Why Taiwan?

Just being a native English speaker opens many doors to sharing the Gospel with Taiwanese people. Teaching English as a job allows you to save money and gives you enough free time to do ministry. Serving our God in Taiwan will give you valuable cross-cultural ministry exposure. The workers are few, but the harvest is very ripe - just see our blog below!
Crossing 7 Taiwan is run by young missionaries living in Taiwan. Our common desire to see Taiwan reached with the love of Christ motivates us to call you to join our ministry here. Why not check out our Ministries page for more information. Also, please begin getting to know the missionaries behind Crossing 7 Taiwan by checking out our About Us page.   Scroll down to read our blog...

The ALPHA Celebration included so many varieties of creativity-- there were skits, Choir performances, dances, songs, pictures, and lots of incredible food!  Also, many people dressed up like Native Americans or other Thanksgiving figures based off of a movie that is quite popular here in Taiwan.  The skits and dance were done by different ALPHA small groups and new friends.  It really felt like we were in a big living room just being family--goofy and enjoying it.  At the end of the Celebration, there was a Powerpoint with pictures and music--it was very meaningful.

We are now getting prepared for our ALPHA Christmas event which will be next weekend.  Until then, several ALPHA small groups are continuing to get together weekly.  The Christmas event will be a nice time for veteran ALPHA friends and new ALPHA friends to come back and visit us at Truth Church.

Thank you for your partnership and prayers!

-Alicia

ALPHA Week 10 went spectacularly thanks to Julanne's creativity and honesty about the church. Most of the people who come at this point in the ALPHA season are committed to their groups, their friends or learning more about the Gospel. Foreign coworkers are well integrated with the Chinese ALPHA community through small groups or other service and they really help the atmosphere move along instead of standing out or distracting.

We can see people excited for the upcoming ALPHA celebration and hope that it will be an opportunity for people to share in God's work in their lives.

Julianne finished the regular ALPHA talks by sharing about the church. This topic is important for Christianity because it shows how Christ is present in the world now, how he is working in the world, and what makes Christians unique from other people and other worshipers. It is especially pertinent to Taiwanese people because they need to see the distinction between being part of the church (which includes gathering for worship) and just attending a ceremony of worship (which is most common in Taiwanese local religions.

Julianne showed an entertaining video at the end of her talk to illustrate the connectedness, joy, and attraction of Christ through the church-His people).


PLEASE PRAY for the following important things:

• The Spirit would press more strongly on seekers' hearts as the end of the ALPHA season approaches.
• That seekers would see Jesus working in them and in the lives of their ALPHA community and be attracted to Him through this.
• For perseverance as the ALPHA season is almost over.
• For creativity, excitement and fellowship at the ALPHA celebration.

Week 9 of ALPHA we had the opportunity to hear Kelley speak.  She spoke about why and how we should tell others about Jesus.  Kelley gave great examples of sharing Jesus in her own life, and we also heard a piece of her mom's testimony.  It was nice to get a little insight into Kelley's life.  Her examples and points really spoke to the seekers at ALPHA.  After Kelley spoke, we had our small group time and were able to discuss what each group member thought about the talk.  As always, the message was great and small group time was encouraging.

Please pray for the ALPHA discussion groups to roll over into becoming regular Truth Church cell groups, and for all the Seekers to remain stable in attendance!

At week eight we are definitely experiencing the wonderful maturing that comes in the second half of Alpha.  The groups are growing closer together in friendship, trust and spiritual depth.  And new seekers are continuing to arrive.  Recent postings on Facebook show that they are growing in friendship after the Alpha weekend and that some groups have been getting together outside of Alpha. 

In this second half of Alpha, the groups are taking responsibility to lead the games and singing.  This week a girls group had each group draw a big poster picture of one of the speakers of the previous weeks.  They drew quite nice caricatures, generally funny cartoon-like, and people had to guess who they were.  Then the groups with the best drawings received special food snacks as prizes!  After that a group of guys led us all in singing a modern version of Amazing Grace in English, giving an explanation in Chinese of what the song was all about.

Dillon gave the talk, which was on “How God Guides us”.  He showed us that God guides us in many ways, including by his Word in the Bible, by the Holy Spirit in prayer, through Christian friends and by divinely controlled circumstances.  In the process he wove Bible verses with personal stories of how he had been led in recent years to choosing a college to attend, finding a wonderful wife and, much to their surprise, moving halfway around the world to serve the Lord in Taipei!  After this the groups spent time sharing, discussing and praying.

 

Prayer points:

 

[1] Praise God for his wonderful amazing grace to meet the seekers, and all of us, where we are and to lead us, guide us to himself.

 

[2] Pray that not one sheep be lost, that those who have not yet turned to the Lord be not resistant, but have a soft heart open to the Spirit’s work in salvation.

 

[3] Thank the Father for the continued growth of deep friendship, unity and spiritual depth of the groups, which comes by the amazing grace through Jesus Christ.  We ask that in the coming weeks these groups quite naturally transition into post-Alpha cell groups of the church in which the seekers continue to be discipled, to be baptized and mature in Christ.

 

[4] Pray for health, rest, and fruitful quiet times for the co-worker teams as they grow in the unity that reflects the life of the Trinity.  Pray that they be filled with joy as they witness the amazing outpouring of grace and fruit, week-by-week in Alpha.

Last Friday evening marked our 5th ALPHA meeting for the 2011 Fall Season. It's hard to believe how quickly the time is passing and that we are almost half way finished! Although the weather was gloomy and rainy outside, there was lots of cheeriness and warmth inside as friends, new and old alike, gathered together for another fun evening. After a delicious meal, Caty led us in a game entitled "Guess Who?" For this game, after a question was given and answers written down, one person in the group had to guess who had written what answer. It was fun trying to see how well we knew each other! After a few rounds of guessing, the game came to an end and the stage was given to John and Robin. John's topic for the night was "How and why do we Pray?" He did an excellent job of interweaving Scripture with personal stories, and by the end of the talk, I beleive everyone in the room was encouraged and had learned something. One of the highlights of his talk were some of the pictures he used- some dating back to the 1970's when he first moved to Taiwan! Also, it was evident that he and Robin are good friends - they had excellent teamwork as Robin translated his talk into Chinese.

Currently at ALPHA we are all gearing up for the ALPHA weekend, which is happening in just a little over a week. The ALPHA weekend is a great time for us to all get away together, enjoy new scenery, and deepen relationships. Up to date, there are about 80 people registered- it's going to be a great time for sure!

The Lord is doing neat things through His Church in ALPHA. What a joy it is to serve together with brothers and sisters who all have a desire to see God's Kingdom come!

ALPHA Week 3 finished on Friday night. We have seen lots of people come back after the first two weeks and committed groups of seekers are plugging in. More foreign coworkers joined us for the first time this week as well. Caty started the evening with mixer using people 'favorites'-favorite movie, favorite dessert, favorite place in Taiwan.

This gave everyone a chance to mingle, get to know each other better and see cross-cultural similarities.

In the spirit of the season (the autumn season that is), we all sang "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" by CCR. The song fit perfectly with the torrential downpour outside and the Typhoon pushing torrential rain and wind onto the island over the weekend.

Erich took the ALPHA groups on a time-traveling adventure to explore the question 'Why did Jesus have to Die?'. After an introduction to the facts of crucifixion, Erich interviewed various persons of interest who were present the morning Jesus rose from the dead. The emotional weight of this topic brought home the cost Jesus paid for us and how important his sacrifice was. It also provided the connection to understanding how sinful we are and how the world is broken because of our sin.

This is an important time for the ALPHA groups to explore how Jesus really impacts their life and can change who they are on the deepest level. They can see how much Jesus loved them and how they really need him in their lives. 


PLEASE PRAY for the following important things:

• That our new friends who attended previously would be moved by the Spirit to return, and remain stable attenders throughout the season.
• That seekers would begin to experience Jesus personally and recognize their need for his sacrifice in their own lives.
• For continued unity and joyful cooperation among our 60+ co-workers.
• For continued creativity and endurance among our English co-worker team.

Hi Everyone!

Although our 2011 Fall Bilingual ALPHA Course begins on September 16, we're already promoting the Season through a variety of exciting Pre-ALPHA Events. So invite your friends to join these events, and let's gear up for ALPHA together!

*** Please check this schedule frequently throughout the summer, as some of the dates are subject to slight changes - thanks! ***

2011 Pre-ALPHA Summer Events Schedule