July 2007 Newsletter

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Dear Friends and Supporters:

So much has happened since we last wrote to you. We have a new ministry Blog that you can check out if you click on this link: http://barthandjanine.blogspot.com/2007/06/about-us.html We still plan to send a newsletter, but are in the process of adding pictures, video clips and newsletter archives to the Blog. At least for the time being, we will continue to keep you up to date using the conventional newsletter format.

We moved. Those of you who visited our old house know that leaking and moisture-related pealing paint were major problems there. Our former landlord raised the rent to an above-market rate. We felt we should start looking for another place. As we prayed, the Lord opened the heart of a Christian doctor and his wife to allow us to rent a lovely house for under market value, Praise the Lord!

On the church front, we continue to enjoy services full of God’s presence with increased attendance. The church has formed three new cells groups in the communities of Gongguan, Xinpu, and Toufen. These communities are within a 30 minute drive from our church.

We are happy to report that three women were recently baptized. They are Huang Xiuman, Wei Suanying and Huang Meihuan. Huang Xiuman’s first impression of our church was that she
couldn’t stop crying due to the beauty of the worship music. All these sisters have come out of strong idol worshipping backgrounds. We pray that God will continue to touch them and help us to disciple them.

We are also continuing our work in discipleship and training church workers. Barth is teaching one of the boys in the church to play piano for the Sunday service. He is a little guy (5^th grade) but plays loud and has the anointing of God on his music. Barth continues to teach private lessons in worship piano technique to other church piano players as well. Janine is training one of the single women in the church, Zhong Ming Zhu, to assist the Sunday School work and the youth ministry. Ming Zhu has a B.A in philosophy and has been taking courses at the Ming Dao Bible School. As we have mentioned before, there exists a chronic shortage of church workers among the Hakka people. This is due in part to small number of Hakka Christians. Another contributing factor is the fact that our town of Toufen is a farming community with no colleges or universities.

Barth was involved in two more worship seminars, one in Taichung and one in Taipei. The Taichung seminar was led by Francis Kam, a musician friend of ours, and Barth taught worship piano. Over one hundred church workers were in attendance. The Taipei seminar was held at the Zion church, a church pastored by our long-time friend and co-worker Rev. David Wang. Barth has been invited back to conduct follow-up training after both seminars.

Janine continues to head the youth group. Taiwan ranks only second to Japan in terms of the competitiveness of its school system. What this means is that, regardless whether you live in a non-Christian or Christian household, school is the first priority of young people. Typically students wake up at 6:00 a.m., go to school until around 5:00 p.m., eat, then attend cram school and do homework until about midnight when they fall into bed. During “vacations” and weekends, young people usually attend cram school as well.

It’s been clear to us for some time now that our young people have no personal prayer time. They are too rushed in the morning and too tired at bedtime. For a long time, Janine has been seeking a way to help the kids. She has started writing short daily devotionals in Chinese for the kids to use during their homework time. The devotions consist of a scripture, a thought for the day and a prayer. We have been distributing them to the kids telling them this, “When you are done with your homework in one subject, rest for a few minutes before you start your next subject, read your devotions, think about them and pray.” Please pray that our young people will begin to experience God personally through these devotions.

Barth had the privilege of speaking and performing on the saxophone at the 20^th anniversary service of Abundant Life Church in Tainan, a church he worked with for many years. After 20 years, the church is being put into the hands of a Chinese Pastor. The time of the anniversary service was a time of renewing old friendships and rejoicing in what God has done and will continue to do.

You are in our thoughts and prayers,

Barth and Janine

Correspondence:
Rev. Barth and Janine Chapman
P.O. Box 4-5
Toufen, Miaoli County
Taiwan 351

email address: barthandjanine@gmail.com
Blog address: http://barthandjanine.blogspot.com/2007/06/about-us.html

Support Address:
Rev. Barth and Janine Chapman
Family Church
P.O. Box 179
Fredonia, NY 14063

(Please send support to our Financial Support Address above, making the check payable to “Family Church”. Make sure to write "Barth and Janine Chapman" on the envelope and also in the check memo. The church will send you a tax exempt receipt.)