Welcome to the newest church in the Diocese of Taiwan, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Linkou! ✝️

Set in a new high-rise residential area in Linkou, on Taiwan’s NW coast, not far from the freeway that links Taipei City to Taoyuan International Airport – and all places further south, this is the second church plant of Good Shepherd Church, Shilin, Taipei, whose rector is Archdeacon Keith C. C. Lee. Good Shepherd’s first church plant, then under rector, Rev. Lily Chang, was Christ Church, Chungli, who are also providing great support for this new church plant in Linkou.

And why the name, St. Thomas Church? As Bishop Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang said in his sermon at the consecration and official opening of St. Thomas Church on Saturday May 25, Thomas the Apostle (St. Thomas) is known for his questioning and doubting the resurrection of Jesus. Like the people of this area of Linkou, many of whom work nearby in the new science and technology park in high-tech, scientific research, they too are questioning. They too have serious doubts about what they may have seen and heard regarding faith in Christ. Thomas missed seeing Jesus the first time he appeared to the gathered disciples after the resurrection, but a week later, Jesus appeared again and invited Thomas to touch his hands and feet – and challenged him to stop doubting and believe. Thomas went on to proclaim, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:24-29). We hope and pray that the people of Linkou will come to know Christ through the witness of this church and the outreach activities in the area. Like Thomas, may they too come to believe and confess their faith in Christ.

After the first Pentecost, Thomas went on to travel to Kerala, South India, and there famously shared the Gospel and planted many churches, becoming one of the distinguished saints of the church. We hope that in the same way, the people of this new church, St. Thomas Church, Linkou will be inspired to follow the example of Thomas the Apostle and reach out to share the Gospel ~ and in time, plant churches themselves, becoming a great blessing to others.

St. Thomas’ connection with church-planting and church-building has led him to become the patron saint of builders and architects, and his symbol is therefore a carpenter’s square or ruler. There is also a spear to symbolize his martyrdom. The newly-designed shield for St. Thomas, Linkou is purple, with the carpenter’s square and spear in yellow, you can see it above the main entrance. From a distance, I thought it was an airplane, but given that Linkou is on the Taoyuan International Airport Metro Line, and also given that St. Thomas traveled to faraway places to share the Gospel that these days we can easily get to by air, perhaps it’s not entirely a bad thing!

At Saturday’s opening service, clergy, church members and friends came from all over Taiwan, and especially from the north and centre. We were all there! As the church has 2 floors, those who couldn’t fit into the main church area went upstairs to watch the video livestream. The church building was blessed, consecrated and opened, the Good Shepherd Church Choir sang (beautifully as always), and a church committee of members from Good Shepherd Church and the local area was also commissioned and blessed. It is particularly moving that Mr. Richard Hu, former senior warden at Good Shepherd – who formerly helped establish Christ Church, Chungli – has actually moved into the Linkou area to help establish this church too. He will be helping with Bible Studies and Sunday services, which started there about a month ago. Ms. Vivian Meng-Rung Kuo is assigned by the diocese to run the ministry there day to day; she is about to be ordained deacon, on Friday May 31 at Good Shepherd Church.

At the end of the service, we had cake, and lots of it! So delicious!

We give thanks to God for this newest church of the Taiwan Episcopal Church, and please do pray for this new ministry!

St. Thomas Church, Linkou has a Facebook Page here: 台灣聖公會林口聖多馬堂 and a Sunday service at 10:30 am in Chinese, plus lots of other activities ~ all welcome!