Taiwan

A. Introduction

Taiwan is an island located on the south-eastern coast of Fujian, China. Taiwan and Mainland China are only separated by a strait. Its climate is subtropical, so Taiwan is humid across four seasons. We have short winters. Its population is 23 million. Most of the population are descendants of the Mainland Chinese migrants. Towards the end of the Qing dynasty, as China was invaded and defeated by Japan, Taiwan was ceded to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki. After the Second World War, Taiwan was returned to R.O.C. sovereignty. Although there is a lack of natural resource in Taiwan, it has become one of the Four Asian Tigers after all the hard effort put in by the government to develop the country in the past decades. Education is universal; the economy and infrastructure are advanced in Taiwan.

B. Religion

There is freedom of religion, speech and assembly in Taiwan. Various religions can flourish due to this liberty. Buddhism and Taoism are the most popular religions in Taiwan. Residents who live in the coastal region (especially fishermen) worship Mazu (The Sea Goddess). Christianity was preached to Taiwan at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Dutch brought in Roman Catholicism when Taiwan was under the colonization of Netherland. The members of True Jesus Church have increased in recent years hence the church is able to grow and prosper.

C. The development of the True Jesus Church

On February 2, 1926, Dianju Zhang, who was originally from Shandong, came from Xiamen to preach the truth in Taiwan. Within 40 days, more than 100 people were baptised. Churches were established in Xianxi, Niutiaowan and Qingshui. Xianxi church officially became a branch of the General Assembly in Taichung. Terms and regulations were formally established to further prosper evangelistic work at the end of 1926. Up to 2018, we have seven pastoral administration regions, 56,123 members (including 26,008 brothers and 30,115 sisters), 249 churches and 53 prayer houses.

In September 1963, the theological seminary of True Jesus Church in Taiwan was founded at Gong Yuan Road in Taichung. Up to the year 2018, 227 graduates have graduated from the theological seminary (including eight international graduates who were trained by the Taiwan theological seminary for churches in other countries). Graduates are sent to complete ministry across Taiwan, and they are frequently sent to other places in the world to assist with various divine work as well. In 1926, Elder Elisha Huang published “The Essential Doctrines of the Holy Spirit”. This was the first literary publication of the Taiwan TJC. Not long after that, a lot of other publications such as “The True Life”, “Holy Spirit Monthly”, “The Youth Fellowship”, “Religious Education”, “Newsletter of the Taiwan General Assembly”, gospel tracts and pamphlets, and over 200 Bible commentaries for both Old and New

Testaments were published. Literary ministry has been significant to the divine work in Taiwan TJC over the history of more than 90 years. We believe that there shall be a greater future awaits before us. The current Taiwan GA, which is located at 180 Song Tsu Road in Taichung, was dedicated in 1992. It’s a 12-story (including two-story of the basement) office building. IA Taiwan office also located in this building.

D. Essential information when visiting Taiwan

Taiwan has no diplomatic relation with many countries, so you need to apply for a visa via relevant institutions before visiting Taiwan. The visas usually allow you to stay for one month and they can be extended. As most of the residents are the descendants of Chinese immigrants, we share a very similar culture, food and customs with the Chinese community from overseas.

• Taiwan GA Website