirdly, the Chinese

4Ibid.

5Ibid, 37.

6Ibid., 43-44.

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immigrants decreased their relationship with China and unconsciously formulated an independent economic system.7

Tng Seng-Kong, so called Koshinga, is a military leader of southeastern China who owned an army of more than 200,000 people. He tried to overthrow the Ching Empire in China, but he did not succeed. Finally, he lead his army to Taiwan to expel the Dutch. Chinese immigrants viewed him as an early pioneer and called him “Kai San Wang,” meaning “pioneering king.”

Moreover, there are a few other meaningful events regarding the developing history of Taiwan during the period. First, an immigration policy without identification to the land cannot establish a nation. During the period of 1661-1683, Koshinga and his son educated the people, encouraged them to use the uncultivated land, encouraged the soldiers to settle down with their families, taught people how to burn brick, developed the salt field, and promoted trade.8 These policies made Taiwan more independent and stronger than before. But, it is regrettable that Koshinga and his inheritor never regarded Taiwan as a homeland, but as a military base. The Chinese Nationalist Government (KMT) from 1945 to 1989 also adopted this policy. Actually, Taiwan was always a border district in the ideology of Chinese dominion. As we know it is the same ideology and attitude of China throughout history. The Ching Empire intended to repatriate all of the Chinese immigrants, 250,000 people, after she had quelled the army of Koshinga. The Ching Empire subsumed Taiwan as her domain with a negative and unwilling attitude in the year 1684.

7Ibid., 38.

8Ibid., 55-60.

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Secondly, organized immigration changed the social and population structure. Koshinga led 40,000 soldiers and dependants to Taiwan in 1661. The number was almost 40% of the population of Taiwan at the time. It was the first organized immigration to Taiwan, and it increased quickly to 250,000 people in just two decades.9 This transformation of the population structure also transformed the dominion of Taiwan. Chinese immigrants became the rule.

Thirdly, the transformation of the relationship between Taiwan and China was meaningful. China closed her door to Taiwan and cut off the trade to force Koshinga to surrender early on during this period. But, China decided to attack Koshinga later on because his power was going to be a threat. Finally, Ching‟s army attacked Koshinga and won the dominion of Taiwan in 1683.

The domination of Ching or the Manchu Dynasty was from 1683 to 1895. The early dominative policy of Ching was a segregation policy.10 On the one hand, the Ching Government viewed Taiwan as a worthless territory; on the other hand, she worried that the development of Taiwan would become a new threat. Most of the new immigrants were single males who came form southern China because of the corrupt and poor local government. They dreamed of free land and a new life. The development was so fast that the Ching Government had no choice but to change her segregation policy.11 Taiwan became a province of the Ching Dynasty in 1889.12 The new local government adapted a

9Ibid., 68.

10Ibid., 68-70, 87.

11Ibid., 111. The population of Taiwan was 2.05 million in 1900.

12Ibid., 93.

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new policy, which was more active, open, occidental and capitalist. Unfortunately, the reformation was not successful.13

There was a historical battle called the Chia-Ooh battle between the Ching Dynasty and Japan from 1894 to 1895. Ching ceded Taiwan and the Pescadores to Japan in 1895 when it lost the battle. The Taiwanese went against the treaty and proclaimed Taiwan independent on May 25, 1895 when they knew Taiwan was ceded to Japan. It was the first time Taiwan was an independent country and was called the Republic of Taiwan. Although Japan took over Taiwan in a few months, the people‟s resistance against Japanese colonization was sustained until 1902. There was a transformation of the Taiwanese population between 1895 and 1945. The population was about 2.05 million in 1900 and moved up to 6.06 million by 1945.14

The Japanese colonization of Taiwan took place from 1895 to 1945. During the first two years, Japan allowed Taiwanese to decide freely whether to go back to China or to stay. The Japanese policy of colonization followed the example of the French colonization of Algeria, which was the policy of national assimilation regardless of language or culture. Japan even encouraged Japanese immigration to Taiwan.

Japanese colonization transformed Taiwan into Japanization thoroughly. The language, the culture and the people‟s identity were qualitatively changed. Japanese colonization also transformed Taiwan into a real capitalist colony during her 51 years of colonization. While all colonization should be condemned no matter how much they had tried for the colony, there can be a few meaningful transformations. As a result of

13Ibid.

14Ibid., 114. The population included 40,000 Japanese.

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colonization, Taiwan became more modernized. For example, there was advancement in urban planning. There also began construction of the public railroad system and the traffic system, a development of the medical system, an improvement on agricultural technology, and a promotion on education, which resulted in a 61% increase in literacy, being less than 10% in 1895 and soaring to more than 71% in 1944.15 Even with these achievements, the conscious Taiwanese elite still tried to promote the movement against Japanese colonization. Even though the movements could not successfully liberate Taiwan from Japanese colonization, they showed that Taiwanese had not lost their national identity.

Japan abandoned her sovereignty of Taiwan after Japan‟s defeat in WWII. Taiwan was handed over to the Chinese National Government or the Republic of China (ROC), as the spoils of war because she was the commander of the allied forces in the Pacific.16 As a result, Taiwan became a Chinese colony from 1945 to 1996.17 The Taiwanese welcomed the Chinese National Government after WWII, mainly because they were glad to see the retreat of the Japanese and also because they thought of China as a motherland in a historical and ethnic sense. But they soon found out that they were wrong about the Chinese National Government when they saw that her army viewed the Taiwanese as second-rate citizens, reminiscent of their treatment as Japanese colonized citizens. There was an accident in February 28, 1947, which was called the Two-Two-Eight Incident, when the Chinese army massacred more than 20,000 Taiwanese elites

15Ibid., 111, 114.

16Ibid., 189.

17The Taiwanese exercised their right of election by selecting their president for the first time in 1996.

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during a demonstration. This incident caused great separation between the Taiwanese and the Chinese. It was a tragedy for the Taiwanese in that the Chinese National Government lost their regime of China during the civil war with the Communist Chinese Government or the People‟s Republic of China (PROC), and moved to Taiwan in 1948. There were about two million Chinese who came to Taiwan with the Chinese National Government. Since then, the Chinese National Government maintained her military rule of Taiwan until 1987.18

Taiwan is ultimately Taiwanese. Taiwan has changed her sovereignty five times in the different colonization stages of her history. It is time for Taiwan to be herself. Taiwan is a developed country with 23 million people today, but she is the only country that has been rejected by the United Nations. It is a tragedy to be deprived of the right of self-identity and self-independence for the Taiwanese people. Who are the Taiwanese? It is a tragedy and a painful reality that the original inhabitants, the native people, are the minority in Taiwan and are still suffering in the modernized social structure. Early immigrants came to Taiwan to search for their hope and a future a couple of hundred years ago. They still are not allowed to call Taiwan by her name, because the Chinese National Political Party insists that Taiwan should be called the “Republic of China.”

The Cultural Context and Climate

It is very hard to describe contemporary Taiwanese culture. Taiwan has a complex and diversified culture. First, because of her specific historical experience, she has switched sovereignty five times during the different colonization periods throughout her history. Secondly, Taiwan adopted aspects of Western culture during the process of

18Taiwan was under martial law from 1949 to 1987.

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modernization. Next, I would like to point out two ideas about the Taiwanese cultural context through my reflection on the survey of the Taiwanese Social Transformation.

The Integration and Reformation of Taiwanese Culture

Culture is a valuable property of human society. Actually, culture is the dynamic spirituality of human society. On the one hand, culture inherits the spirituality of tradition; on the other hand, it also creates a new spirituality distinct from tradition. Taiwan was originally a subtropical island with a friendly and warm native culture. Thus, Taiwan should exhibit the typical ocean culture by nature. But it is not so, unfortunately. Taiwan has lost a great deal of valuable culture during the process of colonization. Instead, she has integrated the culture of the in-comers with the local culture and together they have formed a new Taiwanese culture. Realistically, Taiwan cannot preserve her original local culture exclusively. But people should recognize the value of their own culture and try the best to preserve it. Moreover, it will be another important effort to integrate all the different cultures in Taiwan and reform Taiwanese culture.

Identification of the Taiwanese Culture and the Spirit of Identity

There were different colonization periods during the history of Taiwan. Taiwanese culture became a diversified culture from her historical background. The Taiwanese have not had the opportunity to identify and form local culture during the colonization because the foreign regimes have always converted or changed the Taiwanese identity. So identity is a serious problem for the Taiwanese today. Their identity should include three dimensions: the cultural, the ethnic and the national.

Moreover, I want to discuss the importance of the identity of culture here. Dr. Chiu Hai-Yiun, who is an academician at the Taiwan Academia Sinica, indicates that the

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identity of culture causes different interests in language usage and music. Most people who identify with the Taiwanese culture prefer Taiwanese popular and folk songs. Those who identify with the Chinese culture prefer Chinese pop and folk songs. This answer gives us an understanding of the different identities of cult in Taiwanese society.

Moreover, there are 74.1% of the interviewed who agree that Taiwan needs to have her own local culture. Another answer indicates that there are 69.2% of the interviewed who feel that Taiwanese society is poor in culture.19 These two answers show people‟s expectations of desires to nurture the local culture.

Another idea which comes from reflection about language is that there are 75% of the interviewed who are Ho-Lo speaking, 10% Hakka speaking, 13% Chinese speaking and the other 2% natives. These percentages of spoken languages indicate the ethnic structure of Taiwan. The recent ethnic transformation of Taiwan is due to the increase of foreign workers and immigrant marriages. There are more than 300,000 immigrants through marriage and 400,000 foreign workers. This new transformation will bring a new spirit and new challenges to Taiwanese culture. My reflection on this phenomenon is how important it is for Taiwan to nurture the spirit of identity and the identity of culture.

When we review the Taiwanese history, we find that the Taiwanese culture was always debased by foreign powers. Identity means relationship. When people identify with a culture or a land, they have a strong relationship with the culture or the land at the same time. So, the local culture is not so valuable for the foreign rulers. Moreover, it is an obstacle for the Taiwanese to identify with the culture of the rulers. Japanese

19Ibid.

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colonization adopted the policy of Japanization and forced the Taiwanese to use Japanese as their national language. The Chinese National Government used the same method to rule Taiwan. As a result, the Taiwanese lost their identity with local culture and the nationality. They became Japanese during the Japanese rule and became Chinese during the Chinese military regime. The autocratic government controlled the educational system and mass media when they ruled Taiwan. It caused people to almost lose their mother tongue and identity, and also to cut off their culture.

Basically, Taiwan is not a homeland in the eyes of the Chinese National Government, but only a military base, preparing to go back to China. So the rulers always adopted the plunder policy. The rulers emphasized industry and economic development after WWII and ignored spiritual and cultural developments. There were some unsuitable policies of social development caused by government corruption, which twisted people‟s morality and values.20 It made people become selfish, greedy, utilitarian, unjust, unconcerned with social welfare, and eager for quick success and instant benefit.

Actually, it is very hard to define what Taiwanese culture is. It is also a serious lesson for Taiwanese to learn who the Taiwanese are and what the Taiwanese culture is. Taiwan does not belong to any single ethnic group today. Taiwan has a diversified culture mainly because of her repetitive and long periods of colonization. Through her immigrant history, the Taiwanese culture became rich and diversified. Furthermore, because of the impact of modernization, the Taiwanese culture has been influenced by western culture, as in the case of the spirit of capitalism and democracy. One of the

20Ibid. There are 80.7% interviewed who think that Taiwanese society is too utilitarian.

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sufferings of Taiwan is that she is a people without identify. Internationally, Taiwan is known mostly as a commercial mark, “MIT,” made in Taiwan. When people talk about Taiwan, they mention “the good or what Taiwan has,” but not “the people, what Taiwan is.”

It is time for Taiwan to make an effort to integrate and reform Taiwanese culture. There are many value subcultures, such as the ten different native cultures, the Hakka, the Ho-Lo, the Chinese, the agricultural, the coast, the southern, the northern, the new immigrant cultures, and so on. It is a big challenge for Taiwan to keep the traditional culture while at the same time reforming Taiwanese culture.

The Political Context and Climate

Taiwan has been dominated by the Chinese Government (Kuomintang, the Chinese Democratic Party) since October 17, 1945. The relationship between the Chinese Government and the situation of the Taiwanese worsened because of the corruption of the Chinese Government.21 Taiwan was under martial law since 1949 after the 228 Incident or the political massacre by the Chinese Government.22 During this period, the Chinese national party debased the local language and the Taiwanese culture and rejected the history of Taiwan. These policies caused the Taiwanese identity to become ambiguous. There is about 75.2% of those interviewed who considered Taiwan

21The Chinese Government forced Taiwan to change one NT (New Taiwan Dollar) with 40,000 Taiwan Dollar on June 15, 1949. The monthly salary for a high school teacher was about 40 Taiwan Dollars at the time. The Taiwanese people lost most of their savings.

22The “228 Incident” was a political butchery on February 28, 1947. There were more than 20,000 Taiwanese (including professors, lawyers and doctors) who were killed by the Chinese army. Since then, Taiwan entered the White-Terror period until 1987.

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as part of China in 1991. Furthermore, when in 1992 people were asked about their opinion about “What would be necessary to become independent and to become a new nation?,” 64% of the people who responded disagreed with the suggestion.

The Taiwanese have begun to seek democracy and independence since the 1970s. Following is a list of the progress made on this front.

1986: The establishment of the first democratically-formed party or the Democratic Progressive Party (DDP).

1987: The annulment of martial law.

1988: The cancellation of limitation on the media.

1991: The dismissal of the old congress and the election of the congress by the people, for the first time in history.

1992: The abolishment of criminal law 100 (which was used to restrict people‟s right to speak.)

1993: The liberation of all political prisoners.

1995: The first public apology by the President for the “228 Incident.”

1996: The first presidential election by the people.

2000: The first time that a DDP candidate won the election. It was also the first time that the KMT lost its ruling power since the beginning of its reign in 1945.

Furthermore, following the survey, I want to discuss several political expectations of the Taiwanese people.

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Independent Sovereignty

When people were asked about whether they thought Taiwan should defend herself when China launches an attack, after which China really shot missiles to scare Taiwan in 1995, 68.2% of the interviewed said “Yes.” The other question asked whether Taiwanese thought there should be a new and independent country, if Taiwan could keep peaceful relation with China, 62.1% of the interviewed agreed that Taiwan should seek independence.

The Consciousness of Taiwan Nationalism

Identity and consciousness are two elements that strongly affect Taiwanese society. People who have strong Chinese nationalism controlled the political power. Their ideology affected people‟s consciousness and identity through the educational system and the mass media.

A few questions showed the transformation of Taiwanese consciousness and identity. 61% of people agreed that public education should place a greater emphasis on the history of Taiwan; only 18.3% disagreed. The former are people who identify with Taiwan while the latter are people who identify with Chinese history. In addition, when they were asked their opinion about the need to reform Taiwanese culture, 74.1% of those interviewed agreed. Moreover, 59.7% of the interviewed agreed to change the official language from Mandarin to Taiwanese. The other transformation which showed the new identity of the Taiwanese in the 2000 survey demonstrated that 52.9% of the people identified themselves as Taiwanese, 34.9% identified themselves as Taiwanese with Chinese blood and cultural background, and only 8.3% saw themselves as Chinese.

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Political Innovation

There are 61.8% of the people surveyed who feel there has been social injustice. They felt that political power had colluded with local gang power and big businesses (76.6%). That is the reason why it is so difficult to bring innovation to politics. Moreover, the politician always uses money to buy support for the election. The politician often colludes with big businesses that derive benefits from public development and construction. More and more people wish Taiwan would change the corruption in politics and the reality of social injustice. This is the promise that President Chen made in the 2000 elections, to change the corruption if he was elected. That is one of the reasons he won the election and became the President of Taiwan during a very difficult time.

Rotation of the Political Power

The Taiwanese have come to recognize the meaning and importance of democracy in just two or three decades. As mentioned earlier in this section, 67.5% of the people think that Taiwan needs a powerful opposition party in order to watch over the government. As an opposition party, the DDP appeared in 1989. Furthermore, the candidate running for president won the election in 2000. This election ended the ruling power of the KMT, which was the governing party of Taiwan since 1945. Even though the DDP has becomes the governing party, most (583.%) still do not support any specific party. Instead, they support he candidate who has the better ability and political vision.

Self-Determination and Policy Making

Taiwanese willingness to embrace self-determination of the future has changed over the past couple of decades. According to the surveys cited here, 54.4% agree that

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the people should decide the future of the Taiwanese, and by 1998, that percentage rose to 75.2%.23 Moreover, 83.2% agree that the future of Taiwan should be determined by referendum of the Taiwanese people.24

Peaceful Relations with China

The survey shows 52.1% of the people prefer to maintain the present situation and relationship with China. If the present situation were hard to maintain, then it would become a very difficult issue for Taiwan. 68.2% insist that if China attacked Taiwan, then she would need to defend herself.

Taiwan has a very difficult struggle as the people see justice, peace, and freedom. Taiwanese Christians, while they are part of Taiwan, do not have the right to dictate to all the people which nationality they should identify with. But, they need to keep in mind that when they pray for the Kingdom of God, they should identify with the realities of peace and justice for all people.

Economic Context and Climate

In order to develop economic power, Taiwan has developed her industry since the 1960s. There were several economic policies that helped Taiwan transform her economic situation: the initiation of the export processing zone, the rise of small industries and enterprises and the combined efforts of the academy and industry in developing science and technology, especially in computer science. Economic and industrial developments

23The TSCT report of 1991, 318, Q. 43(6): Who can make decisions for Taiwanese future? See The TSCT report of 2001, 130, Q 79: Who can make decisions for Taiwanese future?

24The TSCT, 3rd-4th survey in 1998, Q. 72: If we want to make the decision for Taiwanese future, then who can join the referendum?

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allowed Taiwan to become a country with a GNP per capita of more than $13,000, ranking fourth in Asia. In the meantime, Taiwan has improved her economic situation, bust she also needs to face the resultant changes in morality, values, culture, spirituality, and social order.

Economic transformation has also impacted Taiwanese values and work ethic. People no longer work as hard as people did a few decades before. The younger generation prefers easy work with a higher salary.

Furthermore, the Taiwanese structure of occupations has changed. According to the statistics from the Council of Agriculture of the Executive Branch, the structure of occupations has undergone a big change. Several trends should be noted: the population of agriculture has decline, the population of industry has increased from 1951 to 1989, but declined after 1990, and the population of service industry has increase and has become the biggest group since 1991.

Moreover, there are three industrial policies that impacted the Taiwanese industry structure and the workers. First of all, the government allowed businesses to hire migrant workers and their large number has had a great influence on the employment of the native Taiwanese people. Secondly, a growing number of Taiwanese factories have moved to China and Southeastern Asia. Together, they have caused Taiwanese capital flight. Furthermore, the percentage of female workers in the job market is higher than before because of equality in educational opportunities and the rise of female consciousness. Women in Taiwan are starting to play a more important role today, both in the family and in society.

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The Religious Context and Climate

Taiwanese religions are diversified and varied. The percentage of the different religions are as follows: 16% of the people are Buddhists, 46.7% are folk religion believers, 8.1% are Taoists, 1.5% are I-Kuan Tao believers, 4.8% are Christians, 1.5% are Catholics, 0.3% are Muslims, 209% have no religious affiliations and 0.2% belong to other religions.

When we reflect on the results of TSCS, we ask some theological questions and make some observations. First, there is a high percentage of Taiwanese who do not have a specific religious affiliation. Second, it is interesting to not the dramatic decline in the percentage of Buddhists from 47.2% to 16% in 17 years. Third, we need to ask why did the percentage of folk religion believers grow so dramatically—from 29.5% to 46.7% in that time period. Lastly, why did the percentage of Protestant Christians grow, but the percentage of Catholics declined? Is the reason their differences in mission strategies? Now I want to offer my observations and reflections concerning the Taiwanese religious context.

The Ambiguity of Religious Consciousness and Belief

The Taiwanese have rich religious emotions, but many of these believers are ambiguous in their beliefs. Therefore, there is the popular saying that sometimes people imitate others‟ liturgical activities without understanding the meaning of worship. An interesting datum shows us that only 10.2% of Taiwanese have a clear religious belief structure, and 63.3% of the people surveyed consider themselves as followers of their parents‟ religion.

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The Deterioration of Religion

As a minister, I find that more and more Taiwanese have both rich religious emotion and superstition, so that they are easily fooled by religious deceivers. So many people believe in fortunetellers and geomantic masters, even people who have had a higher education opportunity. Police officers and educators seek the mythic, geomantic, and supernatural powers which can bring them good fortune and wealth. There is one interesting transformation, which inspires my reflection on the reality and goal of people‟s religion. It is the decline of Buddhism and the increase of folk religion. Folk religion is more experiential than philosophical in its reality. On the other hand, Buddhism gives people doctrine and philosophy more than folk religion does. It seems that people care more about the result of the religious activity than the doctrine itself.

Moreover, when people were asked about how important religion was to their life, the percentage went up from 34.6% in 1984 to 44.2% in 1995. There were several perspectives on religion: 1.) Religion can promote morality (77.5%); 2.) Religion can enhance the meaning of life (71.3%); and 3.) Religion can support people‟s emotion and temper (67.6%). Furthermore, when people were asked about why they chose their religions, there were several important and meaningful perspectives: People wanted to search for peace (88.3%), but they also wanted to solve problems, to stay away from evil, to reduce stress and anxiety, to seek comfort, to seek spiritual dependence, and to search for truth, wisdom, and life‟s meaning (25.6%). These perspectives remind us what the Taiwanese want from religion.

Another meaningful question is: “When do you feel you need religion?” It seems that the life stages one experiences during the ages of 16 to 40 are an important period for

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Taiwanese to develop lasting religious beliefs. Based on the theory of James W. Fowler concerning the development of religious psychology, the period from ages 16 to 40 combines the third stage or adolescent stage and the fourth stage or the young adult stage. My reflection comes back to “How much concern did the Taiwanese churches pay to the people of this stage in life.” The second questions is” “Why did 55.48% of the people not feel the necessity of religion at all?” Taiwanese churches claimed that “Jesus is the hope of modern people” in their Missionary Movement 2000. How can the church help people enjoy the Gospel today? That is an important question.

The Transformation of the Perspective of Ancestor Worship

Ancestor worship is a tradition of Asian society. It is related to culture, morality, and religion. It is also a key to mission activity in Taiwan. Many Taiwanese reject Christianity because of their misunderstandings about how Christians remember their ancestors. People think it is wrong for Christians to refuse to worship their ancestors. How Christianity deals with the concept of ancestor worship is and has always been the context in which missionary efforts in Taiwan have taken place.

We find, from the interview data of the last two decades, that the perspective on ancestor worship has been changing. It seems that more and more people think ancestor worship is a matter of morality and culture, and no longer a religious affair. So, a growing number of people do not insist strongly on the necessity of ancestor worship. There seems to be a new and open climate and space for interfaith dialogue on this issue.

Moreover, we can ask another meaningful question: “Why have you changed your religion?” 46% of the people said that it is due to the influence of relatives or good friends. Another 11.6% said that it is due to a crisis or sickness. These perspectives on

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conversion are meaningful to our mission today. It indicates a reflection on the effective way we can do mission activity.

The Social Context and Climate

Taiwan has become an industrial and high technology society in recent decades, and this social transformation has also influenced her family and population structure. Instead of the traditional extended family structure, most of the Taiwanese families became a nuclear family unit with a typical family averaging 3.8 persons.

Moreover, industrialization makes Taiwan more urbanized and many people moved to urban areas to work. The industrialization and urbanization contributed to a decline in Taiwanese agriculture and a serious rural population outflow. Today, half of the Taiwanese live in seven big cities. And 28.5% live in the Taipei area or the capital area, including Taipei City and Taipei County. The population of Taiwan was 9.3 million in 1951, but it is now 23 million. The Taiwanese rural population stood at 57.6% in 1951, but it was less than 16.3% in 2002.

It is necessary to pay attention to the enrichment of spirituality, culture, and morality of the Taiwanese during this process of social development. Although Taiwan has improved her economic condition, there are some social problems on the rise at the same time. For example, political corruption, social injustice, the loss of public security, violence, social disorder, ecological pollution, deformed values, and ruined morality are widespread. People know of the gains and losses when Taiwan developed her economy. On the one hand, Taiwan improved her economic situation; and on the other hand, it also paid a big price for her social development.

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Furthermore, one more social issue looms, which is the high density of the population.25 Because of the high density of the population, the living space has narrowed and housing expenses have increased, causing a great deal of stress. Moreover, industrialization has made people more competitive and life more stressful, while urbanization has made people more secluded and lonely. The improvement of medical care has led to the creation of an elderly society, too. The average lifespan of a Taiwanese citizen is 74.6 years of age. The percentage of people whose age is over 65 is now 7.5%. Moreover, the highest percentage of elderly societies is found in the counties—the highest being in Pern-Hu (the Pescadores), followed by Tai-Tong, Hua-Lian, Chia-Yih, Uin-Lin, Miau-Lih, Tainan, and Nan-tou.

The Family Context and Climate

We can learn much wisdom from the story of Moses. We can learn an important lesson when we consider how Moses‟ mother taught Moses the identity and values of life. We realize that family is the cradle of a person‟s life and is also the breeding ground of culture. So, we need to try our best to empower families in order that we can transform the society and culture. The following is a description of the Taiwanese family context and climate.

25The density of the Taiwanese population was 1,583 persons per square mile in the year 2000, which made it the seventh densest country in the world. The data comes from the Council of Economic Planning and Development of Taiwan Executive Yuan 2000 February. The density of the United States was 74 persons per square mile in 2000. The density of the Hong-Kong populations was 16,949 per square mile in 2000.

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The Transformation of the Family Structure

The typical Taiwanese family structure is moving from the extended family to the nuclear family due to industrialization. Most Taiwanese families have become nuclear families, with the average number of persons per family being 3.8. As the Taiwan National Statistics in 2000 indicates, the number of nuclear families totals 3,562,405 (54%), composite families 1,013,811 (16%), single families 1,392,293 (22%), and other types of families 501,716 (8%). Moreover, an interesting piece of data shows that the number of single families (families composed of people who live alone) has increased to 21.3%.

The Transformation of Taiwanese Family Ideology and Function

There is a traditional ideology in Asian families where it is imperative that parents have male children because the first son has the responsibility to carry on the family name and to worship the ancestors. This concept is still deep in the mindset of the Taiwanese.26 This traditional ideology is changing because of the fact that women play a more important role today in both the family and society. There are many factors that contribute to this transformation in traditional ideology. They are the awakening of the female consciousness, the equality of educational and employment opportunities for women, and the achievement of women in many careers. Moreover, people find that daughters are closer to their parents. This reason also encourages people to have daughters today.

26When people were asked the question, “Is it important at least to have a son to carry on the family name?,” only 27.7% still thought it was important and 32.0% thought it was very important.

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The perspective, “It is good to have a son to depend on for old age,” is changing, too. The Taiwanese family structure has changed because of industrialization. As indicated before, many traditional families are now nuclear families. Moreover, the younger generations do not like to have many children, which has resulted in decreased birthrates.27 Finally, more than 35% of the people think that they do not have to depend on their children when they grow old.

There is an old saying that declares, “More sons bring more happiness,” but this notion is no longer accepted by the younger generation today. People needed a lot of manpower in the agricultural society. Therefore, they saw having more sons as an indication of their level of happiness. Modernization and industrialization have changed the Taiwanese lifestyle, its birth philosophy, and its family structure. The Taiwanese have also believed that, “Two children is best; three is ok,” in the last two to three decades. However, the Taiwanese Government finds that the birthrate is too low today.28 The younger generation prefers to have only one or two babies.

The economic power of families is changing. The perspective of the Taiwanese traditional economic power that, “Men should take care of the financial duty and women the housekeeping,” is also changing due to modernization and industrialization. The economic power of families is shifting because more and more women share in the financial duty of their families today. There are several reasons for this transformation:

27Taiwanese annual growth in population was .42% in 2005. Moreover, the birthrate for each female was 1.215 in 2005. Taiwanese birthrates were 1.006% of its population.

28The question was, “How many children do you think is best for your family?” 41.9% wished to have two children, 38.5% wished to have three children, and 14.3% wished to have four children. Moreover, the other data indicate that both the birthrate and the population growth rate in Taiwan have decreased over the past four decades.

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More and more women are receiving a higher education, more and more families seek two incomes, and an industrial society offers more opportunities for both females and males.

One other main function of the Taiwanese family has changed. An increasing number of Taiwanese pay more attention to the relational function of the family today than that financial function.29

The way of discipline by parents is shifting from the authoritative to the democratic. This manner of thinking has transformed the family relationship between parents and children, mothers and daughters-in-law, and husbands and wives.

The family ethic has been changed, too. In the traditional family, people respected their parents through obedience, sacrifice, and honor. More and more people now emphasize both personal roles and family relationships.

Marriage is the main reason for separation of the young generation from their first families. The second reason for separation is their job. And the third is the purchase of a new house.

In recent times, the educational function in the family has been neglected. Many families ignore the educational function of the family because of their work. Many parents send their children to preschool and to tutoring lessons after school, with the

2982.6% think that harmony is very important for marriage. 78.7% think that the family is more important than their business. In 1991, 38.3% objected to the idea that marriage should be the insurance for financial need.

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result that parents do not have enough time to nurture their children‟s spirituality and personality.30

Some Issues of the Taiwanese Family

The living condition of the elderly in Taiwan is like this: 30.9% live with children and grandchildren, 24.0% live with their spouse, and 13.7% live alone. In addition, the average lifespan of the Taiwanese is 74.6 years of age, and the elderly consist of 8.25% of the total population.

The divorce rate has accelerated among Taiwanese families. According to the 1997 statistical report, the divorce rate was 5.47%. The highest divorce rate occurred in the 20 to 24 years-old group (The reason being related to difficulty in making adjustments) and in the 35 to 39 years-old group (The reason being related to middle-age crisis).

According to the 1997 Statistical report with a focus on “1998 analysis of single-parent families among the Taiwanese,” there were 433,000 single-parent families in 1997, representing about 7% of total families in Taiwan. This has increased since 1988 by 1.3%. There are 235,00 families (3.85%) in which either parent is head of the household. 66.9% of single parent families have the mother as the head of the household. Another alarming concern is, among these single parent families, that about 66.4% of either parent has an education level that is below the middle school level. Not only do these families

30For example, when parents were asked about, “Do you know your children‟s friends?,” it is interesting that only 8% of parents said “Yes,” and 44.3% said they knew a little bit or didn‟t know them. Moreover, when parents were asked, “Do you try to nurture your children‟s manner of using money?,” only 33.2% of parents said Yes.”

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face the problem of single parenting, they also face the consequences of lower education and “the pressure of low income.”

The Changes of Attitude Toward Marriage Among the Taiwanese

The change in the concept of sex from the traditional view of chastity to a more open view has occurred.

The change in the traditional moral standard, which demands that women stay married after marriage, has moved to the new concept that marriage does not have to be for the rest of your life.

The change of marriage from being introduced by matchmakers to finding your own mate through dating is new.

The Educational Context and Climate

What is the impact of the educational context and climate on the Taiwanese? What is the expectation of education for the Taiwanese? What is the current educational context that we need to improve in Taiwan?

In the past ten years, the educational level has consistently risen among the population due to an increased demand for higher education. According to the 1999 report of the Department of “Taiwanese social-economic survey,” 11.8% of jobholders above 15 years of age were illiterate in 1978, compared to 2.6% in 1998. In 1988, 53.7% of jobholders had completed middle or high school, and 24.9% had completed college or graduate degrees. In addition, among the laboring population, the average ratio of male to female who had completed higher education was 1:.76. However, educational opportunities were equal among male and female.

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Another area to consider is “the difference of educational levels in the city vs. rural areas.” For example, in the Chu-Tang village: 1.) Only 6.6% of the population completed higher education compared to 24.9% in other parts of Taiwan, 2.) The average ratio of males to females who completed higher education was 1:.56, which is lower than 1:.76 mentioned above and 3.) Illiteracy and education below the elementary level consisted of 50.1% in the countryside vs. 21.4% in the city.

The attitude and way of family education has also changed from the traditional “strict education” to the “considerate education.” Although there are many parents who still discipline their children with strict and stern methods, with the current change of attitude toward education, second generation parents have adopted the more “peaceful and harmonious” way that is characterized with a style that is more diplomatic, freer, and more encouraging.

The changes in the educational environment have particular emphasis on the transformation of the relationship between teacher and student. In most cases, the traditional attitude of “respect your teacher” has been changed to a relationship where the teachers and students merely exchange knowledge. The school education has been transformed into a tool for the “pass entrance examination.” The reasons that led to this deterioration in the educational systems are: 1.) The value system of success has impacted the goal of education, so that some parents and schools place emphasis on the “pass entrance examination” as their primary goal; 2) The transformation of strict education to a freer, less strict style, is making it difficult to discipline students; 3.) The change in society‟s values and moral standard has great impact on the student‟s attitude toward education, especially the widespread influence of the media on “violence and

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sex;” 4.) Ignoring the fact that a healthy relationship should exist between parents and teachers. Parents have not participated in the teaching and education of their children; and 5.) Some educators and schools have also been affected by improper moral standards. Though they may be highly qualified educators, they lack the character needed for proper role modeling for students.

The Moral Context and Climate

The influence of Confucius on the Chinese is very great. From the standpoint of the social context, individualism is less important than group relationships. In the traditional concept of “respect for teacher,” one was taught to be obedient to certain behavioral rules. In addition, the traditional moral standard in Taiwanese societies (both in the agricultural and religious districts) was confined by an invisible force. However, the recent influences of industrialization and democracy, as well as the impact of freedom and individualism, have drastically changed the moral standard and behaviors of the Taiwanese.

The family moral standard has changed. First, there have been drastic changes in the traditional moral concept. While the Taiwanese still emphasize the “respect” of parents and teachers, it is not strictly speaking obedience. Dr. Ly-Yun Chang pointed out that there still exist standards, such as “mourning the death of parents,” “gratitude toward parents,” “respecting parents,” and “caring for parents.”31 What has changed is the attitude toward the parent-child power structure, which can be seen in issues such as

31“Taiwanese Society in 1990s: Taiwan Social Change,” in Survey Symposium Series II, Monograph series no. 1, eds. Ly-Yun Chang, Yu-Hsai Lu, and Fu-Chang Wang (Taipei, Taiwan: The Preparatory Office of the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sincia 1997).

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“carry on your family name” and “submission to your parents.” Second, there have been changes in the concept of marriage. The younger generation in Taiwan prefers to choose their own mate, instead of being introduced by matchmakers. They also believe in marriage based on love, and are more open to pre-marital sex. In addition, there have been changes in the attitude toward marriage commitment for life.

Social context-wise, the unease of violence and instability in the society certainly affect the moral standard. The impact of socio-economic factors has great influence on the moral and value systems of the whole society, too.

There have been changes in the relationship between humans and the environment. In the agricultural society, people co-inhabited in the land and grew a deeply affectionate relationship toward the land. However, in the progression toward economic development, business people drastically changed the concept of land and human ownership. Protection and deep relationship with the land have been lost. The land is now part of the economic means to be developed, destroyed, and/or polluted.

There have also been changes in interpersonal relationships, which completely destroyed the trust among humans. As long as one can make a profit, it does not matter anymore if one steals, cheats, or manufactures products of low quality. Perhaps one can use the proverb, “Flipping face like flipping page,” meaning a person can change his attitude toward another as easily as flipping a page. This analogy can describe the cold and uncertain relationship between Taiwanese today.

In regard to changes in human nature, the saying, “Despise the poor, but not the prostitute,” reflects the rise of immoral events in Taiwan. One realizes the drastic

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changes because of economic growth. The value system of the society seems to endorse the pursuit of materialism, money, success, and power.

The increase in the violence and corruption in the society, especially among the young, such as stealing, purposely injuring others, and carjacking, harms society and threatens future developments.

The traditional pursuit of “luck, prosperity, and long life” has given way to new value systems such as the pursuit of happy marriages (37.3%), high moral standards (22%), wealth (10.8%), knowledge (5.7%), and religion (4.3%).

The Specific Context of Taiwanese Rural Society

Following a brief description of the Taiwanese society, this project will now analyze in greater detail the specific situation of the Taiwanese rural society. Although there are many similarities between rural communities and the overall Taiwanese society, this section will focus on the specific situation of the rural areas, such as their culture, religion, education, social structure, economy, youth problems, and future development.

The Rural Cultural Context

The rural area contains unique cultures, e.g. “the culture of the rice field,” “the culture of the tribal agriculture,” and “the mix of religion and culture.” Even though there are minor changes with the advancement of industrialization, they are still unique compared to the urban society.

Culture of the rice field

During the Holland occupation, agriculture was introduced to Taiwan in the form of buffalo and crops. Later on, with the technical advancement, Taiwan gradually developed a deep-rooted culture of the rice field. The growth of rice plants needs an

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abundance of water and sunlight, so the farmers depended and cooperated with each other for the supply of water from the river or stream. This resulted in a a harmonious social environment. In addition, it is hard labor to work in a rice field. One needs to be physically fit and oftentimes to depend on each other in the field. Also, they developed a deep affection for the buffalo that aids them in the rice field, thus many of them do not eat beef. The culture of the rice field is distinctly different from the competitive nature of capitalism and individualism that so often characterize the urban culture.

Another characteristic of the culture of the rice field is the unique relationship between humans and the land. Traditionally, the farmland was not only the symbol of value, but it was also the cradle of life, just like the cradle of a mother‟s embrace. The rural people are born, grown, and buried in the land. Their ancestors were buried in the same farmland where they now live. They felt the connectedness and closeness with their ancestors. Thus, the land traditionally passed from one generation to the other without any trading. Furthermore, the saying of “Front and back of land, and god of land,” indicated that the land is where god, people and nature co-existed. One other point is that the culture of the rice field is closely related to the weather and the four seasons of the year. People start working when the sun rises and rest only at sunset. Even seeding and harvest are closely associated with the four seasons. The rhythms of nature not only impact the harvest of crops, but the also symbolize the renewal of human life as well as the transformation of life through religion. We should learn to treasure the close relationship between humans and nature from the culture of the rice field.

However, with the advance of industrialization, there were dramatic changes in the culture of the rice field.

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Human labor was substituted by machinery. This not only affected the cooperative labor work, but it also impacted the collaborative relationship with neighbors. Besides, with machines substituting for the water buffalos, human attachment to nature was deeply affected. Also due to the dense population of Taiwan, the profit of selling land to business development has impacted directly the concept of land and indirectly impacted the concept of co-habitation of humans with nature from generation to generation. Some people even lost their affection for the farmland. They treat the land as a business means to make a profit, even daring to pollute the environment and investing in improper developments. When we face these problems, what kind of theological reflection should one make?

Culture of religion and village gathering

The earliest settlers in Chang-Hwa Valley, just like most of the farmlands in Taiwan, were from the Fu-Gang and Kwang-Tung provinces of China. According to the scholar Hsia-Ming Hsu, the earliest settlers came mainly from the provinces of Fu-Kan (the Chun-Cho and Chang-Cho areas) and Kwang-Tung (the Chao-Cho, Chia-Ing, and Wei-Cho areas). Thus, the majority dialects spoken were Taiwanese and Fukanese. Due to the necessity of survival, the early settlers lived in a group in local areas in order to help each other and to protect the land. Therefore, in rural Taiwan today, small tribes and religious groups still exist. Tek-Tung County consists mainly of tribes with the family name “Chuang.” Although recently, due to industrialization, many villagers migrated to the city, the tribal and religious groups remained characteristic of the Taiwanese rural society. The only difference is that instead of big families of several generations living together, the elderly and farm couples occupy the majority of the village.

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Changes in moral and value systems

Even though the rural society is supposed to be the purest of Taiwanese societies, it is unavoidably influenced by the modern corrupt society. Although most people still hold high morals and the value system of the traditional culture, some souls have become corrupted and polluted. For example, the fact that farmers would spray insecticides with long half-lives is openly known to everyone. Over the years, the government sacrificed the farm products in order to advance the industry. And farmers made improper use of insecticides in large quantities in order to make a profit and increase the production and quality of their crops. Farmers seem to have lost the balance between survival and the moral standard.

The impact of media and foreign culture

Although some traditional moral and value systems in the rural areas are still prevalent compared to the city, they are still facing the impact of foreign cultures. Because the island is only 400 kilometers from the north to south points, it is impossible for the farm villages to keep their own and unique culture traditions. Two influencing factors are the media and the fast communications between the rural and urban areas.32 There are advantages and disadvantages with media advancement. One advantage is that it shortens the distance between communications, especially with computers and the Internet connections. One disadvantage is that through the media, people are exposed to destructive programs, which include violence, sex, ungodly behaviors, and twisted value systems. These media programs have a great impact on conservative families, especially

32From the responses to the question, “How much time people spend on TV?” 34.9% of the interviewed spent one to two hours on the TV. 34.9% spent three to four hours.

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families with young children and youth. In addition, because of the improvements in transportation, widespread use of family cars shortens the distance between rural and urban areas. The consequence is that there is increased participation in urban social activities by rural families and a decrease of fellowship among the village people.

The Religion of the Rural Family

In the Taiwanese rural village, traditional religions are influenced by the culture of the rice field and the lifestyle and rhythm of nature and human relationship. This mixture results in a unique religion in the local villages, which is combined with Taoism and its harmony with nature, as well as with Confucianism and Buddhism. Thus, the village religion becomes a multi-faceted society. Everywhere you go, it is filled with religious life. There is a “god of land in the field,” a “god of tree in the oak tree,” and temples of ancestors in the villages. What will be the impact of this on Taiwanese Christians when one faces this multi-faceted religious environment? How can the churches rebuild the relationship between soul, culture, and religion? Christ and culture is not only a concept of systematic theology; it should be a “Word become flesh” life theology.

Due to the deterioration of religious culture in the past 20 years, some of the religious leaders started to profit from religious causes. And with widespread gambling through the lottery in Taiwan, many temple priests have also become heavily involved in gambling. All these affected the purity of the rural religion as well as personal incomes in the villages. In addition, some politicians bribe the people to vote for them in return for assisting them in building temples. Recently, the hunger for souls in Taiwan made it possible to build numerous temples, but what it lacks is the dream work of purifying the

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soul of humankind. Would it be possible for the churches in Taiwan to be written as a letter of recommendation to the Taiwanese people in the villages through the Holy Spirit? If so, what kind of message would be sent?

The Educational System in the Rural Villages

Educating the people is very important. It not only provides knowledge, but it is also the tool for reviving the soul of the people. When we start to develop and improve rural society, we need to start with education, which is the foundation and tool for enlightenment. In general, the educational levels of the people in the rural areas are lower than that of the city. In addition, the uneven distribution of resources and lower teacher qualifications are factors that contribute to the lower levels of education in the rural areas. It is just like the saying, “Malnutrition at birth causes underdevelopment in adulthood.”

Cities not only have more abundant resources and supplies, but they also have faster media and Internet communications compared to the rural areas. This leads us to the following questions in developing the educational system in rural villages. How do we provide a fair starting point for rural schools? How do we obtain the resources necessary to improve basic education in the villages, including teacher qualifications and classroom equipment? How do we design cultural activities to provide the youth in the village an abundant feast for their souls?

Due to the lower educational levels in the lives of rural parents, these parents may ignore the education of their own children. Our utmost concern is how to help to strengthen family education, so that we can achieve an overall, more effective, means to education, in order to educate both parents and children in the villages, and to help

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parents set examples to lead their children to the correct moral and value systems in a changing society.

According to the report of the agricultural survey of 1997, between the ages of 12 to 24, only 62.8% are enrolled in school (middle schools is 23/6%; high school is 12.0%, and professional school is 11.0%). Among them, only 49.9% plan to continue schooling (30.4% majoring in non-agricultural areas; 16.7% plan on attending high school; and only 2.8% plan to pursue agricultural-related careers). This survey indicates that a lower percentage of youth growing up on farms plan to purse a higher education, especially in the pursuit of farming-related majors. This trend will have an important impact on the development of farming in the future and is a problem that requires special attention.

Village and Family Context

The most alarming problem in the structure of the society in the rural areas is a drastic decrease in the population due to migration to the city. The distribution of the population in Taiwan is concentrated in seven metropolitan cities (48.5% of the total population), among which Taipei has more than one-quarter of the population (28.5%). Most of the population is located in western Taiwan (97.0%). The second most alarming change is the drastic reduction of farmers in the labor force. Farmers made up 56.7% of the labor force in 1951. This number decreased to 5.9% in 2005. The number of farmers under 29 years of age was 40.6% in 1965 and decreased to 8.1% in 1997. In contrast, farmers over the age of 60 made up 3.1% in 1965 and increased to 23.5% in 1997.

Another change can be seen in the family structure among farmers. As mentioned earlier, the family structure has changed to the nuclear family, averaging less than four per family with an increasing number of single-parent families, as well as of elderly who

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live alone. First of all, the migration of young people to the city resulted in an increased number of elderly families in the villages. Several pertinent concerns arise from these changes in the villages‟ family structure. For example, there are 5.9% single elderly family units and 19.6% elderly couple units in Change-Hwa County, the percentage begin higher than the average of 23.5% in other areas. The problems are even more serious in lumbering and fishery counties. For example, 54.6% in Pen-Hu County, 37.5% in Nan-Tou County, and 34.6% in Tai-Tung County consist of the elderly. The care for the increasing elderly population in the villages will be a challenge to the society. The second concern is that of single parenting. Currently, the divorce rate in Taiwan is 3.5% and in Chang-Hwa County is 1.9%. According to the survey of Taiwanese family structures, the single parent family makes up 6.9% of families in Taiwan and 6.2% of families in Chang-Hwa County. The care and support for the single parent family is a challenge for churches in the rural areas. One other concern is the problem of cross-generational parenting, although there are no reports that address it. From my own observation, many young couples work and leave grandparents to raise their children. The potential problems that arise are: What impact does this rearing practice have on the character development of the children? What will be the relationship of the children with their parents? What will be the influence of differences in grandparenting and parenting on the next generations?

Economy in the Farming Society

Farming has been declining and changes have been made in agricultural infrastructure. As I mentioned earlier, the industrial advancement alters the farming infrastructure. The economy generated from farming was 32.8% in 1951 and decreased

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to „1% in 2003, which represent a seriously declining economy in farming. In addition, the income from farming is not sufficient to support the family. In 1966, income from farming was 65.9% and it decreased to 20.4% in 2003, so the farmer needed to depend on other income sources in order to support the family.

Rice crops are still the major source of income for farmers. However, the profit from growing rice is decreasing. For example, the yearly net profit from two harvests of a one-acre rice field is only an average of 8,000 new Taiwanese dollars (NT) per month.33 This income is not sufficient for the payment of land, labor, and daily expenses. The agricultural report shows that the instability of prices for farm products, the expensive labor costs, the insufficient manpower, and the small field for crops are problems facing the farmers today.

Political tactics have also affected the farming economy. In recent years, the emphasis has been placed on industrial development rather than on farming. The delayed improvement of farming technology resulted in inferior farm products. In addition, the local farm associations did not actively promote farming technology to improve either the quality or the quantity of farm products. Recently, the increasing costs of labor and land forced the farming business to move to China. This will affect directly and indirectly the development of farming and farming economy in Taiwan. Taiwan joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) a few years ago, bringing another new impact on Taiwanese agriculture. The pressing concerns are how to improve farming techniques and how to train the young generation to use them, providing leadership training and opportunities to participate in the making of agricultural policies. Perhaps through local training and

33For comparison purposes, $8,000 NT is nearly $250 US Dollars.

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education, the village can concentrate its resources and improve its techniques, thus benefiting the improvement of farming in the villages.

The Problems Facing the Younger Generation in Farming

In the economic development in Taiwan, there is an imbalance between the industrial and farming developments of the country. There is a low return from farming and the adverse psychological influences that have resulted in the migration of young farmer to the city. There is no desire to carry on farming and nobody to pass on farming from the older generation to the next.34 In addition, the economic distress in farming communities causes the migration of the younger generation to the city.

In his thesis, Chin-Run Liu pointed out the concerns of young villagers. There is a lack of recreational facilities in the villages, concerns about finding good jobs, financial difficulty in the family, no autonomy of finance, lack of friends with similar interests, and lack of proper mates, just to name a few. From these problems, he offered several recommendations: 1.) Government or agricultural branches should help the young farmer build confidence in farming; 2.) Government or agricultural branches should elevate the social status of the young farmer in society; 3.) Government or agricultural branches should cultivate the cooperative spirit in all farmers; 4.) Government or agricultural branches should provide leadership training; 5.) Government or agricultural branches should provide recreational facilities for the young people; and 6.) Government or agricultural branches should provide more training and educational opportunities.

34When the younger generation was asked about the planning of labor, 72.0% of the youth showed a willingness to work in the city, while only 12.6% wished to have their own business.

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Even with the increased migration of young people to the city today, this valuable advice from Mr. Liu is highly recommended.

The Specific Situation and Phenomenon of the Taiwanese Rural Church

This project is mainly focused on the theological view of Taiwanese rural church‟s mission and community services based on the specific context and needs in the Taiwanese rural areas. It is hoped that local missions could be encouraged among Taiwanese rural churches. This section will discuss the missions of Taiwanese rural churches from three aspects: 1.) The mission and characteristics of the Taiwan Presbyterian Church (PCT), 2.) An analysis of the mission of the Chang-Hwa Presbytery, and 3.) The difficulties facing the Taiwanese rural churches.

The Mission and Characteristics of the Taiwan Presbyterian Church Today

The following section will explore the missions of current rural churches in two periods of time—Pre- and Post-year 1965. There are two reasons for this approach: The year 1965 marks the 100th Anniversary of the missionary movement of the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church. In 1954, the Taiwanese Presbytery established a vision that said, “The 100th anniversary of mission in Taiwan is the „double the churches‟ movement.” One of the Presbytery‟s goals has had great impact on the development of the Taiwanese rural church, which is the establishment of at least one church in each of the villages along the N-S railroad and highways. The other reason for marking the church‟s history this way was that after 1965, the movement of the government toward industrialization resulted in socio-economic changes in the rural area. Many young people could not find a job in the village and moved to the city in great numbers as we have seen.

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In its recent Taiwanese mission, the Presbyterian Church has promoted several missionary movements. For example, the doubling of churches at the 100th Anniversary of mission (1954-1965), the New Century Mission Movement (1966-1970), the Loyal Servant‟s Movement (1971-1975), the Three Selves Movement: Self-Management, Self-Provision and Self-Proclamation (after 1977), and the Increment of 10:1 Discipleship Movement (1978-1985). These missionary movements all share the following characteristics: 1.) The theological meaning and impact of the discipleship movement, 2.) An emphasis on the needs and situations of the current society, 3.) The emergence of an ecumenical and generalized movement, and 4.) The important and novel roles that the Presbyterian Churches play in the rural church mission.

The theological meaning and impact of the discipleship movement

It is worth our attention to note that during the past 40 years, the policy of the Presbyterian Church has been to place emphasis on a “purpose-driven discipleship movement.” Based on the theological belief that, “All Christians are priests,” the mission has been widespread and involved every Christian, especially in the “Double the Churches Movement” and the “New Century Movement,” which have had the most profound impact on Taiwanese rural church missions. The Doubling Movement resulted in the multiplication of churches across the whole of Taiwan. After 1965, the New Century Mission Movement began to emphasize the rural and aboriginal church mission. Furthermore, it also provided lay leadership training in the less developed rural areas of Taiwan, particularly after 1966, with the establishment of lay theological training. As a result, many lay leaders emerged in the rural areas of Taiwan.

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An emphasis on the needs and situations of the current society

The concept of mission of the Taiwan Presbyterian Church (PCT), influenced by the early missionaries, is to value the needs of people and society. For example, due to illiteracy, the missionaries established schools. Due to the lack of western medical science, they established hospitals. Due to the lack of social welfare in Taiwan, they established a welfare system. The New Century Mission Movement was also concerned with the impact of industrialization; thus, they established different policies for urban, industrial, rural, and aboriginal missions. In 1970, due to the changing international status and political democratization process in Taiwan, PCT reiterated the concept of a contextualized Taiwan mission and announced a statement saying, “ We love the island. This is our home. And we hope to live in peace, freedom and righteousness on it.” During the 130th Anniversary of the Presbyterian Church mission, the General Assembly of the PCT announced another statement, “ The Transformation of the Soul,” which was directed at rebuilding the culture, soul, and society of Taiwan. The announcement of the “Soul Revival” was well received and welcomed by the whole society. Each stage makes different requests and sets different goals based on the different societal needs and statuses at the time.

The emergence of an ecumenical and generalized movement

Besides being diligently involved in missionary work, the Presbytery also emphasized the importance of collaboration among churches of different denominational affiliation. In 1951, Taiwan Presbytery joined the World Council of Churches (WCC) as a member and also became a partner with the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC). In 1960, the Presbytery sent letters to every church in Taiwan and expressed

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the need to cooperate and to become a united church. It subsequently established a committee for church collaboration under the General Assembly of the PCT.

The important and novel roles that the Taiwan Presbyterian Churches play

in urban and rural missions

There are a total of 1,218 Presbyterian Churches in Taiwan.35 Among them 318 (26.1%) are in urban areas, 142 (11.7%) are in suburbs, and 758 (62.2%) are in rural areas. In the rural areas, the churches subdivide into plain (302, 24.8%) and aboriginal

rural churches (456, 37.5%). Today, the rural Presbyterian Churches make up 40% of all rural churches in Taiwan. Our most urgent mission is to determine how to utilize all the resources and how to unite services to spread the discipleship mission movement in the less developed areas to continue to be “those who sow in tears” and hope to harvest with joy.

Religious Status in the Chang-Hwa Presbytery

The following data generated in this project is based on a survey from the Chang-Hwa area. First, it focused on the lessons that we learned from the Chang-Hwa Presbyterian Churches in general. And second, it focused on planning for the area churches, particularly in the coastal areas of Erlin, one other town and three counties.

Although Chang-Hwa is the largest agricultural county in Taiwan, an industrial park was recently established in it. According to the survey by Dr. Thu-Chiu Sha on “The Chang-Hwa Plain Space Structure and the National Urban and District-Scheme Policy,” Dr. Sha pointed out six crises of the Chang-Hwa Plain. There were: technical dependence, agricultural crisis, labor problem, environmental crisis, local government

35See Appendix A for “Statistics for the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, 2004.”

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crisis, and decay of culture. Dr. Sha then compared the Chang-Hwa Plain to the whole Taiwan country and pointed out five characteristics in its special development: 1.) The migration into the city is the main factor that has contributed to urbanization, 2.) Taiwan had opened itself to the world market through the WTO, resulting in agricultural instability, 3.) The urban capital and un-official departments have long existed, 4.) The central government did not pay serious attention to the district and space schemes of Chang-Hwa, and 5.) The Chang-Hwa areas were more borderline because of the monopoly of capital and business in Taiwan. The development of the Chang-Hwa area is a miniature of the industrialization of Taiwanese rural areas, and it also presents the same problems for rural development noted earlier.

There are 42 Presbyterian Churches in the Chang-Hwa area with a total membership of 8,712. The total population of the Chang-Hwa areas is 1,315,691, which means that the percentage of Christians in the Chang-Hwa Presbytery is only .66%. In the total population of the Chang-Hwa area, Presbyterians constitute 45% of the total Christian population. Chang-Hwa County had 90 churches and 30,824 Christians as of 2004. One surprising finding is that despite the influence of industry and the migration of the population to the city, Christians make up 1.6% in the Erlin area, which is higher than the average of .66% in the Chang-Hwa Presbytery.

There are 1,218 Presbyterian Churches in Taiwan. These are subdivided into 20 Presbyteries (11 plain and 9 aboriginal), six aboriginal districts, and one Hakka district. The Chang-Hwa Presbytery is located in the mid-western part of Taiwan. It consists of 42 churches located in four areas (Chang-Hwa, Yuan-Lin, Shi-Hu, and Erlin). All of the 11 churches in the Erlin areas are typical agricultural or fishery churches. Of the 42

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churches under the Chang-Hwa Presbytery, eight of them are urban, eight are suburban, and 26 are agricultural or fishery churches. From the point of resources, eight (19%) have abundant resources, 16 (38%) have stable income, ten (24%) are self-sufficient, and six (19%) of them need financial support.

In 1996, the Mid-Presbytery of Chang-Hwa requested the General Assembly to collect information from 1992-1995 concerning church resources and to analyze them. The resulting data is shown below: The 1995 Analysis of Ministries in the Chang-Hwa Presbytery:

Types of Ministries

Mission

Education

Women‟s

Youth

Elderly

Conferences

12

Ministry Training

Lay 10

Clergy 14

Treasurer & Administrator 6

Continuing Education 4

3

Spiritual Leadership Training

Seminars 11

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Leadership 3

Evangelism Meeting

18

11

Camps 4

Training 6

United Communion Services

4

Celebrations

3

Fellowship 9

Services

1

3

Sports & Games

4

1

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1.) The Chang-Hwa Presbytery belongs to an agricultural area, the annual member growth rate (calculated by the increased number of transferred and baptized people) is 2.6%, comparable to that of 2.8% for all of Taiwan. From the traditional point of view, the rural mission is by far more difficult than that of the urban, due to the conservatism, conventional religion, culture, and moral traditions, as well as the belief that Christianity is a foreign religion. Yet with all these obstacles, the Chang-Hwa Presbytery Churches still maintain an annual growth rate of 2.6%, which warrants accolades and praise.

2.) The migration of existing members (those who hold membership but do not attend services) makes up about 1/5 of the total membership. This is particularly notable in the rural area. According to the survey, the migration rate in Chang-Hwa Presbytery is 17.8%, but in Erlin, a rural area, the rate is 24%.

3.) A decrease in the number of people attending Sunday worship makes us reflect. According to this analysis, the average attendance rate is 39.7% in the Chang-Hwa Presbytery and 36.9% in the Erlin Presbytery with declining rates every year. As compared to the attendance rate of other churches in Taiwan, 47.2%, the attendance rate in the Chang-Hwa Churches appears to be lower. The reasons could be that the migration of members to the city makes them unable to come back regularly for Sunday services and worship services and other forms of liturgical expression need to be renewed.

4.) There is a drastic decrease in the number of people who attend weekday fellowships compared to those attending Sunday worship services. Bible study attendance rates ranged from 1.4% in 1992, to 3.9% in 1993, to 3.9% in 1994 and

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2.3% in 1995. In the past four years, the attendance at Bible studies in the Erlin areas averaged 2.6%. It is a problem for church development and spiritual growth.

5.) Sunday schools for the youth are limited to religious education only and the attendance rate is declining. The average attendance rat in the past four years is 11.4% in the Chang-Hwa Presbytery and 11.9% in the Erlin Presbytery, which is lower than the 18.2% of the population between the ages of 5-14 in the Chang-Hwa County. Also, Sunday school teaching is only available for the youth, and not for other ages. Due to the lack of resources in the rural churches, high school students often teach Sunday school. They are anxious about their teaching, but whether they are equipped to teach is another matter. Further, whether or not the parents place an emphasis on their children‟s religious education is another obstacle for creating successful Bible studies.

6.) After analyzing the problems and ministries of the Chang-Hwa Presbytery, the following can be concluded.

a. Creative ministries are needed. Currently, all the mission work is conventional and traditional.

b. Long-term goals and plans for ministries out to be established. Currently, all the ministries are temporal, routine, and traditional in nature.

c. Education and Bible teaching must be strengthened. Although there is a focus on training Sunday school teachers for children, teacher training for other age groups has bee neglected. There is a focus on the administrative training of elders and deacons. Also, there is a neglect of training for

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youth ministries. Overall, most churches neglect adult Bible study and biblical education.

d. There is a lack of systemic planning for leadership training. Even though there are training session for elders and deacons, there is an absence of long-term plans for training new leadership among the believers.

e. There is a lack of overall missionary activities. These activities remain in exploratory stages and are characterized by a lack of goal-directed mission and actual plans for carrying them out.

f. There is a lack of planning and activities for outreach. Most activities are focused on the stage of research and lack purpose-oriented activities and plans.

Finally, Rev. Sintek Hsu point out several important facts for the future mission of the rural churches: 1.) It is important for the church to know the needs of the community, 2.) Plans need to be developed that embrace short-, intermediate-, and long-term ministries instead of spur-of-the-moment ones, 3.) The feasibility of the planned activities must be considered, and 4.) Mechanisms for combining and sharing the manpower and resources from the Presbytery for ministry teams must be established.

Common Problems Facing the Rural Taiwan Church Mission Movement

The advancement of industrialization greatly impacted the development of rural churches, which in turn created many difficulties and a major crisis for the Church. The difficulties are summarized below:

1.) Declining membership: Due to the necessity of finding jobs, many church members have moved to the city or industrialized counties, resulting in great loss

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of membership to the local rural church. This impacts all kinds of church activities and indirectly affects church growth.

2.) Financial crisis: The migration of members to the city and a lower profit of crops compared to other businesses has created a financial crisis. The average age of members in the rural church is older, and their income is lower, and these trends have also contributed to the financial crisis. One last factor was a decrease in offering income.

3.) High mobility for pastors in rural churches: The majority of pastors in rural churches are recent graduates of seminaries. They often transfer to other churches after two to three years of service in the field. The most prevalent reasons are that young pastors feel unable to transform the declining rural church environment, that they lack co-workers, thus carrying the heavy workload alone, that they run into problems in pastoring (for example, in leadership, in differences of tradition, and divisions among the members), that the weakening financial situation makes it difficult for the church to provide for the pastor‟s needs, and that the need for better education for the pastor‟s children results in their moving to the city.

4.) Lack of young leadership: In general, young people in the rural areas transfer to the city for their middle or high school education, resulting in a lack of youth to serve or to be trained as leaders in the rural church. Therefore, obtaining a higher education and seeking a job in the city are the main causes for the loss of young people in the rural area. Very few parents encourage their children to stay, mind the farm, and return after graduation. The chances for the return of the more

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capable, highly educated young person are slim. This is a case for both the society at large and the churches in particular.

5.) Secularization of the Christian Faith: Due to the high transfer rate of rural pastors, it is difficult to offer a solid biblical foundation for members, so Christians become secularized instead of being built on the Word. Also, the impact of cultural and socio-economical changes on rural Christians is great. How can a Christian live a sanctified life in the world? How can she/he be a witness of the Truth and Life of Jesus Christ in the midst of the turmoil? These are all very difficult lessons to learn.

6.) Mission and growth of the Church: The declining resources and economy in the rural church creates a heavy financial burden for the Church. Thus, smaller rural churches lose heart for revival and enthusiasm for mission.

7.) Lack of overall resources and modeling for team mission: The Taiwan Presbyterian Churches are used to tackling missions alone. Although they have a mature church structure, they lack the sharing of resources and teamwork, both of which could be improved. In recognition of the differences in the urban and rural financial situation in particular, how can the urban church with abundant resources be encouraged to aid the rural church? This should be the goal of church missions in general.

8.) Isolation in the local area: Christians often become the minority in the rural society, because Christians are the minority among other religions in Taiwan. The majority of Taiwanese are Taoists, believers in folk religions, or Buddhists. Christians in the rural area make up less than 3% of the local population. The

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declining rural church could be come a minority in the whole of society, too. For example, there were less than 20 members in the Tek-Tung Church 15 years ago, representing 1/1000 of the total population in Tek-Tung County. The lack of manpower to participate in church activities makes it difficult to carry out any form of outreach mission.

9.) Frozen ministries: Ministries tend to stall due to a lack of long-term discipleship training, lay leadership development, financial aid, and organized, consistent discipleship training. They often fall into routine and conservative means of mission. The lack of renewal and creative mission, and the lack of plans and goals to achieve creative mission also make it difficult for the rural church to grow in a fast-paced society.

The Unique Experiences and Tasks of Tek-Tung Presbyterian Church Among the Rural Churches

Mission History and Experiences of Tek-Tung Church

Tek-Tung Church is a traditional rural church. It was founded in 1932, but the chapel was built in 1953, which happened to be a few years prior to the Doubling Church Movement of the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church. Due to the leadership of a long-term pastor, the church grew rapidly in the 1950s. However, she declined in the 1960s due to the impact of industrialization, the migration of members to the city, lottery gambling, and financial hardship. The transfer of pastors after 1962 resulted in a lack of systemic biblical teaching, secularization, and many conflicts and problems. Tek-Tung Church was representative of the typical declining church in rural Taiwan, characterized by

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declining membership, financial strain, weakening spiritual life, and lack of mission vision among others.

However, in the past fifteen years, Tek-Tung Church faced the challenging question: “Is there still hope for the revival of the Taiwan rural church?” The answer was “Yes.” Through the seeking of spiritual revival and vision for mission, the failing church was transformed into a growing church with spiritual revival, active participation in the community‟s mission, and improvement of the relationship between church and community. Although the failing farming economy still threatened the development of this church, the spiritual growth and the transformation of new life surpassed all difficulties and even expectations. Looking over the changes, it is worth further exploration for the causes of such revival. Is there any biblical truth in the revival of this church? Could this church become the model for promoting the growth and renewal of other declining churches? The answer is: “The revival of Tek-Tung Church is, indeed, a model for spiritual, missionary, and visionary renewal.”

1.) The experience and impact of the Holy Spirit on renewal: Over the past several years, the Holy Spirit revival in Tek-Tung Church has had a serious impact on every Christian‟s life, causing believers to seek the Truth and Life from the Bible. When a group of believers hungers for God‟s Word and encounters the Holy Spirit, their lives are transformed and they develop a closer relationship with God. This leads to obvious changes: the renewal of worship and its impact, the renewal of prayer life and its impact, devotion time, and spiritual growth.

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2.) The influence of church renewal: a.) The most meaningful thing that happens after the renewal of ministry is the involvement of the church with the local community. The church has established a library for children, a mobile library, outdoor Sunday school, camping, caring for the mentally and physically challenged, and artistic and cultural activities for the community. These activities not only affect the role Christians play in the community, but also directly benefit and impact the local communities themselves. b.) The influence of participation of members in community services—The Tek-Tung Church became a church of services for every Christian, just like the Bible‟s teaching and theological concept that “All believers are priests.” The weekly sermons were also related to the services of the church members. c.) Another important change in recent years is making Bible studies and discipleship part of Tek-Tung‟s top priorities.

3.) The influence of new vision: In the past, this church existed for survival, but today it is a church of mission and service. In the past, it was a church for the growth and care of its members, but today it is the only local church here that serves the community. In the past, it was a solitary church, but today, it is united with other community churches for service to the whole community. Even more importantly, through combined services with other churches, our co-workers have been seeking significant mission visions that include a dream of becoming the first fruits of God‟s Kingdom and becoming a good neighbor for the communities.

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Members Who Have Experienced God in Hardship

Over the years, Tek-Tung Church has gone through difficulties and has met people who suffered from various and vicious criticisms. The church therefore asked, “What should the Gospel be for despairing people? What kinds of blessing and actions do the promises of God‟s Kingdom hold for people in suffering? What kind of relationship is there between God‟s Kingdom and the advancement of rural Taiwan?”

Facing our own spiritual need and the suffering of those people that we have contacted, the vision of Tek-Tung Church is to become a spiritual home for all those who suffer. Regardless of the types of difficulties or needs, members find new life through Christ Jesus. There are young people seeking direction for their lives and their future; couples in crisis yearning for a happy marriage; burdened souls seeking rest in quiet pastures; people in despair seeking new strength; and people with cold and hardened hearts seeking passion for their lives. The transformation of life is the most significant experience and belief in Tek-Tung Church.

Sharing the Gospel in the Midst of a Corrupting and Deteriorating Society: Enlightenment of Taiwan, Renewal of Heart

Based on the renewed consciousness of the Gospel and the early Taiwan mission of “concern and care for the needs of people and community,” Tek-Tung Church began to plan its mission activities.

When the impact of foreign media and culture deeply affected the pure traditional rural culture, it also affected the morality and the cultural standard of humankind. For example, promiscuity and twisted value systems affect the consciousness of young people. The parents in the church felt the temptation and the impact that the society has on their children, thus they actively participated in building a healthy life and spiritual

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environment for the youth. Therefore, the church has promoted spiritual renewal through a good neighbor community newspaper, which encourages all parents to build a healthy environment together. The church also participates in the “enlightening and renewal” movement through various cultural activities.

In addition, Tek-Tung Church promotes various disciple training courses and services. For example, the Bible studies, which began in 1990, ran for the Tek-Tung Church and community during the winters of 1996 and 2004. “True love” on Christmas in 1996 which encouraged celibacy, the good neighbor movement-caring for the physically challenged, participation in different ministries, such as elderly home aid in 1995, and preparation of lunch for the single and poor elderly in 2004, sharing the Gospel to those in jail since 1996, campus crusade such as life-education and sustainable-education, the sustainable life-education program for the dropout students since 2003, sustainable life-education for the single parented children in the parish since 2004, the sustainable and developmental program for the foreign marriage family since 2005, and free computer education for the community since 2005.

Theological Reflection and Conclusion

The importance of community issues and reflection on mission from a theological point of view consolidated around the following question: “How do we build a new country, with new citizens and a new culture?” The following plans were established:

1.) Build societal structure and self-recognition: From history, culture, and nation.

2.) Reassert traditional economic and moral views by reconsidering the economy of agriculture.

3.) Work for revival of churches and spiritual renewal.

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4.) Rebuild social justice; renew moral standards: Love, peace, and righteousness.

5.) Rebuild the true, good, and beauty standard for family.

6.) Provide direction and planning for the educational system; elevate the environment and our educational resources for the rural area.

7.) Rebuild harmony between nature and worker; build a culture of nature: Culture of the ocean, rice field, and forest.

8.) Build an incarnated life theology through religion and culture.

Consideration was also given to revisiting the mission of the Taiwanese Church by addressing these questions: “What is the true meaning of mission in God‟s Kingdom? How do we conquer the difficulties facing the mission in rural churches?” The following were established:

1.) Follow the mission: Disciple‟s service movement.

2.) Strengthen the existing systems by sharing resources and manpower.

3.) Revisit and renew “the weaknesses of the current mission.”

4.) Break through the challenge and hardship of mission in the rural church.

The following theological views were established:

1.) The ideal survival of humankind and the Kingdom of God: Righteousness, peace, and love.

2.) The role of Church and Christians:

a. Share the Gospel of the incarnation

b. Engage in the discipleship of collaboration through “love and suffering”

c. Be the servants of God‟s Kingdom.