Taiwan – This coming Sunday, on June 5, it will be the 140th year since Dr. James Laidlaw Maxwell established the first church named Thai-peng-keng Maxwell Memorial Church. A celebration has been held by the church and it included games such as photo displays and interesting activities, and thanksgiving worship services and joint communion.

A pastor led the thanksgiving worship service and the joint holy communion. On that day, a crowd of over 600 people attended the service, and they all gathered in front of the chapel to take pictures after the service ended.

The Pastor said, “We wish to carry on Dr. James Laidlaw Maxwell’s passion for mission. It should be carried on from one generation to the next. We won’t forget the commission that God has given to us, and we’ll continue to proceed forward with this commission. Besides that, our church wishes to greatly assists single parent families and lower social-groups of the society, who are often times neglected, by providing various kinds of evangelistic activities like bible-study in order to proclaim the gospel to them.”

Maxwell Memorial Church was the first established church in Taiwan. Dr. Maxwell rented a house in Taiwan, and he used the front part of the house for church gatherings and the back as a medical clinic. While he treated the patients, he and his co-workers would preach the gospel to the patients. This is how mission in Taiwan began.

Maxwell Church has moved to three places before they established themselves at the chapel used presently in June 5, 1954. Under the cooperation of missionaries from generations to generations and the believers, the church has spread out into 26 branches that covers every part of Taiwan.