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Youth Outreach in Chiayi

A thriving youth ministry has appeared in Chiayi. Three months ago it did not exist. A large downtown building was given to OMF. A short-term team spent two weeks helping. And now there are 30-50 students turning up each week!

In the past our church planting team has struggled to figure out how to use short-term teams to advance our ministry to the working class. For a couple of weeks in July we had a short-term team of six workers. With this team we were determined to do things differently and the results were awesome!

We sent the team out to pray and visit internet cafes and other places in the area where young people hang out. In the evenings we organised events at our activity center for young people. We weren’t quite sure how such a strategy would work, but they came from the internet cafes and off the street just to see what was going on. There was free food, ping-pong, karaoke, games, music. It was a big hit! So many came that we lost track of the number of young people who participated.

After the team left, teammate Birgit Glaw began a youth night on Friday nights, where a meal is provided and the youth can come and relax before heading off to cram school. We also have “drop in” times throughout the week. They can hang out, and play games and ping-pong. The first Friday youth night around ten showed up. The next week twenty-five people came. The following week there were even more! A lot of them began inviting their friends, who then invited other friends. One girl in particular has brought around at least ten friends, and she is not even a Christian. Most of them are in high school or a little older. Sometimes the parents even drop by. It seems that with the varying ages people really enjoy the family-like atmosphere.

These are working class youth - their parents are laborers, they attend vocational schools, most have never been to a church. Many of them come from difficult backgrounds: some live on their own; some come from broken homes; some have relatives who are spirit mediums; most of their families are heavily involved in idol worship. These youth can be pretty rough around the edges, but they are spiritually hungry.

Already some Bible studies have begun, and many of them join our Sunday afternoon service as well. Some of our young Taiwanese believers have been helping with the youth ministry we have seen them get a taste for ministry. For example, A-ka is 18 years old, a fairly new believer and is keen to continue helping with the Friday night youth ministry. They feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves and are excited.

The work is in the beginning stages and growing so quickly, we ask you to pray for wisdom from the Lord. He is moving among the youth here in Chiayi, and we want to be on board with what He is doing! Pray especially for Birgit as she heads up this ministry. The harvest truly is plentiful, but the workers are few. Pray that the Lord would send more workers, missionaries, local believers, and especially from within the harvest itself.

Amy Gibson - Chiayi