Warmly welcomed by St. James, Taichung ~ as always!

A non-stop 3 days at St. James’ Church, Taichung – it’s always non-stop action!  Straight off the flight from Penghu, and in at the deep end!  Mike and Harriet, my always-ready-for-action visitors, spending the last few days of their trip visiting all my old friends and colleagues at St. James.  And what a great time we had! An 8-course (or was it 9?) welcome dinner with Luanne and Samuel at ‘Tasty’, followed by a night city tour…. On Tuesday the weather was amazing, thanks be to God ~ and my good friends Jerry and Jean kindly took us to Sun … Continue reading Warmly welcomed by St. James, Taichung ~ as always!

2014 Diocese of Taiwan Youth Camp ~ YES!

And what a great time we all had! 3 days, 2 nights with 30+ youth, 10+ youth leaders and 5+ clergy and soon-to-be clergy and theological students, and us – that’s me and my lovely visitors from the UK, Harriet and her dad Mike…. The 2014 Diocese of Taiwan Youth Camp was held in the Little Ding-Dong Science Park (great name eh?!) in Hsinchu County (great views of Hsinchu City and the sea) last week from July 9-11….. and we were there ~YES! 3 days of non-stop action, including paint-balling, abseiling, high-rope walking, snow-sliding, barbecue, games, fun, worship and many thought-provoking discussions … Continue reading 2014 Diocese of Taiwan Youth Camp ~ YES!

Welcoming Christina and Matisse to Taiwan!

Such a great partnership between St. James’ Preschool, Taichung and Cambridge-Ellis School (CES) in Boston, USA means that every summer we have the honour of welcoming 2 of their lovely teachers to join us for 2 months… So off I went to the airport last night to welcome the CES teachers for summer 2014, Christina and Matisse, fresh off a flight from London via Dubai… both smiling away! Yep, Matisse is indeed named after the great artist, and yep they had a wonderful time at the Tate Modern in London visiting the Matisse Exhibition ~ as VIP guests no less! … Continue reading Welcoming Christina and Matisse to Taiwan!

基隆聖三一堂50週年暨成立牧區感恩禮拜 Trinity Church, Keelung celebrates 50 years!

Yep, 50 years of mission in Keelung!  Yesterday was Trinity Sunday, and there were big celebrations in Trinity Church, Keelung with a Thanksgiving Service at 3:00pm, followed by a grand banquet dinner.  And to mark this very special event, the church has been upgraded to parish status – a big decision and start of a new era YES! Parish status is a kind of mark of maturity, from now on they’ll have far more autonomy, but also of course more responsibility (like gotta take care of their own finances!) hence the decision is not an easy one to make – … Continue reading 基隆聖三一堂50週年暨成立牧區感恩禮拜 Trinity Church, Keelung celebrates 50 years!

高雄聖保羅堂60週年感恩禮拜 St. Paul’s Church, Kaohsiung celebrates 60 years!

Big Celebrations in Kaohsiung this past weekend!  St. Paul’s Church, Kaohsiung was established in 1954, and the present building was consecrated on May 31, 1964 ~ so a double celebration of 60 years of mission and 50 years of the church YES! On Saturday we celebrated with a special Thanksgiving Service at St. Paul’s, attended by many from all over Taiwan…. For those of us from the far north, we started out very early in order to be on the 7:30am HSR train from Taipei… fortunately after days of heavy rain, finally the sun came out, and in fact shone … Continue reading 高雄聖保羅堂60週年感恩禮拜 St. Paul’s Church, Kaohsiung celebrates 60 years!

Preparing for the House of Bishops…. busy busy busy!

September is fast approaching, the month when the Diocese of Taiwan hosts the Episcopal Church House of Bishops Autumn Meeting ~ so our 2 great friends, Canon Peter Ng and Lori Ionnitiu from New York have been here all this week in preparation… Hence visits to 4 churches in the diocese to see how preparations are coming along for the visit of the bishops and spouses…. St. James’ Church, Taichung (plus a tour of the Art Museum) ~ St. John’s University and Advent Church (and visit to the construction site) ~ Good Shepherd Church, Taipei ~ Trinity Church and St. … Continue reading Preparing for the House of Bishops…. busy busy busy!

Taiwan Episcopal Church 60th Anniversary Celebration Day 台灣聖公會宣教60週年感恩慶典 ~ YES YES YES!

60 years old ~ and in Chinese culture, the 60th birthday is always THE major landmark… Thanks be to Almighty God for his many blessings over the last 60 years, and here’s to the next 60! Actually, the day started at 2:20am (yep, it’s true) with a massive huge thunderstorm that brought torrential rain, thunder and lightning for the next 3 hours ~ the end of all sleep for the rest of the night!  No oversleeping then for those of us gathered at Advent Church for the journey to Taichung for the big day ~ but in fact by daybreak … Continue reading Taiwan Episcopal Church 60th Anniversary Celebration Day 台灣聖公會宣教60週年感恩慶典 ~ YES YES YES!

All set for 台灣聖公會宣教六十週年 Taiwan Episcopal Church 60th Anniversary!

The T-shirts are ready, all 1,000 of them, YA! The Taiwan Episcopal Church celebrates its 60th anniversary this year ~ the big celebration will be on Saturday April 26 in Taichung…. The T-shirts, with a specially designed logo in honor of the occasion and to be worn on the day are now ready ~ the logo designed by church members of Christ Church, Chung-Li, and the T-shirts made by our very own Tan Shirt Company.  The Tan family are church members here at Advent Church, and Marge Tan (our senior church warden) runs their cutting factory just up the road … Continue reading All set for 台灣聖公會宣教六十週年 Taiwan Episcopal Church 60th Anniversary!

St. James Church, Taichung 飛揚(肥羊)小組!

飛揚小組 is one of the 5 small cell-groups at St. James’ Church, Taichung ~ and all 5 have delightful names.  Just think, this group could well be called the Wednesday Evening Cell group, after all that’s when they usually meet ~ but that would be so boring and unimaginative.  Instead it is called 飛揚 Fei-Yang, which in a Christian context is often used to mean something like ‘Flying everywhere to share the Gospel’…. Cell groups have gone from strength to strength at St. James, a wonderful way of growing the church, and sharing and deepening faith.  In this group are … Continue reading St. James Church, Taichung 飛揚(肥羊)小組!