Missionary values for long-term ministry in Taiwan

Let us share some of our core values with you. While they are specific to our context in Taiwan, these are principles we find essential to any type of cross-cultural ministry, especially when working on a multi-national leadership team, as we are.

Be a listener

Especially as younger missionaries we find it best to first observe the Taiwanese way of doing ministry, then offer input if necessary. In doing so we notice many things that are done differently than in the West, and work much better in our Eastern context than many of our Western ideas would. We believe that this attitude shows respect to our Taiwanese co-workers. Our goal in doing this is to empower our Taiwanese church leadership to reach its fullest ministry potential.

Identify with the local culture

The Apostle Paul tells us that he has "become all things to all men so that by all possible means [he] might save some"¹. In the same way, we are embracing the Taiwanese way of living in order to identify as closely as possible with Taiwanese Seekers. This means eating Taiwanese food instead of American food, riding bikes or the bus instead of taxis, and doing things Taiwanese people do for fun, such as drinking tea, or singing Chinese songs with friends at a KTV place. In focusing on what what we have in common we remove some of the obstacles that people have toward the Gospel that we seek to faithfully live out.

Learn the Language

While this may seem like an obvious value to any long-term missionary, we wanted to point it out since ongoing language study is such a powerful (and sometimes neglected!) tool. While right now our ministry efforts are limited mostly to those Taiwanese Seekers who can speak English with us, over time our ongoing Mandarin Chinese language study will enable us to broaden our ministry to potentially involve the millions of Taiwanese whose heart language is not English, but Chinese.

Lifelong Learning

We believe that ongoing personal study is vital in order for us to grow into the most effective missionaries we can be. This takes the following forms in our daily lives:

• We are focusing heavily on Chinese language proficiency, through classes and cultural immersion, in order to better incarnate the message of Christ, and make disciples in a Chinese cultural context.
• A high priority for us is spending focused time with older missionaries to Taiwan, from different missionary agencies and theological backgrounds. These relationships provide us with invaluable learning, as we look forward to lifelong service in the Chinese world.
• As the major portion of our Chinese language studies came to a close in August of 2011, Erich began working on a Master's degree in Biblical Studies, at the Evangelical Chinese Seminary in Taipei.
• Once a week, Erich meets with two American friends, Rick and John, to discuss books on Theology and Christian living they are reading from week to week. Here is some of the material we have studied together so far:
  • The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, by Mark Noll
  • Exclusion and Embrace, by Miroslav Volf
  • an in-depth Seminary lecture series by Regent Professor Rick Watts on the OT book of Isaiah
  • a Regent Seminary lecture series on the Sermon on the Mount by Darrell Johnson
  • a Regent Seminary lecture series on a Biblical View of Homosexuality by Robert Gagnon
  • a Regent Seminary lecture series titled "Humble Rulers" on 1st and 2nd Samuel by Bruce Waltke
  • a lecture series on the book of Revelation by Thomas Constable, former professor at Dallas Theological Seminary
  • a Regent Seminary lecture series on the book of Revelation by Gordon Fee, professor at Regent Seminary (formerly teaching at Wheaton College)
  • a Regent Seminary lecture series on the book of Genesis by Iain Provan

  Click here to learn more about our specific ministries in Taipei, Taiwan. Many thanks for your ongoing interest and support!

  ¹ 1 Corinthians 9:21