中華歸主海沃教會

(1) 台灣中原大學短宣

---Valerie Chan and team members

A couple months ago, The Crossing sent out a team to go to Taiwan on missions.  The team members were to be teachers at a two-week English camp for university students, called “The Art of Leadership: An Intensive Immersion English Language Experience.”

Our team from The Crossing was comprised of Samuel Bo, Nathaniel Tseng, Ryan Lee, Tracey Lin, and myself (Valerie Chan).  Joining our team were also former CFCC Hayward members Lance Toy (now living in San Diego) and Annie Liu (now living in Shanghai, China).  The Crossing’s mission team made up only a small part of the entire team working at Chong Yuan Christian University (CYCU).  We were joined by other Christians from Rutgers Community Christian Church in New Jersey and some Taiwan locals.  Included on this team were Pastor Tim Lee (The Crossing’s former pastor), Dr. Teng, members of ChongLi Campus Christian Church (CCCC), and staff from the Office of International Affairs of CYCU.

The English camp took place from June 29^th to July 10^th.  In a typical camp day, which lasted from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm, we would have icebreaker exercises, Pastor Tim would give one or two lectures, and we would do various class exercises (to learn English idioms, to read and discuss articles, and to practice conversation).   The camp focused on having the Taiwanese students learn English by immersion.  This meant that instead of teaching them grammar and vocabulary directly, we would be teaching them in the context of leadership skills and principles.  We emphasized these leadership skills and principles by discussing prominent figures like Mother Teresa, William Wilberforce, and Jesus Christ.  While we were not supposed to explicitly talk about being a Christian in class, our hope was that by introducing these people and by building relationships with our students outside of the classroom, we would be able to demonstrate to them the love of Christ and evangelize to them through our personal relationships.  Incorporated into the camp were two gym nights, where the teachers would play various sports with the students, and two Gospel dinner parties.  These Gospel dinner parties included a skit or drama in which what Jesus has done for us would be demonstrated, two or three testimonies, and a message from the pastor of CCCC. 

The mission team members’ schedule had more things packed into it than just the camp.  We had a lot of planned activities in the evenings of the two weeks of camp, including dinners with University staff and prayer/worship meetings to minister to ourselves.  We began training with Pastor Tim and Penny the Thursday before the camp started.  In the training, we got to know other team members, covered curriculum and teaching methods, talked about how to evangelize and share our testimonies, and also learned about the culture of the Taiwanese.  During the training, Pastor Tim and Penny very appropriately emphasized that this would be a spiritual battle.  The Enemy would attack from all angles because we were here to intentionally share Good News about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  But key things we were to remember were: God has already overcome the world- we just need to be faithful to Him in what we do; it is God who changes hearts, not man; and it is such a blessing to be in Taiwan on this missions trip in order to be used by God and to see Him do His work in Taiwan!

As we had learned when Penny told us about Taiwanese culture and history, it was evident that religion and culture are all mixed together for the Taiwanese.  They are not very distinct from each other.  Religions are mixed together as well; the Taiwanese tend to turn to whatever god it is that they need help from, whether it was for academics, finances, or anything else.  It became very evident to me that it is hard for the Taiwanese to accept that there is only one God and that Jesus is the only way to God.  However, there were certainly success stories in Taiwan and I will proceed to share several of them with you.

I would first like to tell you about Cindy.  Tracey and I had a group of 10 students, and Cindy was one of them.  About halfway through my time at the English camp, I felt that I wanted too much to be the one to share the Gospel with my students, and that I wanted to do this on my own strength.  I prayed and asked God that He would be the one to do the work, and He answered the very next day!  After lunch, our group went to the afternoon lecture, and there was a very old Chinese Bible on the seats.  Cindy picked it up and asked me some questions about what the Bible contained.  Then she asked me to tell our class a Bible story!  I enthusiastically agreed to do so, praising God for what He had just done.  On our way to our classroom, we saw a large group of students that were from a Christian camp being held at CYCU.  They had heavy chains around their neck and a good number of them were holding large wooden crosses.  I told my group that these people were reenacting Christ’s walk to Calvary.  Cindy then asked if I would specifically tell this story to our class.  It was very obvious that God had worked in this situation so that this student of ours would ask us to share the Gospel with our entire class!  I am pretty sure that at the end of the class, it was Cindy who wrote on the anonymous student evaluations that she enjoyed learning more about who Jesus was. 

I would also like to tell you about Shelly.  Shelly was a staff member with the Office of International Affairs at CYCU.  She lived with us in the dorms and talked with us a lot.  I remember asking her if she was a Christian, and her answer was, “Not yet.”  Annie Liu later shared with me that Shelly had said she was very encouraged to see us come all the way from America just to share about Jesus Christ.  Our love and attitudes made her want to know more about Jesus and be able to follow Him.  It was a real eye-opener to think that we were in Taiwan not only affecting the students in the camp, but also everyone and anyone around us!

Kara was another missions team member.  She is originally from Canada, but has been living in Taiwan as a missionary for the past one and a half years.  She wanted to invite some of her local friends to one of our Gospel dinner parties, but ended up inviting the wrong friend- it was someone else with the same name in her phone book!  Amazingly though, this friend had brought other friends to the Gospel dinner party, and they became very interested in learning more about Jesus and what it means to be a Christian.  It is obvious that God knew who He wanted to invite from Kara’s phone book!  Praise the Lord for the seeds that were planted through this!

Then there’s Annie.  Annie Liu ,on our missions team, was dealing with a lot of darkness in her heart that the Enemy was feeding her.  Shanghai is a very spiritually dark place, and a lot of things were coming up to discourage her while she was in Taiwan.  Grace, another team member, and I spent a good amount of time praying intently for Annie.  Annie also received prayer from Pastor Gao of CCCC.  Praise the Lord that He took away the darkness and lies the Enemy was feeding her.  She is still working through this, but her spirits were much more lifted at the end of the camp.  Additionally, God used Annie and the issues she had dealt with in the past; a student of hers identified very closely with Annie’s past and was very moved by what Annie shared with her about Jesus.  She came to accept Christ!  Praise the Lord!

Last, but not least, I want to tell you about Vic.  Vic was in my and Tracey’s group.  He was a member of CCCC, but I found out that he had not become a Christian until sometime in the past year.  He had attended the English camp last year (he was in Christine Kuo’s and Karen Hsi’s group) and after the teachers had left, he had accepted Christ!  Now he was coming back to the English camp so that he could connect with other students that were not Christians in the class and be a liaison between the church and the camp.  I was so touched by how much he wanted to share with the students the Good News about Jesus Christ.  He encouraged me as well.  It was a real blessing to see this fruit from the previous year. 

From this missions trip, I learned a lot of things.  I am always learning because God is always teaching me.  But particularly during my time in Taiwan, I was able to take a lot of things that I know in my head and transfer them to my heart.  First and foremost, I learned that prayer is very important.  I cannot emphasize this enough.  It is always a spiritual battle, and that is the most important battle to fight.  Don’t be afraid to ask for faith and wisdom; God will give these to you.  I also saw during my time in Taiwan that God is the same everywhere.   Even though I was halfway across the world, in a country where I barely understood the language, where the people dressed completely differently than I do, and where the weather is unbearable- God is the exact same and He is so good.  And the last thing I want to share about what I learned is that where you are is your mission field.  You don’t have to go all the way to Taiwan, or some other country- although I do highly encourage you to go on short term or long term missions if you have the opportunity.  What I am saying is that God has placed us in our specific places for a reason, whether it’s at work, home, or school.  We need to be very aware of the people around us and we need to be praying very intentionally for all of them and for what we do. 

In closing, I want to say that the battle was fought, we had many triumphs, and seeds were planted.  But know that the battle continues, and remember that God has already overcome the world.  All we have to do is make sure we are fighting with all our might on His side. "