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• Soaking Wet Memories of a Short-Term Team
  30/08/2008 9:00 am
  “Ooooh, I hear laughter in the rain…” The words of Neil Sedaka’s song rang in my head as the rain came pouring down, and I all I could hear was the giggling of the children. As part of our annual Dali Elementary Bilingual Camp, we were having a water balloon fight, but this year God was playing too!
• Eat Pray Man Woman
  30/05/2008 9:00 am
  Seventeen people sit in a circle. Most of them have been at work all day and grabbed something to eat on the way to the meeting place. They are aged between nineteen and forty-five, students and professionals. They joke around, read a few emails from friends, introduce newcomers, then get down to work. Their work this evening, as it is every month, is to pray for the people of Taiwan and the work of OMF.
• Christmas Carnival in the Park
  12/03/2008 9:00 am
  There is a small park near where we live where we do prayer walking and outreach to working class people. Surrounded by a morning and afternoon market, it is always a busy place. Because we want to be part of the community, we often spend time in the park. Sometimes we just sit there and chat or play like everyone else. People get used to us and feel we belong there too. Last year we wanted to go one step further and planned a big park activity – a carnival!
• Looking for a Home
  12/03/2008 9:00 am
  Bethany Children's Home has been "home" to well over three hundred children in the years that I have been here. When they leave us, for many, it is still the only home that they have. And, yet, it’s a strange kind of home. The actual place may be the same but the people there have changed. Is it still ‘home’? Is it still where they feel comfortable and able to find help?
• Making Prostitutes Beautiful
  07/01/2008 9:00 am
  Wanhua is known for its “teashops” especially those in Three Waters Street. Men visit and pay women to drink tea or alcohol with them. Other services vary according to how much the men are willing to pay and the women are willing to offer.
  
  It hadn’t been easy to befriend the ladies waiting outside the teashops for customers, but with the hot weather it was even harder. Most of them stayed inside, enjoying the air-con. So we prayed that God would open doors and He did...
• Christmas at School
  07/01/2008 9:00 am
  The school in the west of Taichung was beautifully decorated: Christmas lights, trees, plants, cards, Christmas blessings….., but how many of the 4,000+ students there really knew what Christmas is all about?
• Vietnamese Brides
  22/11/2007 9:00 am
  Currently one in four Taiwan marriages involves a foreign partner, while one in seven newborns is the product of a mixed marriage.
  
  Because of their socio-economic background, it is difficult for working class men to find Taiwanese wives, so they resort to marrying foreign spouses. Many brides come from countries where Christianity is oppressed or has little presence. They come to Taiwan, where there is freedom of religion and a visible church. This influx of foreign brides has given the church an exciting bridge into the working class community.
• Friendship Evangelism
  28/09/2007 9:00 am
  What struck me again as I returned to Taiwan last year as a new worker was the friendliness of the Taiwanese people. This is a culture where relationships are central to everything. At our recent annual conference, as I listened to my colleagues’ stories of how Christ is working, I was reminded of the importance of building good friendships among the Taiwanese. Through friendships comes openness and willingness to listen and respond to the Gospel message.
• Tea parties - for men!
  28/09/2007 9:00 am
  One of the big challenges of doing working class ministry has been how to reach men. Many of their free time activities are not conducive to engaging in quality conversation. But there is one activity that is both viewed as manly and promotes conversation: drinking tea. Western readers may find it hard to believe that a “tea party” is a manly thing, but in Taiwan it really is!
• Outreach to the Elderly
  23/08/2007 9:00 am
  “It’s because of my bad fate. That’s why I am here!” “My family doesn’t want me any more.” “My health is very poor. No family member has time to take care of me.” These are the complaints of the elderly who live in Taiwan’s nursing homes.
  
  I have discovered that most elderly Taiwanese people are not happy living in a nursing home, especially the elderly women. Because of this, most of the proprietors of the nursing homes welcome religious groups to visit and provide programs for the residents.