On Pentecost, May 31, Taiwan and 213 countries held the 2009 Global Day of Prayers in unison. Christians from the 19 counties and cities of Taiwan held prayer meetings for Taiwan in their respective areas. In Taipei metropolitan area, 700 pastors, market place representatives, and prayer intercessors gathered on the 84th floor of Taipei 101, the world’s highest point to pray for the transformation of Taiwan country and the churches.
In the three-hour long prayer meeting, Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship (FGBMF) President Guo-San Tsang led the worship, then Rev. Nathanel Chou-shen Chu delivered a sermon on “Transformation and Prayer”, in which he emphasized that God is already working on transforming Taiwan, “The atmosphere in recent years has been like an airplane that is about to go onto the run-way, for example, the population of Christians in Taipei has already exceeded 10%.”
However, at this moment of possessing this land as inheritance, Chou referred to the Bible, that it is important to not be like the spies who gave a bad report after spying on Canaan or like the tribe of Israel that stopped before entering Canaan Land because it felt that everything is sufficient or complete.
He emphasized that if we do not all gain inheritance then it is not complete; not one church, coworker should be missing, “whether it is a Taiwanese-speaking church or a Mandarin-speaking church, we have to move forward together in one heart.”
Then, Rev. Chung-chien Shia (James), secretary-general of Chinese Christian Evangelistic Association, gave an introduction to “Taipei’s History and Horizon”, followed by representing pastors from North, South, East, and West to bless and pray for Taipei metropolitan city.
An important emphasis in the prayer topics was the 228 Incident, which was an anti-government uprising in Taiwan that began on Feb. 27, 1947 when a woman was killed by a policeman for selling smuggled cigarettes on the streets of the capital, followed by the Kuomingtang’s White Terror period, in which tens of thousands of innocent Taiwanese intellectuals and mainlanders were killed.
“This historical wound has been used frequently today by politicians, as if that at every election it will be torn apart again,” said Shia. He prayed that God’s love can be poured down to Taipei metropolitan city, comforting and healing the cracks and holes between men.
During the gathering, brother Tsang invited Ogilvy Group Taiwan CEO Dr. Joseph Pai to represent the family members of White Terror victims to pray for forgiveness in the spirit and former legislator Joanna Lei to represent the Taiwan government in a prayer of repentance.
Pai said that only the light of the glorious cross can illuminate the darkest and most painful corners in man’s hearts.
“Not only 228, White Terror, but in every household, may the Lord pour down his spirit of forgiveness,” prayed CEO of Ogilvy Taiwan.
Then, the participants prayed in one heart for those in authority to have the wisdom in managing the difficult situations in economics and disease outbreak that the nation faces, and they’ve invited the participating government officials, Executive Yuan Vice Premier Cheng-hsiung Chiu, Control Yuan President Chien-shien Wang, Ministry of the Interior Liouyi Liao, Minister of Health Yeh Ching-chuan, Financial Supervisory Commission Chairperson Sean C. Chen, and others to come forth to the stage to receive the prayers from the crowd.
Surprisingly, Taiwan’s Vice President Vincent Siew’s wife, who has just received a surgery several days ago for lung ardenocarcinoma, were also present to receive the prayers and blessings from the participants.
At the closing of the gathering, the crowd prayed for the Taipei City government. Research Development and Evaluation Commission Chairperson Emile C.J. Sheng requested everyone to pray for the upcoming Deaflympics and International Flora Expo.
“This is the first time that we’ve been entrusted to do this, so we desperately need prayers.”
However, Sheng also requested that everyone can pray for the spiritual life of Taipei Mayor Lung-pin Hau, who has always been active in church events, but wasn’t present that day. He said that he felt “Because of the past one to two months of toils, Hau’s longing for faith is dying down.”
Lastly, everyone together prayed in one heart for the government team of the city, so that the enemies’ work of blocking can be tied down and that those in authority can come to know the true God and walk together with the Lord.
Luke Leung translated this article.
