Seventy years! Yes, 70 years of sharing the good news of Christ on this green and beautiful island that we call home, but that the world knows mainly for its earthquakes, typhoons, semiconductors and troubled relationships with its much larger neighbour across the Taiwan Strait. Christians are a minority, only 4-5%, and Anglican/Episcopalians an even smaller minority still. Yet for 70 years, the Taiwan Episcopal Church has boldly proclaimed and faithfully persevered in sharing the Gospel, and we give thanks for our 17 churches, mission stations and places of worship, our 8 kindergartens and also St. John’s University. We are celebrating this anniversary with a year of outreach events, including a Thanksgiving Service on September 28, 2024, at which we also welcomed many visitors, all joining with us to give great thanks to Almighty God!

In preparing for the 70th anniversary, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang, Bishop of Taiwan, emphasized that 2024 is a year for the Taiwan Episcopal Church to connect with the world and focus on mission. Starting in April 2024, the Taiwan Episcopal Church has organized a number of 70th-anniversary events, including hosting the 12th World Anglican Chinese Clergy Fellowship (WACCF) Gathering from April 9-12, 2024, attended by almost 150 Anglican Chinese clergy from all over the world, and also hosting Thanksgiving Services in various churches throughout the diocese, led by a diocesan mission team of over 40 lay people. Led by Bishop Chang and his wife, Hannah, the mission team have gathered for training in leading worship, sharing testimonies and praying for people to receive spiritual and physical healing. So far they have led one such service a month, including a recent one at St. John’s Cathedral, Taipei (see photos below) with others planned through the end of the year, all designed to reach out to people in the local community as well as those who have previously attended church, but are no longer active. The theme is “Returning home, to our Galilee; returning to the place where we were first called”, with photos titled ‘I’m Home’. Looking forward, there will be more evangelism and outreach ministry, with clergy and church members working together to share the Gospel throughout Taiwan, moving deeper into mission.

Over 750 people gathered for the main 70th Anniversary Thanksgiving Service and Celebration on Saturday, September 28, 2024, from 10:30 am – 3:30 pm, at Centennial Hall, St. John’s University (SJU), Tamsui, Taipei. Bishop Chang and the Diocese of Taiwan are especially grateful to Mr. Kenneth Chu-Shiang Yao, Chair of the SJU Board of Trustees, Dr. Daniel Yen-Po Tang, SJU President, and all the SJU trustees, faculty and staff (see photos below) for their time, energy and willingness to host this event. All the current SJU trustees, including Bishop Chang, are SJU alumni, and although most are not Christians, they understand and appreciate the identity of SJU as a Christian institution founded by Bishop James C. L. Wong (Bishop of Taiwan 1965-70) and the Taiwan Episcopal Church. Many of our clergy and church members throughout Taiwan also studied at SJU (or its predecessor, St. John’s and St. Mary’s Institute of Technology, SJSMIT) and became Christians through the outreach ministry of the SJU Chaplaincy; they were baptized in Advent Church by former chaplains, Rev. Dr. Charles C. T. Chen, Rev. Dr. David Chee, Rev. Samuel Y. C. Lin or Bishop Chang himself, who was SJU chaplain and Advent Church rector before being elected and then consecrated bishop in February 2020. It was great to see many former SJU students there at the celebration. SJU faces many ongoing challenges with student enrollment and restructuring, so for Bishop Chang and the Taiwan Episcopal Church, holding this 70th-anniversary event at SJU was one way to show their support for the university, despite the distance that many church members had to travel to get there. The offering collected at the Thanksgiving Service was also all given to SJU, totaling over NT$ 527,000 (approx. USD 16,400 / GBP 12,500).

In the week leading up to the Thanksgiving Service, it was, however, a major concern for Bishop Chang and everyone at SJU that the roof of the SJU Centennial Hall could leak badly if heavy rains fell in the days beforehand. Bishop Chang strongly urged everyone to pray hard that there would be no rain on the day. After a succession of passing typhoons brought heavy rain in the previous 2 weeks, worry intensified when the weather forecast showed the development of another typhoon in the days leading up to the 70th-anniversary event, which led to extremely unstable weather across the whole country in the days beforehand. Fortunately, it was not serious enough for the government to cancel work and school classes, but as people woke early on Saturday, September 28 to travel to Tamsui and onwards to SJU, heavy rain was falling in many places, including in Taipei City and even on the road leading along the coast to St. John’s University. Amazingly (and even miraculously, according to some who were previously sceptical as to whether prayer would have any effect), no rain fell on the SJU campus all that day! It was dry and pleasant all day long, with occasional blue skies; thanks be to Almighty God.

Two main themes ran through the Thanksgiving Service on September 28, firstly 七十、起始 Qīshí, qǐshǐ (‘Seventy, a New Beginning’) and secondly, 委身宣教 Wěishēn xuānjiào (‘Committed to Mission’). As Mr. Gary Tseng, Chair of the Diocesan Standing Committee movingly said in his short address (see photo below) at the end of the Thanksgiving Service, “The number 70, in the timeline of the Bible, represents a complete cycle; it signifies God’s leading of His chosen people out of captivity and into the Promised Land. Therefore, besides giving thanks for the past, we must also move out of difficulties and step into a new glory, driving the growth of the Taiwan Episcopal Church to establish sufficient parishes and fulfill the mission of forming a church province.”

The sermon at the Thanksgiving Service was given by the Rt. Rev. Robert Fitzpatrick, Bishop of Hawaii. He is also a long-time friend of Bishop David J. H. Lai (Bishop of Taiwan 2001-2020) and wise mentor to Bishop Lennon Chang, and was specially invited by Bishop Chang to come to Taiwan with his wife, Bea (see photos below) to preach at this celebration event. His sermon was translated by Dr. Tim Pan, Dean of the diocesan Trinity School for Christian Ministry (TSCM).

In his sermon, Bishop Fitzpatrick mentioned that Bishop Harry S. Kennedy was the Bishop of the Missionary District of Honolulu from 1944 until 1969, which included Hawaii, Gaum, Okinawa and Taiwan, with oversight of churches established in the wake of World War II throughout the Pacific. Then in the decades that followed, both Hawaii and Taiwan became dioceses, and we have remained sister dioceses ever since. With the theme of ‘Committed to Mission’, he quoted from the Gospel reading, Matthew 28: 16-20, which contains the Great Commission, with a clear call: “Go and make disciples” and said, “It seems a fitting reminder as the children of dioceses grounded in the wake of a bishop who did just that: “He went and made disciples.”” He went on to share about how he himself was from a non-Christian background, but was baptized as a student aged 19, and how the Baptismal Vows guide every person on the path of discipleship. His sermon summary can be found here…

A combined diocesan choir sang 2 beautiful anthems during the Thanksgiving Service, the first of which, ‘How Lovely are the Messengers’, sung after the sermon, was specifically written for the 70th Anniversary by Ms. Cynthia Lawing, another long-time friend of the Taiwan Episcopal Church. Cynthia was brought up in Hong Kong, attending St. Paul’s Church, whose rector was also a close family friend, Rev. James T. M. Pong. He left St. Paul’s in 1971 to become Bishop of Taiwan, and in 1974, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Taiwan Episcopal Church, Bishop Pong invited Cynthia to come and give a concert tour all around Taiwan, which she can still remember to this day – the fields of rice and water buffalo, the heat, humidity and lack of air-conditioning, and even being taken to have tea and play the piano for Madame Chiang Kai-Shek. Not only does she still remember that trip, but so does Bishop David Lai, he attended her concert in Tainan, and remembers that he even got to shake her hand!

In 2011, Cynthia and her husband, Bill, by then at Davidson College, North Carolina, USA (and currently in the area badly affected by Hurricane Helene) wrote to Bishop Lai to enquire whether there would be a possibility to return to Taiwan to offer some concerts to the Taiwan Episcopal Church, the reply being a resounding ‘yes’! Since then, they have been several times, most recently last year in 2023 with Cynthia’s sister, Gloria, also a concert pianist, and it was on that trip that Cynthia kindly offered to write a 70th-anniversary anthem, so Bishop Chang sent her the Bible verse, Isaiah. 52:7, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace”. The combined choir have been practicing for many months under the direction of choir director, Ms. Min-Hsi Fan and pianist, Ms. Pei-I Chan, and despite the challenges of the SJU Centennial Hall acoustics, many people, including Bishop Chang himself, commented on how beautiful the anthem was, with traditional Chinese-style music, and very moving words.

The second beautiful anthem was ‘Here I am, Lord’, sung in Chinese, English and Taiwanese during Holy Communion, with the words sung almost in response to the first anthem, and accompanied by the St. John’s Cathedral string orchestra.

The Rt. Rev. John Harvey Taylor, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, also participated in the Thanksgiving Service and Bishop Chang invited him to give the blessing at the end. In the last 2 years, through Bishop Taylor’s vision and encouraged by Bishop Chang, our two dioceses of Taiwan and LA have formed a new companion diocesan partnership with mission and learning together as a central focus. Bishop Taylor brought with him 3 very lovely Chinese-speaking clergy from his diocese in LA, Rev. Dr. Thomas Ni, Rev. Katherine Feng and Rev. Dr. Fennie Chang. Fennie is from Taiwan, originally from the Taiwan Presbyterian Church, whose hometown is Keelung, so it was a very special homecoming for her, and as all 3 of them are bilingual, so their visit was even more of a blessing to us all! Fennie and Katherine do much of the translation for Bishop Chang and Hannah when they attend Episcopal Church meetings in the USA, while Thomas is hoping for a closer relationship in theological training between our 2 dioceses. Although this was Bishop Taylor’s first ever visit to Taiwan, he fitted in right away, and everyone loved him, so outgoing, lively and friendly to everyone, with a fount of fascinating stories to share about his time as chief of staff to former U.S. President Richard Nixon. And as Bishop Taylor celebrates his 70th birthday this year, so he’s the same age as the Taiwan Episcopal Church!

Our beloved companion diocese of Osaka, Japan (for the history of this link see our diocesan website here), also sent a group to Taiwan to attend the Thanksgiving Service, 17 in total, including 6 clergy. Their bishop, the Rt. Rev. Andrew Haruhisa Iso wasn’t able to join the trip, but he sent a special video and was represented by the chair of the companion diocese group, Rev. Kiyomi Senmatsu and Rev. Akira Iwaki. So many of the Osaka group are our old friends, and it is always great to have another happy reunion with them. This time, one of my Student English Bible Study group, Gen Shibayama (top right photo below, in a white shirt), from Nagoya, Japan, read the first lesson in the Thanksgiving Service in Japanese and was able to accompany the Osaka group on their visit to St. Thomas, Linkou with Archdeacon Keith Lee, who oversees the link with Osaka; Keith is also fluent in Japanese. The Osaka group also sang ‘Tomoni’ (‘Together’) at the afternoon Thanksgiving Concert, which was written especially in honour of our companion diocese partnership.

Photos from before and during the Thanksgiving Service….

After the Thanksgiving Service in the morning, there were media interviews for the bishops. The Christian Tribune article (in Chinese) can be found here.

Then there were more photos!

During the lunch break, we all had boxes of yummy finger food, bread, cakes and drinks, the idea being that we could walk around and visit all the lunchtime attractions, the diocesan exhibition of photos from all our churches, watch the new video made specially for the 70th anniversary introducing each church, and most exciting, visit all the stalls set up by different church members to sell their homemade crafts, dried flowers, keychains, cactus plants or second-hand goods. Of course there was not enough time to reconnect with everyone, but it was such fun to meet up with lots of old friends.

During the lunch break, I took Bishop Taylor and his group to visit Advent Church, where I persuaded them to pose on the steps for a special photo, and Bishop Taylor took a selfie of them all in front of Bishop James Wong’s picture.

The afternoon Thanksgiving Concert from 1:30-3:30 pm was full of lively performances from so many of our different church choirs and groups, including Taiko Drumming and Praise Dance, with many local traditions and languages celebrated, including the indigenous people. The final performance was from our local Bunun Presbyterian Church, who sang and danced and performed some of their famous eight-part polyphony singing. It was all amazing!

Our deacon, Rev. Shawn Wang is a member of the Bunun Tribe, so we took this photo with the Bunun group for his family!

The Rt. Rev. Roger Jaomalaza Chung, retired Bishop of Antsiranana, Madagascar, and long-time friend of us all, was also here for the occasion, just arrived from his home in Mauritius. Bishop Roger’s wife, Alice is from Pingtung, Taiwan, but had moved to Mauritius as a child with her parents; her father had served there as a Hakka Presbyterian Minister. After her parents retired back to Taiwan, Bishop Roger and Alice would come to visit every year or so, and it was in 2011 that I first met them at the ordination service of Rev. Simon Tsou at St. Timothy’s Church, Kaohsiung – and which Simon reminded us of on Saturday (see photos below)! Bishop Roger had then just retired as bishop in Madagascar, having had a stroke, and moved back to Mauritius. About a year later, Alice’s parents moved north to Shuang-Lien Elderly Center, only a few minutes from St. John’s University, where I was then living, so I got to know them very well over the next 10 or more years. Alice’s father died about 5 years ago, and I carried on visiting Alice’s mother – we always had such fun together, they are such a lovely family. When Bishop Roger and Alice booked their flights to Taiwan this time, they intended to meet up with their family from Australia to visit Alice’s mother together. However, Alice’s mother sadly died on September 7, aged 95, so instead, they have come for her funeral and burial, taking place later this week. When they booked their flights to Taiwan to arrive on September 27, they also didn’t know then that it was to be the 70th-anniversary celebration of the Taiwan Episcopal Church the following day, and it was so good that Bishop Roger could come to the celebration. He mentioned that now that Alice’s mother has passed away, this will probably be his last visit to Taiwan, and if so, then it is a fitting occasion on which to say farewell after his long association with us and the Taiwan Episcopal Church.

Bearing in mind the words of Mr. Gary Tseng about God leading us out of captivity and into the promised land, and leaving our difficulties and stepping into a new glory, it is perhaps also timely that the 70th-anniversary events should take place so soon after the death of the beloved wife of former SJU Chaplain and former dean of St. John’s Cathedral, Rev. Samuel Y. C. Lin. His wife, Jane died on September 11 after a long period of ill health, and her funeral took place in St. John’s Cathedral just last week (see photos below), on Tuesday, September 24, attended by over 220 people, many of whom regarded her as their spiritual mother in Christ. Lots of those attending, including a choir that sang an anthem, were former SJU students or cathedral members whose lives were changed through the amazing witness and teaching of Rev. Samuel Lin and his wife, and many choked back tears as they said their goodbyes. It was good to see many of them with Rev. Samuel Lin at the 70th-anniversary celebration, showing their support for their much-loved spiritual father in Christ.

And thirdly, the Rev. Richard C. S. Ou (left photo below). In 1965, the Rev. Richard Ou became the first Taiwanese priest ordained in the Taiwan Episcopal Church. In these last few months however, he had become very ill, and in the last few days, his children had returned home from overseas, knowing that their father was nearing the end of his life. His daughter, Jane is the senior warden at St. Timothy’s Church, Kaohsiung, and only a few days ago, she had been at St. Timothy’s to welcome Bishop Taylor and the LA group to visit (right photo below at St. Timothy’s), and Bishop Taylor had prayed for the family and showed great concern for her father. Jane was on her way to the 70th-anniversary celebration on Saturday September 28 with her husband when she received the news that her father had died soon after 9:30am that very morning. She bravely stayed on for the day’s events, and many at the celebration said that the timing of his death was so appropriate, and that her father was in heaven celebrating with us, having left his life of pain and suffering that very morning for glory. His funeral is arranged to take place this coming Saturday at St. Timothy’s Church, Kaohsiung.

Please do pray for these 3 dear families as they mourn the loss of their loved ones.

The Celebration Weekend really started with a 70th Anniversary Banquet on Friday September 27 for international guests and our clergy, including the Osaka group who came straight from the airport; we were delighted therefore when two of the group, mother and daughter, changed into their beautiful kimonos, especially for the occasion! Towards the end of the banquet, we watched the video from Bishop Iso sending his congratulations from the Diocese of Osaka, followed by speeches and gift presentations of stunning and very meaningly chosen Liuli crystal glass from Bishop Chang to Rev. Kiyomi Senmatsu on behalf of the Diocese of Osaka, Bishop Fitzpatrick and Bishop Taylor. The Diocese of Osaka kindly presented cheques from the Diocese of Osaka and St. Augustine’s Church, Osaka towards our earthquake fund for Hualien, on Taiwan’s east coast, after the big earthquake there on April 3, 2024. Bishop Taylor’s gifts were meaningful to our new companion diocese partnership and he had a lot of fun presenting Bishop Chang with a LA Dodgers Baseball Cap and Shirt with ‘Chang 6’ on the back (denoting the 6th Bishop of Taiwan), while Bishop Fitzpatrick enjoyed presenting Bishop Chang and our archdeacons with leis, cards and pictures of artwork destroyed in Lahaina fire in Maui, Hawaii last year, after which he said that the Diocese of Taiwan was among the first to donate relief funds.

Bishop Taylor and his group from LA had actually arrived in Taiwan on Monday September 23 for a week of visiting churches and getting to know the diocese. We started with an informal lunch and birthday cake, meeting Mr. Gary Tseng and his wife, Amy, diocesan chancellor, plus clergy and diocesan staff. They met with Tim Pan and heard about TSCM, sharing together about theological training, and from there, off they went to St. John’s Cathedral for coffee with Dean Philip Lin, and onwards to visit many of our churches throughout Taipei, central and southern Taiwan. They met clergy and church members and saw all the different church ministries among kindergarten, youth and seniors, as well as church-planting, and even a little sightseeing in Keelung where Rev. Fennie Chang took them to meet her family. They came back delighted to have met so many people and learned so much!

Bishop Taylor had sent a box in advance by FedEx containing all their gifts, but somehow it didn’t arrive in time, and it took several days for our diocesan staff to get it released from customs – so there was a lot of excitement when Bishop Taylor returned from south Taiwan to receive it from Lisa, via me, just in time for the 70th Anniversary Banquet and gift presentations!

Bishop Fitzpatrick and Bea arrived from Hawaii on Wednesday September 25, and as they have been several times before to Taiwan, including a 2-week visit in 2013, so this time, we took them to visit one of the few churches they hadn’t visited before, St. Peter’s Church, Chiayi. This year, St. Peter’s celebrated its 60th anniversary by becoming a parish, and we celebrated at our diocesan convention in May 2024. In Chiayi, we had such a warm welcome from Archdeacon Simon Tsou and all the people there, and really enjoyed joining in the seniors’ exercise and dancing activities!

On Monday, we also took Bishop Fitzpatrick and Bea to Tainan to visit Bishop David Lai and his wife Lily, a warm reunion with dear friends, such a lovely occasion.

On Sunday September 29, all our visitors were invited to worship and some to preach in different churches in northern Taiwan. While Rev. Thomas Ni preached at the Chinese service at Good Shepherd Church, with Rev. David Chee presiding, Archdeacon Keith Lee led the Osaka group to St. Thomas Church, Linkou for a bilingual Chinese and Japanese service…

Bishop Fitzpatrick preached at Christ Church, Chungli with Dr. Tim Pan translating…

Bishop Taylor preached at the monthly combined Chinese and English service at St. John’s Cathedral, with Rev. Claire Wang translating. Bishop Taylor had the chance to meet Marjorie and Winston, and his old friend, Tom Cole, a member of the English congregation, whose mother was a great friend of Bishop Taylor. They last met 17 years ago in the USA….

And we did have great fun when Christine, in charge of the St. John’s Cathedral social media accounts, shared with Bishop Taylor how much she and her friends thought he resembled Gru from ‘Despicable Me’, and he even happily agreed with her, and said he was looking forward to sharing this news with his grandchildren!

Meanwhile, St. Stephen’s Church, Keelung (left photo below) hosted Rev. Katherine Feng who preached there and Rev. Fennie Chang preached at Trinity Church, Keelung (right photo below), both in Chinese.

After the Sunday services, they were all hosted to lunch, lively conversation and fellowship! The Osaka group then left on Monday, and the following day, Tuesday, we said a fond farewell to Bishop Fitzpatrick and Bea as they set off to return home. They are such a photogenic and very devoted couple…

Later that same day, Bishop Taylor departed for New York. Thanks to him for so many photos, some of which I have used here. For his final farewell, he visited the diocesan office and said goodbye to all those who had helped with his visit – and especially retrieving his valuable FedEx package!

Now, today, it is Wednesday October 2, and 3 members of the LA group are still here in Taiwan, but today all work and classes throughout the country are officially cancelled in preparation for the arrival of Typhoon Krathon. We’re just so glad that this didn’t all happen last week or over last weekend when we had our big celebration! The typhoon is currently slowly circling around off the southern tip of Taiwan and scheduled to move northwards up the length of Taiwan later today and tomorrow. Please do pray for Taiwan and especially those in the path of the expected strong winds and torrential rains.

As we reflect on the celebration events of this year, and over the past 70 years, we give thanks to Almighty God for his many blessings towards the Taiwan Episcopal Church. We remember all those who have served so faithfully, and those who have been blessed through the ministry of our kindergartens, student and church outreach and St. John’s University. As we look to the future, we pray as Mr. Gary Tseng encouraged us, for God’s leading of His people out of captivity and into the Promised Land, that God will lead us out of difficulties to step into a new glory, driving the growth of the Taiwan Episcopal Church, that one day we might indeed be able to grow the church sufficiently to form a new church province in Taiwan. YES!

Updated October 7, 2024: Typhoon Krathon proved to be extremely unusual in that it slowly circulated round and round in the seas south of Taiwan, hardly moving for days, which delayed its arrival – leading to much uncertainty about what to expect. Weather forecasts predicted it would make landfall in the far south near Kaohsiung, move northwards along Taiwan’s N-S axis and exit into the ocean in northern Taiwan over the weekend, so schools and work were cancelled across Taiwan for 2 days, Wednesday and Thursday last week, in preparation. However, contrary to all expectations, once the typhoon finally did make landfall on Thursday October 3 in Kaohsiung, it dissipated within 24 hours, and by Saturday it was gone.

For Kaohsiung and Pingtung, it was a massive typhoon, with friends in those places reporting they had never known such powerful winds, and some wondered if their homes were going to survive. Major flooding and wind damage occurred to buildings, crops and transport infrastructure in those areas. On Friday, October 4, the northern coast of Taiwan experienced the typhoon’s outer bands of rain and wind, especially the area north of St. John’s University, from Sanzhe around the coast to Keelung – all experienced heavy rainfall that led to major flooding from late afternoon onwards, apparently, it was the worst flooding in the Jinshan area for 40 years. We were in that area that same morning for the funeral of Bishop Roger’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Shu, and the rainfall was already torrential. At Rev. Richard Ou’s funeral in St. Timothy’s Church, Kaoshiung, on Saturday October 5, although the typhoon was gone and all was calm, the surrounding streets were roped off, filled with fallen trees and broken signboards, while the church itself had had its air-conditioning units destroyed in the typhoon, so it was extremely hot – and the clergy were all wearing robes – temperatures that day were 30°C (feels like 34°C). In total, 4 people were killed in the typhoon, 700+ injured, over 9,000 reports of damage filed, and over 400,000 households lost power. Thank you to all who expressed concern and for your prayers.

Stop Press: Short Video of the Taiwan Episcopal Church 70th Anniversary…

And finally an article on the Episcopal News Service website here, posted October 11, 2024