'Love Tucked Inside an E-Mail Message'
by Dan Wooding
August 12, 2005
(AgapePress) - Following a flood of e-mails from young people in Taiwan who are seeking new friends in America, international journalist Dan Wooding has urged American Christians to become involved in "friendship evangelism" with new friends in Taiwan."The need is pressing for us to show the love of Christ to the Taiwanese people," said Wooding, 64, the founder and president of ASSIST Ministries based in Garden Grove, California. "It is essential for them to know that people in America care for their physical and spiritual needs."
The e-mail program is called Bridge of Friendship - Taiwan. "Over the past few weeks we have heard from many young people in Taiwan, mostly students, who would love to have a friend in America that they can correspond with by e-mail," Wooding explains. "Most of them are studying English as a second language through a ministry called Studio Classroom. Now is the time to share with them a message of comfort and hope. We are looking for pen pals of all ages to participate in the program."
ASSIST Ministries has been running various pen pal programs from its Southern California base for 13 years with people all over the former Soviet Union and China, and now believes it is the time for Taiwan.
"We call the aim of this project 'Love Tucked Inside An E-Mail message,'" says Wooding, who is also an author and broadcaster. "This is a wonderful opportunity for American Christians from all ethnic backgrounds, to become missionaries to Asia without leaving home. The idea of this program is to establish a friendship with someone from Taiwan who reads and speaks English and, as part of that relationship, be able to share their faith with them and also learn about their life and beliefs."
Taiwan has 12 officially recognized religions, including Buddhism, Taoism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam. Slightly more than half the people in Taiwan profess a faith; Buddhism has the most adherents, followed by Taoism.
Most people in Taiwan are ethnic Han Chinese and were born on the mainland or have ancestors that were. They are divided into three groups based on their native Chinese dialect: Taiwanese (who speak Taiwanese, also called Min), Hakka (who speak Hakka, also called Kejia), and Mandarin. Min, Hakka, and Mandarin all belong to the Sino-Tibetan languages family.
"I truly believe that there are many Christians in the United States who would love to have the opportunity to help make a difference in the life of a new friend in Taiwan and also be a living witness at this time in the history of this nation," said Wooding. "Now is the time to act!"
For those who would like to be involved in writing to someone in Taiwan through "Bridge of Friendship Taiwan," they can enroll on the ASSIST website. There is a small donation requested for the linking that will help cover the costs of administering the program.
This article is used with permission from ASSIST News Service.
