Birth of a Church
13/10/2009 9:00 am <>
Every Sunday, Randy and Janet load their bicycles with plastic chairs and an electronic keyboard; and with song books on their backs they cycle to the low-income housing estate in Taipei. They sit on the street corner under a big tree with people they have met there and begin singing praise songs to God in Taiwanese.
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After a while, they pull out the large Bible pictures they brought and begin to tell a Bible story. It might be a story from the Old Testament or something about Jesus. The 7 or more people gathered under the tree listen spellbound to stories they have never heard before. One time, when Randy had just begun telling the story, deafening sounds of firecrackers and mournful music from a funeral began just across the road. Randy was ready to pack up and go home, but the others just drew closer and told him to keep going with the story. This is the birth of a church.
None of the people are Christians, yet. They have spent a year making contacts around the park where they live and at the hospital where Randy works as a doctor and where Janet volunteers in the waiting room, talking with patients. In this time they have befriended a lady who is about to be baptised and is keen to help in their ministry to those under the tree.
The people who come include an old lady in a wheelchair with an amputated leg who lives on a 2nd floor apartment. Her son carries her down on his back before going back to get the wheelchair. They attend regularly and have now offered to store the plastic chairs in their apartment so Randy & Janet don’t have to bike them to the tree. Others under the tree include 2 older ladies who were met at a "Family Night” led by a short-term team at the community centre across the road in July. They continue to come along. This is the birth of a church!
As Randy tells the Bible story, there is bantering and many people come, look over the shoulder of those sitting around and make comments. They are amazed at the foreigner who speaks Taiwanese, the language of the working class.
Before they are finished for the day, they pray with each person there. It might be for their concerns about health or for children and grandchildren. They cast these cares to God even before they are believers.
Randy & Janet continue to sow seeds and wait with anticipation for the harvest under the tree and for the birth of a new church.
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