Four Wonderful Days

A Letter from John McCall, serving in Taiwan

Summer 2022

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Dear friends,

Two typhoons recently skirted Taiwan bringing much needed water. The skies have been here have been brilliant. As I have traveled around Taiwan in the past few months, everywhere I go I see beautiful sunsets.

We also had a huge 6.8 earthquake which shook the whole island. Train tracks buckled and trains left the tracks. Thankfully, the damage was much less than it could have been.

Saturday, I left the seminary, where I live, and took a local train to Taoyuan, a city just south of Taipei. I was headed to Emmanuel Presbyterian Church to do an all-day training event for the leaders of their church. It still amazes me that Christians here are willing to come to the church all-day Saturday to grow and learn.

Emmanuel Church is located on the second floor of a residential high rise. Their young pastor, Yang Ming, is a former student who is also part of one of the pastor spiritual formation groups which meet at my home. He shared with his members how much this group of spiritual friends means to him. Both of his parents are pastors and his only sibling, an older sister, is also a pastor.

1. What do they particularly appreciate about their church?
2. What vision do they have for the future of their church?

It is always an encouragement to hear these leaders affirm what God is already doing in their midst and to hear their hopes for the future.

After I preached on Sunday, I took another four-hour train to the east coast where I used to serve with the Eastern Paiwan Presbytery, one of our indigenous presbyteries. They were holding a youth camp and had asked me to speak to the Paiwan youth.

Another former student, Pastor Zebul, is the chair of youth work in this presbytery and is tremendously gifted in so many areas. She recruited a number of Aboriginal college students to be counselors for the camp and when I arrived, they were setting up the tents in which the youth would sleep.

It is always a joy for me to be with Aboriginal youth. They are enthusiastic and so open. I talked about their identity as God’s beloved children, for they often face family challenges or discrimination in the larger society. Over 20 years ago, their parents were the youth with whom I worked.

The singing was rich, with a lot of laughter, and at night they held cookouts and danced traditional Aboriginal dances around the fire.

I just completed teaching a five-day Doctor of Ministry course at Taiwan seminary for pastors on “Serving God with Joy and Expectation for the Long-Haul.”

Pastors attended from different denominations, people groups and countries. They came from Singapore, Malaysia, China, Canada, the U.S., and of course, Taiwan. Because of COVID, our course was also offered online. Half of the students attended the course in the classroom while half attended virtually.

It was wonderful to see how God created community among these pastors from such different places and situations as they shared both the opportunities and challenges of ministry during the pandemic and beyond.

Thank you for your prayers, concern, and support which allow me to journey with so many different folks in this beautiful land.

Gratefully,
John 

Please read the following letter from Rev. Mienda Uriarte, acting director of World Mission:

Dear Partners in God’s Mission,

What an amazing journey we’re on together! Our call to be a Matthew 25 denomination has challenged us in so many ways to lean into new ways of reaching out. As we take on the responsibilities of dismantling systemic racism, eradicating the root causes of poverty and engaging in congregational vitality, we find that the Spirit of God is indeed moving throughout World Mission. Of course, the past two years have also been hard for so many as we’ve ventured through another year of the pandemic, been confronted with racism, wars and the heart wrenching toll of natural disasters. And yet, rather than succumb to the darkness, we are called to shine the light of Christ by doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God.

We are so grateful that you are on this journey as well. Your commitment enables mission co-workers around the world to accompany partners and share in so many expressions of the transformative work being done in Christ’s name. Thank you for your partnership, prayers and contributions to their ministries.

We hope you will continue to support World Mission in all the ways you are able:

Give – Consider making a year-end financial contribution for the sending and support of our mission personnel (E132192). This unified fund supports the work of all our mission co-workers as they accompany global partners in their life-giving work. Gifts can also be made “in honor of” a specific mission co-worker – just include their name on the memo line.

Pray – Include PC(USA) mission personnel and global partners in your daily prayers. If you would like to order prayer cards as a visual reminder of those for whom you are praying, please contact Cindy Rubin (cynthia.rubin@pcusa.org; 800-728-7228, ext. 5065).

Act – Invite a mission co-worker to visit your congregation either virtually or in person. Contact mission.live@pcusa.org to make a request or email the mission co-worker directly. Email addresses are listed on Mission Connections profile pages. Visit pcusa.org/missionconnections to search by last name.

Thank you for your consideration! We appreciate your faithfulness to God’s mission through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Prayerfully,

Rev. Mienda Uriarte, Acting Director
World Mission
Presbyterian Mission Agency
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

To give, please visit https://bit.ly/22MC-YE.

For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6