September 18, 2014

Saint James Church in Taichung

This day is a set of mission field trips. I signed up for the one to Saint James Church in Taichung. To understand what a remarkable place this is, a little context helps.

Christians here are a minority, about 10% of the total population, or roughly 23,000. Of that number, roughly 2,000 are Episcopalians. Their outsized influence on the life of the nation, I think, is a work of the Holy Spirit and comes from their understanding their unique gifts in education and focusing on that charism. Particularly, Episcopal Churches are often formed around kindergartens. (Maybe this explains why we are meeting so many young clergy!) These have a Christian focus, but they are also open to anyone. The neighborhoods are deeply appreciative of this gift, so the Church enjoys a reputation that gives it access to other areas of life. I have to say it is hugely refreshing to be in a context in which non-Christians generally think very highly of the Church.

Bishops on the bullet train

We take the bullet train 120 miles to Taichung (it takes 50 minutes; why can’t the US come up with anything like this?) and a bus to the church. It is planted in the middle of a busy mixed urban neighborhood, rising more like a skyscraper than what we might think of as traditional church architecture. We are ushered through the front gate and into a courtyard where we are greeted by a mob of little ones who hand out prayers and greetings written in crayon. We take them gratefully and allow ourselves to be arranged into another group photo. (Have I mentioned they do lot of group photos here?)

“This little light of mine…”

After listening to three kindergarten songs, including the absolutely cutest rendition ever of “This Little Light of Mine”, we are given a tour of the facilities — all seven floors, including the school, the sanctuary, conference and education rooms, and so on, but it is the school that stands out, as though the church were built around the mission, rather than the mission crammed into the church. The rooms are light and airy, the playgrounds extensive and well-equipped, arts and language facilities, live rabbits and a butterfly habitat. (A kindergarten with a butterfly habitat? Makes me want to be five again.) The whole atmosphere is one of warmth and love, coupled with a kind of brisk energy.

We hear a lot from the present rector, Philip Lin (who looks barely 30), and the rector emeritus, Charles Chen. Here is some of what we learned:

Hey, who is that guy?

The church has an average Sunday attendance of 80 at the Chinese service and 30 at the English one. The congregation has grown through their emphasis on cell groups (they have four), but also because they focus on evangelism, counseling, continuing education for young adults in everything from flower arranging to music to soccer — programs that connect with over 200 adults a week. They also run an after-school language and arts institute for about 100 kids and 40 adults. They founded their preschool in 1974, and it now has 340 kids ages three to six. Everything they do is informed by Bible study and prayer. They also have planted the Church of the Leading Star, which in turn has started its own preschool. Remarkably, the modern founding of this Church and its growth have owed a lot to generous gifts from the Diocese of Upper South Carolina, whose bishop, Andrew Waldo, is with us and is greeted everywhere we go as a hometown hero. (Andrew, it turns out, only discovered this connection two days ago!) And as we hear the story of that generosity, we also hear Father Chen repeat a theme from the previous evening. “Sixty years ago, our churches were very poor, and we needed help. Now we have wealth and we want to give it away. There is a saying in Chinese: ‘While you are drinking, remember the source’.”

And they have given themselves away remarkably. Over the past thirty years, Saint James has had a partnership with the Diocese of Central Philippines, and has built or completely restored and renovated twelve churches there. We saw pictures: they are gorgeous.

All of this comes out of a congregation with an ASA of 110. I have seen some inspiring things in my life, but what was so different about this one is that they didn’t put themselves forward as a model. There wasn’t a hint of, you could be like this too, just a serene confidence in the power of God.

Bishops lunch

Afterwards we went across the street to the National Museum, a beautifully designed space for contemporary Chinese art, whose director greeted us warmly and thanked us for the contributions the Episcopal Church had made to education in Taiwan. We then went to lunch where we learned that Bob Fitzpatrick, Bishop of Hawaii, had prayed for the rector’s little boy, Daniel, who has leukemia, and since then the child’s condition has stabilized. Fr. Lin talked about the power of prayer, and asked Bob to bless his son again, which the bishop did. Then Daniel proved he was feeling better by mesmerizing the crowd with a repertoire of yo-yo tricks.

I will not tell you how much we ate (a lot) or how good it was (the best). Then we were showered with gifts and put back on the bus. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were definitely ready to call it a day.

So, that is the story of one small- to medium-sized place that makes an outsized impact. And I became convinced more than ever that the Diocese of Pittsburgh could be used in just the same way.

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