May 16, 2010
Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong
Written by Lydia Ma

Four years ago, a small church in Sinpi Village, Pingtung County, decided to hold a children summer camp every year. Since Sinpi Presbyterian Church had very limited resources, it enlisted the help of youth from Taipei's Chien-Cheng Presbyterian Church. Since then, youth from Chien-Cheng have traveled to Pingtung every summer to serve at this camp.

One of the beneficiaries of this summer camp is Shiang-Tan Elementary School, a small school that has received a lot of help from both churches in the past few years. Chien-Cheng Church recently held a concert to raise funds to help Shiang- Tan School provide healthy lunches to students. 21 students from the school traveled to Taipei and performed at this concert.

When interviewed by Taiwan Church News, Shiang-Tan Elementary School's Principal Chen Te-shing said he deeply appreciated and agreed with the life education program run by Sinpi Church at his school. He was aware of the tremendous work volunteers had invested in designing this program.

More importantly, he has seen first-hand how many students mature and widen their perspectives after attending life education classes. That is one of the reasons he has repeatedly turned down Buddhist Compassion Relief (Tzu Chi) Foundation's version of character education programs – even though such a decision may cost him his job.

Chen cited several reasons for turning down Tzu-Chi Foundation, including his conviction that schools don't need to display or teach Master Cheng Yen's aphorisms because Taiwan is no longer under martial law.

He added that allowing an organization that practices class differentiation to teach morality to children is self-contradictory. He also felt that Tzu-Chi spent more time proselyting than actually teaching students and helping them widen their perspectives.

Surprisingly, parents are agreeing and supporting Chen's view on this matter – perhaps after having witnessed how much churches have truly helped their community become a better place in the past few years.

According to Chen, the borough where the school is located is notorious for people with drinking and gambling addictions. Many people in the area are also extremely superstitious because of their devotion to folk religion.

However, this non-Christian school principal has witnessed the sincerity with which Christians minister to people in the community and help their children get proper life perspective by addressing important issues during classes.

"Sinpi Church is like a light to this community – it's the hope of this community," said Chen.

Every Sunday, Sinpi Church sends out a few vans to pick up students from Shiang- Tan School in time for Sunday School. This pick-up service has been in place for a few years already.

Based on the enthusiastic response and transformation of children after attending Sunday Schools and summer camps organized by Sinpi Church, school officials at Siang-Tan School are more than happy to partner with the church in offering more after-school programs.

According to Chen, the church exerts positive influence on students by instructing them to do their homework diligently and observe basic moral principles. That is why school officials have always taken initiative assuring parents that their children are in good hands.

The church also encourages children to go to church on time on Sundays. For non- Christian parents to feel comfortable letting their children go to church is a powerful testimony of the impact church members, young and old, have left on Sinpi Village.

Taiwan Church News