April 25, 2010
Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong
Written by Lydia Ma

"We're very grateful for the support we've received from the General Assembly and from local churches. Their help has enabled us to grow from district to presbytery. We're very excited," said Rev. Pelenge, General Secretary of the new Rukai Presbytery.

Rev. Pelenge added that seeing Rukai District become a presbytery is a milestone many people in the church had been anticipating. This goal was finally attained when PCT General Assembly approved a motion during its recent annual assembly.

Rukai Presbytery staffs are extremely excited and already convened the first Rukai Presbytery Assembly on April 10; just one day after the motion had passed in the PCT General Assembly. They elected the presbytery's first moderator, Rev. Kaynwane, during that presbytery assembly and will convene another assembly shortly to discuss presbytery affairs.

According to Rev. Pelenge, Rukai celebrated its 22nd anniversary since becoming a church district last year. Many people have been looking forward to seeing it grow into presbytery for a long time. However, because Rukai Aborigines are such a small population in Taiwan and there are only about 2,000 Rukai Aborigines within the PCT, this goal seemed unattainable.

However, after a lot of hard work and evangelism, the district built 16 churches over time and is finally a presbytery now. It plans to hold a thanksgiving service on June 16 to thank God for blessing and leading its ministries.

Incidentally, 3 of the 16 churches belonging to Rukai Presbytery are located in Pingtung City, Kaohsiung City, and Taipei County. Rev. Pelenge said many aborigines have a hard time finding jobs at home and the government has closed down schools with insufficient students near Aborigine reservations. As result, more people are leaving Aborigine reservations for life and work in urban areas. To care for these people, Rukai churches have been founded in a few cities. If Rukai Aborigines stop meeting with one another as they adjust to urban life, they will eventually lose their sense of identity after they adopt new lifestyles and mainstream culture, said Rev. Pelenge. Hence, churches play an important role in keeping ethnic traditions alive as well.

Having explained these challenges, Rev. Pelenge said he hoped urban churches would join him and other Aborigine churches in protecting the ethnic diversity within PCT. He urged city churches to assist Aborigine churches with enthusiasm and remember Rukai Presbytery in their prayers.

Taiwan Church News