Gospel ministry involves spiritual warfare. Only by the work of God will any of our efforts bear fruit. That's why we regard prayer as central to all we do and the most important thing you can do to support our ministry.

Each month we will post our latest prayer requests on this page.

We also e-mail a short bi-monthly prayer letter, Ten Seconds for Taiwan . This is a short prayer item for unreached Taiwan's working people. It is available in English, Chinese or German.

If you would like to subscribe to this please visit:

Latest "Ten Seconds":

The Taiwanese believe in the existence of thousands of gods whose abilities and range of authority differ and are often limited to certain areas. The working class people will often try several gods to find out which god "works" best. When they hear the Gospel, many will respond that Jesus is just one among many of their gods.

"Father, we pray for the Taiwanese working class people, that they may acknowledge and take to heart that You are LORD, the God in heaven above and on the earth below. May they see that there is no other god and that, among their gods, there is none like You, that no deeds can compare with Your deeds." (Deuteronomy 4:39; Psalm 86:60)

Field Prayer Point

Our desire is to establish two new ministry teams and expand our current ministries. We are praying that over the next five years God will send us at least 25 new workers (20 front-line & 5 support personnel). Join with us in prayer that the Lord will send these workers into the working-class harvest fields of Taiwan.

There is now a list of people planning to come to Taiwan in the next couple of years. Nearly every week we receive some communication from one of these people telling us how they are progressing, some of their challenges in preparing to get here. Please pray for the preparation, sufficient financial support (difficult in the current economic situation) and visas for those preparing to join our teams.

Ministry Prayer points for December 2008

If you contact us we can also put you on the mailing list for these monthly prayer requests.

Randy & Janet Adams – Taipei

Mr. Lim has begun to read the creation and the fall stories. Mr. Don and his son both welcomed us to visit and share Bible stories. The son is just out of prison and struggles with drug use. Ms. Chhoa, the hospital secretary who worked hard to get Randy’s medical license transferred here, is seriously exploring the Christian faith. There is a long list of others we have just met and plan to follow up. Please pray that we can start meeting regularly with some of these new friends to study the Bible and pray. Christmas will also provide opportunities to open our home and share the Christmas story.

Thank you for praying for the Hengchun house church. We hope to see the leaders start small fellowships among their friends and neighbors.

Anne Alexander – Hsinchu

At this Christmas season, besides singing with my Chinese church choir, I will be participating in evangelistic outreaches with my churches and inviting neighbors to a musical evangelistic rally. Special outreaches are planned because it is usually the one time in the year that nonbelievers are willing to attend church activities. But in these unstable times even believers feel pressure. My troubled friends will be finding it hard to feel the Christmas spirit, especially since it is not a public holiday. For me, finishing a course from Biola University in my degree program is creating a lot of pressure.

Melanie Bister – Taipei

Christmas is approaching, and many student groups will be holding outreach parties during this period. Please pray for me as I prepare for the remaining three English conversation classes of this term and plan a Christmas party at my home for this group. May it be a fun time of getting to know the students better! The regular fellowship group will have its Christmas outreach party on December 10 and Campus Evangelical Fellowship will hold another one on December 12.

Robb & Holly Branch – Taichung

At our Thursday men’s tea night Robb, Tim McCracken, and their Taiwanese coworkers reach out to Taiwanese working class men. Pray also for the Sunday afternoon couples’ group outreach. Yu-Chen is a Vietnamese bride with whom Holly and coworker have a Bible study . She had a severe scooter accident, has had surgery on her left leg and needs therapy. 

Please pray for Robb’s mother and sister. Both have breast cancer and are under chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Also Robb’s brother is paralyzed from the waist down. Pray for healing.

Paul & Mary Jeanne Buttrey – Taipei

Paul and Joyce Hu, our accountant, will be in Manila on December 1-3 for training in the new international accounting system. May they be able to get a good grasp of the new accounting processes and procedures. They have to start using it on January 1.
 
Paul will hold a training workshop for Taiwanese colleagues to be facilitators for the Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills workshop on December 10-17. This workshop has been a blessing to many missionaries and Christian workers in the English-speaking world. The participant materials have been translated into Chinese and a couple of workshops already held in Mandarin.


Paul and Mary Jeanne will depart for a half-year home assignment on December 22. Pray that Paul would be able to complete the necessary follow-up on both of these events before leaving.

Clara Cheng – Chungli

On December 1 I will move to Chungli City, where I will teach at Logos Seminary. Please pray for my mobility, that I would learn how to get around in a new location, and be able to get a driving license soon. Please pray that I might be able to quickly settle into my new apartment and set up my office in the seminary. I need to start research for a new course I will teach next semester: “Spiritual Formation.” I must choose the textbooks and design the course during January. Being new to the Taiwan field, please pray that I would be sensitive to how Taiwanese students study, feel, and think.

Chi Pin-Hoon – Kaohsiung

Thank God I am about to finish my Bible studies on Exodus and Genesis in the Chung Yi Free Methodist Church. (It took over a year to finish Exodus!)


God willing, I shall be teaching the book of Leviticus in January and also “How to be a disciple of Jesus” probably using the Gospel of Matthew. Do pray for my preparation and the students.

I shall be leading a one-day retreat for our adult Bible study class on December 20. Pray for my preparation and that God would meet us all.

Christine Dillon – Home Assignment in Australia

The first week of December I have been invited to the annual training event for the IFES staff and university student leaders. This year it is a gathering for all of the Pacific. Hopefully, there will be attendees from New Zealand, Fiji, and Vanuatu. Missionaries are invited because one of the council members hopes that at least 10% of the students become missionaries. Generally missions is not focused on in Australia. Please pray for effective conversations and that God would give me wisdom for what to share at my one-hour session. May God link me up with potential missionaries!

David & Lucy Eastwood - HA in the UK

Missionary speakers are not much in demand in the lead-up to Christmas. Pray that we will have many opportunities to build up friendships in our home church through involvement with Christmas activities. On December 15 we will be spending the day with a Chinese church in Bristol that has experienced some problems. Pray for wisdom in sharing at the church.

Beate Harr – Taichung

Thanksgiving and Christmas are times to celebrate in our different classes at school and in the fellowship meetings. May God’s love touch the hearts of all those we are sharing the gospel with in this season!

Praise God for growing relationships in our different classes. In one school fellowship we have a lot of new people coming. God is at work in drawing these young people to himself. May each one of them come to faith in Him!

Charissa Mak - Taichung

God has been faithful and gracious in my second month in Taichung. Praise God for answered prayers. In a warm local church two Taiwanese girls meet and pray with me (in Mandarin). I also enjoy the very supportive missionary community.

I’m settling well into life as a language student. It’s encouraging to have enough Taiwanese sentences to practice with people in the neighborhood. Praise God for the beauty in the Taiwanese people, in their helpfulness and willingness to extend friendship. I’m thankful for those who generously help me practice Taiwanese with them and for the friendship that is developing with Ms. Chang, who works at a nearby shop. Please pray that I’ll be a godly witness each day. May I have opportunities to share my faith, hope, and love. Pray also for perseverance with language learning.

David & Judy Newquist - Taichung

During Christmas at Tunghai University crowds pour onto the campus by the thousands. Most people come because they have heard of the big dances held on Christmas Eve. We find that very sad, since it is so totally unrelated to the real meaning of Christmas. On the other hand, many are attracted to three Christmas Eve services held in the church, at 8:00, 10:00, and 12:00. Those who cannot squeeze into the crowded church stand around outside watching the service on a big screen. Meanwhile, it is traditional for students to Christmas carol at faculty homes and in the hospital across the street.

Christian students will pray for and invite friends to “evangelistic tea parties” that are held by the various student Bible study groups. Pray that God would prepare their classmates’ hearts to attend and to begin to understand and receive the gospel.

Please uphold the Christians who put on these programs in the middle of busy work and study schedules. There is no Christmas holiday in Taiwan. Winter vacation won’t begin until mid-January.

And in the midst of all this, the Christian student fellowship must select those the Lord has prepared to be the new leaders for the coming calendar year. The handover will be the first Sunday in January.

Veronika Rieben – Taipei

Every Wednesday afternoon we have around fifteen lively kids participating in our kids club in the Dali Elementary School. Because they are not used to playing and doing things together as a group, we have lots of disciplinary problems. Please pray for us teachers. We need creative and suitable ideas for the program, as well as wisdom, love, and patience in caring for the kids.

Katherine Tang – Taipei

As the second year of my associate membership in OMF comes to an end, I have much to be thankful for. 
Praise God that the children in the kid’s club are slowly (it took half a semester!) behaving a little better! Praise God for the staff that He provided for us this semester, despite worrying we wouldn't have enough teachers to help.

I would appreciate prayer for the following:

1) The relationships that I have built with local Taiwanese girls: while I am gone from Taiwan, that they would continue to grow close to God and pursue a relationship with Him.
2) That God would give me a blessed couple of months at home while I share with my home church and do some mobilizing.
3) That time spent with my parents would be full with meaningful conversations for us to better understand each other in regards to my future in the mission field.

Elisabeth Weinmann - Taipei

On December 16 and 17 we are going to have Christmas parties in our six small groups for shop workers, which meet in different shopping areas of Taipei. We pray that through this outreach each of the small groups might follow up two new seekers who would join the weekly meetings and accept Jesus Christ. We will do a lot of visitation in the department stores and invite shop workers to these evangelistic events during the next three weeks. May we become “fishers of men!”

Andy and Mei-ling Wilson – Urban Church Planting

The major outreach season for Banner Church (Thanksgiving through Christmas) continues with major Christmas outreaches on the weekend of December 20 and 21 and smaller cell-based events through the week or two before that. Do pray for follow-up, especially as Chinese New Year comes early in 2009 (reducing the opportunities to get people settled into church and cell group beforehand).