I
came to Taiwan after I've met my later wife during a trip around the world
which was cut short due to some financial problems.
While in Hong Kong I've discovered an unknown island called Taiwan,
around three hours by plane. I've arrived on a polluted and very busy island
and decided to leave the capital Taipei as soon as I could. Traveling around
the island I've discovered many passionate people, working hard to support and improve their lives.
In 1989 I’ve decided to move to Taiwan,
married one year later and became a father in 1992. In the beginning, I was not very passionate about our
Lord but, because I thought I should introduce the Lord to my young family we’ve
attended a local church.
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Married in Taiwan in 1990
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When we started to attend this church I have
to admit I was not very much a part of it. Of course, my body attended the
worship and I ate the free lunch but my soul was not much connected to the
church, the pastor and the brothers and sisters. Basically, the way the whole
church worked and the environment showed a clear discrepancy to the teachings of the Bible…
The pastor was the Christ, much admired and
even worshiped by some. Furthermore, the contents of the sermons were more focused on earthly things and rather made for entertainment than meant to be a teaching in Christians education and values.
After some time the pastor invited me to
attend a meeting concerning the management and work of the church. I hesitated
but agreed and was very disappointed by the attitude of the other attendees.
Several times there were senseless arguments about trivial matters which could
be solved by ‘love’ as taught by the Bible. But after I left I discussed the
contents with some brothers and had in my mind the opinion that it is their church
– not mine. But suddenly I realized it is neither mine or the Taiwanese's
church but God’s and with this ‘touch’ (of the Holy Spirit) my attitude towards
the church started to change.
I took my church service more seriously,
volunteered for kitchen work and started with my wife a youth group. But as
more as I dived into God’s grace as more I got disappointed. The church was
still a one-man show, the entertainment element grew even larger, there was no
growth of the church members in Christ! As more effort I put into the church as
hungrier (!) I got for the truth of God! Strangely I was the only one who felt
something was going wrong.
I’ve
had several very close revelations like a fire coming out of a cross or youth
after moving from a room in front of the cross singing like angels
etc. But as I’ve tried to share these intimate experiences with the Holy Spirit
I did not meet compassion but rather suspicion for this foreigner.
Once I've attended an
American missionary team and joined them in the south of Taiwan.
During this one week long trip, there was one pastor teaching us
healing people with the help of the Holy Spirit. On a
Friday evening, I had some very astonishing results
in healing unseen blisters, healing muscle pain etc. after their own testimony. Back
in the church’s micro group I’ve tried to share these experiences
enthusiastically but was met with disbelief and even rejection. Consider that
the Bible says “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I have compassion (Romans 9:15).”
Simply put, if a church does not follow and teach the word of the Bible for me it is not a church for me and at one point there was time to leave...
(to be continued)
