[Special Correspondent Yang Yumei/Interview and Report] After a 6-year hiatus, the “International Chinese-Speaking Mutual Adjustment Conference” held by the Church in Taiwan during the Spring Festival every three years will be held at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Hall from February 10 to 11 this year.
It is estimated that the entire event will be attended by more than 25,000 saints and their relatives and friends from churches around the world and Taiwan. After the epidemic, the saints from all over the church have signed up enthusiastically, and the scale is even larger than 6 years ago.
Saints from 77 countries around the world travel thousands of miles to attend the grand event
Nearly 5,000 overseas saints from 77 countries in the six continents of the world have signed up to come to Taiwan; compared with 62 countries 6 years ago, there are 15 more countries, including Uzbekistan in Africa and Central Asia, and even saints from the war zone in Ukraine. They paid the price and traveled thousands of miles just to be able to break bread, pray, sing hymns, and praise God with saints from different races, ethnicities, and languages from churches around the world, and to witness the glory of the Lord in the one body of Christ.
The theme of this conference is: “Fight the good fight, finish the race, keep the faith, and love the appearing of the Lord, so that you may receive the reward of the crown of righteousness in Christ”. The meeting time is the afternoon of the first day and the morning of the second day. There are a total of 5 meetings. On the morning of the second day, there will be a Lord’s Day meeting where more than 20,000 people will break bread together. In addition to the pastoral edification of the theme message, the content of the conference also includes full-time training of the church, as well as an exhibition of the results of the development of overseas and rural areas in Taiwan in recent years. Each meeting has simultaneous interpretation in multiple languages. Participants only need to bring headphones and tune their mobile phones to the corresponding channel to listen.
Thousands of saints dedicate their holiday breaks to open their homes to serve and receive
In order to achieve this large-scale gathering, there is also a large-scale service cooperation behind the conference, which is being carried out in full swing in various churches. Luo Maokun, the brother in charge of organizing this conference, said in an interview that the main service team for this conference came from about 50-60 brothers from Taipei City and New Taipei City churches. The various service cooperation required by the conference, including venue layout, hospitality, breaking bread meeting, dividing bread, pouring cups, etc., they have been praying and communicating every week for three months, and making detailed planning arrangements.
Brother Luo said that just the chairs in front of the meeting require the mobilization of about 500 brothers and sisters, and because of the time limit for renting the venue, these brothers and sisters who arrange the chairs also need to get up early and go to the Nangang Exhibition Hall in the early morning to be responsible for arranging 25,000 chairs.
In addition, how to make a cake that can be eaten by 25,000 people? And how to bake the cake without cracks? Brother Luo said that the diameter of the bread for breaking bread this time is 1.2 meters, which is equivalent to the height of a 7-year-old child. It was made by the brothers and sisters of the Daan District Church in the three meeting places of the Taipei City Church. “These brothers and sisters who make cakes are really hard-working, and they tried many times before they finally succeeded!”
During the bread-breaking meeting, because it is necessary to deliver the bread and cups to the hands of 25,000 people in just half an hour, it is also necessary to invite nearly 500 brothers and sisters to cooperate in order to complete it.
However, the biggest service behind the conference is not only these, but also the accommodation and reception of nearly 5,000 overseas saints and saints from outside northern Taiwan. “About 3,600 of these saints are staying in the homes of saints, and at least 2,000 families from Taipei City and New Taipei City churches have opened their doors to receive them! Overseas saints arrived in Taiwan three days and four nights before the conference, and they will be accompanied by the receiving saints to visit various churches in five major regions in central, southern and eastern Taiwan, and then participate in the conference. These brothers and sisters dedicated their holiday breaks to serve silently behind the scenes, just for the glory of the body of Christ.” In addition, together with the brothers and sisters who served in the conference and the exhibition, it is estimated that there are thousands of saints in the church who dedicated themselves to serve.
Brother Luo further stated that there are more countries participating in this registration than six years ago. One of the important reasons is that the church has many saints who have worked hard to develop in various countries from 2021 to 2023 after the outbreak of the epidemic. Established churches locally. “In the past few years, a total of 20 families in Taiwan have flown to many unfamiliar places overseas to preach the gospel and develop. This is the result of their hard work.”
As the brother in charge of the planning, Brother Luo is also the first to see the eagerness of overseas saints to participate in this conference in the cooperation and service of this conference. “What is touching is that some saints from some countries need to spend a lot of time and pay a lot of money to overcome many difficulties because of the long journey and the difficulty in obtaining visas. But this did not detract from their determination to come to Taiwan to participate in this conference.”
He said with emotion that the more than one hundred saints who came from Africa this time, because Taiwan has only a few overseas offices in the whole of Africa, they had to go to Taiwan, and in Africa they had to first go to Taiwan’s overseas office, which was very far from their country, to apply for a visa, and then take a plane to Taiwan, which was equivalent to going abroad twice. In addition, in order to obtain a visa, they also need to apply to many government agencies in Taiwan, including the Tourism Bureau, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc.
In addition, it is even more difficult for Ukrainian saints to obtain visas to Taiwan because Ukraine used to be a republic of the former Soviet Union, so they need to go to Russia to apply for visas to Taiwan. But they are now at war with Russia, so it is impossible for them to go to Russia to apply for visas. What should they do? At first, they wanted to obtain visas from Poland, but the Polish embassy had too much work to do, so it took a long time to obtain visas. After much prayer and seeking, they decided to call the embassies of neighboring countries of Ukraine one by one. They asked many embassies of different countries, but none of them could help them. After many twists and turns, thanks to the Lord’s arrangement, they finally found the embassy in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, which was willing to help them obtain visas. Finally, Brother Luo encouraged the saints in Taiwan to invite their relatives and friends to attend the physical gathering. “This is a rare physical international Chinese-speaking conference held in Taiwan again in six years. Being present at the scene, you can not only see the saints from different countries and races singing hymns together and breaking the same bread, but also have a deep understanding and comprehension of the Body of Christ, and you can also see the Body of Christ grow because of God’s life. Just as Colossians 2:19 says, “… holding fast the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God” (Recovery Version). The Lord’s Recovery Exhibition Hall will soon open a new exhibition. The classic inscription “The Bible is our unique standard” will continue to be exhibited in the hall. (Photo/Screenshot from the Internet) The special exhibition on the history of the church will be held simultaneously in the Taipei Xinyi District Xinyi Building In conjunction with this conference, there is also a hidden Easter egg-on the fourth floor of the Xinyi Building in Xinyi District, Taipei City, the “Lord’s Recovery History Exhibition Hall”, the special exhibition on the history of the church will be held simultaneously. The Taipei church specially commissioned the Taiwan Gospel Book Room, and Brother Zhu Moxie was responsible for the re-planning. It will be open for free visit from February 8, so that the saints and relatives and friends at home and abroad can take this opportunity to have a new and in-depth understanding of the history and current situation of the church, as well as the publications published over the years. Brother Zhu Shifeng, who was responsible for supervising the implementation, said in an interview that the newly designed and planned exhibition area has five main themes: 1. The sacred history in human history: The history of Christianity and the church will be added, and the timeline of human history will be compared, so that people can see at a glance the trajectory of God’s plan in human history. 2. Early church life and important publications exhibition: The early “gospel” and “service” that have a history of 70 years in Taiwan are the two main axes of the church life display, as well as important publications that have a profound impact on the church, such as “The Word Ministry”, etc., new output and introduction. 3. Bible exhibition introduction: The new exhibition not only collects and exhibits various versions of the Bible, but also includes introductions to various language versions of the Bible, including the Recovery Version of the Bible translated and published by the church. 4. The history and current situation of the church’s overseas development: Introduce how a group of brothers and sisters in the church dedicate themselves to developing the golden lampstand of the Lord’s testimony in every corner of the world. 5. Introduction to the ministry of Witness Lee and Brother Ni Tuosheng, the founding pioneers of the church: Including how they dedicated their lives to Christ and the church, and their precious handwritten manuscripts will be fully and richly presented in the newly designed exhibition area. Brother Zhu encouraged all the saints and gospel friends to visit during the conference to see the treasures of the church. (Translated from Google Gemini)
【特约记者杨育玫/采访报导】睽违6年，经三年疫情，召会三年一次在台湾春节期间举行的「国际华语相调特会」，将于今年2月10日至11日在台北南港展览馆隆重举行。
预计整场将有来自全球各地及台湾众召会共2万5千名以上的圣徒和亲友们共赴盛会。历经疫情后，召会各地圣徒报名踊跃，规模更胜于6年前。
全球77国圣徒不远千里共赴盛会
全球六大洲将近有5千名、分别来自于77个国家的海外圣徒报名来台；较6年前的62个国家，增多了15个国家，包括非洲以及中亚的乌兹别克，更有远从战区乌克兰前来的圣徒们。他们付上代价、不远千里而来，只为了能和来自全球各地召会不同种族、民族、语言的圣徒们，一同擘饼、祷告、唱诗、赞美神，在基督的一个身体里见证主的荣美。
这次特会的主题是：「打美好的仗，跑尽赛程，守住信仰，并爱主的显现，好得着基督做公义冠冕的赏赐」。聚会时间为第一天下午和第二天上午，共有5场聚会，第二天上午将有2万多人同擘一饼的主日聚会。特会内容除了主题信息的牧养造就外，更有召会全时间训练，以及近年来海外和台湾乡镇开展的成果展览。每场聚会都有多国语言同步现场翻译，与会者只要携带耳机，将手机调频到相对应的频道即可收听。
数千圣徒奉献年节假期 打开家门服事接待
为了成就这次大规模的聚集，特会幕后也有相当大规模的事务服事配搭，正在各地召会如火如荼地筹办进行。负责筹办这次特会的罗茂焜弟兄受访时表示，这次大会主要服事团队来自台北市及新北市召会约50-60位的弟兄们。大会需要的各项事务服事配搭，包括场布、招待、擘饼聚会所需要分饼、倒杯……等，他们从三个月以前就开始周周祷告交通，做细项的规划安排。
罗弟兄说，光是会前排椅子，就需要动员约500位弟兄姊妹，而且因为场地租用时间限制，这些排椅子的弟兄姊妹还需要早起，在凌晨的时候到南港展览馆负责排2万5千张椅子。
此外，一个大到能够让2万5千人吃的饼要怎么做？而且饼皮还不能有裂痕，要怎么烤？罗弟兄说，这次擘饼聚会的饼直径就有1.2公尺，相当于一个7岁小孩的身高，由大安区召会的弟兄姊妹，在台北市召会三会所，自己亲手建窑烤制而成。「这些做饼的弟兄姊妹真的很辛苦，尝试了许多次才终于试做成功！」
擘饼聚会时，因为需要在短短半小时之内，负责将饼杯传递送达到2万5千人的手中，也因此需要另外请近500位的弟兄姊妹一起配搭才有办法完成。
但支撑特会背后最大的服事还不只这些，而是近5千位海外圣徒，以及从台湾北部以外来的圣徒们的住宿接待。「这些圣徒约有3,600位住宿在圣徒们的家中，并至少有2,000个台北市和新北市召会的家庭开门接待！海外圣徒在四天三夜特会前就到台湾，会由接待的圣徒们陪同前往台湾中南部以及东部共分成五个大区的各召会参访，紧接着参加特会。这些弟兄姊妹奉献年节假期，在背后默默的服事，只为了基督的身体得荣耀。」再加上特会服事以及展览服事的弟兄姊妹们，估计约有数千位召会圣徒一同奉献服事。
罗弟兄进一步表示，这次报名参加的国家数较六年前为多，一个很重要的原因是：召会在疫情发生后的2021年到2023年期间，有许多圣徒竭力在各国开展，在当地成立召会。「这几年总计台湾有20几个家庭，飞到海外许多陌生的地方传福音开展，这是他们辛苦的成果。」
身为筹办负责弟兄，罗弟兄也是在这次特会的配搭服事当中，最先看到海外圣徒参与这次特会的那份渴慕。「让人觉得很感动的是，有些国家的圣徒，因为路途遥远以及签证取得不易，需要花上许多时间和代价、克服层层困难，才有办法来参加。但这都丝毫不损他们来台参加这个特会的决心。」
他感动地说，这次从非洲来的一百多位圣徒们，因为台湾在整个非洲只有少数驻外馆处，他们要来台湾，在非洲得先前往离他们国家很远的台湾驻外馆处，去办理签证，接着再搭机飞来台湾，等于出了两次国。另外，要取得签证，还需向台湾许多公家机关申请，包括观光署、交通部、外交部等等。
此外，乌克兰圣徒要来台湾的签证更是取得不易，因为乌克兰的前身是前苏联共和国，所以他们要来台湾的签证，需要去俄国办理。但他们现在在和俄国打仗，根本不可能到俄国去办理，怎么办呢? 他们一开始想从波兰取得签证，但驻波兰外馆因为业务量太大，所以取得签证的时间很慢。他们经过许多的祷告和寻求后，决定一个一个打电话去问在乌克兰邻近国家的外馆。问了很多个国家的外馆，都没有办法帮助他们。几经波折之后，感谢主的安排，最后终于找到在匈牙利首都布达佩斯的外馆，愿意帮助他们取得签证。
罗弟兄最后鼓励台湾圣徒们邀约亲友前来参加实体聚会。「这是很难得六年来再次在台湾举办的实体国际华语特会，亲临现场不仅可以看到来自不同国家、种族的圣徒们一起唱诗、同擘一个饼，对于基督身体将会有很深刻的体认和领会，更能够看到基督身体因神的生命而增长。如同歌罗西书二章19节『………持定元首；本于祂，全身借着节和筋，得了丰富的供应，并结合一起，就以神的增长而长大。』」（恢复本）
召会历史特展 台北信基大楼同步登场
配合这次的特会，还有一个隐藏版的彩蛋——在台北市信义区信基大楼四楼的「主恢复历史展览馆」，将同步登场召会历史特展。台北市召会特地委托台湾福音书房，由朱摩西弟兄负责重新规划，将于2月8日起开放免费参观，让海内外圣徒和亲友们，藉此机会对召会的历史和现况，以及历年出版的刊物，有更崭新深入的认识。
负责监督执行的朱世峰弟兄受访时表示，重新设计规划后的展区，主要有五个主题：一、人类历史中的神圣历史：将基督教以及召会的历史加入，并对照人类历史的时间线，让人一目了然神的计划在人类历史中行进的轨迹。
二、早期召会生活以及重要刊物展览：距今在台已有70年历史的早期「福音」和「事奉」两个主轴构成的召会生活展示，以及对于召会影响深远的重要刊物如《话语职事》等，全新的输出和介绍。
三、圣经展览介绍：新的展览不仅搜集展出各个版本的圣经，更囊括了多种不同语言版本的圣经介绍，包括由召会翻译出版的《恢复本圣经》等。
四、召会海外开展历史与现况：介绍召会一班弟兄姊妹们，如何在全世界的每个角落，奉献己力开展主见证的金灯台。
五、召会创始先见与先锋倪柝声及李常受弟兄的职事介绍：包括他们如何奉献一生给基督与召会，更有他们珍贵的笔迹手稿，都将在全新设计的展区中有完整丰富的呈现。
朱弟兄鼓励所有圣徒和福音朋友们在特会期间，移步前往参观，将召会宝藏尽收眼底。
Source:https://ct.org.tw/html/news/3-3.php?cat=80&article=1397846
