Moderator: please move this to a more appropriate location as necessary
I am helping a Presbyterian Church of Taiwan congregation to start an English worship service on Sunday afternoons beginning March 5th.
The hope is that this is a congregation that will be truly multicultural and will be rooted in a local denomination (the Presbyterian Church is the largest Protestant church in Taiwan). It will begin at 1:30 and last for about an hour. All are welcome, and if you would like to be part of getting it started your help would be greatly appreciated.
This congregation (Suanlien Presbyterian) currently has a number of worship services in Mandarin and Taiwanese and the hope is that this new service would provide a place where people could also volunteer, learn more about Taiwanese culture, get acclimated, find a place for fellowship, etc, etc, etc.
Actually, the first proposal was for 8:30AM, which I explained was a bit early. So I am very glad to have group affirmation of the afternoon time!
Music is flexible. There are lots of good musicians involved, but they probably lean a bit classical. However, all things are possible, and any requests/suggestions/preferences are great. Gospel should definitely be part of the mix.
Maoman, I’m not the first person to notice that Jesus’s first miracle was turning water into wine…
I’ll post info as it gets closer. There should be a simple website up in a couple of weeks.
Hi Everyone, plans are coming along. It is a bit quiet now because of New Year, but we are going to do some practices on the 12th and 19th and then get going for real on March 5. My hope is that this will be a place open to lots of folk from different backgrounds.
Areas where advice is especially helpful:
Education. There will probably be some Sunday School afterwards. We will have at least one Bible Study but may do some other things also. We might try a study on CS Lewis and Tolkien, or an Intro to Christianity, or even something on Taiwanese or World Christianity. Any thoughts are welcome.
Music. If you have specific song ideas it will help. I’m kind of hoping for a mix. I know musicians can be particular, so it helps to be able to say, “three people have told me they like ___.”
That’s about it for now. A basic website with directions and more info should be up soon (the nice thing is that you can get to this church easily from almost anywhere in Taipei by bus or MRT).
All right, we now have info on the web. Go to: www.slpc.org.tw
Click on “English Worship” on the right. It gets you a poster for our service and extensive directions. The church is near the Minquan and Shuanglian stations on the red line and is easy to reach by bus too. It’s next to a Caves Books, KFC, and Subway (the bottom floor of the church is a bank, which can be a bit confusing).
The church is Suanglien Presbyterian Church. We start March 5th at 1:30PM, with a time to hang out and talk afterwards. For those interested, on the 12th we’ll have classes for those who interested–probably one adult and one youth/young adult.
Music will be mostly hymns at first, but there can be some variety. This church actually has a really good youth contemporary service in Mandarin at 10 (good guitarists, percussion, etc., as opposed to mediocre keyboard.).
It will be interesting to see who comes! I know that there are already some very good, strong English-language churches in Taipei, but I think this will fill a niche. So, if you enjoy being part of something new, or are willing to give it a shot, you’re very, very welcome.
Tomorrow’s the day–all are welcome. Should be a good group from the regular congregation as well as a number of guests. If you have any questions feel free to call, e-mail, etc.
does the church provide “baby room”?
If so, pls do reply me as the time is just perfect for us and would like to join the service from next week. (March 12)
I wanted to thank the brave internationals who came today. Today became a fairly official “Getting Started” service and while it was a wonderful turnout (150), it was mostly overdressed Taiwanese Presbyterians. Thank you so much to those who braved it out.
I really appreciate those who came. My hope is that eventually it will become a more multicultural, flexible service. This is just starting and I am still not sure what exactly it will become. We’ll do more intentional international outreach for Easter and believe that this will become something great.
I am really sorry to hear that–actually my school is right across from Calvary and I visited once when I first came.
I’ve heard him before and appreciated his commitment to Taiwan and the international community that exists here.
One great thing about being involved in this new service is I’ve gotten to hear about some of the work that others are doing and learn more about the different international ministries in Taiwan. There really is a breadth here that is impressive–many denominations and groups from all places.
Just a quick update. I’ve left Taiwan but this ministry continues (now almost two years later). The pastor–Peter–is very cool and worth getting to know. They have a new website up:
This congregation is rooted in the life of a Taiwanese congregation and is well worth a visit. The service is on the 10th floor of a very tall building. I always used to miss the building since on the bottom floor it looks like a bank. There’s a KFC and Caves next door.
Taipei is a fun place to church hop, but this is a good place to check out. Even if you’re just in town for a weekend, it can be a good experience.
