A letter from John McCall in Taiwan
Summer 2014
Dear Friends,
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Cookout with Taiwanese Americans
I’ve had an amazing international week without even needing a passport. I flew to LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York, a week ago Saturday. Pastor Eric Lai from the Taiwan Union Christian Church met me at the airport. My journey began. He took me to a Korean/Japanese restaurant for lunch, which was full of all kinds of people of different backgrounds. We then drove to the church located right next to an elevated subway that goes from Manhattan to Coney Island. Their church building was purchased years ago from a German-speaking congregation that no longer had German speakers. Now Taiwanese and English are spoken there. Across the street I saw a Greek Orthodox church.
I took a walk around the neighborhood and was amazed at how many languages I heard. It felt like I was at the United Nations. The streets were bustling with Asian Americans, Middle Eastern Americans, European Americans, and folks who have moved here from Latin America. The shops sold everything anyone could want. Fresh mangos and papayas were on sale at the fruit store. A Bangladeshi grocery sold all kinds of curries.
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John with Indonesian American young adults
I returned to the church, where Taiwanese young adults were preparing a meal for the Mother’s Day celebration at the church. They were making delicious Taiwanese fare. That evening as I went to sleep in one of the rooms in the dormitories that the church offers to Taiwanese students who are studying in New York, I heard the Greek neighbors behind the church roasting a lamb and having a party.
The next morning Taiwanese members of the church came from neighborhoods from all over New York and New Jersey. Because it was Mother’s Day they decided to have a joint service with Taiwanese and English. The second generation may not have good Taiwanese, so they feel more comfortable worshiping in English. I preached in Mandarin and then interpreted for myself into English. Everyone was given a flower to wear. You wore a red flower if your mother is still alive and a white flower if your mother is no longer alive. After worship we sat down in the fellowship hall to eat the lunch that the young adults had prepared. This young adult group is made up of those who mostly have grown up in Taiwan and are in the U.S. for further study. There is another young adult group made up of those who were mostly born here or came at a young age and they operate in English. That evening we had a cookout in the church parking lot with both groups. It was a beautiful evening with a full moon.
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New York skyline home to many immigrants
On Wednesday we drove to Princeton Seminary in New Jersey for an Asian American Leadership Conference. I preached at the opening worship and then spoke at another session with a Taiwanese musician on the topic of “Creative Worship for the Twenty-First Century.” We had church leaders from Vietnamese American, Indonesian American, Burmese American, Filipino American, and Taiwanese American churches. One Vietnamese American pastor told of being imprisoned and beaten in Vietnam for his faith. He has a deep joy and a teachable spirit and it was a privilege to be with him. One of the Burmese pastors serves a Burmese American church in Denver. He asked me to pray for him that he could improve his English, that he would pass his citizen’s exam, and that his church might get a van to take their members to all the places where he accompanies them. He said, “I go to court, to register their children for school, to help them find housing, and all kinds of other places. I need more time to prepare my sermons though!”
Friday night I spoke to the Indonesian American group and we had a lively discussion about how to be faithful in their calling as an immigrant church. Indonesia is about 11 percent Christian and most of these immigrants were born in Indonesia. Saturday morning I met with the Indonesian young adults, and we had a great time together. We sang and they shared both the challenges and blessings of being Christian Indonesian American young adults. They were a sharp group. When that meeting was over I was taken to the New Brunswick Taiwanese Fellowship Presbyterian Church about a half hour from Princeton.
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Taiwanese Brazilians leading worship
There I gave a talk to the English group at that church. There were high school, college, and working folks present. We then had a Taiwanese lunch and then I spoke to the Taiwanese adults. I used Mandarin to talk about “Wind and Fire: The Holy Spirit in the Christian Life.” I have been writing a book this year on the Holy Spirit and it will be published in Mandarin in Taiwan in September. It was fun to share with these folks something about which I have been thinking deeply over the last four years. By the middle of this talk for the first time in my life I began losing my voice. The second half of the talk was done in a whisper.
Sunday I preached at the Taiwanese Church. It was an amazing experience to see these immigrant Christians living out their faith with deep joy and a hunger to be faithful in a new land. I told them that they are Asian American and I am an American Asian. As I sat in the classrooms at Princeton Seminary, I wondered at God’s call. Thirty years ago when I was attending classes in those same classrooms, I never dreamt that I would return to the seminary to meet with Asian Americans. I serve with a thankful heart, for my boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places (Psalm 16:6).
Please pray for these groups as they follow Christ in this land. I am grateful for your prayers and support which allow me to serve with them.
Gratefully,
John McCall
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 240
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