“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.”  (Mat. 5:14)

As a Church, our 40-Year Vision is as audacious as it is inspiring. (Note 1)  As we strive to be “a city on a hill” and implement our vision to engage the society through activities ranging from personal relationships to media evangelism, we are seeing the Lord leading us and blessing us with many victories just in the last few weeks:

1.      On July 30^th, a public family event co-sponsored with Les Enphants, (a famous children clothing chain), brought hundreds of people, including Taiwan’s Vice-president Lu.  Our Sector Leader, Kevin, was able to share with her about our church.  At the same time, MK ministry also registered 60 fathers to be part of our new “ISO Fatherhood” program. (Note 2) 

2.      Later the same day, we also participated in another press conference for the launching of a book on engagement proposal stories.  It took our sister, Gloria Wong, two years to compile and edit into a book close to 50 creative engagement proposal stories from among the disciples in the church.  After a strategic sponsorship from a diamond company, this book finally came out, in time for the Chinese Valentine’s Day.  Since all the couples mentioned in the book are disciples in the church, we plan to buy these books to give to our friends and share with them our great dating relationships in the Kingdom!

3.      The following day, on August 1^st, we participated in yet another press conference.  This time, it was with Excel magazine of Taiwan, to announce a result of a survey on the topic of Taiwan’s working class men.  It had been a joint effort between the magazine and the church, where the latter provided 800 surveys for the former for an in-depth analysis.  The surveys provided another opportunity for the disciples to reach out to their friends and colleagues; at the same time, both the results and our church were mentioned in a number of newspapers the next day.

4.      A week later, on August 7^th, our church and HOPE Taipei received a great honor when both were selected into the Taiwan Mentor Program.  President Chen presided over the award ceremony at the Presidential Palace.  This program recognizes groups or individuals who have contributed to the society in non-academic ways in Taiwan.  Our two Sector Leaders, Kevin and James, represented the church and HOPE at the presentation, with which, not only are we recognized nationally, our evangelistic activities become “official business.”

5.      The following day, on August 8^th, we participated in our third press conference.  This time it is with Mababy magazine, with whom we also had a joint-venture to survey more than 2,000 elementary school children on how they “score” their fathers in various area of parenting.  The results, as well as the church, were in many of the newspapers and internet news the following day.

We don’t know why the Lord arranged the flurry of media events, but we do know that the public is now more aware of a group of dedicated Christians who want to engage the society and bring hope and good news to them.  Already, these media events have created a familiarity that is very helpful when we share our faith on the street.

(Note 1): 40-Year Vision

First 10 Years: 1991-2000:  Building a foundation

Second 10 Years: 2001-2010:  Engaging the society

Third 10 Years: 2011-2020:  Establishing our presence

Fourth 10 Years: 2021-2030:  Defining Christianity in Taiwan

(Note 2): “ISO Fatherhood” Program

In scores of industries, ISO standards are being established in many places.  Many licenses, after rigorous testing, are awarded to various qualifiers.  We can’t help but wonder if there is a “standard” or any test that would qualify someone for an important task as fatherhood.  With this conviction, our Married with Kids (MK) ministry is launching the “ISO Fatherhood” Program to bring to the public’s attention how important this role is, as well as educating them to become better fathers.  It is our hope that we would be able to share our lives as well as the Gospel to anyone in the program.