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• 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.
• Neighborhood Evangelism Adventure
  28/07/2007 9:00 am
  For about two years a certain neighborhood in Chiayi has been on my mind a lot. I call it Orchid Street. It was just by chance that I rode my motorbike through it the first time. I wanted to avoid the main road’s heavy traffic. As soon as I came down the street, I was totally fascinated by the working class atmosphere.
  
  When I first drove through the neighborhood, I felt the urge to come back the next day, explore it, and even start praying for the street. And since our OMF team’s vision is to reach the working class with the gospel, why not start right there on the street, where the working class people are all day long? I felt strongly that God had showed me this street with a plan in His mind.
• Led to God by God.
  11/07/2007 9:00 am
  Last week at the university graduating students' thank you dinner, Dave sat by a teacher and his wife called Lisa and Cecil. We do not know them well but Lisa was very open in asking Dave questions about the Christian faith. She asked if she could talk some more with him and me another time. A few days later she called to make an appointment. Today she came to our home for a couple of hours. She told this story as I sat in total amazement...
• Reaching shopworkers
  30/06/2007 9:00 am
  In the intense summer heat of July, wouldn’t you like to have a nice, cool, air-conditioned place to go to? I invite you into Taipei’s modern department stores, not to go shopping, but to get to know the shopworkers.
  
  There are some forty major department stores in Taipei City and many churches, but almost no church meetings that shopworkers can attend. The doors of the department stores are open eleven or twelve hours a day, seven days a week – open also for people who want to take the gospel to the workers inside.
• Outreach to Kids
  30/05/2007 9:00 am
  If you came to the Kids’ Club in the Wanhua Dali Elementary School, you would probably think that we hardly mention the gospel. We are not allowed to evangelize openly in this public school where we have been given an open door. However, our outreach is not a ministry without a gospel focus.
  
  Out of this ministry God has provided opportunities for us to tell the children more about Him. One regular opportunity we have is at a park behind the school. On Saturdays some children specially come and sit with us in the park. We play games and tell them Bible stories. Because we have taken the time to build a relationship with the parents and grandmothers, the adults are happy to see us teach their children about God.
  
• What are Mini-Bibles?
  26/04/2007 9:00 am
  One hot afternoon Hong dropped by the office to have tea and chat. As he sat down, he saw the bookshelf with many books and Bibles, and cheerfully asked if he could have a Bible. Tim, pulled a Bible off the shelf and opened it up with him. While Hong politely listened to the explanation of the format, and as he squinted at the small text, his enthusiasm waned. Afterwards Tim took down a mini-Bible and told him that the same story (and some others) was in that booklet as well. As he eagerly put down the larger book and took the mini-Bible, he said, “This I can deal with!”
  
  Mini-Bibles have shown themselves to be a great way to spark people’s interest in the God of the Bible, while not overwhelming them...
• High School Outreach
  27/03/2007 9:00 am
  A Christian boy sits in front of his computer for eight hours a day; the heart of a 19-year old girl breaks because her 17-year old boyfriend with whom she had a sexual relationship didn’t want her any more; a beautiful young girl sits in a dark corner at home and cries because her parents seem to be only concerned about her grades at school, and Grandma wants to take her to the temple to pray for help. These are the stories of Christian young people in Taiwan whose lives are blessed because they know God. They struggle, but yet with hope. They have people who accompany them, pick them up when they are down, and minister to them the love and grace of God.
  
  But what about the thousands of young people who don’t belong to a Christian youth group? Taiwan has about 720,000 senior high schoolers, and there is a large number of young people who haven’t been able to make it into high school. They might work in little factories, hang around on the streets, or …….?
• Prayer Walking
  15/02/2007 9:00 am
  For more than one and a half years several OMF missionaries have been taking prayer walks around two schools in the Wanhua area of Taipei. We usually go out in pairs, starting at the Dali Elementary School, where we run a weekly club for kids at risk.
  
  We pray for the people living in Wanhua and for the churches that are there. When school is out, we stand at the entrance and say “hello” to the kids. It is amazing how many come running right into our arms and just want a hug!