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 – but they are launching forth in faith….  God has really blessed Trinity Church under the leadership of Rev. Richard R. C. Lee in the last decade or so and they have a great heart for outreach into the community and for planting churches….

The church was bustling with people in pink T-shirts, me too…. so many people in fact that the pink T-shirts mostly had to sit upstairs and watch the service by video …. full full full!

Lots of our church members from other Episcopal Churches and at least 20 representatives from other Christian denominations in Keelung, plus a choir from another church who sang a song ~ all in all a wonderful witness to the way the churches in the area cooperate together to share the Gospel….

Bishop Lai led the service and preached the sermon, St. Stephen’s Church (a Trinity Church plant) sang, and we had a lively DVD showing the history of the church all set to music….

And after the great banquet meal and birthday cake, we all came home with an engraved wooden cross, designed and made specially for the occasion by one of the church members…

And here we all are!

Check out the cross in the ceiling above, great eh?!

Thanking God for his many blessings of the last 50 years in Keelung, and here’s to the next 50+50+50+50 forevermore!