SQJ Taipei

HT: Michael at The View From Taiwan

I found this article about Taiwan’s Aborigine Christians pretty interesting on several levels.

• It assumes that Christianity is primarily about “going to church”
• It reveals some of Taiwan’s history, primarily in aboriginal cultures
• It spotlights some of the pitfalls of transplanting western Christian structures here
• I happen to know John McCall who is mentioned in the article

A few weeks ago, my buddy Chris Gant brought his 3 boys (and their pet squirrel) up from Taidong. They were going to the airport to pick up wife/mom Sharilyn who was flying home from Costa Rica. We spent some time up at Yangmingshan visiting the National Palace Museum and then up the mountain to a Presbyterian seminary. It was there that we met John McCall.

He welcomed us into his home, which has a great view of Taipei and since a typhoon was approaching, it was especially clear and we got some nice photos from his roof. I regret that we weren’t able to spend more time with him, because I really enjoyed talking with him during the short time that we did have. As the article mentions…

McCall, (who) first came to Taiwan in 1996 after being inspired by stories from retired missionaries near his home in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

I enjoyed hearing about his “call” to Taiwan first hand. We also expressed our mutual appreciation for each other’s work while recognizing we are from different backgrounds/denominations. My friend Chris is also from NC and I enjoyed listening to their laughter when John shared what one of the elderly ladies in his church in Black Mountain said to him upon learning that John planned to come to Taiwan… she said, “Oh John, they don’t even hug over there!” It was clear that this was not a judgement on the Taiwanese, merely an observation from her own experience. She was just concerned about how John would make it without regular hugs. Isn’t that sweet? She was also correct… in general… people don’t hug much here.

We talked about his work with the aborigines and it was especially timely since I had just visited some aborigine churches (Peiwan) in Taidong when the CIY group was here. In fact, we stayed for several days with Tim and Sarah Widener in Taidong and had some fun activities with the youth from their village and surrounding areas. Sarah is of the Peiwan tribe and became a Christian as an adult and eventually her parents became Christian as well. Our extended stay in the village was a good time of learning for me as I was able to talk with many Peiwan Christians and nonbelievers, too. I am a BIG TIME night owl and I often went out into the village after the rest of the group had gone to sleep and would end up talking with some people. Life is still hard for many of the Peiwan but those I met didn’t live in a state of despair.

A few things to note from the article:

Today, some 65 percent of the hill tribe population of 460,000 is Christian, about equally divided between Presbyterians and Catholics, according to government statistics. That compares with about 2 percent of Taiwan’s 22.5 million Han Chinese, who originated on the Chinese mainland, where they constitute a large majority.

I’ve NEVER heard figures that high for the number of Christians among aboriginal peoples. However, there are Presbyterian churches in *every* town all throughout Taiwan it seems. So… I’m wondering if the number (65% of 460,000) is from the membership rolls at the churches. I’m not sure when it happened, but at some point in history, people began to be “born into Christianity” and then what followed was that a person’s Christian-ness was determined mostly by church attendance. It is also true that churches have little incentive to purge their membership rolls as it is nice to report higher numbers and it is also like making a judgment to say someone is *not* a Christian. Certainly, this could be done, but it is unpleasant and is understandably not a priority. I’d put the percentage of Christians among aboriginal peoples as most likely less than 10% and that might be high. I’ll try to look up the stats, but I’m just going from personal conversations and memory on this 10% figure.

However… the article makes many valid points, particularly about the appeal of Christianity to those who have experienced prejudice. It is always nice to see the evidence reveal that is the case in practice because Christianity, at its heart, crosses any and all boundaries that man establishes.

What is most concerning is that the percentage of Christians among aboriginal peoples has probably dropped and is continuing to do so.

Why?

I can’t say for sure… this is just one article and I’m not an expert regarding aboriginal churches… or the Presbyterian church… but here’s my guess.

The earliest missionaries to “modern” Taiwan were Presbyterian and the did do some great work. I’m certainly not going to belittle their work, especially since I have a tendency to give people the benefit of the doubt regarding why they did (or do) what they do… especially since I have the benefit of having a *lot* more information available to me now than those missionaries did then.

The thing is… today, the Presbyterian church in Taiwan seems almost the same as the Presbyterian church in America. Considering the difference in cultures… doesn’t it seem interesting? I’m not AT ALL saying that the Presbyterian church is bad or that their members aren’t Christians (some probably are… some probably aren’t… just like the members of other churches). Presbyterian church attendance is falling around the world and has been for several years. It doesn’t seem surprising that it would be dropping here in Taiwan, too.

Personally, I think “The Church” makes more sense if it is focused more on home meetings and less on church buildings… more on local autonomy and less on hierarchy… more on mentoring and discipleship and less on requiring a seminary degree to become a pastor. Actually… I’m glad many forms are available because all people are different… I’m just guessing that the Biblical model of churches that meet in homes and serve in communities and as families will be more culturally relevant here in Taiwan over the long haul. This could also explain some of the drop in the numbers. There are many peoples and places throughout history which/who have been drawn to Jesus, but who lack a contextualized “church”. It isn’t surprising that those Christ followers might begin searching for other groups to meet with.

However… it isn’t about numbers just for numbers sake. Our success (as missionaries and Christians) is not judged by the size of our churches… but by doing all we can to bring glory to God our Creator and Sustainer and the Author and Perfector of our faith. Just as in the example of the farmer sowing his seed… he plants and does little else…. God gives the growth. If we are held responsible for those who come to faith in Christ, wouldn’t we also be responsible for those who don’t? We are unable to change anyone’s mind… rather, we share the good news of Jesus sacrificial love… and try to model his love in our own lives.

As for our visit with John McCall…

All too soon, our time was gone… so we hugged (!) and said goodbye… hopefully to meet on another day.