Praying

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Dear friends,

Prayer is central to the Christian faith. It’s common to pray before meals and in worship, during times of adversity, in gratitude for what God has done, or when seeking guidance. In Taiwan there are several prayer related groups, some international and some local. This year, Taiwan is the country being prayed for by the World Day of Prayer, a movement led by Christian lay women. The theme is “I have heard about your faith” (from Ephesians 1:15). The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan prepared  ">this video for the event. They also prepared a mix of teaching materials about Taiwan, introducing indigenous groups, explaining symbols (like the Formosan black bear), and sharing materials about Taiwan’s history. One of the main topics is also women in Taiwan and their life in the church.

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PC(USA) mission co-worker Betsey Moe contacted us from Guatemala because they are working on their World Day of Prayer service. We had a fun time discussing ways to connect across the languages (TaiwaneseàMandarinàEnglishàSpanish). For instance, the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan’s recent hymnal has three tunes from Latin America, so participants could watch and hear a Taiwanese Christian singing these songs while they sing along in Spanish. We also tried to find stories about Taiwanese women and prayer. We found a video about  ">PCT’s first woman moderator in 2020 and  ">another about a solo pastor (both in Mandarin). We looked up statistics and information about women in Taiwan—things like political representation, salary parity, graduation rates, violence and family life. For Emily, it has also been fun to spend a little time using Spanish; she’d minored in Spanish and lived in Ecuador for a semester and used Spanish for several years after graduation. Emily found she was constantly adding in Mandarin words but could understand everything and her reading and accent held up. One of the benefits of groups like this is how it connects people across cultures.

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Women globally are a majority of Christians. One recent study says women may make up more than 65% of Christians in Taiwan. During one report from 1910 women were exactly two-thirds of foreign missionaries and this is probably how it has been all along. Taiwan has a higher rate of single women, and they are often the backbone of church ministries (including doing much of the administration at the seminary where Jonathan teaches). This year’s incoming class of Master of Divinity students at Taiwan Seminary also has a large majority of women, which may be an outlier or may be a new trend. Ministry is sometimes described as “pink collar work,” because it is primarily relational, highly verbal, often includes work with children or intergenerational groups, involves caring, and may not be especially lucrative.

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This semester, Jonathan is teaching two classes where prayer is a major focus. One is a world Christianity class where we talk about things like the growth of the charismatic movement, the relatively recent arrival of “open mouthed prayer” in Taiwan (this is a type of prayer where a congregation will pray independently out loud together), and changes in global Christian music. It is amazing how churches across cultures show great continuity and also incredible innovation. One of the blessings of living in Taiwan is seeing the work of the church from a very different perspective.

It feels appropriate to end this newsletter with… a request for prayer. We pray for students as they rush through the spring semester, especially for seniors as they finish theses and prepare for new calls. We are beginning work on our itinerary for the summer and church visits and would be grateful for your prayers (and welcome) as we do summer visits. We also ask for prayer for PC(USA) World Mission and the Presbyterian Mission Agency as they call people to meet together in March. Finally, we pray for women in the church—for energy for their ministries, for equality in their workplaces, for recognition of the gifts they give to our communal life, and for connections across languages and cultures.

Amen.

Emily and Jonathan