Principles from Proverbs on Church Planting and also Church Revitalization

Today I visited a church and preached from Proverbs 27:23-27. This passage of Scripture can be applied to many areas of life although in this sermon I applied it specifically to the church.



As they keep track of supporters, maintain their communications, and give reports, missionaries also have to remember this passage of Scripture. It will encourage them in their active involvement with not just the nation to whom they were sent, but also with supporters who help to send them.

The Cultural Background of Taiwan

Here is an interesting analysis of the origins of Taiwan's hybrid culture.

Regarding Taiwan's background religious culture, I was reading from the book of Jeremiah this morning and noticed a chapter describing the prophet Jeremiah's interaction with the Jewish exiles in Egypt. Their worldview of idolatrous pragmatism seems to very much capture traditional Taiwanese religious experience. So go read Jeremiah 44 and 45.

The answer to that worldview can be found in Psalm 49 and Psalm 73.

Please pray for Taiwanese to come to the wisdom that the Holy Spirit teaches in the Psalms.

Fun with Wildlife

Living in the center of a big city in Taiwan, the children do not have a yard or much outside space. So when they visit the U.S., they head outdoors.

The Gospel comes to a local cafe in Taipei

Across a small park from our apartment in Taipei is a beloved little cafe called, Park Cafe. It is a Taiwanese family-owned restaurant run by two sisters. We walk by it all the time on our way to the subway rapid transit station. Last year we got to know these owners. Also, because of their excellent home-cooked Taiwanese-style food, some of the New Hope church members began to frequent their cafe.

As they observed their most frequent customers, the family of one of New Hope's elders, Aaron Heidel, they became curious about how these young children were so well-behaved. They got into many discussions with this elder and his wife about child training and that led to opportunities to share the Gospel.

(This elder's wife, Jean Heidel, is the one who translated Judy's infant care book. She also heads the translation team for New Hope's bilingual service. Jean is writing her own book this year about her experience trying to implement the methods of Judy's book. She also has a special chapter on adoption since the Heidels have adopted four children so far. We are especially praying that the adoption chapter will have an impact on Taiwanese culture since traditionally adoption is frowned upon.)

As several of us from New Hope began to visit their cafe, we all were able to gradually, more and more, share with them the love of Christ. We all became friends and the Park Cafe even hosted an outreach event where Judy met some of her infant care book readers. Last November, one of the sisters, Amanda, began visiting our church regularly; her whole family came with her. Joel spent a lot of time talking with her and her husband about the Christianity.

This spring, Amanda, professed her faith in Jesus Christ, received baptism, and joined the church. Please pray for her family: her husband and two sons attend New Hope regularly but have not yet come to faith.

Click on this link to see a video of her baptism. We were very sad to miss it, but we had already come to the United States for a year of furlough.

You can listen here to the testimony with translation into English:


You'll notice that Joel's coworker Rev. Daniel Cohee is now serving New Hope as pastor. After seminary and some internships in the U.S., and a two-year mission in Romania, he had come to Taiwan to serve under Joel as a missionary intern. Then he went back to the U.S. to take his ordination exams, and raise support; now he has moved to the field as a long-term missionary. Please also pray for Daniel as he studies Mandarin and pastors New Hope. We praise God that because he was able to come for an internship for over a year, he already was able to adjust to Taiwan and so this time was ready to start right into his labors. Daniel plans to continue as interim pastor while this church looks for a long-term full-time pastor. Please pray for New Hope's pastor search. As Daniel's language improves and he transitions out of serving as the full-time pastor, he plans to expand his work in training Taiwanese men for church planting.

Pray

Please pray for Judy's extended family this February 28 as they remember the suffering their family went through in 1980. Pray that they all may come to know the Lord.

Here's a history piece one news organization put out this year about Judy's family. There are video footage and pictures in this news report that I have never seen before. I do not understand all of the Mandarin yet so cannot assess how it is narrated (whether completely accurate or sensationalized), but the pictures say a lot about what they went through.

The P5 video contains an interview with Rev. Tīⁿ Jî-gio̍k who happens to be one of my former Taiwanese teachers, someone who helped me out a lot on my first ever Taiwanese sermon I preached. (Here are links to the sermon in Taiwanese and translated into English.)

Jesus Loves the Little Children

Here's an article regarding Taiwan having the lowest birthrate in the world.



Here's an article about the longest practicing pediatrician in the world who retired at age 103 years, Dr. Leila Denmark of northern Georgia. She turned 112 this year. Judy wrote an infant care book based on the advice of my aunt with 11 children and their pediatrician Dr. Denmark, and Judy's book is not only helping to reach families with the Gospel but also helping to encourage families to have more children.

Click on the following to hear the testimony of one of Judy's book readers who became a Christian and then joined our Taipei church plant in 2009:





PRAYER REQUEST: Please pray for Judy and me as we plan to write a follow-up child-training book later this year. (Many of these families have been asking for one, and so we plan to write a book explaining what God has taught in His Word regarding how to train your children.) There are almost no Mandarin-language books from a Biblical perspective on the subject whereas there are some helpful English books out there, among them, To Train Up a Child, which gives very good practical illustrations about how discipline and training work out in many real-life situations.

Here is my sermon on Proverbs 13:24. I recently preached this passage at a church in Alabama.

Something to be encouraged about...

Brit Hume, a well-known and respected Fox News anchor, professes his faith on one of the most highly rated and watched news programs in the USA.