My wife Patty and I represented our church at the 150th anniversary of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. The 150 years date from the arrival of English Presbyterian, Dr. James Laidlaw Maxwell, in 1865 in southern Taiwan. In 1871, the redoubtable Dr. George Leslie MacKay (as he spelled the name) of Zorra Township, Ont., began his work in northern Taiwan.
Dr. MacKay is held in the highest respect in Taiwan. His influence on education, health care and, of course, the church itself, cannot be overestimated. The “Black-bearded Barbarian” founded the first medical clinic, which is the ancestor of the present Mackay Memorial group of hospitals, the first institute of western-style higher education in Taiwan, now Alethia University, the first school for girls of any sort and made countless other contributions to the life of the island he loved with passion. He also loved deeply and had a happy marriage with a Taiwanese woman known as “Minnie.” Dr. MacKay baptized 6,000 converts and, it is estimated, pulled 21,000 teeth. I was not called on to do either. He also became Moderator of the 20th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada in 1894 and was one of the few Canadians to speak out against the head tax on Chinese immigrants. If you google George Leslie Mackay, (the usual spelling) you will find some fascinating old photos, including an example of early dentistry. You will also understand the nickname!
The church in Taiwan maintains the missionary zeal of its founders. Professor Yang-En Chen explained that the church invites people into relationship with Christ through two gates, the “Gate of Luke” and the “Gate of Philip.” Luke is the beloved physician of the New Testament. His gate represents service to others, beginning in Taiwan with medicine and education. Philip is the evangelist of Acts 8 who shares the gospel with an Ethiopian eunuch whom he meets while on the road to Gaza. The Gate of Philip, then, is the gate of personal witness. The church has adopted a Gate of Philip motto, “Each one bring one.” We might imitate their example.
Our tour then continued to the troubled nation of Burma or Myanmar to meet a former student and then to Cambodia to see the magnificent ruins of the temple of Angkor Wat. In Burma, I preached in a rural Anglican church and saw something of the difficulty of life in both a village and in the enormous city of Yangon. Cambodia is somewhat more prosperous. One thing we noticed is that there are surprisingly few older people in Cambodia. Perhaps this is because a quarter of the population was murdered in 1975-79 by the Pol Pot regime.
Both countries, sadly, are badly polluted. But now we are safely home from a wonderful trip, thankful to breathe clean, fresh air and to drink a cup of cold, pure water directly from the tap. I used to think when I was younger that when Jesus spoke about “a cup of cold water in my name,” he was speaking of a trivial gift. Now I know better. I am very careful about what I drink when travelling in developing countries. In practice, that means bottled water. Many of my friends frown on the use of bottled water; but, when travelling, it nears the status of a necessity.
But it does raise the question: What about the people who live in those countries? Perhaps if we had just a bit of the love for others like that shown by George Leslie MacKay, we would care for their welfare also.
