As most of you know, foundations are extremely important. If our endeavors are built on a weak and untrue base, they will eventually fall. Janine and I are looking to start a new work in Taiwan this summer and we are hoping for the blessing of God, blessing to see our work in Taiwan prosper, in our personal lives as well as with our families. The Lord said: “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”
We believe that God has led us step by step until this time. With Barth, it is a return to what he knows to do best, to be a cross-cultural minister of the gospel to the Chinese speaking people. And for Janine, a new call to use her talents and personality to reach out full time for God. Let’s listen to what Janine has to share about the recent events in her life...
“God has been laying the groundwork in my heart to make this move for quite some time. I’ve been active writing and directing church dramas. I’ve also participated in music ministry and worked with young people. I feel a real empathy for young people who are so impressionable and open to the competing voices of Christ and the World. My burden has been to present Christ in a way that is relevant to young people. As far as going to Taiwan, the Republic of China, God placed a tremendous desire in my heart to go to China years ago. I even tried to learn Mandarin on my own (without success). Now I am engaged in serious study of Mandarin Chinese and making good progress. I believe that God is preparing me to show Christ’s love to Chinese young people by involving them in the performing arts, particularly drama and multimedia productions.”
Prayer has been the main building block for this foundation. For every step and every detail, prayer has gone before the Lord. This has been a joint prayer effort in different churches and different cultures and we stand in amazement at what God is doing. Our friends in Taiwan have been praying faithfully ever since they heard about the possibility of us coming. Our prayer partners here in the States have shown their faithfulness by praying diligently for Barth’s trip to Taiwan last January which was a great success i n connecting us with our future ministry!
Also, our financial support goal has reached about 75%, thanks to the help from our American partners as well as those across the ocean. Just one mention in that area, the Binghamton Chinese Christian Church, where we have only been attending for 5 months, has committed to helping us for 6 months starting this July. This was totally unexpected development and they have been a delight to us in every way. Barth has been able to preach in Chinese on Sundays and is starting to train worship leaders as well.
In Taiwan, a door has opened to work with the Hakka people. The Hakkas are a Chinese ethnic group that retain many ancient traditions from the pre-Qin dynasty period (2200 years ago). They are regarded as one of the unreached peoples of the world. Whereas the number of Taiwanese Christians is small, only around 2%, the number of Hakka Christians is smaller still, about 0.3%. In Taiwan most people practice a form of religion that combines ancestor and spirit worship. Among the Hakkas, the bondage to spirit worship and idolatry is especially strong, due to their isolation and adherence to ancient traditions. 
We will be working with the Tou Fen Hakka Church, a work that has grown to 70 people in just five years. (“Tou Fen” is the name of the city.) This is truly a miracle of God to see such growth in this extremely traditional culture. The leaders of the Hakka church strongly believe that God has called us to work with them, and join in this “miracle” that our heavenly Father is doing. The areas that we will help in are church leadership, worship and youth work. Some of the pictures here speak for themselves.
We should leaving for Taiwan at the beginning of July. We were waiting to sell our house, and we found a buyer 5 days after it was put on the market. Another one of God‘s miracles! Please pray that everything else will fall into place. We still have to obtain our visas and get rid of a house full of furniture and other accumulated “stuff.” Although we have a schedule at the Binghamton Chinese Church, we are also available to share at other churches as well. Let us know if you would like us to come to share at your church before we leave.
For those of you who would like to contact us, our American address until July is: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. Our phone number is: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX. E mail sent to Barth’s old address XXXXXXXXXXXXXX will be forwarded to our new address. We will keep you posted on our address and phone changes. For those of you who will be sending support, you may send it to our support address above, making the check payable to "Family Church”. Make sure our names are in the address on the envelope and also put our names in the check memo. The church will send you a tax exempt receipt.
May God bless you in all things,
Rev. Barth and Janine Chapman
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