Yes, a Truly Momentous Weekend in the Taiwan Episcopal Church! We’ve opened a new church and elected a new bishop, and in between held our annual diocesan convention. All in one weekend!

The Rev. Keith Chen-Cheng Lee 李鎮丞牧師 elected next Bishop of Taiwan: Rev. Keith Chen-Cheng Lee, Rector of Good Shepherd Church, Taipei, was elected bishop at the Taiwan Diocesan Convention on Saturday, May 9, 2026. The result is pending approval by the Bishops and Standing Committees of The Episcopal Church.

A total of 24 clergy and 52 laity were present at the election and eligible to vote. The election required a simple majority from both clergy and lay orders on the same ballot, in accordance with the diocesan constitution. Thirteen clergy votes and 27 lay votes were thus necessary for election as bishop. On the fourth ballot, Rev. Keith Lee received 14 clergy votes and 27 lay votes. The other nominees were the Ven. Lily Ling-Ling Chang, rector of St. James’ Episcopal Church, Taichung, and Rev. Simon Tsai-Shin Tsou, rector of St. Peter’s Church, Chiayi. The Episcopal observer was the Rt. Rev. Robert (Bob) Fitzpatrick, Bishop of Hawaiʻi, whose own diocese will be electing its new bishop on Saturday, May 16, 2026. The Bishop-Elect will succeed Bishop Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang as the diocesan bishop when Bishop Chang reaches mandatory retirement age next year.

The election was a very solemn occasion, and it was a real honour to be a part of it all, even as an observer. The atmosphere was serious, and silence was maintained under the strict and watchful eye of the diocesan secretary, Mr. Tim Liu. He was supported by an excellent team of election officials, who were young adults nominated from our churches; most of them have participated in mission trips and youth camps; all were excited to be part of this historic event. The first three ballots were held in quick succession, with the counting done by holding up each ballot paper to the room and announcing the name chosen, with records made both on the whiteboard and digitally. Whereas voting for the committees at the diocesan convention takes place using cellphones and QR codes, with instant results, instead, for the bishop election, ballot papers were used so they could be kept as a permanent record. Delegates lined up one by one, clergy on the right, and lay people on the left; each confirmed their identity, took their paper and voted in an official election booth, then placed their paper in an official election box. A few photos of the election process are shown below, taken from the Taiwan Episcopal Church Facebook Page…

We started at 9:00 am, and each ballot from start to finish took about 45 minutes. All phones (other than the election officials) were switched off until the results of the third ballot were announced; we then had a 25-minute break, during which phones could be switched on again. There was to be no posting of photos or news on social media until it was all over. At 11:00 am, we started on the fourth ballot, and phones were switched off again. This was the tie-breaker, with a very close result. In the lay vote, it came down to the very last ballot paper! After the final result was recorded, Rev. Keith Lee stood to give his acceptance speech, first in Chinese, then in English …..

Rev. Keith Lee’s speech was followed by a standing ovation from everyone in the room….

Congratulations to the Rev. Keith C. C. Lee, and thanks be to God!

Last weekend’s events started for me at 4:00 am on Wednesday, May 6, when I left with Bishop Chang to meet Bishop Bob arriving at the airport from Hawaiʻi via San Francisco (it’s a long journey; there are no direct flights). Bishop Bob arrived with hand luggage only, and within 20 minutes of his flight arrival was already in the arrivals hall, at almost the exact same time as we arrived to meet him. By 5:20 am, we were back in Taipei City and had delivered him to his hotel for a rest and breakfast. Later that day, our diocesan team met him for lunch (left to right below): Tim Liu (diocesan secretary), Bishop Bob, Bishop Chang, Tim Pan (Standing Committee chair) and me.

On Thursday, May 7, we all set off for Taichung, where the diocesan convention and bishop election were to be held, starting on Thursday afternoon. The first event of the day, though, was the opening service, including dedication and consecration of a brand new church, St. Gabriel’s Church, Beitun, northern Taichung, and most of the clergy and lay delegates, plus church members from St. James and other nearby churches, came along too. We had a group photo after the service, which was taken from across the road, in between motorcycles driving past. Please note that the church building is on the right side of the main building below, not the whole thing.

St. Gabriel’s Church is a brand new church plant of St. James’ Church, Taichung, under their rector, Rev. Lily Chang, and part of the diocesan development plan for the central deanery. It comes only 6 weeks after the opening of another new church in the central deanery, St. Matthew’s Church, Hsinchu (see that blog post here), which opened on March 28, 2026. Ah, yes, thanks be to God!

Just look at all that colour! St. Gabriel’s Church is so beautiful! The interior design is stunning, especially the worship space with its amazing stained glass, designed by St. James’ Church member, Prof. Shirley Chi-Hui Ke 柯啟慧, who also designed the logo for St. Gabriel’s Church (left photo below) and St. Matthew’s Church (right photo below). St. Gabriel’s Church has immediately jumped to No. 2 on my list of the most beautiful churches in the Taiwan Episcopal Church (No. 1 will always be Advent Church, of course!). This now bumps St. Peter’s Church, Chiayi, down to No. 3 spot, but they don’t need to worry too much, because their building itself is beautiful, an old Japanese-style house, with exposed roof beams in the ceiling. There was much discussion about my rankings, and it turns out many people agree with me!

St. Gabriel’s Church is located in the Beitun area of northern Taiching, about 30 minutes drive north-east of St. James’ Church, and where there are many new high-rise residential buildings, as well as older areas. Quite a few St. James’ Church members live in the area and usually travel to St. James’ Church on Sundays; this new church is much nearer for them. Almost two years ago, Rev. Julia Shu-Hua Lin retired from St. Stephen’s Church, Keelung and moved back home to Taichung, settling near her son’s home, which she tells me is a 10-minute walk from the new St. Gabriel’s Church. She has kindly offered to preside at Holy Communion every Sunday, while our new evangelist, Lillian Hsieh, will be preaching. Lillian is assigned to the church full-time. This church is so brand new that the interior space renovation was finished only days before the opening service. The stained glass windows were installed only last week. The interior designer is Mr. N. D. Wang (see photos below), husband of Jing-Mei, one of our lovely teachers at St. James’ Kindergarten, so I have known him for years!

Most of the clergy and many of those heading to the diocesan convention attended the service, which started at 10:30 am, with Bishop Chang using his crozier to knock on the outside door. The ground floor is a meeting room, with a livestream of the service going on in the worship space upstairs. There are five floors in total, and many people were watching the Livestream on different floors, including the top floor, which has a sunroof and views across the area. In his sermon at the service, Bishop Chang mentioned how enthusiastic Rev. Lily Chang was to seek out a suitable building for purchase for this church plant. Once they found a suitable building, things moved quickly and within a week, the sale agreement had been signed. That day was March 25, 2025, the Feast of the Annunciation, hence the name of the church, St. Gabriel’s Church. The angel Gabriel certainly lends himself to artwork and stained glass; the sides of the glass look like angel wings, the logo is an angel too, and the choir from St. James’ Church, as always, sang very angelically!

The opening service of St. Gabriel’s Church was also a good opportunity for everyone to reconnect with old friends….

And then we all set off for the diocesan convention, this year being held at a retreat centre called the Catholic Villa of Divine Love 聖愛山莊 and located up in the mountains about 15 minutes drive from our other church in Taichung, the Church of the Leading Star, where Rev. Richard Lee is the priest in charge. The retreat centre is run by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary, CSCM 聖母聖心修女會 and in recent years they have built several new buildings on the site, including a convent and guest accommodation, meeting rooms, small chapels and a new church building with rather interesting stained glass. The stained glass runs vertically up the building, with the bottom showing Jesus’ birth, then up to the crucifixion and finally at the top is the ascension. The whole stained glass can be viewed in its entirety only from the outside at night when it is lit up; inside, it runs up through several floors.

Usually our diocesan conventions are held in a hotel; this year, with the bishop’s election, it seemed more appropriate to hold it in a retreat centre. The site is beautiful, but steep; the walk up to the church and meeting rooms is hard work! At this time of year, the ponds and ditches are full of croaking frogs, which I gather will be even noisier next month, but they certainly kept us all alert and wide awake with all their noise ~ once one group started, they all started, and kept on going until they all stopped together! The sunsets over Taichung City were lovely, and it was nice in the early morning to walk up the hill and down to the main road, where there is a footpath along the river. The guard at the main gate also kindly provided me with early morning coffee!

We started with the diocesan convention opening service in the church building. All our churches had brought along their banners, which are always a colourful sight as they process in.

The sermon was given by Bishop Bob (Chinese translation given by Tim Pan). Very moving and appropriate, thank you, Bishop Bob! Please read it below.

After Holy Communion, at the end of the service, we had the graduation ceremony for our diocesan Trinity School for Christian Ministry TSCM, led by Dean Tim Pan. There were three graduates, Evangeline Dai and Dr. Annie Tsai, who are both to be ordained as deacons in June, and Diego Liang from St. Luke’s Church, Hualien. Congratulations to them all! The group photo is of the TSCM graduates and lecturers…

More photos from the opening service….

And so the diocesan convention starts ~ with dinner and sunset viewing!

Day two of the diocesan convention, Friday, May 8, was mostly elections for the different committees, the financial report, and reports from each church – the churches were given 8 minutes each to speak, and it was all very interesting. I took a lot more photos, trying to get everyone in!

On Friday evening, we started our preparations for the bishop’s election the following day. First, we had an open question session with the three bishop candidates, led by Tim Pan, which touched on some sensitive issues; it was good to see the three candidates so friendly and supportive towards each other. At the end, Bishop Bob shared with us his thoughts on discernment, and we finished with a Taizé service with special prayers for the upcoming bishop election…

And so to Day Three, Saturday, May 9, the bishop’s election day! We were all under strict instructions to be in place in the meeting room in the church building and ready to start at 9:00 am. I got there early to take photos of everyone struggling up that big hill. My observations were that people from southern Taiwan all arrived early, cheerfully fit and healthy, taking photos and enjoying the views. The people from northern Taiwan arrived much later, generally walking much more slowly and a bit out of breath. And those from central Taiwan? Well, most of them drove up! Actually, two of the clergy told me it was so they could pack everything up at the end, and some got a lift, while others confessed it was because they went to buy coffee at the convenience store on the main road!

And so to the election (details already covered above) and photos before – and after….

By 1:00 pm, we were all on our way home. Next up for us at St. John’s Cathedral, Taipei, was Bishop Bob coming to preach at our 9:00 am English Service the following day, Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 10. Bishop Bob gave his testimony, it was really good! You can watch the service on our Livestream (the sermon starts at 21 minutes in).

And we had lots of photos, it was nice to see some red colours ~ wonderful!

And after the service, at 10:30 am, off we set for the airport, to say goodbye to Bishop Bob, as he started his long return journey back to Hawai’i, arriving in time to prepare for the Hawai’i bishop election next Saturday. Please do pray for them all. Thank you, Bishop Bob, for coming to Taiwan, we’ve really appreciated all your wisdom, help and support!

We give thanks to God that everything went so well and that the election went so smoothly. Thank you all for your prayers and please do continue to pray for us all in the Taiwan Episcopal Church after this momentous day: for Bishop Chang as he prepares to hand over and retire, for Bishop-Elect Keith Lee and his family as they prepare for this new calling and ministry, for Good Shepherd Church as they think about searching for a new rector, and for the diocese with a consecration service to plan for and a change in leadership. First, though, all the bishops and standing committees of The Episcopal Church have to approve this election, which might take 2-3 months. All being well, the consecration will be on November 7, 2026, and the installation and Bishop Chang’s retirement will be on April 2, 2027. Apparently, bishops in The Episcopal Church don’t officially retire; they resign, but anyway, the big handover day will be next April.

And finally, our new bishop’s surname is Lee. Isn’t that wonderful? All four of us Lees at the diocesan convention got together for a photo – left to right, that’s me, Rev. Keith Lee, Sheerah Lee and Rev. Richard Lee – one big happy Lee family ~ YES!