Light In The Darkness

This weekend I was invited to preach in a small church in Chingsui (pronounced "CHING sway"). Chingsui may have once been described as a small rural town 20 years ago, but is now a bustling city of about 300,000, just 30-40 minutes' drive (depending on traffic and who's driving) west of Taichung. I am familiar with this church through having visited it numerous times over the past 17 years. In the summer of 2004 we had a team from our church in London, ON do an English ministry through the church. Last summer I taught English to Taiwanese students in 2 different public elementary schools in the area. All of these summer's outreach ministries were coordinated through the church.

The city of Chingsui has been described often by both missionaries and national pastors that have worked there as a very difficult place for the gospel. Spiritually, all of Taiwan could be described as a "dark place", but in Chingsui, things seem to be a deeper shade of black. The area truly is a stronghold of the enemy. Cultural and religious habits run deep and strong in this area of Taiwan, that has developed from it's most early rural beginnings. People are not open to new ideas, ANY ideas that threaten their social and religious values that have been passed down for hundreds of years, generation after generation.

What the people of Chingsui don't realize is that, like any culture that has not been redeemed by Christ, traditions and religious practices may bring a sense of security, and perhaps even comfort, but provide little in terms of real hope for the future and the experience of what Christ called the "abundant life".

An example of this presented itself to my senses as we were leaving the restaurant where a couple people from the church had invited me for lunch. Set up in the alley near the restaurant was a temporary tent where an extended family was holding funeral rights for a recently deceased loved one. Mourners were dressed in their prescribed garb. One mourner (whether a blood relative of the family, or a professionally hired "mourner", I'm not sure) was mic'd to a PA system and was repeatedly wailing in Taiwanese, "A-Kong, A-Kong" (grandfather, grandfather), "Li chai-iu* li-khui goan?" (why have you left us?).

I had seen such displays before, but this time something really gripped my heart. "These people really do not have any hope", I thought. How can they know and experience the new life and hope found in Jesus Christ? It will not be by simply preaching the good news at them, but faith will come through hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). The work is done by the the Spirit of the living God, convicting the world of sin, righteous, and judgment (John 16:8). Missionaries are just the messengers. The real power to change a person's life (literally) is the truth of the gospel, and Christ works through that gospel to draw people to Himself.

I am here in Taiwan for people like that mourner, who might one day sing praises of thanksgiving to her Creator for giving the promise of eternal, resurrected life, instead of having her mournful, questioning cries echoed only by silence in the darkness. If Chingsui is to one day lose it's reputation as a "dark place", it will only be when God's blazing light of truth chases away that darkness and gives instead the promise of what we all long for - life with Him forever.

Pray with us that God might hasten that day's coming.