Wherever there is need, go there
Christian Mustard Seed Society
Interviewee/Wu Xiaoping
Interview/Yang Hanjiahua
Photo provided by Christian Mustard Seed Society
▲Co-workers of the Mustard Seed Association call Missionary Sun Lilian the "Mother of Faith" and use her faith as an example.
"You must come. Three people committed suicide last week, three people committed suicide last week, and four people committed suicide last week... You must come!" Serving patients with Han disease (leprosy) at Lesheng Sanatorium (Taiwan has changed its name out of respect for patients) Pastor Cai begged anxiously. Missionary Lillian Dickson (1901-1983) closed her eyes. She was already busy enough and wondered how she could satisfy Pastor Cai’s request.
A woman who loves the poetry of Keats, Emily Dickinson, and Wordsworth, and has beautiful literary talent and delicate emotions. Just before her husband, Pastor James Sun, left the house, he held his hands around her little hands, and the warmth was still ringing in his ears. His loving voice said: "What a pity, the Lord only gave you two hands, but gave you a great heart!"
▲The Youth Home was established in 1957 and has been dedicated to sheltering homeless teenagers, providing them with tutoring lessons, opportunities for further education, or teaching them skills such as painting and carpentry. The children in the picture are learning carpentry.
It is this extraordinary heart that allows her, who is only five feet tall, to travel to the mountains and seas, all over Taiwan's main island, outlying islands, cities and countryside, serving tens of thousands of "the disadvantaged among the disadvantaged". With the faith of a mustard seed, she spent her life's love not only responding to Pastor Cai's request, but also taking care of Han disease patients like a mother, as well as aborigines, poor children, orphans, homeless teenagers, blackfoot patients, and the visually impaired. By……. After working for the most desperate and helpless people in Taiwan for fifty years, she was finally buried with her husband and son on the land she loved so much.
Lilian Sun founded the Christian Mustard Seed Society based on the belief in Matthew Chapter 17:20:"If you have faith like a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for you."Although the mustard seeds are small, they are scattered everywhere. They may seem light, but they are extremely tough.
This magazine interviewed CEO Ms. Wu Xiaoping in writing and online, talking about Missionary Sun Lilian, as well as the current status and future prospects of the Mustard Seed Society, which is still standing and continues to thrive.
▲Since its establishment in 1957, the Love Kindergarten has specially taken in abandoned babies, orphans, children of prisoners, children from disadvantaged families, girls at risk of being sold, and abandoned children with disabilities, and raised them until adulthood. In the picture, children are playing a circle game.
KRC: Missionary Sun Lilian started medical services for aborigines as early as 1948. In 1962, it was established under the name of "Christian Mustard Seed Society" and became Taiwan's first social welfare organization. It has served Taiwanese society for more than a decade. Could you tell me about the establishment of your association? What role models did you set?
answer:Sun Lilian once said: A mustard seed will follow the teachings of the Bible, put God's love into action, and simply do the work in front of it. Therefore, over the past sixty years, Mustard Seed will continue to examine the needs of the current society, with special focus on the disadvantaged, poor, and lonely people, and go wherever there is need.
"Serving God in a way of helping others" is every co-worker's confession of faith, in the process of conveying the seeds of faith and God’s grace, perhaps becoming the forerunner of certain ministries, or making the recipients remember the Mustard Seed Society. We dare not say what role model the Mustard Seed Society has set. However, Lilian Sun is in the hearts of many people. In life, established"Love your neighbor as yourself, faith and dedicated service"model.
KRC: Some people call Lilian Sun the Mother Teresa of Taiwan. Why didn’t she win the Nobel Peace Prize?
answer:When Sun Lilian was alive, she often declined the government's praises. She had a good relationship with Mrs. Chiang Kai-shek, the Chairman of Taiwan Province, and other senior officials, but she was not ostentatious. This was her virtue. Another possible reason is that Taiwan was not recognized internationally and did not have many international organizations, so its visibility was not high. In contrast, when Mother Teresa was alive, there were many international organizations in India, which made her easily visible to the world and affirmed and respected.
I think the contrast in your question is to emphasize that Lilian Sun's humanitarian care for Taiwan is as important as Mother Teresa's contribution to India. Both of them chose to serve the poor throughout their lives, just to witness to the world. God’s great love is not to gain worldly glory, just as the Bible says: When you do good with your right hand, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing (see Matthew 6:3). Not to mention the prize for which we are called by God from above in Christ Jesus (see Philippians 3:14).
KRC: In the e-era, amidst rapid social changes, what new ideas and concepts will Mustard Seed, which has been established for more than 60 years, show? How to connect and cooperate with other churches or evangelical organizations?
answer:In 2011, clearly receive God’s gifts"Connection" and "Network"With our vision, we use the concept of "double blessing", that is, gospel and welfare services, to connect with churches and evangelical organizations that are responsible for community missions, forming the largest community service network in Taiwan and becoming a close-knit body of Christ. Mustard Seed will make every effort to invest in training, consultation, resource referral links and fund raising, etc., and work side by side with churches and gospel organizations in evangelism and helping ministries.
In 2012, we set goals for the next 40 years and planned to establish regional service centers in five major cities in Taiwan - Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Hualien within five years, and become partners with local churches to implement community services and Locally, we use the love of Christ to help others, comfort those who are traumatized, and achieve our mission─With the faith and hope of mustard seeds, we will establish a network of child care, healthy youth development and family support services, rebuild family functions, demonstrate the value of life, and let love and justice flow forever.
First of all, we will launch the "Love Kindergarten and North District Children's and Children's Service Building" renovation project at the original site of the Ai Ai Kindergarten in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City. The services include placement of children and children, community family children and youth services, and early childhood education services... …and so on, in order to provide social services with more complete functions and broader levels.
The Hualien Training Center should also expand opportunities to help unemployed young people, women, unemployed people, etc. who need one skill or a second skill to learn skills through public welfare training such as bicycle tours, coffee making, baking, handicrafts, etc., with the help of social enterprises. Model operation, providing opportunities for workplace internships, and using operating income for social services. In addition, we also hope that through the Mustard Seed Association’s Wanli and Hualien camps, we can plan activities and courses suitable for churches, schools, and institutions to equip believers and spread the gospel widely.
KRC: What resources do you need to achieve your goals?
answer:We need─
‧ For financial support, especially in the construction of the camp, we hope that Christian entrepreneurs will be willing to donate support so that more people who come to the camp can find rest in body, mind and soul and experience beautiful communication with God.
‧ Human resources, looking forward to the participation of Christians from different professional fields who are willing to commit themselves.
‧ Watching and praying is the most important thing. We need God’s full blessings and grace, the revelation and guidance of the Holy Spirit. We sincerely invite brothers and sisters from all over the world to pray for us.
KRC: What projects will Mustard Seed be working with the government on? Why did the government appoint your association to implement it? What does this mean?
answer:Being able to cooperate with the government, obtain financial support and win several awards represents recognition of the accountability and service quality of our non-profit organization (NPO, Non-Profit Organization). We have some cooperation projects with the government to help us understand the direction of policies, measure the quality of our own services, and continue to improve. The most important thing is to be able to enter society and the country with a Christian spirit and become a force that transforms and changes the community.
Our current important cooperation with the government includes-
‧ Accepting referrals:Our loving kindergarten and juvenile home have long been serving children and teenagers referred by the government.
‧ Participate in the experiment:For example, setting up group homes in the community and providing diversified placement services.
‧ I accept:In 2012, the Peixin Home Resettlement Center was established to provide a safe and private placement place in New Taipei City for juveniles with emergency shelter needs, and provide daily care during the placement period to help the juveniles settle physically and mentally, escape from crisis situations, and gain personal safety. Assure.
‧ Application fee:Providing community services for the elderly in Hualien.
When we go among people and into society, we learn from the public’s responses that the average person’s impression of Christians is that they are trustworthy, upright, willing to help others, trustworthy, willing to sacrifice, and willing to respond to the sufferings and needs of society. Because they saw what we were doing, many people regardless of their faith came to support us with money, rice, and goods. Individual donations accounted for almost 90% of the total donation. We believe that many of them were those who had received help from the Mustard Seed Society and gave back. people. We are currently also launching a public fundraising campaign to seek cooperation and long-term sponsorship from large enterprises.
KRC: You took on the role of CEO of Mustard Seed in May 2013. From a fresh perspective, please share your most unforgettable experience.
answer:In her early years, Sun Lilian felt pity for the children of aboriginal families whose academic performance was so poor that nine out of ten failed the joint entrance examination and were unable to enter middle school. In 1963, she established a "Stepping Stone" school in Beipu, Hualien, to provide free tutoring for boys in Chinese, history, etc. Give them the ability to compete with average students. Later, a "Girls' Training School" was established to train girls to become kindergarten nannies and caregivers to serve the villagers, and also provided courses for making a living such as sewing. Over the past 20 years, the school has been gradually converted into elderly and childcare ministries in response to the overwhelming needs of the community.
Unexpectedly, it was only in 2007 that I learned that the government’s urban plan had changed and this land could no longer be used for social welfare purposes. After five years of earnest prayer, using various channels, and attending countless meetings, the co-workers still did not receive a kind response from the Hualien government. With no hope of improvement, they had to lay off the staff in March 2012 and sadly close the nursing center and nursery. .
Two months later, shortly after I became acting director-general, I received a call from the Hualien County Magistrate asking to see me. I went there with some trepidation. Straight to the point, he first apologized to me, which shocked me, and then thanked the Mustard Seed Association for its sixty years of service and contribution to the Hualien Aboriginal people and county people, saying that these were originally the responsibilities of the government. He promised to do everything he could to help us.
In May 2013, we were very excited to receive the official document. The land designation was changed to a special social welfare area, and applications were opened on June 1. We did not waste a day, prepared the documents immediately, and submitted them on that day. In September, the technical and vocational training at the art school was restarted at the original location; the care activities for the elderly in the Hualien community not only continued, but also expanded cooperation with churches to further care for and serve children from disadvantaged families in the community.
Delayed justice hides God’s wonderful blessings, and it also inspired and shocked me, a novice CEO.
▲The nanny school was established between 1956 and 1983 to train Aboriginal girls to return to their hometowns to serve as kindergarten teachers. At that time, the Mustard Seed Society paid the salaries of 379 teachers, opened kindergartens in 250 Presbyterian churches, and took care of as many as 8,000 children. The picture shows students from Hualien Nanny School practicing teaching.
KRC: Please give Christians some advice and encouragement on how to take social responsibility.
answer:Sun Lilian once said to her daughter Marian: "If you only care about your own enjoyment in life (eating the food you like, wearing the clothes you like, doing things that make you happy), that is stupid and selfish. Life must be lived I have no regrets. The regret is: I could have done more, but I didn’t.”
As a wife and mother, I deeply realize that Christians in this generation must be vigilant, cautious, patient and kind in order to build a beautiful family and plug the gaps in society; we must use biblical teachings to cultivate our children. , do not use achievements, income, and status as the criteria for choosing a career, but see the needs of the world and become a blessing to the world.
Marianne once shared with a co-worker of the Mustard Seed Society that we are faced with choices all the time in life. She encouraged us to always choose Plan A that God has prepared for us. It may seem unwise to the world, but there must be God’s gift in it. Blessed, God will be responsible for us. I think there is no better road than this! (Dear readers of the Kingdom of God, if you are moved and would like to support the Christian Mustard Seed Church’s ministry through donations, adoptions or gifts, please go online to http://mustardorg.pixnet.net/blog/category/830664 and click on the upper right Click "I want to participate", that is, there are clear instructions).
Recommended reading
Wilson, translated by Philippe, "The Angel at Her Side", published by the Christian Mustard Seed Society.
Philippe Pope, The Mustard Green Still Grows, published by the Christian Mustard Seed Society.
Interviewee profile
Wu Xiaoping, before entering a social welfare organization, had never known that there was such a position as a "social worker". She stepped into it and it has been fifteen years since then. During this period, she has established a family and raised two lovely boys. God allowed Xiaoping to know Him better through helping others, and He healed the wounds in Xiaoping’s life, showing His guidance and preparation. Xiaoping's mission is to build and inspire teams and use innovative thinking to develop work that helps others. She is happiest working with people who are "willing to serve God with their gifts." This picture shows Wu Xiaoping celebrating Christmas with the teenagers from the juvenile home.
Journalist profile
Yang Hanjiahua participated in the literature camp founded by teacher Gao Lili in 2000. He still insists on holding a pen and learning to serve the youngest brothers and sisters.