The Taiwan Episcopal Church has a new deacon ~ YES!

Congratulations to Rev. Shawn Yen-Hsuan Wang 王彥軒, ordained deacon by the Rt. Rev. Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang, Bishop of Taiwan, at St. James’ Church, Taichung on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, St. Joseph’s Day! Thanks be to God!

Photos here were all taken on that day, starting with St. James’ Church as we arrived at 5:00 pm…

Before the service….

The service started at 7:00 pm, finished at 8:40 pm, and it was also livestreamed, the link is below.

Part 1 of the ordination service…

Part 2 The Ordination….

Part 3 Holy Communion…

Congratulations to Shawn – and please pray for him and his life and ministry!

Shawn’s ministry – since he graduated from the diocesan Trinity School for Christian Ministry (TSCM) last summer – is at our new diocesan church plant in Hsinchu, on Taiwan’s west coast, about halfway between Taipei and Taichung. Home of the Hsinchu Science Park, with its 360 high-tech companies, including TSMC – the world’s largest independent semiconductor foundry, Hsinchu is a growing city with lots of young professionals and huge potential for outreach and church planting. Bishop Chang is urging all our churches to grow themselves into parishes, and all our parishes to plant a church, and grow that into a parish. The Hsinchu Church Plant is part of that vision and comes under the Rev. Lily Chang and St. James’ Church, Taichung, with Shawn assigned to run the Hsinchu ministry day to day.

The Hsinchu opening service was on Saturday November 4, 2023 (see that report here), and the church plant is currently located on the second floor of a cake and dessert shop – the cakes are delicious and oh so exquisite! Shawn has started holding evening services each Wednesday, and Sunday services started at the beginning of Lent. As quite a few of the newcomers are not yet Christians, he’s also started an Alpha Course following the Sunday services, after lunch. Getting a church plant off the ground is always a big challenge, but Shawn is rising to that challenge and is well-supported by Bishop Chang, Rev. Lily Chang and church members from St. James and also Christ Church, Chungli. Rev. Lily Chang goes to Hsinchu one Sunday a month to celebrate Holy Communion, and Bishop Chang will be there leading the upcoming Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday services.

In April 2021, I asked Shawn to write about himself for the diocesan Friendship Magazine, and he wrote: “My family comes from Taitung, on Taiwan’s SE coast, and that is where I was born in 1991 and grew up, in a family of 5, with a younger brother and sister. My brother now works in Taichung, and my sister in Hualien. My father retired as a junior high school principal in 2015 to take care of his elderly parents. My mother continues to work as an elementary school principal.

We are a Christian family belonging to the Bunun tribe, one of 16 indigenous tribes of Taiwan, and my grandfather still lives in the tribal village, which is where I also spent the first few years of my life, before moving to Taitung City. The indigenous people of Taiwan are mostly Christians, thanks to the efforts of early missionaries. I am not sure when and how my ancestors (probably my great-grandparents) converted to Christianity, but I have heard that it occurred in the early 20th century, and one of the reasons for their conversion was that they found the Christian faith to be consistent with Bunun traditional beliefs, including the existence of a supreme God and moral teachings. I am grateful that their generation found and was found by the God who reveals Himself to all peoples, and they passed down this faith to me.

Raised as a Baptist, I first encountered the Episcopal / Anglican Church when I went to university in Taipei, where I studied Social Work and Anthropology. I was drawn by the beauty of the liturgy and the inclusive spirit of Anglicanism, and, before my graduation, I received confirmation. After working some years in an institute of archaeology, I went to London to study Christian art, and experienced the Anglican Church in her birthplace, England. Although all these experiences seemed ordinary, the knowledge and skills I gained, and the failures and frustrations I went through paved the way for my application for holy orders.

‘The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet’ (Buechner). Does God have a purpose for me in this life? If so, what does He call me to do? These are the questions I have often asked myself since adolescence. After a long period of uncertainty and anxiety, now I can answer them boldly: Yes! God has a purpose for my life, and I believe that He calls me to be a priest.”

As a student in Taipei many years ago, Shawn worshiped here at St. John’s Cathedral, Taipei – which also recommended him for his ordination training – and many of his friends from here took the day off work to travel to Taichung for his ordination service. Here we are!

It was great to see Shawn’s family, friends and members of other churches, especially lots of people from St. James, with choirs from both the Chinese and English services singing. We were blessed by the warm welcome they all gave us. Thank you to Rev. Lily Chang and St. James’ Church!

In Bishop Chang’s sermon at the ordination service, he shared how the Old Testament prophets, including Amos and Isaiah, had heard God’s call and were willing to accept and go. He referred to the reading from Jeremiah (Jer. 1:4-9), and said that despite Jeremiah’s protests that he was too young and couldn’t speak well, God told him not to be afraid and to trust God’s promise that He would deliver him and help him. God said he would give Jeremiah the words to say – after all we are not here to preach ourselves, but to share God’s word. In the Gospel reading (Luke 12:35-38), Jesus encourages his disciples to be ready and stay alert. Bishop Chang said that we need to have the courage to accept God’s call to be his servant.

Bishop Chang called Shawn up beside him, and shared how, like Jeremiah, Shawn had felt called to be a pastor / priest since he was very young (in junior high school) and now, after years of discerning God’s call through prayer and with the help of clergy and church members – and with their continued support – so he has been willing to accept God’s call to serve, to study for ordination and now, today, he is ordained deacon. Pointing around the congregation, Bishop Chang told Shawn that the responsibility of a deacon is to care for the least of these brothers and sisters, concerned for their needs and bringing their needs to the attention of the clergy and bishop, praying for them and helping them in their weakness; and Bishop Chang told the congregation that it is our responsibility to pray for Shawn and encourage him in this ministry.

Shawn becomes the youngest member of the clergy in the Taiwan Episcopal Church, and as his friends all say, he is honest, hardworking and friendly, so with these gifts of character, his faith, together with God’s grace, wisdom and everyone’s prayers, so we pray for God’s blessing upon him!

Congratulations to Shawn and to the Taiwan Episcopal Church ~ and thanks be to Almighty God! ❤️