National Council of Churches Taiwan (NCCT) has confirmed it will hold a Christian sports meet on November 7 at a YMCA in Taipei. NCCT members include Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal, and Orthodox churches. In addition, it will hold a forum on “Modern city churches and their ministries” focusing on churches in China and Taiwan in particular on November 13~14 at Taipei Methodist Church.
For “Modern city churches and their ministries” forum, NCCT has invited Chinese pastors from different parts of China, such as Shandong, Fujian, Shanghai, Tianjin, to attend, as well as Chinese Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement leaders.
In Taiwan, leaders from major Christian denominations and Christian organizations will also attend. The forum will also delve into topics such as “Development of Christianity in Taiwan and China”, “Theological training and social change”, “Church organizations and social outreach, “Reaching out to golden agers”, “Training church members and church development”, etc.
According to reports, establishing healthy and functioning church relations between China and Taiwan has been challenging recently due to pressure from Chinese authorities after Taiwan invited the Dalai Lama for a visit in September. To restore mutual understanding, Taiwan Methodist Church Bishop Enoch C.H. Kuey even went to China to meet with Three-Self Patriotic Movement pastors to discuss recent developments. Event organizers are currently doing their best to help Chinese pastors secure visas so that they can come to Taiwan. In the event that the forum must be postponed, it will still be held before the end of this year.
During the recent NCCT meeting, it was suggested the Catholic Church nominate three representatives to take the place of NCCT members attending next year’s Christian Council of Asia (CCA) annual conference in Malaysia so that Taiwan’s Catholic Church can also become part of the CCA family. PCT, Taiwan Methodist Church, and Taiwan Episcopal Church are already CCA members and will send their own delegates to the conference.
Reported by Lin Yi-ying, Written by Lydia Ma
[Source: Taiwan Church News]
