True Jesus Church in Taiwan
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- This article was originally a direct translation from zh:臺灣真耶穌教會史.
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The True Jesus Church is a nontrinitarian Christian denomination begun in China, growing out of the Pentecostal movement. Since its foundation it has spread to other countries including Taiwan.
During the Japanese occupation period, Elisha and Gideon Huang brothers, Sajia Zhang, Jeremiah Wang and other Taiwanese believers accepted the True Jesus Church gospel in Fujian province, China and quickly decided to preach the good news back in Taiwan before it was too late (they all believed that Jesus' Second coming would be in a few years time).
- So in the autumn of 1925, they boarded a ship from Xiamen to Taiwan where the brethren preached to Presbyterian church relatives and many Taiwanese folk.
On 2 March 1926 they had an evangelical service in Changli resulting in 62 people being baptised, Niu-tiaowan - 27 baptised and Chinshui - 11 baptised. By this time the preachers had already split into two groups where one headed south and the other group to the northern regions. Thus 3 churches were established in 40 days with believers numbering over a hundred.
[edit] Evangelising the Southern regions
- The evangelising continued to grow and in the spring of 1926 a preacher named Gideon Huang rushed back from Fujian, China to Taiwan where he evangelized in Taichung, Homei region. At that time many believed that Jesus's Second coming would be very soon so Gideon tried preaching to as many people as he could in the streets by blowing a trumpet or beating the drums to gain their attention. A Taichung Presbyterian church Elder named Philemon Guo was baptised during this time. He later established the Philemon Trust to further advance the gospel.
28 October 1926: Taichung True Jesus Church established where Philemon Guo and Joel Tsai were elected as committee members. The church in China sent Abe Guomei to continue the growth and development in Taiwan.
1927: Tainan, Chiayi, Dalin churches founded after many miracles were performed.
1929: Erlin church founded.
[edit] Evangelising the Northern regions
1934: Hualien presbyterian church member Huolu Hong is converted to TJC and founds a church.
1935: Taipei TJC church founded.
In 1941 the Second world war broke out in the Pacific region and the TJC Taiwanese coordination board was made by Japanese officials to change their name to "The local Japanese True Jesus Church " (日本真耶穌教會) but in 1948 the name was changed to "True Jesus Church of Taiwan province".
[edit] Evangelising the Eastern and Central Mountain regions
During the Japanese occupation period, the indigenous Taiwanese aborigines had no religious freedom so it was extremely difficult to evangelise there. However, the Lord's gospel was not hindered during these tough times and it soon spread through every corner in the mountaineous areas, redeeming many souls.
Hualien district In 1938, Xin Xiu Lin who was from the Taroko tribe had a serious lung illness in which none of the public hospitals were able to find any remedy. Believing that he could be cured, Xin Xiu Liu decided to be baptised in the Hualien Church. His illness was miraculously healed shortly afterwards so he gratefully accepted the gospel.
Although they were often persecuted by Japanese policemen, the teachings of Jesus quickly apread to other local villages. The Preachers Sheng-Gong Chen and John Yang would often secretly enter the mountains and hold church services in the midst of night to avoid the persecution from authorities. This continued until the end of World War II.
Taitung district After religious freedom was allowed, our brethren preached to the Mei and Ami tribe youth. The coordination board sent Yong-Sheng Wang Yu-Lin Wang, Jian-Xin Zhu and Sheng-Ming Tsai to pastor and take care of the believers.
- However our fellow Ami brethren were persecuted by their own tribesfolk since they no longer particpaed the annual harvest dance in order to appease their gods.
But through patience, long-suffering and forbearance they eventually won over the hearts of their tribesmen through doing what is good and not tolerating evil, by keeping a firm and deeply rooted faith, changing their behaviour, following the Lord's teachings. Many miraculous events occurred and the church their prospered.
Ilan district'
- After the Japanese had left, the mountain tribesmen began spreading the gospel to the villages in Ilan area. John Yang held evangelical services. Although the preachers faced opposition from the Thao tribe, they still continued the preaching until an incident occurred where several of our church Sisters were martyred by policemen. 20 of our brethren fled to the Hualien district to avoid persecution.
It was not until 1951 when they could finally obtain religious freedom and hold services in peace. At this time, many tribesfolk who had sicknesses were miraculuosly healed during their prayers so the number of believers grew.
1950 - Shanli church established. 1953 - Nantou and Chiayi county churches formed. 1955 - Hsinchu district church founded. 1959 - Taoyuan district church formed. 1961 - Pingtung County church established. 1962 - Kaohsiung region church formed.
[edit] Developments from the 1950s to the Present day
In 1949 the Communists had successfully taken control of China and communication was totally broken. The churches in Taiwan and elsewhere were now on their own. So Taiwan now became the main center for the True Jesus Church global evangelisation work.
1950 - The church started Youth Spiritual Convocations and religious education which were followed by student spiritual gatherings. These became important aspects for the advancement of the Divine work in which the aim was to cultivate the knowledge of the faith to the younger generations.
In 1959 The first Theology classes were held and by 1962, formal Theological seminars were commenced. The main goal was to train full time preachers that could be sent worldwide for missionary work. 1956 - The coordination board was renamed, "The Taiwanese General Assmbly of the True Jesus Church" which is the present name today.
To date (2005), there are 238 churches, 32 prayer houses, and 51,952 believers.
