Christmas in Taiwan: Part 5

(Editor's Note: This is the fifth installment of a blog series about the author's recent trip to Taiwan. Click for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4).

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation ( 2 Corinthians 5:17-1)

On the Tuesday morning of our trip to Taiwan, Betsy took us to meet a pastor in a “rural” area about 40 minutes from our lodging in Taipei City.

For those of us who live in the USA (especially outside of the larger cities), rural probably brings to mind images of open fields, two-lane country roads, and single-family homes that are sparse or in small clusters. But in Taipei, “rural” looks like 6-story buildings and some empty lots here and there, compared to the city with its skyscrapers and its wall-to-wall traffic, buildings, and people. What they call rural is more of what we might consider suburbs. I asked Betsy if there were any areas of single-family homes, what Americans might call subdivisions or neighborhoods. As I recall, she told me the only thing she had seen near Taipei was when she visited a place that housed two or three families and was situated in the middle of tea fields.

So, on Tuesday, we traveled to Yingge District to meet with Pastor M and accompany him on a prayer walk near his church, which ended up being a distance of about 3 miles. One of our main purposes for this walk was to pray at the schools in the area that there would be open doors for the Christmas and Easter teams to take the story of Jesus into new locations. This is actually how the ministry began – through prayer walking.

The International Mission Board explains that on its website. It says,

“The school presentations began approximately 20 years ago when IMB workers were prayer walking in Taipei and passed a local school. The guard at the front of the school gate struck up a conversation and asked them if they’d share their culture with the students.”

Side note: While Jan and I were still waiting for God’s leading regarding where He wanted us to go on a mission trip, we heard a missions pastor say that prayer walking is a waste of time and money and that prayer is something we can do anywhere. I was stunned by that statement, even though I had not yet been off American soil. But after spending time on the ground in Taiwan – seeing the people on the streets, talking with Pastor M as we walked and prayed, and hearing about interactions like the one described in the previous paragraph – I am more convinced than ever that prayer-walking is a valuable tool and far from a waste.

As we walked, Pastor M told us about the different places we saw, many of which we prayed over:

• Several schools, including one we would visit later in the week.
• A warehouse with stacks of boxes of the Joss/spirit paper I mentioned in part 4.
• A brand-new train station that will allow for easier travel between Yingge and other areas of Taiwan.
• A small, park-like area near the temporary housing of foreign construction workers, some of whom often set up hammocks and relax under the trees when they are not working.
• A park where a couple of young women were pushing a child in a swing.
• More shrines to some of the deities worshiped in the country.

As I mentioned, there are foreign construction workers in this area. That’s because Taiwan has a lot of building to do, but at the same time, there is a labor shortage in all areas, not the least of which is construction. Therefore, over recent years, the Taiwanese government has relaxed restrictions on migrant workers, opening its doors to thousands of construction laborers from places like Thailand and Vietnam. These are some of the people Pastor M hopes to impact with the gospel. If he can reach them in Taiwan, they can take the message of Christ back to their home countries.

After enjoying a traditional, family-style lunch with Pastor M at a local restaurant, we finished our prayer walk and returned to Taipei City. A little later, we rode with Betsy and her family to Maokong Mountain and rode the Maokong Gondola in a glass cable car. This was a beautiful way to finish our day, as we saw the sun set over the mountain and Taipei City.  We enjoyed a walk around Maokong before reboarding the gondola. As we traveled back down the mountain, I took the picture below, looking toward Taipei City. 

This picture saddens me every time I look at it because it reminds me that of all the people represented by those automobiles, only a tiny percentage are likely followers of Christ … less than 6%. For me, all those headlights and taillights bring into focus the scope of Jesus’ commission to His followers.

People need to know that Jesus loves them so much that He died for them. They need to know that there is freedom to be found in Him, and they need to know that the choices they have made – or the lifestyles forced upon them – do not have to define their lives. From immigrant construction workers … to “the ladies” in the red-light districts around the world … to Americans “living their best lives,” Jesus offers every person a new life – one that is marked by His love, His forgiveness, and His grace.

We have the responsibility and privilege of sharing the source of that new life with those we encounter. (This is the “word of reconciliation” Paul spoke of in 2 Corinthians 5.) Whether we meet them on a prayer walk in Taiwan or see them across the tables in our own homes, every human being needs a Savior – namely Jesus – and, as John 1:12-13 says:

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

If you have been “born of God,” don’t stick around in the old “house” you formerly lived in. God has a brand-new home for you – a whole new life! You don’t even have to pack up; it’s all-new, just waiting for you to walk in and start living like the child of God you are!