SQJ Taipei

When we started working with the church here in Ankeng (安坑) we decided that we would plan to be gone from some of the meetings every few weeks.

The purpose of these absences would be to allow the Taiwanese members to do 2 things:

1. make decisions without the feeling that “The Missionaries” have an agenda - they will ALWAYS defer to us if we are present
2. discover that a missionary need not be present for the church to meet… even a new church can meet for fellowship, prayer, and teaching without a missionary in the meeting… this will be essential if we start new churches because the missionaries just can’t attend every meeting if our church planting dream comes true.

As I said… some of those absences are planned… but my absence today was unplanned and, frankly, not desired.

I have a TERRIBLE headache. I fell asleep around 6PM on Saturday night and woke up at 9AM Sunday. I still had the headache although not as bad… but had added a terrible sore throat and maybe a fever. I made it through the songs today, but then had to tell Angie that my right eye felt like it was going to explode. I was only thinking that I wanted her to be aware so she could cover for me in times where I was slow - even slower than normal But she is compassionate and her first thought was to tell the group so they could pray.

They prayed and then they promptly excused me from the meeting to go rest.

Well… there’s no way I’ll go sleep.

But I did excuse myself into the small office so I can listen to what they say/discuss while they think I’m unconscious.

So I didn’t plan to be gone… but I’m gone… but only sorta gone. I’m in a good place, really.

In my church planting dream land… I’d rarely be present in the actual meetings of the Taiwanese church, but I’d be nearby… close enough to help when needed… discipline, doctrine, service, maybe music, etc. It isn’t that I don’t want to join in the meetings, but my presence isn’t always what the church here needs if we are trying to start an INDIGENOUS Church Planting Movement… which we are.

I hear them talking about things that will bring joy to our city and hope to our neighbors. They are dreaming big… and not worrying about money or failure. They are sharing what God is teaching them. They are talking about prayer. I love it.

I had planned to pray for our secondary school and college students… for them to be courageous and faithful. There are 4 of such students. All young men. I literally have goosebumps now thinking of the impact those young men can have on the church in Taiwan. When the church in Taiwan decides to stand up and change the world… the world will indeed be changed. I’ll pray for those guys as I post this… Maybe you’ll pray for Evan, Sean, Jones, and Andy when you read this.