Christmas in Taiwan: Part 4

(Editor's Note: This is the fourth installment of a blog series about the author's recent trip to Taiwan. Click for Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3).

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6-8).

On Monday morning, we worked alongside Betsy’s (not her real name) children to assemble some items to offer the students we would encounter later in the week. We stapled candy canes to small cards explaining the meaning of the candy’s stripes, colors, and shapes. We also had some American Family Association “Keep Christ in Christmas” bands to share, so we separated those into bundles for each class.

After lunch, the adults headed into Taipei to the Pearl Family Garden Outreach located in Wanhua, the oldest district in Taipei.

Tera van Twillert left her home in Holland in 1993 and moved to Wanhua in Taiwan to serve a church founded by Overseas Mission Fellowship (OMF), her sending organization. As she began serving the homeless and other marginalized people in the neighborhood around the church, she noticed that many of the ladies there worked in the sex trade. God began to burden Tera’s heart about these women.

In 2005, van Twillert began a ministry, the Pearl Family Garden Outreach, to the women in the red-light district. She says, “Jesus is the pearl of great price. When women know how precious Jesus is and what He has done for them, they will also know their own value.” 

Pearl Family Garden has several locations around the island but hopes to expand the ministry to red-light districts throughout Taiwan. The ministry offers various programs – like Bible studies, English classes, and crafting – to the women in their communities. Participating in these activities gives these women the opportunity for a sense of belonging and even to make money by selling their crafts. One such woman we met on our visit. I believe she attended classes and events at Pearl for 18 years before she came to salvation in Jesus.

Please pray for churches to partner with the ministry to reach the sex workers and other marginalized women of Taiwan’s red-light districts.

When we left Pearl Garden and the hope represented there, we visited the Banga Lungshan Temple. According to a sign outside the temple: “As one of the largest and most popular temples in Taiwan, it worships Guanyin Bodhisattva, the Goddess of Mercy, among many other Folk beliefs. Originally built as a place of worship and assembly for the Han-Chinese immigrants, the temple now serves as the spiritual and religious center of the Nation.”

According to a 2022 report from the U.S. State Department, Taiwan’s religious makeup is largely a mix of traditional religions (27.9%), Buddhism (19.8%), and Taoism (18.7%). Only a tiny minority (5.5%) identify as Protestant Christians. Taiwanese culture is tolerant of many beliefs; whatever religion a person chooses is up to them – at least as far as the government is concerned. However, many Taiwanese people may be less tolerant of their family members who choose a different form of faith than their own.

To my understanding, the traditional religions believe that the spirits of the dead continue to exist on Earth after their physical lives have ended. And the quality of one’s life in the spirit world is determined by the food and gifts their relatives provide for them. There is also a practice of burning paper money (Joss paper or spirit money, specially made for this practice) for ancestors to use in the afterlife. So, if a person turns to faith in Christ, then the parents who believe this way fear they will not be cared for in the afterlife, and that can cause a lot of hurt within the family.

This temple was probably one of the saddest places I visited in Taiwan. Although Pearl Family Garden is located in a spiritually dark place, the ministry is bringing the light of Jesus into that darkness. But this elaborately decorated temple, covered with brightly painted and ornate carvings … is a place of great darkness, where people worship the created instead of the Creator.

An interesting thing I noticed as we walked around the temple was that many Taiwanese “worshipers” are very similar to many American Christians … well, American churchgoers. For many people in both countries, attending church or visiting the temple is merely a head-nod to a faith they have no real commitment to or belief in.

For example, I noticed one gentleman on his knees, bowed down before the particular deity he was calling on. His forehead touched the ground numerous times as he earnestly prayed to the statue in front of him.

And then I saw a man dressed in business attire, who, as he passed by a statue, glanced toward it, folded his hands in prayer, and swiftly nodded three times as he continued walking, never stopping or even pausing. His manner made it appear that he hoped no one saw him. Maybe everyone else overlooked him.

But you cannot overlook the idols in Taipei. They are in parking lots, on top of buildings, on hillsides, outside of homes, and inside of restaurants. In Taiwan, idols may look like golden statues. And in America, they may look like a bank account worth seven figures … or the child living under your roof. But whatever their appearance, they abound in America and around the world, and Jesus commissioned His disciples to counteract their message.

He didn’t call us to bow down before a statue; He wants us to bow our desires in surrender to His.

He doesn’t ask us to leave Him gifts that will rot and tarnish with time or turn to ashes in a fire. Instead, He desires us to love and obey Him and to serve the people He puts in our paths.

Jesus didn’t call us to practice a religion. He called us to live in a vibrant, loving relationship with Him and to show others how they can do the same.