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