From the Desk of Pastor Peter

by Pastor Peter Kim

A New Year for Friendship Presbyterian Church

In our last sermon series before Advent, we went through much of the beginning portions of the book of Acts to discover what the early church was all about. We talked about how the gospel was the basis of all that the church did, and we found out how the church was devoted to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. There were three main points that I particularly wanted to highlight through our series: 1) the gospel is central in all we do; 2) we do all things in community; 3) as a gospel-centered community, we seek to reach out to those who still do not know the Lord.

So, in this new year, I hope that we can focus on those three things: the gospel, community, and being a witness.

But a problem exists. We have so many people coming into our church from so many different backgrounds and from so many different situations. We have people that are going through some very difficult circumstances. The question is how do we even begin to become like the early church, living for God's kingdom work, when we are so disconnected and facing all kinds of trials?

Brothers and sisters, friends, let us fix our eyes on Jesus! In our new series, we will be going through the Gospel of Matthew, and I hope that we will begin to see more and more clearly just who Jesus is, our King of glory. When we discover who Jesus is, we will discover the beauty of the gospel. And when we discover the beauty of the gospel, we will not be able to keep from becoming like the early church--passionate, bold, and convicted to live for God's glory.

5 Questions With...Tim Piotrowicz

1. How did you first get involved with Friendship Presbyterian?  I first arrived in Taiwan as part of a Christian ministry volunteer English program. The director of the ministry branch in Taiwan had been attending the Chinese church for many years, and I first visited FPC with my boss and coworkers in that organization. Later, I became good friends with some of the regular attendees of the Presbyterian congregations but was unable to attend the church regularly as I lived in the south part of Taiwan. After working with that organization from 2010-2016, I decided to move to Taipei and get married. My fiancée had been attending the Chinese church for several years and that is where we had our marriage ceremony. After we got married, we both saw God leading us to attend the English side of things regularly. After a couple years of overcoming traumas and fears about church, I decided to become a member of Friendship Presbyterian.

2. What do you do Monday through Saturday?  When I first arrived in Taiwan, I was working full time as a volunteer English teacher in Yunlin County (雲林縣). Now I work as both an English tutor for several students and an English teacher at a cram school and online. When I am not working, I am usually reading fiction, studying psychology and theology, or writing creatively. I also occasionally study Chinese. The rest of my time is spent with my wonderful wife, Alice. We enjoy visiting places together in both Taiwan and the USA, as well as cuddling up to read and watch movies at home! 

3. What is something people might be surprised to know about you?  A great many things…but one is that I am the fourth and final child born to my parents, yet also the middle child, as I have four younger adopted siblings. Also, I have an especially annoying birth date.   

4. What do you find most challenging about being a Christian today?  Life has been very difficult for my family and I. One tragedy or trauma after the other has occurred in my life and the lives of my siblings. The most challenging thing about being a Christian has been facing the pains and struggles that come from living in a fallen world and consistently choosing to trust and follow God no matter what. Some of my family have fallen away from the faith and it breaks my heart, but I can only control myself, and "...as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15b) I do not have all the answers for all the questions and doubts I will face, but I continue to choose to put my faith in God and His promises to his beloved children.

5. What is one of your favorite books of the Bible?  A year ago, I would have quickly answered, the book of Ecclesiastes, simply because it is so wonderfully depressing with such a beautiful light at the end (Ecc. 12:13-14), but I think now I can safely say that as great as that book is, my absolute favorite must be the book of Luke. Why? Because I love Jesus so much and I love reading about him and his work on earth. I love how Jesus obeyed the Father perfectly and is a perfect example of how we should love everyone around us. I am on a journey of healing and growth, to become more like Christ, to know God, and to be involved in serving Him as I study the Word and attend church with my brothers and sisters at FPC. If you ever see me around church, say hello. I'll either scowl at you or return the greeting. If the former, please pray for me. If the latter chat with me and we can get to know each other more ^_^ 

5 Questions With...Li Chang

1. How did you first get involved with Friendship Presbyterian?  I am a native of Taipei. I got connected to Friendship by Googling churches in Taipei. FPC was one of the churches that was within reasonable distance, and thus, one of the churches I visited when looking for a church in Taiwan.

2. What do you do Monday through Saturday? Monday through Friday, I work in a biotech consulting firm as a regulatory toxicologist to facilitate my clients with the development of their drug from pre-clinical to clinical to market. Saturday, I hang out with family and rest.

3. What is something people might be surprised to know about you? I used to struggle a lot with communicating via words and felt that the world discriminated against people who could not utilize words to express themselves. In college, I embraced the fact that if I wanted to be heard, I had to learn to speak with words. Thus, I started my journey in learning how to communicate with words.

4. What do you find most challenging about being a Christian today? To remember that though we are in the world, we are not of the world…

5. What is one of your favorite books of the Bible? Esther. Only book in the Bible where God’s name is not mentioned. It serves as a great litmus test as to whether you see God or not.