January 17, 2010
Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan
Written by Lydia Ma

About one year ago, Paiwan Presbytery's Jia-Chung Church began sweeping a main road bordering Kuei-Chung and Chi-Jia villages on the first Sunday of every month. Very early in the morning, some 20 church members head out to sweep this road together just before Sunday services.

According to the church's pastor, Rev. Galaigai, it's harder for villagers to darken a church door, therefore, the church is going the extra mile in reaching out to the community. The ultimate purpose of sweeping this main road is to share the gospel through community service. "Christians should be more than happy to help out in the menial tasks that people aren't willing to do," she said.

Though there are quite a few churches in the area, there aren't many Christian Aborigines. "For the sake of furthering the gospel, we have to try different ministries. But churches must step out of church walls instead of waiting for opportunities to drop on their laps," said Galaigai.

With this in mind, she went about thinking of original ministries that would create a win-win scenario for her church and her community. After a lot of prayer, God gave her this idea and she began leading her congregation in sweeping this main artery as a means to serve the community.

When interviewed, Galaigai emphasized the importance of beginning every initiative with serious prayer. "This ministry came about after a lot of prayer and there's no turning back after we step out," she said, underlining the fact that this ministry is a covenant with God and will go on permanently.

Jia-Chung members chose the first Sunday of every month to sweep this main artery. On that day, they usually convene at 6:00 a.m. for a ride up the mountain. After a saying group prayer, they unload their tools and begin to sweep this 1 km long trail that winds down the mountain. In the beginning, only church members participated in this activity, but some villagers soon joined in and began sweeping portions of the road the church had left undone. Now, every time the church begins to sweep, majors from both towns will usually show their appreciation with an announcement through loudspeakers and they also remind villagers to go out and help with the clean-up.

According to reports, about 8 Aborigines came to church for the first time last year after getting to know some church members through this road sweeping project. From Galaigai's perspective, this is proof that the project is producing the desired evangelistic effect.

Despite some success, Galaigai doesn't shy away from admitting that there are challenges as well. For example, one Aborigine villager accused the church of using this activity to show off and sell a religious agenda, triggering a dispute between the villager and a church member. Though the incident was eventually resolved and the villager later apologized and sent gifts to the church, this incident serves as a reminder that churches must use prayer and discernment to handle delicate situations arising from outreach ministries.

Taiwan Church News