April 11, 2010
Reported by staff reporters
Written by Lydia Ma

When a thousand Christians from different denominations gather to praise God and proclaim the gospel together, the display of unity and harmony in Christ can be quite an amazing sight to behold.

This is exactly what happened on Easter Sunday this year when more than a thousand Christians from Presbyterian, Baptist, Alliance, Methodist, and other denominations celebrated Easter together through a joint Easter worship service at Jinghua Park in Taipei City. This was the first time ten churches in Jingmei area had held a joint Easter service.

Prior to this event, Jingmei Presbyterian Church pastor, Rev. Ong Shih-Jiun, had ordered ten thousand copies of Heart Farmer and one thousand copies of Taiwan Church News so that Christians could distribute them on the street after the service and do a little bit of evangelism.

Following the service, many church members began walking along section 6 of Roosevelt Road to distribute these two periodicals to everyone they met. It was a good day to tell people about the meaning of Easter.

In another area of Taipei, Seven Stars Presbytery also held a joint Easter worship service at Nangang Sports Center. A total of 16 churches and more than 1,000 people attended this service.

Following the service at Nangang, Morning Star Dance Troupe was invited to perform a family-friendly musical. It performed a musical on the theme of "God is with me" and reminded the audience that as long as people remember that God is with them all the time, they can overcome all of life's obstacles and challenges.

Easter concert in Taichung focuses on youth

In Taichung area, Tsao-Town Presbyterian Church held a youth concert on Saturday, April 3, to celebrate Easter. The concert was designed to attract non-Christian youth and included testimonies in between. About 300 youth attended this concert featuring a well-known Christian band, The Rock.

Church leaders hoped the concert would not only lead non-Christian youth to Christ, but also strengthen the faith of young Christians.

The Rock was invited by Tsao-Town Church to lead worship during Easter Sunday service the following day. Since there were more elderly people at the Sunday service, the band chose Taiwanese hymns and slower songs so that the whole congregation could worship God together using a common language and some familiar songs.

Easter activities in Tainan

In southern Taiwan, Tainan Council of Churches, Sinlau Hospital, Eden Social Welfare Foundation, and other organizations teamed up to hold a bazaar to support Eden Foundation's ministries. The goal of this event was to sell all 1,500 bazaar tickets and help Eden Foundation raise enough funds to support children from marginalized families across Taiwan.

The bazaar was held at National Cheng Kung University and featured items for sale, delicacies from several countries, as well as games for kids. A few celebrities and popular bands were also invited to perform at the bazaar, making the event a bit more fun.

Because Easter Sunday this year coincided with Women and Children Day, Sinlau Hospital performed community service by setting up a few booths for doctors and nurses to offer free medical examinations.

Eden began assisting children from poor families in 2006. With help from churches, volunteers, and local communities, it endeavors to provide 1,200 children from poorfamilies with after-school programs such as tutoring so that children will no longer wander the streets after school, but rather, find a place where they can settle down to study, and perhaps change the course of their future for the better.

Aborigine youth celebrate Easter

Aborigine youth from Paiwan Presbytery didn't go to the usual spring concert held at Kenting this year, but rather, chose to celebrate Easter with fasting, prayer, and worship with fellow Christians.

Aborigines from Paiwan Presbytery churches marked Easter with a joint prayer meeting followed by a worship service. Christians fasted and prayed together for their families, churches, Taiwan and the world. Youth from Paiwan Presbytery were involved in relief efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot last year. Youth fellowships formed counseling groups to help one another. Many youth became stronger and better equipped the more they served others and later became youth ministry leaders.

Paiwan youth ministry leaders urged youth gathered at the prayer meeting to support missions through financial offerings and gave each youth an offering box made out of bamboo. The goal set by youth ministry leaders is for each person to contribute at least NT$50 every month. This would translate into NT$600 of offering per individual every year toward missions and youth ministry.

Taiwan Church News