The Widening Circle

A Letter from John McCall, serving in Taiwan

Spring 2023

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Dear friends,

Alang, of the Bunun tribe of Taiwan’s indigenous people, grew up in a village in the shadow of Mount Jade, the tallest mountain in Northeast Asia, at almost 14,000 feet. He was the youngest in a large family and when he was in elementary school his parents drank a lot and often, he relied on older siblings for care. Then there was a spiritual revival in their village Presbyterian Church, and his parents stopped drinking cold turkey. His father became an elder in that church, and Alang saw a dramatic change in his family. 

Bunun youth celebrating Christ’s birth in their village.

The village has natural hot springs, but unfortunately, local folks sold their land on these springs to outsiders, who then developed hotels, but did not hire the residents of the village. Most of the residents are still farmers.

One Christmas, when Alang was still in seminary, he invited me to his village. We arrived on Christmas Eve, and I asked him what time the service would be. He told me that his church did not have a Christmas Eve service, but we would be getting up at 3 a.m. for the Christmas service. When we awoke, we each were handed a bamboo torch and divided into four groups to hike up to four different mountain tops overlooking the village. Then one of the groups started singing “Joy to the World” in their Bunun language. The second group on the peak across then joined in, then the third group, and then the fourth group. We slowly descended the mountain paths singing Christmas carols and you could see the light from the other groups’ torches. When we all arrived at the door of the church, the pastor opened the door and declared, “Christ is born in our village this day! Let us worship the Lord.”

With Alang at his ordination with his pastor, Supena.

We all streamed into the church, and each group, from children to seniors, sang or danced or played instruments. It was a two-hour celebration of joy. Alang, another seminary classmate named John, and I then went to a small restaurant for breakfast. As we were preparing to eat, Alang noticed some of the youth from the church standing outside the door. He invited them in to join us and said he would treat them to breakfast. The week before I had been at a dinner with Alang where a city indigenous church elder gave Alang a red envelope with money for his seminary tuition. I saw him take out the envelope to pay for the breakfast for the youth. As each young person came in, I shook their hands and said, “Merry Christmas.” Then the owner of the restaurant, a non-indigenous man, looked at these youth, and said, “What’s so merry about your lives? You all are poor.” My heart broke. Then John, the other seminary student, said to me, “that owner doesn’t understand joy. He thinks money brings joy. But we know the joy of Emmanuel, God who comes to our village.”

When Alang graduated from seminary he was called to be director of the Taipei Indigenous University Student Center. He ministers to indigenous college students who have left their villages to come to Taipei to study. He oversees a dorm where some of these students live in community. It is a thrill to see him nurturing and encouraging these students who face tremendous challenges adjusting to life in the city and the rigors of university studies. 

3. Pastor Alang, his children and some of his indigenous university students.

I had the privilege of preaching at Alang’s, and his wife, Pei Wen’s wedding and also preached at his ordination service. Pei Wen is a nurse at a Taipei hospital, and they now have two children of their own. They live just below the dorm rooms of the students and lead Bible Studies and fellowship groups for a number of universities in the Taipei area.

When Alang was a student at the seminary, I told the students that I would accompany them for three years and then they would be called out to accompany others on Christ’s way. They then equip their students or church members to accompany others and the circle becomes wider and wider. I am grateful for the way Alang is living out Christ’s love among his students as he accompanies them on their journeys of faith.

Thank you for your prayers and support which allow me to encourage leaders like Alang.

Gratefully,

John McCall