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Dear Friends,
It was wonderful to see many of you during my ten-month interpretation
time in the U.S. last year. I visited over forty churches and
a number of schools and colleges. I returned to Taiwan in January
and once again am living in the capital city of Taipei.
I am teaching at the Taiwan Presbyterian Seminary, which is located
on a mountain overlooking the city. We are usually above the pollution
and the campus has many trees and birds. Today the yellow sands
from the deserts in northern China are blowing this way, making
the air thick with dust. The seminary has about 60 graduate students
preparing to be pastors and about 100 undergraduates studying
music, social work, or Christian education. I teach the master
of divinity students who are preparing to be pastors. I am teaching
preaching to second-year students and am also teaching a course
called "The Theology and Practice of Ministry." This
course seeks to help the students develop a biblical and theological
basis for their ministry in the church and in the world.
The seminary also runs an academy for lay folks who are interested
in studying the Bible and theology. I teach in this academy on
Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 9:30. These are mostly working people
who ride their motorcycles or take the subway from their places
of work to the eighth floor of a high-rise church in downtown
Taipei. There are 65 people in the class studying how to be God’s
people in their daily lives. After a long day at work, I am always
inspired by the energy and interest they bring to class. Their
energy gives me energy. And it thrills me to think that they leave
the class to be Christ’s light in their families, jobs, and
in the world.
Another exciting beginning this year is a new Center for Spiritual
Formation we have established on campus. The goal for the center
is to strengthen the leadership of the church, so they can then
feed their flocks. Tomorrow we will begin a small group for young
pastors. I will meet with them every other week for prayer and
Bible study and for a time of sharing the joys and struggles of
ministry. This small group of pastors is very gifted, and I have
great hopes for what they will bring to the church.
Last night I met with a young adult group in one of the downtown
churches. They ranged in age from early twenties to late thirties.
We thought together about the thirst which we have been given
for God. We looked at ways in which the culture seeks to quench
our thirst, and then looked at some of the disciplines which God
has given us to truly quench our thirst for God.
There is a deep thirst for God in Taiwan. This thirst is not
always on the surface, but you can see folks seeking to quench
this thirst in many different ways. There is great uncertainty
here now as a new president seeks to deal with a host of problems.
The threat from China always casts a sense of not knowing what
will happen tomorrow. The economy has many worried. It is in this
context that the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan is training leaders
for a new day. Please pray that God will use this new Center for
Spiritual Formation and Taiwan Seminary to help church leaders
pay attention to their own thirst for God and then equip them
to help others find the living water which Christ offers us. Christ’s
promise is rich, for not only will he quench our thirst for God,
but Christ’s living water will
overflow from our hearts to a thirsty world.
Thank you for your ongoing support, which allows me represent
Jesus Christ, the endless source of living water, to those with
whom I work and live. May God grant you a deepening sense of call
in this Lenten season.
Grace and peace,
John McCall
The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 187
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