February 7, 2010
Reported by Simon Lin
Written by Lydia Ma

PCT Tainan Presbytery's Tai-peng-keng Maxwell Memorial Church held a rite of passage ceremony on January 27 attended by more than 500 people. The purpose of the event was to convey the importance of faith and maturity through a rite of passage ceremony for all 12-year-olds that included skits and songs.

Event organizers made crowns for every 12-year-old to wear and highlighted that turning 12 is an important coming-of-age event in Jewish culture. As 12-year-olds took turns crossing a makeshift tunnel during a segment of the ceremony, they were greeted by their peers. Every child who was 12 years old was also given one fresh lily as a small token of their journey into adulthood.

According to Jewish traditions, after a child turns 12, he is considered an adult and must assume responsibility for himself, said event organizer Lu Chun-ying. Her church began studying Jewish culture and Biblical references of Jesus as an adolescent back in 1999, and later began holding rite of passage ceremonies for church youth in hopes of instilling in them Christ-like characters and nurture their faith in God.

According to Lu, lilies represent a life on the road to maturity and every child's future is in God's hands. Event organizers posted signs of several moral attributes on the front of the makeshift tunnel for every child to see and remember and also instructed every 12 year old to distribute small gifts to everyone in the audience at the end of the ceremony as a means for them to start practicing how to serve others.

Taiwan Church News