We wanted to share an evening shot we recently took of a temple in the northern part of Taipei. This is a common sight in Taiwan, and you can see several idols illuminated inside. 
Please pray for the people of Taiwan to be freed from the binding superstitions of idol worship that control much of their daily lives, and for the light of the Gospel to illuminate more and more people's lives here in Taiwan!

Dear Friends,

For Chinese New Year this year we got invited to our friend Robin's family. We met up with him and then drove to his grandma's apartment on the north side of Taipei (close to the National Palace Museum, if you've ever been there :). Robin's whole family is Christian, which is very unusual for Taiwanese families. We celebrated the new year with a big feast, prepared by his grandma and aunties. After dinner we played Mahjong and watched TV until we left for home after midnight.

The whole night was marked by God's love and Christian family harmony. Please pray with us for more Taiwanese families to know our God, who is the truest source of all family peace! The video below shows a neat part of Taiwanese family tradition, in which the children bless their elders, and then receive red envelopes stuffed with money in return! Even us guests received several red envelopes - how kind!

The video is in High Definition quality, so you might need to let them load for a little while before playing, depending on your internet speed. But then you can play them on "full screen" mode!
 

Blessings,
  Erich and Kelley

Many of our friends who write blog posts dedicate one day a week to writing out a list of things they are thankful for. It's always an encouragement to read and a good reminder to take a step back and reflect on God's goodness. So, we're going to follow in their footsteps and have a blog post on 'thankfulness' each week. Enjoy!

Things we're grateful for #1-#10

1. Family who travels countless hours and miles to visit us (thanks Jan and Lukas!)
2. Familiarity of our neighborhood and 'friends' (street vendors, tea shop workers, etc.) that we see every day
3. Our Taiwanese brothers and sisters who accept us as one of their own
4. Housemates who are like family
5. Prayer partners
6. Speaking Chinese becomes easier and more fluent each day
7. Skype to keep in touch with friends and family 
8. A laundromat 5 minutes away so we can have dry jeans in January (in January and February it can take days for clothes to dry outside!)
9. A special sheet and mattress cover that have helped our allergies immensely
10. The fact that today is January 19th and it's almost 70 degress outside (unusal for sure, but so welcomed!)

Dear Friends,

This is just to let you know that our latest prayer update is online. You can access it by clicking here: http://www.crossing7.com/reachtaiwan/content/schindler-update-20120118

Also, feel free to browse our past updates by clicking on the following link: Past Updates.

Thanks so much for your interest and support for our ministry here in Taipei!

Erich and Kelley

Even though our Fall season of Bilingual ALPHA ended at the end of November, it was truly just a time of beginning for many people. During the season we had 11 small groups that participated in the course. And, of those groups 9 (!!) are continuing to meet weekly as regular Truth Church small groups. My (Kelley's) group is one of those 9 groups. For the last 2 weeks on Friday night 4-5 girls have gathered together on the 6th floor of a building, in a teeny-tiny (very cold!) apartment, and we have small group. We sing, share, learn together about Jesus, and pray for one another. It has been such a blessing to watch these girls, who a couple of months ago had no idea who Jesus was, excitedly ask questions with childlike faith, sing praises to God, and pray sweet prayers to our Father. We are reading/studiyng a book entitled, "Begin Your New Life", and in February 2 of these girls are going to be baptized- Praise God! I thank God for the opportunity to help lead this group and be a part of His Kingdom work in Taiwan!

The picture below is of the girls. The 2 in the front are the ones who are going to be baptized. Small Group Girls

Tis the Season to be Jolly....

This past weekend was one of the busiest we've had in a long time. We were in charge of planning/hosting 3 different events- a Friday night ALPHA reunion/Christmas event, a Saturday afternoon baby dedication/adult membership transfer ceremony for our International Zone, and a Sunday night an Annual Girls' White Elephant Christmas Party held in our home. All the events were well attended with old and new friends alike, were full of laughter and good memories, and were a testimony in their own respective ways to God's work here in Taipei. Check out the pictures below for a glimpse into our weekend- Merry Christmas!

Singing at the ALPHA Christmas event Angel Kelley with her ALPHA Group Erich praying a prayer of blessing for our housemate, Eden, who was dedicated Group picture at the dedication/membership transfer ceremony Living Christmas Trees Friends at the Girls Christmas Party

Dear Friends,

As you probably know, our English co-worker team at Truth Church maintains a ministry blog about the progress of our Bilingual ALPHA Ministry at this address: www.crossing7.com/taiwan.

Our English ministry team has just updated this blog with some information about our current Bilingual ALPHA Course. Here is the beginning:

The ALPHA Celebration included so many varieties of creativity-- there were skits, Choir performances, dances, songs, pictures, and lots of incredible food!  Also, many people...

Continue reading the full article here! 

Many thanks for upholding us in prayer!
Erich and Kelley

Dear Friends,

A while ago I finished reading the book "Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream", by David Platt. It was an electrifying read, and a shock to my often-complacent system. I'd like to share with you some of the key quotes I highlighted.

"This is the picture of Jesus in the gospel. He is something—someone—worth losing everything for. And if we walk away from the Jesus of the gospel, we walk away from eternal riches. The cost of nondiscipleship is profoundly greater for us than the cost of discipleship. For when we abandon the trinkets of this world and respond to the radical invitation of Jesus, we discover the infinite treasure of knowing and experiencing him."

"I am frightened by the reality that the church I lead can carry on most of our activities smoothly, efficiently, even successfully, never realizing that the Holy Spirit of God is virtually absent from the picture."

"In every genre of biblical literature and every stage of biblical history, God is seen pouring out his grace on his people for the sake of his glory among all peoples."

"When you think about it, the fact that we lack a clear understanding about what it means to make disciples is astounding. This is the last command we have from Jesus to his followers before he left the earth. It is the central mission that Christ gave to his church before going to heaven. Yet if you were to ask individual Christians what it means to make disciples, you would likely get jumbled thoughts, ambiguous answers, and probably even some blank stares."

"This raises the bar in our own Christianity. In order to teach someone else how to pray, we need to know how to pray. In order to help someone else learn how to study the Bible, we need to be active in studying the Bible. But this is the beauty of making disciples. When we take responsibility for helping others grow in Christ, it automatically takes our own relationship with Christ to a new level."

"if our lives do not reflect radical compassion for the poor, there is reason to wonder if Christ is really in us at all."

"In the middle of a Christian culture asking, “How do I find God’s will for my life?” I bring good news. His will is not lost. With 1.4 million Bedouins in Algeria who have never even heard the gospel, it makes little sense for us to sit over here asking, “What do you want me to do, God?” The answer is clear. The will of God is for you and me to give our lives urgently and recklessly to making the gospel and the glory of God known among all peoples, particularly those who have never even heard of Jesus."

"As Elisabeth Elliot points out, not even dying a martyr’s death is classified as extraordinary obedience when you are following a Savior who died on a cross. Suddenly a martyr’s death seems like normal obedience."

How challenging! May our radical Christ-life change the world!
  Erich 

Dear Friends,

We wanted to share some impressions from ALPHA Week 10 with everyone. The first video shows part of a lively game that the ALPHA groups played. The game started with all 10 groups, after which groups that responded too slowly were eliminated. So you're seeing the final competition between the best groups. Notice our foreigners John, Caty, Kalan, and Joe participating, although they might have no idea what's going on :D

Both videos are in High Definition quality, so you might need to let them load for a little while before playing, depending on your internet speed. But then you can play them on "full screen" mode!

This video shows a song that one of the ALPHA groups was leading. About half of the girls on stage are not yet Christians, and it's neat to see them involved in this way!

Thanks for continuing to pray as the regular ALPHA season ends. From what we can tell, most groups will continue meeting as regular church cell groups even after the season is over!

Blessings,
  Erich and Kelley 

Dear Friends,

As you probably know, our English co-worker team at Truth Church maintains a ministry blog about the progress of our Bilingual ALPHA Ministry at this address: www.crossing7.com/taiwan.

Our English ministry team has just updated this blog with some information about our current Bilingual ALPHA Course. Here is the beginning:

At week seven we are definitely experiencing the wonderful maturing that comes in the second half of Alpha. The groups are growing closer together in friendship, trust and spiritual depth. And new seekers are continuing to arrive. Recent postings on Facebook ...

Continue reading the full article here! 

Many thanks for upholding us in prayer!
Erich and Kelley

Dear Friends!

Last Monday night all the foreigners gathered together at our apartment for a baby shower for our cell group members, Kim and Jamie. We thought you might like to see how large the current group has become! Not in the picture are Michelle, TJ, and Jesse.

There are so many valuable things we Westerners need to learn from our Asian sisters and brothers! So please continue praying for us as we attempt to bridge the gap between our Westerners and the Taiwanese church. We need the Lord's continued unity, along with humility, if we are to serve well in the Kingdom together!

Last weekend on a sunny Saturday morning at 7:30a.m. over 100 people of various nationalities (Taiwanese, American, British, Hong Kong, Indonesian, Korean) gathered together for our annual ALPHA weekend. The ALPHA weekend happens between weeks 7-8 of the ALPHA season and is always a highlight of the entire season, not only for the Seekers, but for the co-workers as well. This year we headed about 1 1/2 hours west for two days of fun, relationship building, and learning more about the Holy Spirit and the unconditional love of Jesus.

Sunday morning is a time for testimony sharing, and again is always a sweet time. This year numerous people gave testimony of how during the last few weeks of ALPHA and during the ALPHA weekend God has been doing something in their lives- some have begun praying for the first time, others have begun reading the Bible, while others have made right wrongs in relationships and sought forgiveness and restoration.  One man who gave testimony on Sunday ended his sharing by saying (in Chinese, of course) "I have decided I want to become of part of Truth Church!" Wow, praise and thanks to God for His marvelous work in the lives of those who invite and seek after Him. 

We thank you all for praying for our Bilingual ALPHA course- we couldn't do what we do without your faithful prayers! Below are some pictures taken over the weekend- enjoy :)

Erich's ALPHA group- great group of men!

Kelley's ALPHA group- fun times!

Western co-workers enjoying the game!
Translation in Action!

Dear Friends,

We wanted to let you know that you can view online pictures of our recent ALPHA Weekend by clicking here!
Overall, we had 105 people attending. As you can tell from the pictures, we had a great time together sharing, hiking, listening to sessions, and in worship through singing!

We were especially touched by the time of testimonies at the end. Many of the Seekers shared how the Lord had touched their lives in different ways, revealing the Father's deep love for them, convicting of sin, prompting to forgive old grudges, and the like. Please continue praying for these precious new friends to continue growing in their walk with Jesus!

Thanks so much for your prayers!

For His Glory,
Erich and Kelley

Dear Friends,

As you probably know, our English co-worker team at Truth Church maintains a ministry blog about the progress of our Bilingual ALPHA Ministry at this address: www.crossing7.com/taiwan.

Our English ministry team has just updated this blog with some information about our current Bilingual ALPHA Course. Here is the beginning:

Last Friday evening marked our 5th ALPHA meeting for the 2011 Fall Season. It's hard to believe how quickly the time is passing and that we are almost half way finished! Although the weather...

Continue reading the full article here! 

Many thanks for upholding us in prayer!
Erich and Kelley

[Kelley writing] One of my favorite parts of the week is Sunday morning, particularly the time of singing and worship at our church. For those of you that may not know, our church is quite large and is located directly across the street from the largest, and most renowed, univeristy in all of Taiwan- the National Taiwan Univeristy. Truth Church was founded in the 1950's by American missionaries and has continued to grow ever since. Worshipping together with brothers and sisters from another culture is a most touching experience! I feel like it's a true picture of what Heaven will be like. One reason I love singing and worshipping together is because of how genuinely the Taiwanese Christians worship the Lord. Again, I have never seen anything like it. Many have come from Buddhist backgrounds and have sacrificed relationships, family support, social standing etc... in becoming a believer, so you know that the words they sing are direct prayers and praise to God- not a show.

The Lord has used our church and our fellow brothers and sisters to encourage me, challenge me, and grow me in ways I previously never was. What a joy to be a part of God's Kingdom work in Taiwan!

Watch the video below for a taste of what worship looks like at Truth Church. The song "I am Strengthened in Him" is one of my very favorites and such a good reminder that all of our hope lies in Jesus Christ. We are not of this world- we belong to the King! Amen!