Jairyong Lee NSD President and Minho Joo Assistant to the President attended the celebration of Jianshan church’s 60th anniversary which was held on July 26-28. Jianshan church is one of the aboriginal churches in Taiwan and belongs to the Bunun (布農)district, which is one of the 11 mission districts. In 1954,
Taiwan Mission dispatched pastor Yang De Shin to Jianshan to begin his ministry. His first fruit was Du Shin Ke, Jianshan church pastor Du Chili’s father. In 1957, the branch Sabbath School started with 15 people. For the past 33 years, from 1955 to 1988, the church went through the period of tribulation because of Sabbath observance.
Since students were absent from school on Saturday, teachers bullied and persecuted the students and parents were threatened and arrested by the police. It took Pastor Du Chili 8 years to graduate from elementary school and could not receive his diploma because he observed the Sabbath. But such persecution caused much fruit to bear. During the period of 8 pastors’ ministry for 60 years, 17 pastors have been produced from Jianshan church.
The Pastor Du Chili was sent to this church in 1998 as the 8th pastor who served there and is still serving at this church. His three older brothers continue to serve the church as its Elders. Pastor Du Chili began to build the current church building, which was the 9th church. No outside constructors were hired. It was being built by the church members’ donations, sacrifice, and sweat.
The church was dedicated in 2003 during the celebration of the 50th anniversary for church mission. There are 801 people living in Jianshan and among them, 193 Adventists. This means that 1 out of 4 people are Adventists and that Jianshan church has been working very efficiently as the center of influence. On Saturday evening, all villagers are invited to join all the sports activities in the gymnasium run by the church.
On Sabbath, July 27, Jianshan church was packed with 500 members from 15 neighboring churches in Bunun districts.
They gathered to share the joy of Jianshan church’s 60th anniversary although the main road was destroyed due to the recent typhoon. NSD President Jairyong Lee extended his congratulations to the church pastor and its members. He appealed to the congregation to finish God’s work soon through the power of the Holy Spirit and meet Jesus when he returns in the clouds. Right after the divine service, there was a baptism ceremony. Six baptismal candidates were baptized and became born again in Jesus.
During the afternoon, there was a music festival and every church attended. Interestingly, the nearby Presbyterian Church was also invited to celebrate with the Jianshan church and they also sang a special song. This shows us that us that through the Jianshan Adventist church’s community services, discrimination and the barriers between the churches of different denominations are slowly going away.