Taiwan
October 2024
Dear Praying Friends:
Lost in deep darkness
About a dozen years ago, riding on a train entering Taipei from the south, I saw a scene that, though familiar, struck me powerfully. We were in a commercial district, with shiny new buildings. It was noon, during lunch hour. Office workers, the women in fashionable outfits and high heels and the men in white shirts and ties, were throwing paper money into small incinerators dedicated to the worship of idols. All over Taiwan, millions of people in all classes were doing the same thing.
Their purpose? To appease various “gods,” lest the angry ghosts come and harm them. This ritual, and others related to it, takes place regularly twice a month, at the full moon and half moon.
A couple of years before, I was crossing a busy street not far from where we had lived. I heard loud gongs and drums as I approached, and thought I knew what was going on. Sure enough, when I reached the intersection, I found it blocked with crowds who had assembled along the way to view the birthday procession of the statue of a “god” in a large chair carried by several strong men.
Even though Taiwan is one of the world’s most highly educated and technologically advanced societies, so-called “popular Chinese religion” commands the loyalties of at least three-fourths of the population, most of whom also have a “god-shelf” in their homes, where incense is offered to their ancestors.
To be sure, college-educated citizens are slightly less likely to participate in these rituals, but many, perhaps most, “hedge their bets” by observing regular religious ceremonies of some sort, at least during Chinese New Year. Taiwan has the highest proportion of temples per person in the entire world. The government actively supports Buddhism, Taoism, and popular Chinese religion.
What about the Christians?
Unlike Mainland China, Taiwanese enjoy complete freedom of religion, with no hindrances to belief or practice. There may be as many as 600,000 Protestants and 300,000 Roman Catholics in Taiwan, but too many of these are nominal believers.
As in the West, their main problems are materialism, hedonism, and general worldliness, abetted by shallow evangelism that only requires a simple profession of faith for those seeking baptism. My impression is that most of those who attend the church where we used to serve, and many other evangelical congregations, are sincere followers of Christ. Overall, however, they may be outnumbered by adherents either to a traditional but lifeless Christianity or to a “name it and claim it” form of the “prosperity gospel.”
How long will religious freedom last? No one knows, of course, but China’s president vows to “recover” Taiwan soon, and there is little to stop him.
Our stake in Taiwan
Dori and I have several dozen old friends there, whom I try to call while I still can.
Most of my Chinese-language books are published in Taiwan, including the Greek-Chinese Lexicon of the New Testament; a six-volume abridgment of Carl Henry’s God, Revelation and Authority; The Lord’s Healing Words; Confucius and Christ; The Road Home: A Faith for the 21st Century; and my autobiography. The Chinese edition of my book on Carl Henry, published in Hong Kong, is sold in Taiwan also.
CI Partner Dr. Huang engages in a wide-reaching online and in-person ministry of theological instruction and training for Christians. GCC Associate Dr. Cole Carnesecca teaches Philosophy of Life, Philosophy of Religion, and Sociology of Religion in a major private university. He serves as an elder in their church, frequently preaching on Sundays, and he and his Taiwanese wife, Apple, lead the international Christian fellowship of the school’s chaplaincy office. They also have a new baby.
Pray for Taiwan Please ask God to
- Bring many out of darkness and into the light; revive the church in Taiwan; and preserve religious freedom.
- Use my books to strengthen Christians and lead others to Christ.
- Empower our friends and associates there to bear effective witness to the truth.
- Use Christian ministries in Taiwan, like China Evangelical Seminary (https://wp.ces.org.tw/english/), where I used to teach, and missionary organizations like OMF Taiwan, (omf.org/east-asia/taiwan), with whom we served from 1975 to 1988, to spread the gospel widely and effectively.
“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12).
Your fellow witness to the light,
Wright