Taiwan Church History

From Before the Foundations of the Earth Were Laid

A Brief History of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan

By David Alexander 亞大偉 Tainan Theological College and Seminary December, 2006

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From Before the Foundations of the Earth Were Laid A Brief History of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan By David Alexander

Introduction The one true God created the entire cosmos and is the Lord of history. Scripture tells us that the cosmos was created from nothing at the word of the Lord1, by means of holy wisdom2. Subsequent to the initial creation, much of what is felt and experienced in the world came by formation from the basic created elements3. All that exists can be traced to the creating and forming activity of the one true God speaking wisdom into the void, transforming that void into a paradise for the expression of God’s own love4. The origins of this beautiful land, Taiwan, can also be traced to that same Creator and that same loving intention. This is the ground out of which the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food and formed every animal of the field and bird of the air5. Taiwan’s mountains are like those to which a poet lifted his eyes in awe, yet knowing that his help came from the Lord who made them6. The sea that surrounds Taiwan is filled with the water over which the Spirit of God moved at creation7. The crowds that inhabit the cities and countryside are included in the love of the One who loved the world enough to send the Son,

that all who believe in him might be saved8. From primeval times, before the current island of Taiwan rose from the depths of the earth carrying oceanic fossils with it to the high mountains, God has been present here loving the peoples who have called this land their home. Traces of human response to God’s initiative are found in the preChristian religions of Taiwan’s aboriginal people9. Even in Taiwanese folk religion people from their own spirit seek to commune with the divine. This, too speaks to the presence of God here from the very beginning.10 Conception and Gestation Taiwan’s creation was an act of conception leading to the birth of new life. This life was in gestation for eons, intricately woven together as if in the depths of the earth11. Perhaps it is because they were resident here from primal times, breathing the air of God’s blessings and eating the fruit of this Eden in the East, that aboriginal peoples in general have been more receptive than other ethnic groups when the good news of Jesus Christ has been proclaimed among them.12 Though churches from the West may claim to have brought the message of Jesus Christ to

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Taiwan, this place was not alien to God, who formed, loved and consecrated the beautiful island that Portuguese sailors couldn’t help but designate “Formosa”13. In 1624 Spanish missionaries from the Philippines preached the Gospel in Northern Taiwan in the hinterland of the ports of Keelung and Tamsui14. Their work was linked to the imperial expansion of Spain in Latin America and the Western Pacific. Clergy were here because their compatriots were here. The cross sailed with the crown and flag. But theirs was not the only empire on the stage15.

17th Century Map of Taiwan The Dutch East India Company, chartered in the Netherlands, (which had a longstanding relationship of enmity with the Spanish crown) engaged in extensive colonization in what is now Indonesia. This firm established an outpost in Southern Taiwan near the modern city of Tainan. As with the Spanish, clergy also accompanied the Dutch. These Protestants from the Reformed Church came to care for the spiritual needs of company

employees16. In the course of empire the Dutch expelled the Spanish17. That left the only organized Christian voice on the island to Protestants. The colony in Tainan prospered. Clergy sent out to care for European souls began to preach to local people as well18. They devised a system for writing down aboriginal languages in Latin script. Catechisms were written and printed in the Netherlands for use in evangelism and education in and around the colony19. When the responsibility for pastoral care of colonists and evangelism of local people became too heavy, more clergy were sent from the Netherlands to undertake full time mission work among the aboriginal and ethnic Chinese people20 Between 1624 and 1643 Georgius Candidus and Robertus Junius established preaching points from Hengchun at the Southern tip of Taiwan to Chia-yi county in the Central West coastal region. Their work was followed by Daniel Gravius from 1647 to 1651. He served the East India Company and the converts at Moa-tao in Tainan County. His work included plans for the establishment of a school for native evangelists there.21 During the time of the Dutch Colony in Taiwan great changes were afoot in China. The ethnic Manchurians who founded the Ching Dynasty

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were taking possession of the entire empire from the ethnic Han Ming dynasty, but not without opposition. Cheng Chilung, a trader from Fukien province, spent several years in the Portuguese colony of Macao. While there he confessed faith in Christ and was baptized Nicholas by the Roman Catholics. He moved to Nagasaki in Japan, married a local woman, and became wealthy and influential. His son, Cheng-kung (later known to Western historians as Koxinga) was born there.

Koxinga (Cheng Cheng-kong) As the Manchus took more and more of China, Cheng saw his opportunity. His fleet of trading ships was converted to military use, and other independent warlords joined him. The Ming emperor accepted him as an ally, but he was captured by the Manchurians and imprisoned. Cheng-kung took over the resistance force and had much success for a time. But the tide turned, and he was forced out of

China. He turned his attention to Taiwan, occupied by the Dutch. The colony was besieged, defeated and eradicated. Cheng-kung declared himself “Emperor of Taiwan” and stamped out Christianity from the island.22 The Dutch empire’s Taiwan involvement ended in 1661. The history of this period is told from church and company records in the Netherlands and military and administrative materials in Taiwan and China.23 Jesuit and Dominican priests visited Taiwan in the 18th century with the consent of the Chinese Imperial Court, but their mission was to make maps. They had heard in Xiamen (Amoy) that there were Christians in Taiwan. In their search they found a few people who could speak some words in the Dutch language, but who had no Christian practices. These foreign-influenced people mentioned that the first man was named Adam, and the first woman Eve, but gave no other evidence of rudimentary Christian knowledge or faith.24 The first attempts at planting the Church of Jesus Christ on Taiwan, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, bore no lasting fruit. Each mission effort had been tied to commercial exploitation of Taiwan’s resources for European powers. Each was terminated through the colonial expansion of a

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succeeding empire. Neither made an attempt to turn over ecclesiastical leadership to local converts.25 Both depended on outside material and personnel resources for church order, ministry support and gospel propagation. Conception and gestation led not to parturition, but to miscarriage. But as often is the case in human development, the miscarriage was followed by a re-conception and another period of gestation. Parturition Following the Spanish, Dutch and Chinese flags, another empire arose to push its influence in the direction of Taiwan. In 1807 Robert Morrison was sent by the London Missionary Society to begin mission work made possible through British trade penetration into South China.26 The British prospered financially through trade in opium from their colonies in India. This resulted in wars with China, and the establishment of further trade openings and a permanent base at Hong Kong. The Opium wars focused the attention of many from England and Scotland on China as a field for mission service and evangelism. By 1851 the English Presbyterian Church had established a mission station in Xiamen (Amoy) and in 1858 further south at Swatow.27

Ever eager to increase their territory, clergy from these stations (Carstairs Douglas and Hur Libertas Mackenzie) made a survey trip to Taiwan in 1860. They landed at Tam-sui in the north where they found the language similar to what was spoken in Xiamen. Though they were not welcomed they recommended that their mission board declare Taiwan as a mission territory.28

James and Mary Ann Maxwell

Early in 1864 the Scottish physician James Maxwell volunteered for mission service. He went to China intending to serve at Xiamen. In October of that same year he accompanied Rev. Douglas, Tan Chu-lo, Ng Ka-ti, and Ngo Bun-chui (three Fukienese Christians who volunteered to become

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missionaries) to survey southern Taiwan’s human and physical geography. Following their survey they returned to China to prepare for the establishment of a mission station. On May 28th of 1865 Ngo, Tan, Ng and Maxwell returned. They settled in Tainan and began missionary work on June 16th. This date is considered as the birthday of today’s Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT).29

Ngo Bun-chui Drawing First Breaths Dr. Maxwell was not a clergyman. To speak the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ into the culture of Taiwan he used the “secularized language” of medicine. This model was followed by other mission pioneers with education, social service and health care as demonstrations of the love of God for all people.30 Human beings are born through labor, pain and cries.

The birth of this church was accompanied by all three. The team of four birth attendants rented a house near the west gate inside the Tainan City walls. The front half of the house was furnished as a gospel proclamation hall and the back half as a medical dispensary and surgery. Many people who came for medical help from the foreign doctor heard the gospel from the Chinese evangelists, but it was curiosity about Western medicine that drew them. The cries and pain came soon afterward. The clinic drew attention, harassment, stone throwing, cursing and other hindrances. In less than a month work had to be suspended and moved to Ki-au near the harbor in Ta-kao (modern day Kaohsiung). Tan, Ngo, Ng and Maxwell did not cease to exercise their medical and evangelistic callings in service to the people of Taiwan for the glory of God. By September of 1866 an inpatient medical clinic at Ki-au had been established. It was the first hospital using Western medical techniques and theories in Taiwan’s history.31 On August 12th of 1866 the Scottish clergyman William Sutherland Swanson, who had come to assist Maxwell for a short term, baptized four Taiwanese believers: Chen Che, Chen Ching-ho, Ko Tiong and Tan Ui. These were the first

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converts of the PCT. That afternoon they celebrated the church’s first Holy Communion.32 Xiamen was also the base of mission work by the Reformed Church in America, which developed an intimate relationship with the English Presbyterians. In March of 1867 Reformed Church missionary L.W. Kip and his wife visited Ta-kao to give short term aid to the Chinese/English team. While there he baptized five Taiwanese, including Chuang Ching-feng, a harbor pilot from Tam-sui. Mr Chuang returned to his home. In April of 1868 he walked 9 days to hear preaching in Kaohsiung. Near the north gate of what is now Tso-ying he was stopped and stoned to death. His body was cut into pieces and his heart was eaten. Chuang was as the first martyr in the PCT.33 Nursing A baby draws sustenance from her mother. The PCT was nourished by the Holy Spirit through a mother church from the UK. In April of 1867 Maxwell, Ko and Ng began medical outreach in the Pi-thau (Feng Shan) area. Early in July they purchased a small house to serve as an evangelistic and preaching center. In those years Taiwanese people had more free time than the current population, and the evangelists

soon had about 20 people coming to hear preaching. But there was confusion. Within two weeks some local people received and garbled a version of the Christian Gospel that seems to have originated from misunderstanding of Roman Catholic evangelistic preaching. They spread the news that the foreigners’ religion advocated tearing out hearts, gouging out eyes, committing murder and using bodily juices to cook up opium. Local people tore down the church building. But this action did not deter the evangelists. Within a week the work was formally reestablished.

Hugh Ritchie The church was firmly under the control of the English Presbyterian mission of the time, yet the appointed responsible evangelists for the work were Ngo Bun-chui and Ko Tiong. By 1868 Dr. Maxwell moved on to other work and newly arrived missionaries, Rev. & Mrs. Hugh

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Ritchie, were appointed to assist Ngo and Ko. Things did not go smoothly. In April of that year what has become known as the Pi-thau Persecution occurred. On April 11th while Mr. Ko was on his way to the church he was asked by a woman about the church's distribution of poisonous tea and then was attacked. Mr. Ko was put into jail and the church was occupied by the Ching government militia. The believers, missionaries and foreign business people in the Pi-thau area fled to Ta-kao where they hid behind locked doors. It took five months to clear up the incident, during which time Mr. Ko languished in the jail while interventions were made to provincial government offices in Fukien and to the English consulate. Among complaints investigated were some that Dr. Maxwell and Mr. Ko had buried the remains of people they had murdered under the floor of the church hall. Bones were actually found in the area, but turned out to be from swine. Work had been re-established in July while investigations continued. By the end of September all was settled and permission was given to rebuild the church again. This was accomplished by the end of the following January and marked by a celebration. Holy Communion was celebrated at Pi-thau church for the first time in May of 1869.34

The Ritchies moved into the foothills inland from Kaohsiung. At A-Li-kang (now known as Li-kang) they found enthusiastic response among the aboriginal people, and established a church there in 1869.35 William Campbell arrived in 1871. The work in Takao and Tainan was stable, so he moved northwards and inland. In 1875 while he was at White Water Stream in the northern part of Tainan County a local hooligan, Wu Chin-kao, attacked him and burned the church building. Campbell spent the night hiding up to his neck in a ditch of water. He returned the next day and assembled the believers for prayers. Though he was injured, his courage changed the course of events in that locale. The entire village was converted.36 Campbell continued to serve in Taiwan for 46 years. Besides evangelism he produced a dictionary of the Taiwanese language and established a school for the deaf.37

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William Campbell Parents are often blessed by assistance from friends and relatives or devoted hired helpers. In like manner the church in South Taiwan had begun in 1865 through such service. Ngo Bun-chui, who accompanied Maxwell, had been an uneducated opium smoker at home in China. After hearing the gospel he received baptism and took employment as a church caretaker. Four years after accompanying Maxwell, Tan and Ng to Taiwan he was ordained an evangelist and elder at the Teng-a-kha chapel in Tainan. He retired in 1875 and returned to his home in China.38 Ng Ka-ti had joined the church in Xiamen in 1859. He was trained in western medicine there, and came over with Dr. Maxwell in 1865. He was ordained an elder in 1878. He

did not return to his ancestral country, but settled in Taiwan, where he died in 1911.39 At the end of 1871 Rev. George Leslie Mackay from Canada arrived in Ta-kao. A clergyman, he had sought some training in basic dentistry and medical skills. Like St Paul he did not want to reap a harvest where another had plowed. After meeting with the British and Chinese church workers in the South he was escorted by some of their number northwards in March of 1872.40 On March 9th he landed at Tamsui. This is considered the birthday of the church in North Taiwan. Like Maxwell in Ta-kao and Tainan, Mackay used the secular language of medical service to contact the people he wished to interest in the gospel. He had great success, becoming renowned for his treatments of malaria and his skill at pulling teeth.41 He was an ardent evangelist as well. In February of 1873 he baptized five converts, Giam Chheng-hoa, Ngo Ek-ju, Ong Tiong-chui, Lim Si and Lim Poe. With these five he established a church on March 2nd of 1873. On this date, Holy Communion was celebrated by Protestants in North Taiwan for the first time.42 A year later the Rev. James Frazer arrived from Canada to assist Mackay. Frazer was a trained physician. The work in

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the North expanded rapidly. By 1882 Mackay had established 20 churches and baptized 300 believers. A motto attributed to him goes, “I’d rather burn out than rust out.” By 1901 when he died he had established 60 churches, a hospital and several schools.43

Mackay and Disciples Pulling Teeth

In her early years, the PCT was heavily influenced by foreign mindsets and colonial policies. Missionaries often saw local culture and religious traditions as enemies to be rejected. It is not strange to read that Taiwanese converts were disparaged by their compatriots as “faith eaters”. It was assumed that those who became Christians would have to reject the culture and faith practices into which they had been born. It meant cutting off cultural values and severing basic relationships of their lives. Both the foreign mission workers and first generation believers among Taiwan’s people faced serious opposition.44 Under these conditions the PCT grew into the motto that still adorns her seal and flag, “Ablaze but not Consumed”.

Taiwan’s Presbyterians, convinced that the Lord is with them, can endure attitudes and face every sort of situation. Enduring hardships with this attitude, they bear witness to their faith.45 Crawling and Toddling Missionaries established churches in places where only a few new believers were gathered. There were more preaching stations and infant churches than could be adequately served by foreign personnel alone. In both North and South Taiwan converts who showed aptitude, zeal and calling were trained, hired and appointed as “preachers”. But the training was not systematic. “… each missionary had kept a few promising youths under his care and given them desultory teaching.”46 In 1876 Thomas Barclay, fresh from the UK by way of a year’s language training in Xiamen and Ta-kao, arrived in Tainan to offer regular systematic training in theology and ministry. Tainan Theological College was born.

Dr Thomas Barclay and Pastors Developing a model similar to that used by the English

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Presbyterians in the South, Mackay trained a cadre of men to serve the churches he established from his main base of operations in Tam-sui.47 In 1882, with funds from Oxford County, Ontario (his native place), he established Oxford College as a training center for native evangelists.48 Oxford became the parent of several schools, including the current Taiwan Theological College in Taipei. In 1883 on adjoining land a building went up to house a school for training of women for ministry.49 Ministry is not something easily learned without a basic education. Thomas Barclay had to teach basic maths and history in addition to scripture and worship. For his own part, Mackay taught astronomy, geography, botany and literature. The need for a better foundation prior to entering theological training had to be met. In the South plans were made for the establishment of a middle school. The Ritchies were ardent supporters of this project, which finally came to fruition under Mr. George Ede, sent out from England in 1884. The school would have opened earlier, but was delayed because of war between China and France. In 1885 Chang Jung Middle School accepted its first students. The curriculum was both Christian and liberal. Religion and Bible were accompanied by courses in

literature, Chinese history, and natural sciences.50

George Ede Provision of literacy, both in Chinese characters and in romanized Taiwanese, opened the way for the use of the printed word as another avenue for ministry. In 1881 Barclay imported the first printing press to Taiwan, but went on furlough to Britain before it was set up for use. While in Scotland he received training in printing, and returned to Taiwan. In addition to his work in education and evangelism he put the press to use. In 1885 “The Taiwan Church News” was born. “We were fortunate in having as our first printer a young man Saw Sa, who had learned to read Romanised in three days and three nights. He became very enthusiastic. In the early days of the Church news, the ‘Kau-hoe po’, we sent a number of copies over to Amoy. I remember once when the paper was not ready in time,

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he and his assistant remained up working all night to have copies ready for the steamer next morning. Unfortunately he died after only three years work. The early numbers of the Church News which were mostly his workmanship…”51 Hugh Ritchie took ill and died in Tainan in 1879. He never saw the middle school for which he had labored. Mrs. Ritchie did not retire to her homeland. She stayed in Tainan, secured an appointment as the first single woman missionary on the field by the English Presbyterian Church, and worked to provide education for girls. The middle school already established was for boys only. In 1887 the Chang Jung Girls Middle School opened its doors.52 Medical clinics and outdoor dentistry practiced by the pioneer missionaries in South and North evolved into hospitals before too many years passed. Maxwell’s first work at Tainan and Ta-kao developed into the Sin-lau Hospital in Tainan in 1869. Mackay had engaged in clinic work at Hu-wei from his earliest years, securing volunteer assistance from doctors assigned to the British consulate in Tamsui. In 1880 a bequest was made in memory of a ship captain from Detroit, also named Mackay. It enabled the establishment of the Mackay Clinic in Tamsui.53 (This clinic moved to Taipei in 1912 and was renamed Mackay Memorial

Hospital in memory of Rev. Mackay). Dr. Gavin Russell of the English Presbyterian Mission did short term medical mission work in Central Taiwan as early as 1888. This work continued into the early 90’s and eventually moved to Toasia, in the neighborhood of modern day Hong-koan. In 1895 Campbell Moody, David Landsborough and A.B. Nielson were sent out from the UK to establish a resident mission work in this new field. Their work resulted in the establishment of what today is Chang Hwa Christian 54 Hospital. Medical work is highly technical and costly. Staffed by local and foreign trained nurses and physicians, the hospitals remained under foreign mission leadership and funding much longer than other mission activities. Long before the onset of the 21st century, however, they were totally “localized.” They now provide funding for many social ministries of the entire PCT as well as undertake non-medical mission work themselves.

George Mackay & Family First Independent Steps

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By 1886 the church in Southern Taiwan consisted of 1584 communicant members. Encouraged by the missionaries, the local believers inaugurated their own missionary outreach to the islands of Peng-hu. Rev. William Campbell made a survey trip, but the evangelists sent out were Ng Chhim-ho and Ng Lian-kiat. Their expenses were entirely underwritten by the churches in Taiwan without support from abroad.55 Around the world churches of Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity have traditionally upheld the standards of a trained ministry. That need was addressed through the early apprenticeship system of bringing up evangelists and preachers prior to 1876, and then in the establishment of Tainan Theological College and Oxford College. But Presbyterians tend to be even more exacting when it comes to ordination. Not only is there a requirement for training, but also a call to ministry, and its verification by a church body (known as “the Presbytery”). In 1893 Dr. Barclay presented a paper entitled “Selfgovernment in the Native Church” to his colleagues in the English Presbyterian mission. He advocated teaching the people of Taiwan the scriptural principles of church organization. It was of no import to him whether those

principles be congregational, episcopal or presbyterian. He merely wanted to end the system of despotic government by a few foreigners meeting in council. The missionaries favored the formation of a local presbytery.56 Various delays ensued, but on February 24th, 1896 the first meeting of the Presbytery of South Formosa was held. On April 2nd Phoa Beng-chu and Lau Baw-khun were ordained, the first two Taiwanese to receive this office in the PCT’s history. The presbytery instituted a rule that any congregation or “circuit” of congregations that desired to call an ordained minister of their own choosing needed to present evidence of having at least one year’s salary on hand. Failing this, they would have to accept whatever preacher or evangelist was assigned to them by the presbytery.57 In the North a Presbytery was formed in 1904, closely followed thereon by the formation of The Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Formosa in 1912.58 Though mission organizations still held the purse strings and, through them, much of the power in the church, the governance was now in the hands of local people. Meeting Environmental Challenges Weather or natural disasters take little notice of their

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influence on the birth of a child. Empires clash indifferent to what their conflicts may mean to common people or grassroots institutions. Taiwan, as we have seen above, was host to forces from Spanish, Dutch, Chinese and British empires between 1624 and 1894. France also attacked Taiwan in 1884. In 1895 another empire, the rising sun of Japan, came to rule this island. The Chinese Imperial Government ceded Taiwan to Japan in perpetuity under the treaty of Shimonoseki that ended the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5.59 At many places there was local resistance to being turned over to the Japanese. Taiwanese felt that, since they themselves had not been defeated by Japan, they should not be the ones to suffer being turned over to a foreign government. Feeling rejected by the Chinese Empire, some organized a republic and vowed to defend the island. China’s imperial ambassador, dispatched to formally hand over the territory, dared not set foot on Taiwan. He remained safely on board a warship while signing the documents.60 The Japanese had to take the island by force. In the North this was not especially onerous. The resistance was dispersed during the Spring. The onset of the summer typhoon season stopped the land advance of the invaders. A local militia commander, Lau Eng-hok, who

styled himself as “The Black Flag Emperor” held sway in the Central and Southern Taiwan. His government issued posters to be displayed in all Christian chapels declaring them to be the property of a friendly nation, and therefore off limits to harassment.61 After the typhoon season ended the march southwards recommenced, It was supported by sea borne invasion troops. In some places the British missionaries and Taiwanese Christians were suspected of being in league with the Japanese. When the Union Jack was hoisted over the mission compound in Tainan, seeking to mark this as a zone NOT to be shelled, the missionaries were accused of signaling the Japanese navy offshore to start the barrage! Threats were made, and actual murder of Christians at Ta-niau in Chia-yi County and at Moa-tao near Tainan. The East Coast was without government until the Japanese established themselves in 1896. Chapels there were burned and believers were murdered. Rewards were offered for the capture of preachers taken “dead or alive”. 62 In Tainan the situation was tense. It was the headquarters of the Black Flag Emperor’s “government.” Placards were posted to incite people to kill Christians. Wealthy Taiwanese Christians made arrangements

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to send their wives and children to safety in Xiamen. The missionaries discussed offering a similar opportunity to the poor of the church. During a meeting to discuss the arrangements a church member demonstrated the strength of his faith in a prayer, asking not so much that the Christians be delivered from danger, but “be kept faithful no matter what occurred.“63 The Black Flag Emperor absconded. The people of Tainan, anticipating the advance of the Japanese to be imminent, sent a delegation to prevail upon Dr. Barclay to go out and meet the troops bearing documents assuring the invaders of a bloodless surrender of the city. He and Duncan Ferguson, another British missionary, proceeded to do just that, reportedly singing hymns all the way to the front lines. The city was saved from bombardment and destruction.64 In its early phases, the Japanese occupation (which lasted until 1945) was not onerous for the church. The Japanese initially regarded the Christians to be honorable.65 Their general aim was to make Taiwan and its people, body, soul and spirit, into Japanese.66 Missionaries hoped that Christianity, held in better regard in Japan than in China, would be able to advance under the new regime.67 Though the colonial government was officially

indifferent to religious affiliations, individual officials (many of them Christians) sometimes tended to be favorably inclined to Christians. Taiwanese recognized this, and some took advantage of the outward forms of Christianity (for example, owning a bible or a hymnbook) without actually believing.68 On one occasion a preacher named Sin-ki was attacked and plundered on the road. When he arrived at his destination he complained to the police, and mentioned that he was a Christian preacher. The policeman, wise to the pretense that some sought to use, challenged him to name the twelve apostles as proof of his claim to faith.69 Transportation, education, communication and medical infrastructures were improved, A new medical school in Taipei trained the first Taiwanese physician employed at Chang Hwa Christian Hospital.70 In 1915 the colonial government and the church cooperated to open a school for deaf and blind persons in Tainan..71 Dr. Gushue Taylor, a Newfoundlander who first came to Taiwan with the English Presbyterian Church and later was employed by the Canadian Presbyterian Mission, established a leprosarium at Happy Mountain in 1934. The ministry and mission of the PCT added a dimension influenced by the needs of the people on

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the margins of Taiwan’s society. Insofar as Protestant Christianity was concerned at the beginning of the colonial period, Taiwan was a “Presbyterian Island”. Over the course of the occupation that changed. Japan could hardly be described as Presbyterian. Japanese Protestants established Anglican, Holiness, Adventist and Salvation Army missions here. The Japanese Presbyterian churches in Taipei (1897) and Tainan (1898) had close and supportive relationships with the Taiwanese Presbyterians.72 The era of goodwill ended in the 1930’s. When war neared, English and Canadian personnel were expelled. (Germans, not serving in the Presbyterian Church, remained.) Teachers who could not speak Japanese were denied the right to teach, even in private churchrelated schools. Militarism intruded. Students and faculty were compelled to participate in ceremonies of emperor worship and singing of the national anthem. The seminaries and women’s schools were prohibited from using Taiwanese. In 1941 Tainan Theological College temporarily closed its doors and students were transferred to Taipei. The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan became de facto self governing by November of 1944.73 A movement in Canada in the 1920’s also touched Taiwan’s church. During that

decade Canada’s Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregational Churches merged to form the United Church of Canada. Some Presbyterians and their congregations chose not to participate in the merger. These formed the Presbyterian Church in Canada. In the division of assets the Taiwan mission field was assigned to the Presbyterians. The Canadian missionaries in Taiwan who wished to become part of the United Church moved south where they were absorbed into the English mission work.74 Japanese colonial rule ended with the defeat of this empire in 1945. The territory of Taiwan was turned over to the government of the Republic of China in a protectorate status. The transfer of power came about late in October of that year.75 Another Child is Born Taiwan is home to “other than ethnic Chinese” peoples. The aborigines had long been classified into “ripe” and “savage” barbarians. Those called “ripe” inhabited the plains. They were the ones more likely to become “civilized” (adopting the culture and practices of their foreign occupiers, whether these be from the West, China or Japan). “Savage barbarians” lived in the mountains.76 “Savages” comprised ten tribes (including

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the people of Orchid Island off the southeast coast). Insofar as it was possible, the Japanese Colonial Government hindered communication between “savages” and the assimilated tribes and ethnic Han people of the plains. In some areas barbed wire fences surrounded the tribal territories.77 People from the plains were not allowed to go into the mountain areas, and church evangelistic work in particular was prohibited. Chi-oang Yiwal was born in 1872. She grew up in a Taroko tribe village north of Hualien. When she was 18 she was purchased for marriage by a non-aboriginal Taiwanese trader. They moved to a Sediq tribe village where her husband was murdered. She continued his business. Within 2 years she married another non-aboriginal Taiwanese and moved again. After the Japanese occupied Taiwan she learned Japanese. She collaborated with the colonial government to negotiate an end to tribal revolts and inter-tribal wars. The grateful Japanese gave her a house where she continued in business. She became rich. In 1906 she married for a third time, again to a nonaboriginal Taiwanese. This husband wasted her resources in riotous living. His mother was a zealous Christian, a member of Chang Hwa Presbyterian Church. When her son visited, she testified to her daughter-in-

law. In 1924, at the age of 52, Chi-oang was baptized. In 1925, besieged by creditors seeking repayment of debts run up by her husband, she went bankrupt. She was accepted into the Tam-sui training school for women missionaries and studied there eight months. The Women’s Missionary Society of the North Synod then sent her to Hua-lien as an evangelist. Her mission was hindered by the Japanese authorities who beat and set dogs upon her. She persisted. She met with people at night and in caves when necessary to preach the gospel until she died in 1946 at the age of 75. She is known as the mother of the mountain churches.78 Hsu Nan-mian, a believer from the one of the plains (“ripe”) aboriginal tribes married an Amis tribal woman. He became the apostle to the Amis.79 Kao Tien-wang became the “Paul of the Tarokos” . Baptized in 1940, he soon became an ardent evangelist. He was severely persecuted by the police. After the war he continued to preach among the Taroko, the Amis, the Bunun and Tayal tribes.80

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James Dickson In the post-war period controls on the aborigines were loosened. Mission work among them flourished. This was supported ardently by Dr. James and Mrs Lillian Dickson of the Canadian Presbyterian Mission. A school for aboriginal evangelists grew into what is now the Yu-shan Theological College in Hualien. The story of the Aboriginal church growth is known as the 20th century miracle.81 Standing Tall The church had been forced to operate without Western mission support during the war. But since Presbyterian polity mandates the development of numerous local leaders, many able persons came into their own when the need was greatest. All institutions suffered. Tainan Theological College had to close temporarily. British and Canadian missionary societies resumed personnel and resource support as soon after the war as possible. Returning

in July of 1946 after more than 7 years of absence, W. E. Montgomery, a Canadian serving in the English Presbyterian mission observed that social order had broken down but the church had united. He had arrived in the North and was traveling “homeward” to Tainan. “There was an entire absence of the old feeling that we were of the South and just passing visitors. We were made to feel that we were members of the family.” 82 Montgomery noted that the spiritual life of the church was at a low ebb following persecutions during the war and the ruined economy thereafter.83 “BUT: There is a band of men in the ministry today who have been tried and not found wanting. Many of them have grown in stature mentally and spiritually, and some have shown conspicuous gifts of leadership. The future is full of hope and promise. Men turn longingly to the Christian Church to see if it can give them help and leadership towards a new order.” 84 A Body Blow Schoolyard bullying is common enough even in the twenty-first century. This church suffered a certain amount of it in the later parts of Japanese colonial rule, but the worst instances came soon after the return to the ”mother country.”

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Following the war, even though the forces of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Party government occupied Taiwan, they were not here in the capacity of the Republic of China acquiring title or sovereignty. They came under treaties negotiated in Potsdam and Cairo, under an allied powers mandate, to carry out a military occupation. 85 As occupation forces they came to dominate. Chiang’s government did not send its prime troops, but those who could be spared from the ongoing civil war in China. The services of the military governor, Chen Yi, were not missed when he was sent to a remote post. Occupation forces’ abuses of local people mounted. On the 28th of February of 1947, only 16 months after the transition of power, the people of Taiwan began to rise up. The precipitating incident was the arrest of a local woman by soldiers from China for selling cigarettes without the official tax stamp. An angry crowd surrounded the officers, and in the ensuing melee two Taiwanese were killed. This episode triggered uprisings throughout the island and eventually gave the Nationalist troops an excuse to carry out a pogrom against the Taiwanese intelligentsia. Within a few months uncounted thousands of civic leaders, doctors, local lawyers, college professors and

other potential dissidents (including a number of PCT leaders) were arrested, executed or assassinated by soldiers or secret police.

For the next forty years there was no official recognition that anything had happened.86 The Nationalist Party and the government it controlled denied the incidents and suppressed open mention of them.87 The entire affair became part of the collective consciousness and memory of people who lived through the times and became known as “the 2-28” (for February 28th, the day of their beginning). The church, too, participated in the silence. A centennial history published in 1965, only 18 years later, includes no mention of the 2-28 or its effect. Only a curious coincidence of a cluster of deaths at about the same time hints that anything untoward had taken place. On February 9th, 1990 the PCT issued a public letter of apology to victims of the 2-28 massacre. In part it says, “in 1947 during the cruelest political suppression of human rights that ever occurred in Taiwan’s history, known to

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posterity as the 2-28 massacre, tens of thousands of Taiwan’s intelligentsia, civic leaders and ordinary citizens were killed or arrested. With the exception of a few brave ministers and congregations who aided the victims and their families, the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan did little to show support or concern out of fear during the extended period of martial law. Therefore we sincerely apologize to the victims of 2-28, and their families; and pray that God grant us mercy and forgiveness.” 88 A Growth Spurt Moves toward local leadership and meetings between Northern and Southern Synods in 1942 and ‘43 led to the formation of preparatory committees for church unification. Drafts, proposals and further meetings after the war led, at last, to the establishment of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. The Rev. Ng Bu-tong was chosen as the first moderator. 89 The assembly immediately joined the World Council of Churches and the World Presbyterian Alliance. It also passed a measure encouraging the dissolution of the local synods in order to strengthen the assembly. In 1957 the Southern Synod did this, and transferred all its property to the Assembly. In the North things worked out differently, so a North Synod

continues to exist to this day as a property holding body, managing Oxford College, Mackay Hospitals, Taiwan Theological College and various other properties. 90 On the cusp of the church’s 90th anniversary in 1954 a challenge emerged from the Southern Synod to double the church in the next decade. Preparatory actions, including the establishment of a Bible College in Hsin-chu in 195791, led to the adoption of this program, known as the PKU (the initials in Romanized Taiwanese of “Double the Church Movement”) in 1959. By prayer, offerings, lay training, publication and encouraging existing churches to “give birth to a daughter” the movement proceeded. The church took advantage of Taiwan’s poverty and the access of ecclesiastical institutions to relief goods to attract hearers through the distribution of flour, milk powder and second-hand clothing from abroad. By this avenue the church drew near to life at the margins of society, and marginal people were brought into the church.92 The 1954 statistics of plains (non-aboriginal) churches indicate 60 thousand believers in 233 congregations. At the end of 1964 there were 103 thousand in 466. When the numbers of Aboriginal believers and congregations are added in, the result of the PKU exceeded

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its goals. 93 Life in a New Neighborhood Having grown and absorbed so many people from Taiwan's ethnic and economic margins, the church faced a new set of challenges. The elite of Taiwan’s middle classes, heretofore part of the church because of its extensive educational and medical outreach, were joined by less educated, less refined elements of society. Church members who were second or third generation Christians, already quite separated from the grassroots culture of their people, found an "earthy" lot sitting next to them in the pews. The church began to change. The society at large also underwent an economic transformation from stable, rural and agricultural to dynamic, urban and industrial. Government policies encouraging industrialization resulted in mass movements of rural populations, especially in the Central and Southern parts of the island, to cities. Taichung and Kaohsiung hosted export processing zones, which attracted the young people of the farms to the cash economy of the cities. Rural churches lost entire age groups from their membership. Youth ministry ceased to function, and Sunday schools were decimated. Rural presbyteries lost membership while urban ones added congregations. The

membership numbers for the church as a whole kept pace with population increases, but did not exceed those rates. Opportunities for industrial, campus and social service mission related to urbanization grew, those linked to rural and agricultural life shrank.94 New currents of political thought were also running in the church. When Taiwan's "Republic of China" government was expelled from the United Nations in 1971 the church, identified now with a broad spectrum of Taiwan's population instead of just with the intelligentsia, spoke out. The "Statement on our National Fate" was issued on December 29th. It urged the direct election of all members of Taiwan's legislative bodies by the people resident on Taiwan to replace those chosen in China 25 years previously and frozen in office ever since. The Rev. Dr. C.M. Kao, General Assembly General Secretary, explained the statement saying, "In the past we have usually accepted 'Thou shalt not offend anyone' as the first commandment and have disregarded the responsibility which Christians ought to have to the society and to the nation. This statement is founded on the conviction of our Christian faith that Christians have such a responsibility."95 The Statement on our National Fate was followed in

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1975 by "Our Appeal: Concerning the Bible, the Church and the Nation". Things were really stirred up in 1977 when the church released "A Declaration on Human Rights" which urged the government to "face reality and to take effective measures whereby Taiwan may become a new and independent country."96 Each of these statements was met with differing degrees of government displeasure. In 1979 a purely secular movement for human rights and open political expression was forcefully suppressed. In its roundup of dissidents the martial law government arrested and convicted several church leaders, including Rev. Kao, who served over four years behind bars.97

That the church, a small portion of this society, had been so targeted for its statements on

behalf of the people of Taiwan did not go unnoticed by the population at large. Marginalized people looked more and more to the church as a leader in the struggle for liberation. In the 1980's the church moved to the margins in significant ways. Service centers were established to minister to the physical and social needs of industrial workers, fishermen and their families, sex workers, peasants, women and the disabled. Sinlau Christian Hospital was reestablished and rebuilt to minister to medical needs in the name of Christ. (Following the war it had been reduced to a clinic staffed by volunteer doctors).98 Chang Jung High School in Tainan established a four-year college with departments specializing in public health and occupational safety. Confirmation Presbyterians do not have a "rite of confirmation" in our liturgy. We do, however, look for a time when those baptized in infancy stand before a congregation as adults and confess that the faith in which their parents promised to raise them has been taken on personally. The PCT had grown for 120 years, nourished by the faith expressed so well in the Westminster Confession and Catechisms and the three

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ecumenical creeds. In 1985 this child of the covenant stood before the world confessing her own faith in her own terms. The Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan was under preparation for seven years, and finally adopted by the General Assembly. It is "rooted in the action and experience of mission in society, buttressed with theological reflection, and stands as one of the important measures of re-confessing theology in Taiwan"99 A Home of Our Own Young adults normally leave their parents' home to set up households and families of their own. The 19th and 20th Century household built and sustained for the PCT by the English and Canadian Presbyterian Churches (and added to by American partners after the war) provided an excellent upbringing. The 21st Century calls for new structures. Since the 1970's the PCT boldly reached out in areas of social concern, political activism, democratization and human rights work. These commitments marked a significant stage in the PCT's mission. However, after the first direct presidential election (1996), Taiwan has entered a new society with a plurality of political parties. Political issues are now taken up by different groups, and the mission of the

church has to be clearly distinguished from those interests. With more than 130 years of mission work experience, the General Assembly of the PCT looks to the future in the spirit of the Reformation. The Church strikes out in new directions based on what is learned from a past and a present in this land. The cry for spiritual reformation has been taken up. It echoes in the intimate response of a church that sees herself as an organ of this society. In changing situations, through direct experience, through community and by presence at the base, the church is established and continues to contribute. For more than a hundred years churches in Taiwan have been perceived by our people as outsiders and dwellers on the margins of the society. In recent years the PCT has emphasized the effort to contextualize her mission. The 21st Century New Taiwan Mission Movement Project was launched in 1999 to "identify with the people and be rooted in this land, and to actualize the Kingdom of God through building Koinonia."100 Commencement One of the proud conceits of school leaving in North America is to refer to it not as “graduation”, signifying an ending, but as

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“commencement”, signifying a beginning. As the PCT engages the 21st century with its challenges, she stands upon the heritage of the past, a gift of God Almighty through the Holy Spirit from before the foundations of the world were laid. The lessons and experiences that this church has received and appropriated from God’s servants in the past, be they Taiwanese, Aboriginal, Chinese, European or North American, serve as completed coursework leading to the award of a diploma. But this is no “well done, thou good and faithful servant” followed by an invitation to eternal rest and joy; it is a commissioning to the task ahead, a task for which this church has been well prepared. John 1:3 and Genesis 1:3 Proverbs 3:19 3 Genesis 2:9 4 Genesis 2:15-23 5 Genesis 2:9 6 Psalm 121:1-2 7 Genesis 1:2 8 John 3:16 9 Taiwan Church News #2577, p.8 and Occasional Bulletin Vol.18, No 4, p 12. 10 Hwang Po-ho, No Longer a Stranger, Tainan, Chhut-Thau-Thi*, 1996, pp.66-7. 11 Psalm 139:15 12 C. H. Hsu et.al. eds. A Centenary History of the Presbyterian Church of Formosa, Tainan, Church Press, 1965, p.11. 13 Edward Band, Barclay of Formosa, Tokyo, Christian Literature Society, 1936, p. 20. 14 Taiwan Catholic Directory, Tapiei, 1997, p. 19. 15 William Campbell, Formosa Under 1 2

the Dutch, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1903. P. 540 16 Ibid. p. 495 17 Ibid. p. 540 18 Ibid. p. 540 19 Ibid. p. 238. 20 Ibid. p. 207. 21 Ibid. p. 306. 22 Ibid. pp. 543-44. 23 Ibid. Intro. vii. 24 Ibid. p. 510. 25 Ibid. p. 540. 26 P. Richard Bohr, “The Legacy of William Milne” International Bulletin of Missionary Research. Vol 25, No. 4 (October 2001) p. 173. 27 Understand the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. Taipei: The General Assembly, 2001. P. 3. 28 Ibid. 29 Ibid. 30 Hsieh Ta-li, Hsieh-wei and His Times. Tainan: Jin-kng, 2000, p. 13. 31 Understand, p. 4. 32 Ibid. 33 Ibid. 34 Hsu, pp.11-12. 35 Wang et. Al. Eds. Presbyterian Church in Taiwan 120th Anniversary Yearbook. Taipei, General Assembly, 1985, p.677. 36 Ibid. p. 462 AND Understand, p. 4. 37 Phoa* Hi-ki, The Spirit of Sin-lau, Tainan: Sin Lau Christian Hospital, 1998, p. 87. 38 Ibid. p. 61. 39 Ibid. p. 63. 40 Understand, p. 5. 41 Ibid. 42 Ibid. 43 Ibid. 44 Ibid. p. 6. 45 Ibid. 46 Band, p. 32. 47 Ibid. pp. 139-42. 48 Wang, op.cit. pp.113-4. 49 Hsu. Op.cit. p. 91. 50 Band, op.cit. p. 74. 51 Ibid. p. 71. 52 Thai-pheng-keng Presbyterian Church, 100th Anniversary Book, Tainan, Church Press, 1965. P. 53.

24 Wang, op.cit. pp. 113-4. Chang Hwa Christian Hospital, 100th Anniversary Book, Chang-hwa, CHCH, 1995. P. 13. 55 Band, op.cit. pp. 77-9. 56 Ibid. p. 113. 57 Ibid. p. 116. 58 Understand, p. 9. 59 Lee Shiao-feng, “Taiwan is Not Part of China”, Liberty Times, 1/ 7/ 2001. 60 Band, op.cit. p.87. 61 Ibid. p. 89. 62 Ibid. p. 93. 63 Ibid. pp. 88-95. 64 Ibid. pp. 99-100. 65 Ibid. p. 108. 66 Ibid. p. 109. 67 Ibid. 68 Ibid. p. 117. 69 Ibid. 70 Marjorie Landsborough, Dr Lan, London, PCE Publishing Committee, 1957, p. 174. 71 Understand, p 8. 72 Ibid. p. 6. 73 Ibid. p. 7. 74 Hsu, op.cit. p. 199. 75 Understand, p. 7. 76 Band, op.cit. p. 22. 77 Ralph Covell, Pentecost of the Hills in Taiwan, Pasadena: Hope, 1998.p155. 78 Ibid. pp. 165-70. 53 54

Ibid. p. 178. Ibid. pp. 172-4. 81 Understand, p. 9. 82 W. E. Montgomery, “The Rip Van Winkels Return”, Theology and the Church, Vol. 4, No. 3, p. 7. 83 Ibid. p. 13. 84 Ibid. p. 14. 85 Lee, op.cit. p.4. 86 Occasional Bulletin of the Taiwan Church News, Vol. VIII, No. 2, p.8. 87 Occasional Bulletin of the Taiwan Church News, Vol. IV, No. 2, p.6. 88 Taiwan Church News #1981, 18 Feb 1990, p.1. 89 Understand, p. 11. 90 Ibid. 91 Hsu, op.cit. pp. 356-8. 92 Ibid. pp. 339-41. 93 Ibid. p. 353. 94 Understand, pp. 12-13. 95 Taiwan Church News, March 1972, page 1. 96 Public Statements. 3rd Edition, Taipei, The General Assembly of the PCT, 1995. Pp. 11& 17. 97 Taiwan Church News 1694 (August 8, 1984) p.1. 98 Phoa*, op.cit. -p.10. 99 Hwang, op.cit. p. 48. 100 21st Century New Taiwan Mission Movement Project, Taipei, General Assembly R&D Center, 1998. P.1. 79 80

David Alexander is a graduate of New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Jersey, USA. A native Southern Californian, he first came to Taiwan in 1976 under the joint sponsorship of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) and the

25 Reformed Church in America (RCA). After two years of missionary internship among Taiwan’s college and university students, he returned to North America for graduate studies, eventually obtaining both the degrees Master of Arts in Theology and the Master of Education. In 1980 he married Charlene Bos, from Lucas, Michigan, USA. (They had first met in 1976 in Taiwan.) In March of 1982 they returned to Taiwan as RCA missionaries appointed to serve the PCT. They took up residence in Kaohsiung City and initially spent two years learning Taiwanese. They were assigned to work in PCT in campus ministries for a decade. David moved to church planting work, which was followed by a stint at the Taiwan Church Press. He currently serves on the staff of Tainan Theological College. Charlene has remained among university students, teaching at Chang Jung Christian University and as an adjunct at Tainan Theological College Their two born-in-Taiwan children are Katherine (1985) and Grant (1991).

Tainan Theological College and Seminary 台南神學院 701 台南市東門路一段 117 號 117 East Gate Road, Section 1Tainan, 701 TAIWAN TEL +886 6 237-1291 FAX +886 6 234 6060

26 e-mail: [email protected]

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