“One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.” (Psalm 145:4)
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34–35)
EFCCA has reached the glorious milestone of its 30th anniversary. In this season of gratitude and expectation, we embrace the shared theme and vision, “Planting Churches, Uniting Generations.” This is not only a celebration of God’s leading over the past thirty years, but also a solemn declaration of our future missionary direction. At this turning point in our history, we long to realign the church through God’s Word so that EFCCA will not merely be an organisation full of activities, but a warm spiritual family that passes on the living warmth of Christ.
1. Passing On the EFC Missionary DNA: Faithful Witness, Not the Pursuit of “Success”
Since the beginning of the Evangelical Formosan Church, mission and church planting have been deeply embedded in our spiritual DNA. For thirty years, under God’s gracious hand, EFCCA has grown from nothing and established a lampstand for Christ in the community. Yet as we take up this great calling again, we must return to Jesus’ original purpose in giving the Great Commission.
Our goal is not to prove that our organisation is growing. Mission and church planting are not ultimately about accumulating impressive statistics, planting flags on a map, or demonstrating the “success” and “ability” of our congregation.
Our goal is to bear faithful witness to Christ. We go because we see the need of souls. We plant churches because we long for Christ’s salvation to be revealed in every place. The EFC missionary DNA must not become a slogan or a rigid system. It must be an urgent heart for people who are lost. Every missionary attempt and every new gospel outpost is EFCCA’s faithful response to the grace of Christ. We do not seek to exalt our own name; we seek only to lift high the cross of Jesus wherever we go.
2. Rejecting a Ministry-First Mentality: Returning to People and Recovering Our First Love
In a busy church, we easily face a danger: becoming centred on programmes while overlooking people.
Recovering our first love.
Mission without love is cold expansion. Service without love is only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. At this 30th anniversary, let us repent before the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to pour out again the pure first love that flows from gratitude for Jesus’ redemption. As we prepare anniversary activities, let us also stop, look into the eyes of the co-workers and brothers and sisters beside us, and truly see them.
Building a community of disciples who love one another.
In the years ahead, EFCCA should nurture disciples who truly know Christ. Such disciples understand both their weakness and Christ’s salvation. They are not perfect saints, but sinners who depend daily on grace. They practise love by learning forgiveness in tension and acceptance amid difference, allowing one life to influence another.
They are also willing to accompany people through life’s dark valleys. When someone is overwhelmed by failure, illness, depression or a crisis of faith, the church needs disciples who do not rush to give formulaic answers, but who will sit quietly beside that person, hold a hand and remain through the darkest night.
When a wounded soul comes to EFCCA, the first experience should not be pressure to join an endless stream of activities, but the warm embrace of Christ and sincere companionship. This is a church that truly puts people first.
3. Uniting Generations: Passing On Faith in Love and Truth
Walking together across generations is never easy. It requires deep humility and self-denial.
For the older generation: equipping and releasing.
The founding generation has rich spiritual experience and a strong spirit of sacrifice. Intergenerational partnership calls older believers to care like fathers and mothers, give younger people room to learn through mistakes, and become their strongest prayer support rather than requiring them to serve only through old patterns.
For the younger generation: honouring and receiving.
As younger believers pursue innovation, technology and diverse forms of expression, they also need humble, teachable hearts. They should honour the tears and labour sown by the previous generation over thirty years and receive the spiritual wisdom of elders who learned to trust God through storms.
Intergenerational ministry is not merely compromise. It means belonging to one another in love. We do not walk separate roads. In the Lord we value one another, join hands and travel together on the road of mission and church planting. When young people see the steadfast love of their elders, and elders see the gospel passion of the young, the gap between generations is filled by the love of Christ and the flame of faith is passed on.
Conclusion: The Starting Point of the Next Thirty Years
EFCCA’s 30th anniversary is an ending, but even more it is a new beginning.
Let us engrave again on our hearts the vision, “Planting Churches, Uniting Generations.” We do not seek to build a famous and apparently flawless ministry machine. We desire to bow before the throne of grace and build a life-giving community that puts people first, is filled with Christ’s love and willingly walks with people through the valley.
May every generation of disciples at EFCCA, over the next thirty years, be joined by sincere love, bear witness to Christ through their lives, and pass this enduring blessing from generation to generation until the Lord returns.
Happy 30th anniversary, EFCCA. May all glory, praise and honour belong to our Father in heaven.
