Shopworkers Dorm Fellowship
22/08/2009 9:00 am <>
A social worker phones our Centre: “Do you have a room in one of your dorms available for a mother with 2 children? We discovered them in McDonalds. They have slept there for 10 nights already. They had to escape from their home because of domestic violence by the husband.”
Another call from a social worker: “There is a girl in the psychiatric clinic. In a few weeks time she can leave the hospital but here is no place she can move to. Her father is in the prison because of having abused his daughter, the mother is psychologically ill and lives with another man. There is also no one among her relatives who wants to take care of her.”
And another call: “There is a 15 year old boy with his mother. The husband drove them out of his house. Is there a possibility to let them live in one of your dorms? There is no place for them in the Government Refuge Centre at the moment.”
Meiling came with her two daughters, 18 year old Yaling moved in, and Weilian with his mother too. All of them not only found a place to live, but also experience the truth that Jesus Christ can set them free from the very deep hurts of the past and from their own sin.
We have 6 dorms – two for men and four for women – with 32 people are living in them at the moment.
How did this Dorm Fellowship come into being? The first girl, a hairdresser, unexpectedly stood in front of my door with a bag of all her belongings: “Can I stay with you for one night?” As she moved into my flat, this became the first dorm. One night became many years. Later two shop ladies and a girl who worked in a restaurant moved in. They all felt very lonely in the big city of Taipei. They couldn’t afford a room of their own and so they would usually share a flat with those they didn’t know, people who often had a very immoral lifestyle. They all were longing for a safe place, a fellowship to belong to and for somebody who can give them real love. They have found all these in Jesus Christ.
There are only five Christians out of every 1000 hairdressers, shop and restaurant workers. Maybe two out of these five Christians go regularly to church; three of them are not able to join a church because of their late working hours, usually until 10.00 pm. Over the weekends they are even more busy – department stores, restaurants and beauty parlors all open seven days a week. Often these Christians drift slowly away from the Lord. We visit these people at their working place, give them evangelistic magazines, invite them to join one of our seven small groups. These meet in different shopping areas of Taipei after 10.00 pm, in a McDonalds or coffee shop near area where they work. We also offer a night service for them on Sunday. Most of these people come out of broken families or marriage relationships. In the Dorm fellowship they can find a new family in Jesus Christ, and a place of belonging where they can get to know the One who gives them hope and a new life.
Elisabeth Weinmann –Taipei
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