July 9, 2007

From Taize to Taiwan

Taiwanese, Polish, and Swedish youth join hands at Taize.

During the summer break from classes at the seminary, I have the opportunity to speak at many camps and conferences. This summer, another faculty member and I again took a group of seminary students and university chaplains to Taize in France to experience a holistic Christian life. Along with two thousand mostly European young people, we worshiped and prayed together three times each day, studied the Bible together, served together, and played together. The day after we arrived back in Taiwan, we went to a conference center on the outskirts of Taipei to begin a conference on spiritual formation for Taiwan university students. Full of our wonderful Taize experience, we were excited to help these university students, who had just completed their final exams, to know God, to know themselves better, and to know the needs of their neighbors.

Many of the church conferences here are like extended classes. Folks sit at long tables and are talked at most of the time. I have been working with the 21 university chaplains for five years to plan and carry out spiritual formation conferences. We have designed conferences that not only give the students information, but also give them the opportunity to practice the spiritual disciplines and then to reflect together on their experience.

John McCall and the Secretary for University Ministries of the Presbyterian church of Taiwan pray for one of the university chaplains.

We had three main themes this year: Sabbath, fasting, and solitude. The first evening we began with a joyful dinner welcoming the Sabbath. The students were divided into family groups and then after lighting the Sabbath candles, they sang a song to welcome the Sabbath using a Taiwanese aboriginal tune. That night, I spoke on the theme of Sabbath, a difficult discipline to practice in this driven culture. The next day we had twelve stations, giving the students the opportunity to practice different ways of keeping the Sabbath. In one station, they listened to music, in another they received massages, in another they listened in a new way to God’s Word, in another they watched movie clips and pondered the messages of our culture, in another they practiced breathing prayer. The second evening they had a closing Sabbath dinner where they sang another aboriginal tune bidding farewell to the Sabbath until next week.

That evening we began our fast. While fasting is not uncommon in the Taiwanese Church, many students had never fasted. I talked about fasting as a way to see what controls us and as a way to be fed by God’s Word. I also lifted it up as a way of freedom to listen more closely to the still, small voice of God. Since the weather was very hot and humid, many students seemed listless, but they sought to pay attention to what God wanted to say to them.

During the time of fasting we had six stations with the groups rotating to different stations. We sought to give them ways to encounter God. One station had them look up to the mountains surrounding our retreat center. Another had them experience the refreshment of water, which God gives freely in Baptism. Another had the students ponder Christian art. In a culture bombarded by so many voices, we sought to help them become quiet before God. Each student checked their cell phone at the door when they entered the conference.

Each day we worshipped three times, using the Taize style of worship. This kind of worship uses simple songs based upon Scripture and also has time to listen to God’s Word and in silence ponder the meaning of that Word for our lives. We sat on the floor to worship. Having just returned from Taize, worshiping each day with thousands of young people, it was wonderful to continue that form of worship with our Taiwanese university students.

The last day we had a sending service, where we prayed for the 130 participants, asking God to help them as they re-entered their normal lives.

A book I wrote on spiritual formation was published this week in Chinese. It was available at the conference, and I was encouraged that many students bought copies to give to their family members and friends.

As I talked with European youth in France and with Taiwanese youth at this conference, I was struck again with the importance of ministry with young people. Only God’s good news can fill us, and yet often God’s still, small voice is drowned out by the louder voices of our global society. How thrilling it is to see the good news take root in the lives of these youth from all around the world.

Grateful to you for allowing me to be in a place where God is at work!

Sincerely,

John McCall

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 253