The Rev. Stoney Chia-Kuei Wu 吳家圭 was ordained priest by the Rt. Rev. Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang, Bishop of Taiwan, at St. John’s Cathedral, Taipei on Wednesday September 29, 2021, the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (Michaelmas). The service was held at 11:00 am and livestreamed via You Tube…
Chia-Kuei’s ordination as deacon by Bishop Chang took place at St. James’ Church, Taichung on St. James’ Day, Saturday July 25, 2020, in a service that also celebrated the 50th anniversary of St. James’ Church (see that report here). These are the clergy photos from the two ordination services….
Ordination as Deacon, July 2020
Ordination as Priest, September 2021
Chia-Kuei graduated from the seminary at Fu-Jen RC University, Taipei in 2019 and has been serving since then at St. James’ Church, Taichung (under rector Rev. Lily Chang, who preached at the ordination service), having also been on placement there at weekends for his final year of theological college. He and his family live at the Church of the Leading Star, St. James’ daughter church in Taiping, on the outskirts of the city. He will continue serving at the Church of the Leading Star, and this Sunday, October 3, there will be a special service there, at which its official status will be upgraded from mission station to church, with Chia-Kuei in charge. Please do pray for Chia-Kuei, his wife and family and all at Leading Star Church.
Friends from St. James and Leading Star Church
Chia-Kuei was born in 1981, grew up in Taipei, and is the first Christian in his family. He studied at St. John’s and St. Mary’s Institute of Technology (SJSMIT, now St. John’s University, SJU), and became involved with the student fellowship by offering to play the piano for the choir. He later returned to SJU to do his master’s degree, and during that time, in 2006, he was baptized by the then chaplain, Rev Lennon Y. R. Chang, now bishop. Chia-Kuei served as worship group leader and as junior warden at Advent Church while he worked at Siemens as an engineer. He met his wife, Wen-Ting (Wang-Wang) at the student fellowship too, and they were married at Advent Church in 2013. They have a daughter aged 6 and a son almost a year old.
Chia-Kuei and his family
The ordination service on Wednesday was held under Level 2 Pandemic Restrictions, and so 80 people were allowed to attend the service. Facemasks, hand sanitizer and temperature checks were compulsory for all. Social distancing was followed in the seating arrangements. No eating was allowed, so at the end of the service, everyone left with a box of food to take home. In accordance with current diocesan policy, there was no wine offered at Holy Communion, bread only. This is Chia-Kuei serving his daughter….
Apart from all our diocesan clergy and Chia-Kuei’s family members, there were groups of church members in attendance from Advent Church, including Ms. Wang and Ms. Hai, who sang a very moving song during the service, accompanied by Chia-Kuei’s daughter on the tambourine; also St. James’ Church and Leading Star, St. John’s Cathedral, plus friends from Good Shepherd Church. A beautiful service!
Friends from Advent Church
Friends from St. John’s Cathedral
Before the service….
During the service….
After the service, we had photo time!
Many congratulations to the Rev. Stoney Chia-Kuei Wu, and thanks be to Almighty God!
PS: The next big event is the wedding tomorrow of Yu-Lin, our diocesan seminarian and my former colleague in St. John’s University Chaplaincy, and her fiancé San-Yuan here at Advent Church. This is them at the end of the ordination service on Wednesday, being blessed by Chia-Kuei and posing for a photo together. Please do pray for them too!
Rev. Chen Ming-You 陳銘佑 was ordained priest by the Rt. Rev. Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang, Bishop of Taiwan, at St. John’s Cathedral, Taipei on Friday August 6, 2021, the day the church celebrates the Feast of the Transfiguration. Thanks be to Almighty God!
Ming-You was ordained deacon by the Rt. Rev. David J. H. Lai, then Bishop of Taiwan, at St. John’s Cathedral, Taipei on Saturday January 18, 2020, just a few weeks before Bishop Lai retired (for that report and photos see here. As you will see, it was definitely winter and we were all in our warm clothes!) Ming-You’s ministry is as a Non-Stipendiary priest, serving at weekends for the last 4 years at St. Stephen’s Church, Keelung, under Rev. Julia Shu-Hua Lin, who preached very powerfully at yesterday’s ordination service.
The ordination service was originally scheduled for Friday June 11, St. Barnabas Day, but due to Taiwan’s Level 3 pandemic restrictions, which came into force on May 15, all religious events and gatherings of more than 4 people were prohibited, so the service was postponed. Bishop Chang stressed the importance of all the clergy in the diocese being able to participate in-person at the ordination service, and so they decided to delay the service until that was possible, however long it might take. On July 27, Taiwan lowered the alert level from 3 to 2, and under level 2 restrictions, indoor gatherings of up to 50 people are allowed, as long as there is social distancing, with compulsory facemasks, temperature checks, name registration and hand sanitizer in use for all. With only 50 people allowed to attend, so a list was drawn up, and everyone else was invited to watch the livestream on YouTube….
Thanks to the wonderful Livestreaming Team, working behind the scenes! This is Linda on the left, wife of St. John’s Cathedral Dean, Philip Lin, and Pin-Huei, on the right, daughter of Rev. C. C. Cheng…
Due to there still being community transmission of Covid-19, Bishop Chang requested that all clergy coming from the south and east of Taiwan should preferably drive to Taipei, rather than use high-speed rail or train, and he offered to provide accommodation for those needing overnight stays. Actually most of our clergy have relatives in Taipei, so they were pleased to visit them, others did the round-trip in one day, and a few did take the high-speed rail, which they said was virtually empty because of the pandemic – and the rain. ☔
Back in May, we were still praying for an end to Taiwan’s drought, the most serious in over 50 years. Now in August, we have had so much rain in the last 2-3 weeks that there’s serious flooding and landslides in some areas, including a rockslide that has cut off the high-speed rail line in Miaoli, reservoirs are having to release water, and southern Taiwan has closed schools and offices today due to the torrential rain alerts. The rains started with Typhoon In-Fa the weekend before last, then the typhoon gave way to more continuous rains, and now we have a tropical storm working its way north up Taiwan’s west coast, bringing flooding to the mountains and coastal areas. Our in-person church services only just restarted again last Sunday, but some had to be canceled due to the rains, and it’s likely some will have to cancel again tomorrow as well. Fortunately the ordination service could go ahead, though it was certainly very wet outside. The other precaution, advised due to the pandemic, was that it was not possible to serve wine during the Holy Communion, nor any kind of meal after the service. Instead, the cathedral kindly provided us with boxes of breads, cakes and desserts for us to take home. Thanks to St. John’s Cathedral for all their hard work to make us so welcome!
The Dean, Philp Lin and St. John’s Cathedral friends
Ming-You tells me that he comes from a very traditional Taiwanese family, and as the only son (with 2 older sisters), so he grew up well-aware that it would be his responsibility to take care of his parents as they grew older. In fact, he and his wife, their 2 sons (aged 12 and 15) and his parents all live together in Longtan, Taoyuan, just south of Taipei. His parents are retired, and Ming-You and his wife run a computer business during the week, which leaves them free at weekends to serve at St. Stephen’s Church, about an hour’s drive on the other side of Taipei. His wife says that even before they were married, he would talk about his calling to be a priest, though it took many years of part-time study and training for his calling to become a reality.
Ming-You and his family with Bishop Chang, and Regina Chang (far right)
By serving as a non-stipendiary priest, he is able to fulfill his traditional duties of ‘filial piety’ towards his parents, while also fulfilling his calling to serve in the Taiwan Episcopal Church. He talks about the freedom to be able to do both, and the joy of serving God both in his family and in the church. Others might feel weighed down by taking on so many responsibilities, but instead, Ming-You thrives on the freedom and joy of being the person God has called him to be. Fortunately, a few years after Ming-You and his wife were married, his parents became Christians themselves, and belong to a local church near their home; praise God that they are fully supportive of Ming-You’s calling and ministry.
Ming-You serves his father Holy Communion
Ming-You was born in 1975, and became a Christian through the witness of the student fellowship and chaplaincy at St. John’s and St. Mary’s Institute of Technology (SJSMIT), Taipei, (predecessor to St. John’s University SJU), while studying on the 5-year program in electronic engineering. Towards the end of his time at SJSMIT, he was baptized in Advent Church by the then chaplain, Rev. Samuel Ying-Chiu Lin, who later became dean of St. John’s Cathedral, and where many of the students later worshiped after graduation, including Ming-You.
Quite a few SJSMIT student fellowship members from that era have since gone on to be ordained, and many others serve in the church in lay ministry. In yesterday’s service, one of their student fellowship, Regina Chang (張沁杏), member of Christ Church, Chungli and also on the diocesan Standing Committee, sang a beautiful solo, titled ‘Beloved Lord, Please send me’. Ming-You was visibly moved, and later recounted how he was reminded, as she sang, of how Regina and other older fellowship members had shared the Gospel with him as a younger student, and how far he has traveled since then, particularly these last 10 years as he followed God’s call towards ordination. He said that God has been so faithful to him, and he found it hard to contain his tears. It was really moving!
Regina singing the solo, accompanied by Mr. Lu on the piano
Since Bishop Chang’s consecration in February 2020, Ming-You and his wife have been busy helping the diocesan office putting in a whole new computer system, video-conferencing and meeting room, plus setting up our new email addresses for the Taiwan Episcopal Church clergy and churches, plus our new website at https://episcopalchurch.org.tw/ Having a professional computer person always on hand is very wonderful for us all! Every weekend, Ming-You, his wife and sons spend much time at St. Stephen’s Church, where they help run outreach programs in the local community with Rev. Julia Shu-Hua Lin, who is already well past usual retirement age and looking to step back a little from all her many church responsibilities.
Rev. Julia Shu-Hua Lin and Ms. Su with Ming-You’s family
Julia has really built up the ministry at St. Stephen’s over these last 10+ years, and is widely respected in the local community. The church is in a largely disadvantaged area with many problems of poverty, family breakdown, addiction, suicide, unemployment, domestic abuse and more. The people are struggling even at the best of times, and much more so in this pandemic, plus the spiritual oppression from the local temples and shrines is much in evidence in people’s lives. Ming-You clearly loves the people there, and fits right in; he says that many similarities with his own family background have helped in developing relationships.
Ms. Huang and Ms. Su from St. Stephen’s Church with me, we’re all in black and white!
The ordination service – getting ready….
The service started at 3:00 pm….
Part 2 of the service starts with Ming-You introducing his family…
The blessing….
And then photo-time!
The service all went so smoothly, and Ming-You celebrated his first Holy Communion so professionally that it looked like he had been doing it for years! The readings, as set for the Feast of the Transfiguration, were read by Mrs. Marjorie Kuo from the cathedral, Ms. Huang Min from St. Stephen’s Church, and our deacon, Rev. Stoney Chia-Kuei Wu read the Gospel.
After the service, Rev. Lily Chang, as chair of the diocesan standing committee, officially welcomed everyone and thanked the cathedral for hosting the service, she was followed by Mr. Gary Tseng, cathedral senior warden who also gave us a warm welcome on behalf of them all…
Ming-You with Mr. Gary Tseng, cathedral senior warden and his wife, Ms. Amy Chin, our diocesan chancellor
We give thanks to Almighty God for Ming-You and his family, and we pray for him as he settles into his ministry as priest, serving at St. Stephen’s Church, and as he tries to balance his time between his business, family and church ministry. He joins a great group of clergy, all pictured here at the ordination service. Thanks be to God for them all!
Happy Advent Sunday to you all! Advent Word Global Advent Calendar 2020 starts today!
#AdventWord #Tender
When we feel weak and overwhelmed, let us hang our hope on the blessed truth that this same Jesus who one day will come with great power and glory is also the one who walks alongside us right now, with tenderness in his heart and balm for our weary souls. Let us echo the words of the old spiritual that says, “When my heart within is aching, Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.”
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
Just ordained! New deacon Rev. Stoney C. K. Wu with his daughter: St. James’ Church, Taichung, Taiwan, July 25, 2020
Delighted to introduce you to the newest deacon in the Taiwan Episcopal Church….
The Rev. Stoney Chia-Kuei Wu 吳家圭 was ordained deacon by the Rt. Rev. Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang, Bishop of Taiwan, at St. James’ Church, Taichung on St. James’ Day, Saturday July 25, 2020.
This was a combined celebration for ordination and also for the 50th anniversary of St. James’ Church. It was also Bishop Chang’s first ordination as the new Bishop of Taiwan. A very special day indeed!
Chia-Kuei graduated from the seminary at Fu-Jen RC University, Taipei last year, and has been assigned to St. James’ Church (under rector Rev. Lily Chang) full-time ever since then, having been on placement there at weekends for his final year of theological college. He is actually based at the Church of the Leading Star, St. James’ daughter church in Taiping, about 30 minutes’ drive away on the outskirts of Taichung City at the foot of the mountains, though he serves in both churches. On Trinity Sunday, Sunday services were restarted at the Church of the Leading Star after a gap of a few years, this time with Chia-Kuei leading Morning Prayer, with a monthly Holy Communion led by Rev. Lily Chang. The church has long had a small kindergarten which has a valuable ministry in the area, and some of the kindergarten families have started to worship in the new Sunday service. It’s not an easy area in which to live, badly affected by a major earthquake in 1999, the booming high-rise city development that characterizes much of the rest of Taichung has bypassed Taiping, leaving quite a depressed area, with many disadvantaged families and a lot of small struggling factories. Children’s summer camps are always popular there, and last week, Chia-Kuei and his team welcomed 55 children for 2 days of fun activities. Chia-Kuei also leads the St. James’ Youth Group and many of them were involved in the camp – and in the service on Saturday, in the drama and singing…
Every year on St. James’ Day, July 25, St. James’ Church hold their patronal festival, and this year is the 50th anniversary of the St James’ Church building, so it made sense to make it a double celebration. One thing St. James always excels at is anything to do with celebrations! They plan for weeks, in almost military detail, but it always pays off. With Rev. Lily Chang, senior warden Mr. Samuel Chen and his wife, You-Ju, supervisor of the kindergarten, plus their team of kindergarten teachers and church members, they managed to make the double celebration a really amazing event. This is retired rector, Rev. Charles C. T. Chen with his daughter-in-law, You-Ju and Rev. Lily Chang cutting the birthday cake!
The service was at 3:00 pm, and would you believe it, all of us traveling there by road got caught in major traffic jams all the way down from Taipei. What should have been a 2½ hour journey for us from Tamsui turned into 4¼ hours, and most others had the same experience. ‘Never again’ we vowed as rushed to get to the rehearsal on time, but by the end of the day, going home, we were all so full of praise for the way everything had gone so smoothly, so well-managed and organized, that we’d forgotten about the traffic in the morning! However, it was extremely hot, and the poor clergy and bishop struggled in all those robes – in the heat outside for photos but also inside the church at the front. There were so many people inside that the AC was struggling too! Taking precautions due to Covid-19, everyone had their temperatures checked, and wore face-masks inside the church – which made it extra-hot.
New deacon Chia-Kuei was born in 1981, grew up in Taipei, and is the first Christian in his family. As a brand new 16-year-old freshman student in his first week at St. John’s and St. Mary’s Institute of Technology (SJSMIT, now St. John’s University, SJU), after the students’ introductory tour to visit Advent Church and see a presentation from the student fellowship, he marked on the feedback paper that he could play the piano. His mother had encouraged him to find a place to practice the piano, so Mr. Daniel Yu-Hai Chen of the chaplaincy team followed this up and invited Chia-Kuei to come to Advent Church to play the piano for the student choir. The following year he began to get involved in the student fellowship. After 6 years at the college, he moved elsewhere to continue his education to university level, but then returned to SJU to pursue his master’s degree for a further 3 years. and during this time, in 2006, he was baptized by the then chaplain, Rev Lennon Y. R. Chang, now bishop. It was during that time too that I first met Chia-Kuei, and by then, he also had a lovely girlfriend – we call her Wang-Wang, who also graduated from SJU in the Applied English dept., and who he met through the student fellowship. They were married at Advent Church in 2013, and for several years Chia-Kuei served as worship band leader and also as junior warden. He invited Advent Church choir to come to the ordination service on Saturday and sing during the service, they sat on the right of the altar….
Bishop Chang welcomes Chia-Kuei’s wife and daughter to the front
Like many of our clergy of his generation who graduated from SJSMIT or SJU, Chia-Kuei knows how to fix everything mechanical or electrical -a very useful skill given that churches always need something fixing! He spent almost 3 years working for Siemens, and at age 33, felt called to offer for ordination. Chia-Kuei is multi-talented in all things practical, as well as in English (he can preach at the St. James’ English service for instance), in music – he can play the organ, piano and guitar and who knows what else, he excels at driving long distances by car or motorbike, plus he’s a wonderful husband and father to his small daughter – with another baby on the way. His parents are pleased to see he has found his way in life and support his decision to be ordained. His wife’s parents are Christians, and his mother-in-law has prayed long and hard for her son-in-law to hear God’s calling to be ordained.
Chia-Kuei’s parents on the left, parents-in-law on the right and small daughter
In his sermon on Saturday, Bishop Chang first talked about the 50th anniversary celebrations, challenging and encouraging St. James in their sharing of the Gospel. Then he moved on to talking about the ordination, and called Chia-Kuei to stand by him as he talked about the 3 mission trips, to Malaysia, Kaohsiung and Osaka that Chia-Kuei had been on, run by Bishop Chang, and the importance of the traditional role of a deacon in taking care of the poor and needy, and going on sharing the Gospel. It was all very moving!
After the actual ordination part of the service, there were 2 celebratory items to mark St. James’ 50th anniversary. Firstly, a lively drama by some of the youth and kindergarten teachers, acting as past St. James’ clergy showing the history of the church. We even had a line of pictures of the 12 churches built in the Philippines through the ministry of Rev. Charles C. T. Chen, and a few pretend baptisms of kindergarten children and teachers, it was very funny!
All the past clergy of St. James and their spouses stood for a photo and presentation of flowers…
Then we had a dance performance by the children – which was so lovely!
Also a gift presentation from Dean Philip Lin of St. John’s Cathedral on behalf of Canon Chancellor Professor Herbert H. P. Ma – of a framed calligraphy artwork done by Professor Ma’s father, Ma Shou-Hwa…
The choirs of St. James’ Chinese service and English service also sang….
After Holy Communion, and the end of the service, the procession led to the kindergarten playground for group photos, the cutting of the birthday cake and a wonderful buffet at 3 different stations around the church and playground. It was great to see so many people – 270 were booked, those not in the main church were watching on large screens elsewhere in the building. Wonderful to see everyone so happy!
Photo Album: 1) Before the service:
2) The ordination service…
3) The 50th anniversary celebrations …
4) Holy Communion …
5) After the service ….
We give thanks to God for 50 years of St. James’ Church, and we pray for the next 50! Also for Rev. Lily Chang and all who serve there – thank you for doing such a great job on Saturday, it was spectacular. We were all given beautiful wooden holding crosses as celebratory gifts too, carved with ‘St. James 50’, a lovely way to remember to pray for St. James. And please do pray for Chia-Kuei and his family as they settle into their ministry at the Church of the Leading Star – the challenges are many. Thank you!
A brand new deacon for the Taiwan Episcopal Church ~ YES!
The Rev. Chen Ming-You 陳銘佑 was ordained deacon by the Rt. Rev. David J. H. Lai, Bishop of Taiwan, at St. John’s Cathedral, Taipei on Saturday January 18, 2020, the day the church remembers the ‘Confession of St. Peter’. It was certainly a special day for Ming-You – and for us all!
Ming-You took the long route towards ordination, fitting in studying around his work, and we’ve all been looking forward to this day for a very long time! This is the last ordination before Bishop Lai retires, so it was extra-special. Rev. Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang, Bishop-Elect preached, and the service was attended by nearly all our clergy, clergy spouses, family, friends and church members from all over Taiwan. It was all very moving!
Ming-You was born in 1975, and studied here at St. John’s and St. Mary’s Institute of Technology (SJSMIT), Taipei, the predecessor to St. John’s University (SJU), on the 5-year program in electronic engineering. While he was here, under the SJSMIT chaplain, Rev. Samuel Y. C. Lin, Ming-You joined the student fellowship and towards the end of his studies, he was baptized in Advent Church. Many of his friends in the student fellowship are now serving in the Taiwan Episcopal Church as clergy, church members and diocesan staff. Here they all are!
These days, Ming-You, his wife and 2 young sons live near his parents in Longtan, Taoyuan, where they run a computer business. At weekends, they serve at St. Stephen’s Church, Keelung – from where a large group came to the ordination service to sing and to show their support…
Ming-You will serve as a non-stipendiary deacon. In his sermon, Rev. Lennon Chang shared about the ministry of deacons in the New Testament, particularly in taking care of the disadvantaged and poor ~ and he reminded Ming-You, as a graduate of SJSMIT, of Bishop James C. L. Wong (first Chinese Bishop of Taiwan, 1965-70, and founder of SJSMIT / SJU), who was keen to encourage students through his motto, ‘Transforming Lives Through the Life of Christ’. It is therefore very appropriate that Ming-You should be serving in St. Stephen’s Church, where there are many families and young people in challenging circumstances – and where he finds great joy in ministry. Here is Ming-You and the group from St. Stephen’s…
And St. Stephen’s vicar, Rev. Julia Shu-Hua Lin and the choir….
This is Ming-You and his extended family…
And all our clergy…
And all from St. John’s Cathedral…
Plus plenty of other church groups and friends…
Please do pray for Ming-You as he starts his ministry as deacon in the Taiwan Episcopal Church, and for his family. He’s a very busy man, with many responsibilities at home, work and church! We give thanks that he has responded to God’s calling, and commit him into God’s care.
Photos taken before the service, including the rehearsal….
It’s 3:00 pm and the service is ready to start …..
