Fellow missionary, Rev. Eric Pilson, and his family, along with Taiwanese coworker, Michael Liu, are planting a church (
http://reformed.tw) in a mountainside community of Sam-gia̍p ("Three Gorges"), a more distant suburb of Taipei City. This town is home to National Taipei University and has been developed with tall apartment buildings and broad avenues, somewhat reminiscent of parts of Manhattan in New York City, but surrounded by mountains. I had identified this area for church planting several years ago, but did not have anyone to move into the community. Eric and Annie Pilson moved there last year. Michael Liu moved soon after. He had been serving in an evangelistic ministry in Indonesia but had moved to Taiwan to finish his seminary degree at
China Reformed Theological Seminary.
 |
| The location of the new ministry center of Grace Hill Church |
On Saturday, the church plant hosted a community outreach. My daughters, Faith and Ashlyn, volunteered to teach how to make apple pie. While the pies were in the oven and people were eating two pies that Ashlyn had made on Friday, Eric gave the guests a brief introduction to the church and a warm invitation for them to visit the ministry center. They also invited them to a children's summer camp to be held in August. The church core group has been meeting in a weekly Bible study, but are planning to start Lord's Day worship in September, after a lot of outreach events in August.
 |
| The community event flier |
 |
| Ashlyn giving the introduction. Faith stood on hand to help |
 |
| Rolling out the crust |
 |
| Apples |
 |
| Teaching how to make the sauce |
 |
| Adding the sauce |
 |
| Others tried their hand |
 |
| Ashlyn made two apple pies the previous day so people could enjoy while the ones they made were in the oven |
 |
| While people are eating pie and ice cream, Rev. Eric Pilson introduces their church plant |
 |
| While the pies are baking, Ashlyn shows how to make the crust from scratch |
 |
| The finished pies |
 |
| The window-front of the ministry center. They do not yet have a sign installed. It is a little narrow, but in a good location. |
| An interior designer from New Hope Taipei volunteered to help the church plant with its interiors. |
 |
| First floor being readied |
 |
| Worship space on the second floor. When the church grows, they will need to find a new facility, but this one is what they can afford in their budget |
 |
| Summer camp to be held at the ministry center |
Please click on the following link to find out how to support this church plant. Unlike starting churches in America, there are not many churches to create a support network for church planting. Taiwanese church planters often have little salary while the spaces to rent for worship services are very expensive.
http://www.reformed.tw/en/give
