Taiwan Hakka Village Gospel Action Exploration

Interview/Jian Hailan

In the United States, I have been joining the "Pray for the Hakkas to Become to Christ" network initiated by Brother Cai Xijin of Trinity Chinese Christian Church for a while, and I have begun to feel a burden for the Hakkas to believe in the Lord. Since my husband is a Hakka from Miaoli, Taiwan, I became a Hakka daughter-in-law and can be considered half a Hakka, so I visited a Hakka village while accompanying my mother back to Taiwan.

After being introduced by Brother Cai, I made an appointment via email with Pastor Bai Meiyue of the Hakka Evangelical Association (hereinafter referred to as "Kefu"), which gave me the opportunity to interview the chairman, Pastor Zeng Zhengzhong, and the director of the Hakka Mission Theological Seminary (hereinafter referred to as "Keshen") Wen Dean Yongsheng, Pastor Wen Hongdun, Evangelist Liu Chenyu of Toufen Chongzhen Church, and Evangelist Mai Suxian (Eva) of Toufen Church were able to have a deeper understanding of the gospel ministry in Hakka Village.

Toufen Chongzhen Hall where Shen Zhongzhui Yuan

I got off the train on time at Hsinchu High Speed Rail Station. In the lobby, Pastor Bai Meiyue came to pick me up as promised. After getting into her little red sports car, she went straight to Toufen Chongzhen Church without stopping to meet Pastor Liu Chenyu and his sisters.

There is a red cloth couplet hanging on the wall, which reads: "Be cautious about the end and pursue the far away into eternity; drink water and think about the source." With the burden of the gospel debt owed to the Hakka people in his heart, Pastor Liu went to the seminary to receive four years of training. In the fourth year of "Keshen" At that time, I came to Chongzhen Hall for internship. In August 2008, he officially took over as the preacher of the church.

Since taking office, they have been committed to commemorating their ancestors through worshiping God, trying to remove the obstacles to believing in the Lord, and putting worshiping the Lord first. They used the "Three Memorial Ceremonies" implemented by President Wen Yongsheng - candle lighting ceremony, flower laying ceremony, and water pouring ceremony, and led a team of co-workers to serve the first nine churches.

A joint worship service was held at Easter, and more than thirty people attended. The love banquet at noon used delicious food to establish good relationships with the participants; the carnival in the afternoon was open to seekers, who could use foot massage to leave information for future care and visits. We hope to influence lives with our lives and make the steps of preaching the gospel more beautiful.

A revisit to the old Hakka village

Meiyue and I hit it off immediately. She actively planned the itinerary and took me to visit each one. She also took me on a tour around Lion's Head Mountain at the foot of her home mountain, which made me reminisce about the old places I visited nearly forty years ago. In addition, I visited the "Delan Center" in Hsinchu and chatted with the teachers and children there, as if I had personally entered the world described by the writer Li Jiatong.

In the past two days, apart from the visits and interviews, the most unforgettable thing was that everyone entertained me at a Hakka restaurant called "Laotou Pao" (which means long time ago in Hakka), and allowed me to eat more than ten kinds of very authentic dishes. Hakka dishes. Listening to them ordering dishes in their familiar Hakka dialect, I couldn't help but think of the scenes of having fun and chatting with my late husband's group of Hakka friends. Time returns to the nostalgic past...

Working hand in hand for Hakka missionary work

The Hakka people have a unique and hard-working national character. After immigrating to Taiwan, they have been clearing up wasteland, reclaiming land, and gradually laying a foundation for reproduction. But in terms of the rate of believers in the Lord, it has always been at a disadvantage. However, God has not forgotten this ethnic group. From the following interview transcript, you can see that God has been working! He said:"Behold! I am going to do a new thing. Now I am going to discover it. Don't you know it?! I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (Isaiah 43:19) Let us work together to preach to the Hakka people, so that the rate of Hakka people believing in the Lord will continue to double and multiply...

Note
1. Currently, the Hakka Committee of the Executive Yuan of Taiwan conducts a sample survey and statistics in the broad sense (ancestors are Hakka) and the narrow sense (grandparents are Hakka). The results are 6.08 million in the broad sense, accounting for 26.9% of the total population, and 5.088 million in the narrow sense, accounting for 22.5%. (Data source http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~psc/pop_news9311/111101.htm) Based on the narrow Hakka population of 5 million, it accounts for approximately 22.5% of the total population of 23 million. If the proportion of Christians If the number of Hakka Christians remains unchanged, there will only be about 15,000 Hakka Christians.

Briefing on Taiwan Hakka Believing in Christ

▲Dense distribution map of Taiwan’s Hakka population

According to statistics, the current proportion of Hakkas in Taiwan who believe in Christianity is 3 out of 1,000.

The Hakkas have a history of 300 years in Taiwan; it has been more than 140 years since James Ma began missionary work in Taiwan. In terms of the development of Christian missions, the early Dutch also conducted missions, but they stopped after they left Taiwan and had no significant impact.

From 1865 to 1950, there were almost no missionaries evangelizing the Hakka people. From 1951 to 1975, a very small number of missionaries preached the gospel to the Hakka people in various denominations or missions. In the past thirty-three years, the number of Hakka missionaries has increased significantly. Currently, there are Hakka missionaries from fifteen units including the Hong Kong Chongzhen Association, the Evangelistic Association, the Overseas Missionary Association, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the International Mission Association, working in the Hakka area.

Early local missionaries in Taiwan included Zhuang Shengmao, Dr. Ma Kai's disciple Zhong Yamei, and others. Those who had more influence on the Hakka people were Luo Weixin, the first president of the "Hakka Evangelical Theological Seminary", Peng Delang, the pastor of Taiwan Chongzhen Church who has returned to heaven, and Local pastor Fang Guangsheng, and missionary Mai Suxian (Eva) who are still working in the Toufen church. In the past thirty years, missionaries have been influenced by "Kefu". There are a hundred missionaries who have visited Hakka villages, a considerable number.

Introduction to the three rites of remembrance

Design/Dean Wen Yongsheng of Hakka Mission Theological Seminary

▲The innovative memorial method can not only worship the true God, but also take into account the traditional culture of the family. There are two types of tables, one that includes all deceased ancestors, which is the ancestor memorial table (top left); if there is little information about ancestors, the names of people who are still alive are added, which is the generational inheritance table (left).

Hakka villagers are a special ethnic group that pay special attention to worshiping their ancestors. They retained the traditional customs of the entire extended family of sweeping tombs, worshiping ancestors, and spending money to build ancestral halls, creating great resistance to evangelism. Therefore, Dean Wen Yongsheng’s doctoral thesis was based on the traditional ancestor worship culture of the Hakka people, and he designed the "Three Remembrance Ceremonies" that take into account both culture and God's wishes, hoping to make a breakthrough in the ancestor worship rituals of the Hakka people in Taiwan.

Water pouring ceremony - drinking water means remembering the source

All things are from God the Father and will belong to Him. Our ancestors were created by Him and all blessings are given by Him. When drinking water and thinking about its source, we should not forget that God the Father is the source of all life. We are willing to return and obey Him and drink from the fountain of salvation together. Ask the clan leader to perform this ritual during the ceremony.

Presenting flowers as a gift - the meaning of lasting virtues and fragrant ancestors

Thanks to the Son, Lord Jesus, who was crucified for the world and resurrected from the dead. Through the grace and strength He bestowed, the beautiful footprints left by our ancestors and relatives will be remembered for generations, and we will continue to inherit the past and live out their virtues. During the ceremony, the natal family is invited to present flowers.

Candle lighting ceremony - the meaning of honoring the ancestors

May the Holy Spirit always fill, illuminate, and guide us, so that we can live like light in this world, glorify our ancestors, glorify God, and benefit others with our good deeds and virtues. Our ancestors burned themselves in their era. Please ask God to help us. We raise the little light in our hands and shine light and heat for our own era. During the ceremony, candles were lit by descendants.

"Be cautious about the end and look back to eternity, drink water and think about the origin." Innovative funerals and ancestor worship services held before Qingming Festival bring out the meaning of remembering ancestors in the gatherings to worship God. Currently, more and more churches accept this form of worship. gathering, hoping that the resistance to evangelism caused by traditional customs will soon be resolved.