BURNABY – The Presbytery of Westminster recognized Burnaby Taiwanese, which began as a mission and preaching point of Vancouver Taiwanese, as a stand-alone congregation in January.
The fledging congregation was planted in celebration of VTPC's 20th anniversary, and had been meeting steadily since September 2007. It has flourished, with over 100 people attending worship each Sunday.
The past several years have seen dramatic shifts in the Taiwanese population as large numbers of immigrants return to Taiwan. According to Rev. Chinchai Peter Wang, the VTPC's former minister who advocated founding the new congregation, in 2000 there were 70,000 to 80,000 Taiwanese people living in Greater Vancouver, but by 2007 the number had dropped to 35,000.
Despite this trend, Burnaby Taiwanese' attendance has grown consistently, which has posed difficulties as the current facilities are becoming too small to adequately serve the congregation's needs.
According to Wang, Burnaby is well placed to serve the Taiwanese community. "Burnaby does not have the highest Taiwanese population, but it is centrally located," he said.
At the time of Burnaby's founding, "VTPC was the only Presbyterian Church in Greater Vancouver worshipping in Taiwanese," said Ruth Chueh, the clerk of session at VTPC. "Some people did not want to travel the long distance to a church especially in an unfamiliar environment." VTPC is on the west side of Vancouver. Sharing a building with the English speaking Brentwood congregation, Burnaby is accessible to Taiwanese immigrants who settled in the suburbs and other areas on Vancouver's east end.
The new church actively promoted itself through a number of channels including television and newspaper ads, bazaars and hiking groups. "There is warmth in the church," Wang said. "Worship is lively and preaching is related to the lives of new immigrants."
The new church faces some challenges, said Bruce Cairnie, the interim moderator. The congregation must seek a mission beyond that which was entrusted to them as a VTPC mission, and they have to acquaint themselves to the culture of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. "They're learning about it as they go," he said.
After 14 years at VTPC, Wang returned to Taiwan this summer. The congregation is actively seeking a new minister who speaks Taiwanese, English and Mandarin.
In the future, they hope to establish a Mandarin-speaking Taiwanese ministry, and will face the challenge of providing English ministry for eventual second and third generations.
TORONTO – Toronto Central and Formosan Taiwanese Churches have been walking the road to amalgamation in East Toronto Presbytery. The newly formed Toronto Formosan held its first service this October, and will be seeking an English-speaking minister, a new building, and a new name in the next two years.
"Amalgamation is never easy," said Rev. Nicholas Athanasiadis, the interim moderator for Toronto Central and convener of the amalgamation committee. "There's a lot to negotiate."
For the two Taiwanese congregations, negotiations include issues of history and identity. According to Athanasiadis and Wes Chang, a member of Toronto Central and the amalgamation committee, a large part of Formosan's congregation is composed of English-speaking, second generation young people who were born in Canada. This has posed integration difficulties for Central's older, Taiwanese-speaking congregation.
"Roots and history are very important," Athanasiadis said. "[These churches are] here today because of the hard work of the first generation that came together and became a congregation. How do you honour that?" he asked.
"The reality is our second generation has grown up. It is their turn to take charge, and it will be a different ministry to outreach to the English speaking community," said Chang. "I personally hope they will be open to Mandarin speaking ministry someday … They have not been involved in Mandarin ministry because some people consider China as Taiwan's oppressor – this is my personal prayer that Taiwanese would preach the gospel to mainland Chinese even though they are enemies politically. Didn't Jesus teach us to love your enemies?"
The two churches began as a single congregation, but split during the 1980s to accommodate large numbers of immigrants who settled in the Toronto area. Now that immigration has declined, "it is quite natural to see the two churches get back together again," said Chang.
Athanasiadis does not think the process will be easy. "For well over 20 years they've developed and had their own community of faith," he observed. "But they've realized that they can no longer go it alone."
Rev. David Pan will serve as minister and moderator, and the church will continue to meet at Formosan's former location until a new location has been found.
