Anglican Missionaries in Taiwan

Discussion in 'Questions?' started by HiddenApostle25, Dec 31, 2020.

  1. HiddenApostle25

    HiddenApostle25 New Member

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    Does anyone know of any orthodox Anglican missionaries in Taiwan? I wanted to be a missionary there. I wasn't sure if anyone has made effort outside of the Episcopal Church.

    I went to the TEC cathedral there in Taipei a few years ago. Overall, they seemed very disconnected from the TEC back in the US. I couldn't really get a sense of their stance on recent issues and developments between TEC and ACNA. It seemed like their churches are struggling there too based on attendance.

    I did meet a Chinese priest in Beijing that said he was affiliated with ACNA. I haven't seen any other evidence of their work in China/Taiwan. Although, Wikipedia claims that the REC has churches in China.
     
  2. floridaman1

    floridaman1 New Member

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    I don't know the answer to this, but I would be interested to find out more. I love Taipei, it is a great city.
     
  3. Stalwart

    Stalwart Well-Known Member Anglican

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    There are a few vectors for you to pursue.

    1)
    ACNA has a massive missionary movement that is brewing within our jurisdiction, a large part of it international. It is all under the umbrella of AGMP, https://agmp-na.org/ | https://newwineskins.org/agmp where people can sign up and show interest in various ministerial opportunities. The biggest missionary societies are
    -Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders (SAMS)
    -Sharing of Ministries Abroad (SOMA)

    If you go to AGMP events (a zoom one coming up in April), you can network with these and others.


    2) I'm in the REC and our parish had a family recently travel on a mission trip to mainland China itself. It was an extremely dangerous trip, as the communists are wont to imprison and torture Christians, but we thank God that the trip was accomplished successfully. Now Taiwan won't be a place of persecution, obviously, but it's a relevant story of a missionary family taking a self-initiated missionary tour, supported by their local parish. You could have your parish, or your diocese, support your visit that way.


    3) If you are super-committed to a very long ministry in Taiwan or even Asia more broadly, then you might consider a more radical step, namely to join the Diocese of Singapore. Now the Diocese of Singapore, a single Diocese, has done nothing less than build an Anglican empire all over southeast asia. They are planting hundreds of churches in Vietnam, Nepal, Cambodia. Each country even has its own Dean, like the Dean of Thailand who oversees all church planting in that country. The Diocese of Singapore is 100% orthodox, they don't have women's ordination or anything, and they are growing like wildfire. Their Deans (and even the Bishop himself) often travel to AGMP meetings in the US. I met the Dean of Nepal and the Dean of Vietnam that way.

    Now I don't know if they have a mission to Taiwan, but I wouldn't be surprised. If you had any drastic or serious commitments, then they might be worthwhile people for you to connect with.
     
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  4. bwallac2335

    bwallac2335 Well-Known Member

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    What BCP do they use?

    Where can we learn about their growth and how to help?
     
  5. Shane R

    Shane R Well-Known Member

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    https://www.anglicancommunion.org/s...hes/member-church.aspx?church=south-east-asia

    The liturgy is dependent upon which language it's being served in. The cathedral offers liturgies in 6 different languages. The English rites are a mix and match of an Alternative Service Book and Common Worship. Here's the Holy Communion rite:
    https://cathedral.org.sg/uploads/bulletin_files/DOS_Holy_Communion_Service.pdf

    The diocese of Singapore recently installed a new Bishop ordinary. Naturally, the culture will change in some modest ways. The old regime was sometimes accused of favoring certain countries over others. I am most acquainted with the situation in Indonesia, where they had not ordained any local clergy, had not made an episcopal visit in over 2 years, and typically sourced supply clergy from the Philippines or the diocese of Sydney.
     
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  6. bwallac2335

    bwallac2335 Well-Known Member

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    Why would they not visit Indonesia?
     
  7. Stalwart

    Stalwart Well-Known Member Anglican

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    Somewhat surprising for me to hear. I mean it's just one Diocese, it's not even a Province, and they were and are doing work which is titanically incompatible with maybe any other diocese in the whole world. I was told their annual budget for missions is $1million a year. I would think that them doing anything at all is such a blessing that I wouldn't look at what they were doing more for some than for others.
     
  8. Shane R

    Shane R Well-Known Member

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    Language, caste, tribe, ethnicity. That is the common theme behind most internal turmoil in the various provinces of Africa and Asia.

    We have lived in an environment where we've been told these things don't matter (except for language) for long enough that we have a hard time understanding places where they do. Additionally, Christianity is often a small minority religion in many of the Asian countries. Indonesia has the largest majority Muslim population in the world. India has six major world religions competing with each other. Each country in the region is unique and it makes an overarching administrative model covering several countries at the same time sub-optimal. But many of these countries are not at a point where the churches could be self sustaining without outside assistance.
     
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  9. HiddenApostle25

    HiddenApostle25 New Member

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    Taiwan really should be under the diocese of Singapore anyway. It's much closer and culturally similar than the PECUSA.

    TEC Taiwan had a lot of connections in Hong Kong. They send all their postulants there for seminary. They are also sister dioceses with the Diocese of Osaka.

    Taiwan is a fairly liberal place, so maybe that's why they continue with the TEC. It would seem they have several female priests as well in their diocese. I can't find any record of how their bishop voted on any of the hot button issues though.
     
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  10. Stalwart

    Stalwart Well-Known Member Anglican

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    Right Taiwan and Japan are pretty friendly to liberal tendencies. If I remember correctly the first woman ever ‘ordained’ in the Anglican communion was a Japanese lady in the 1950s, in an illegal and illicit ceremony that wasn’t overturned. So there is a history of being fast and loose with the church.
     
  11. Shane R

    Shane R Well-Known Member

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    Florence Li, in Hong Kong. She has a feast day in one of the newer versions of Lesser Feasts and Fasts and the Canadians venerate her as well.
     
  12. bwallac2335

    bwallac2335 Well-Known Member

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    Well that is just sad
     
  13. Stalwart

    Stalwart Well-Known Member Anglican

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