IV. MeiRen Baptist Church
“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
Zechariah 4:6
While I was still in the Taipei Huaining Baptist Church, brother Guoming Chen made arrangements for me to preach at the Juvenile Center in the Taipei Gymnasium. After a few visits, I started to feel a need in the residents of the area for the Gospel.
One day, after I left the Juvenile Center, I started to look for a suitable meeting place for future mission work. I looked around in the Zhongzheng Road and the MeiRenLi area. I believe it was the Lord who led me to a store located at Number 925 on Zhongzheng Road. The store was empty with a “for lease” sign on the window. I contacted the owner and asked about the terms for rent. The rent was 1000 New Taiwanese dollars a month. The deposit was 10, 000 NT and must be paid in one sum at the beginning. The deposit money wasn’t a problem for our church, but the monthly rent of a 1000 NT each month was a problem. It wasn’t part of the budget. On an instinct, I went to visit my sister-in-law, YoungChin Liu (Jean Liu). Her husband, Bert Fraleigh, was an American working at ECA and he was also a Christian. They asked me where I had been and I told them about my intention of starting a church near the Juvenile Center. I told him about the store that was available for lease and that there was no money for rent. Miraculously, Mr. Fraleigh told me I could go ahead and rent the house. They were going to donate $20 U.S. dollars each month to pay the rent. At that time, $10 US was equal to $400 NT. With the $800 NT promised for the monthly rent, I was finally at ease. I discussed with the Taipei Huaining Baptist Church and focused myself on taking up the responsibility in starting the MeiRenLi mission work.
In the early stage of the mission work, I faced many difficulties. The furniture and equipment we had for this facility consisted of several benches from the Taipei Huaining Baptist Church, Miss Smith’s organ and a new altar we purchased. We started the mission work with a weekly gospel meeting on Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m. Two members from the Baptist Huaining Street Church lived close by and they came to help me with the mission work. Before each gospel meeting, we would be there half an hour earlier to pray on our knees before God that He would move people to come to the meetings. Not long after, people started coming to the meetings. We even had to request a student from the Taiwan Baptist Seminary to help us with the work. Mrs. ChengHwa Yen Li and her whole family moved nearby so it would be more convenient for them to help with the work there.
Shortly after starting the new mission work, I remember inviting Elder Changjin Wang from the Nanking Road Christian Church to preach at our first gospel meeting. On the first evening, the power line on the Third Section of Bade Road was damaged. There was no power supply in the whole district and we had to light candles to continue the service. The power did not come back until we were almost at the end of the meeting. Devils were surely trying to disturb our mission work. In the second evening, the meeting was running pretty smoothly, then all of a sudden, a demon-possessed woman broke through the door and ran up the isle toward the speaker. She was very fierce and climbed on the podium to try to grab the speaker. Fortunately, there were a few strong men in the service who seized her and took her outside. We went outside the building and circled around her to start to pray for her. Unexpectedly, she turned around, broke through the circle and ran back to the meeting place. I followed her and in a loud voice, I commanded the demons to leave her. Miraculously, she calmed down immediately and left the building peacefully. The third evening was peaceful and there weren’t any disturbances from the devil. Many people made decision to follow the Lord. The mission work pressed on, constantly fighting against the disturbance from the demons. I had numerous similar experiences during the initial stages of our missionary work.
Pretty soon, the MeiRenLi mission was established as a Baptist Church and we invited Pastor Muchuan Chen to be the pastor. The church soon purchased a Japanese-styled house to be the new meeting site located at Number 106, 106th Lane, Section 3 of Bade Road. The church’s name was changed to MeiRen Baptist Church. After everything was settled, I transferred all the church responsibilities over to Pastor Chen. At that time, there were many Christian family meetings and evangelical meetings. They gave me lots of opportunities to serve God.
Construction of the MeiRen Baptist Church Building
When we purchased the Japanese-styled residence for the meeting site, the contract said the deal included “everything on the land.” However, the seller purposely broke the contract and insisted the small room in the backyard was not included. Even more, he asked a rogue to live there as he hoped to blackmail the church for another 200,000 NT. When Pastor Chen tried to negotiate with them, the rogue hit him. All that brought a lot of trouble to the church and soon, Pastor Chen accepted an offer from the church to be a pastor in Malaysia. A few Christian brothers and sisters temporarily ran the church. That Japanese-styled house was so old the doors would not close and the floor could collapse at any time. Places marked with chalk were especially dangerous. The worst part of it was the roof that leaked whenever it rained. The church could not pay the loan borrowed for the meeting site on time and the monthly account was always in the red.
Under such difficult circumstances, a few of the church leaders came to my home. They asked me to help them since I was the founder. I agreed to study the situation first and then give them an answer later. When I arrived at the gate of the Japanese-styled house, I clearly heard the Lord talk to me, “What a desolate place my church is!” I was startled and couldn’t help feeling guilty. My own house was adequately spacious, with furniture and equipment. Yet, the Lord’s house had become so desolate. I then agreed to take the responsibility for the church work without receiving any salary. Since then, I served the Lord in MeiRen Baptist Church and became the senior preacher at the church. I declined the request of being ordained as their pastor on several occasions. I believe in following the teaching of the Bible where a man should lead a church. The reason everyone calls me Liu Shimu (the Chinese honor a pastor’s wife as “Shimu”) is not because my husband is a pastor, but rather because I am an elder lady.
When I began to work at the MeiRen Baptist Church, the rogue in the background continued to make trouble. He would turn the radio very loud to interfere with the meetings. Once I waited until he went out and locked the door to that little house in the backyard so when he came back, he found the door locked. He found a big axe and broke the lock. He threatened me, saying he had killed quite a few people in Hong Kong and he wouldn’t even hesitate to kill me. The church brothers were worried about me and told me to leave him alone and to avoid him. I told them the Bible tells us, “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30). Without my Heavenly Father’s approval, he would not be able to harm me. Since God Himself had called me for this mission, He would be completely responsible for my safety.
Finally I decided to bring the seller to a court for justice. Thank God, the wife of my former schoolmate at SWAU was a famous attorney. She agreed to offer free legal service to us in that lawsuit. Our side prevailed, despite all the bribery our opponent made. Totally unexpected, the judge issued a court order to forcibly carry out the judgment. When the police officers went to the site to force the rogue out of the property, the rogue called an old woman over to lie on the ground and pretended she was dead. They would not leave the property. Finally, we listened to the judge’s suggestion and spent some money to send them away. The problem was resolved with a little more than $30,000 NT. Our yearlong battle for the legal rights to the church building was finally settled. We were very grateful to the judge for whom we didn’t have any personal relationship. He was fair and placed a strenuous effort in the case without considering personal gains. That was a true work of God. Later, when the new church was completed, the honorable judge was invited. He even brought a gift to congratulate us on the new church building. The church returned the favor by giving him a gold-rimmed Bible as a souvenir.
By the time the rogue was driven from the property, the Japanese-styled house was totally unusable. The church started to prepare for the construction of a new building. A construction committee was formed and we applied for a construction loan from the Taiwan Baptist Convention but they asked for more than we could meet. According to the regulations, a church was supposed to match the amount applied for to the convention. Where could we get the needed funds? By that time, the church had started paying me a salary. Even more, we had to pay for a seminary student who was helping with the religious education and the church choir. Those regular expenses and the payment toward the church construction loans and numerous other things weighed heavily on my heart. I grew up in a well-to-do family. Although life was drastically changed after we moved to Taiwan, there was never a lack of life’s necessities. Even more, my husband had always been the one responsible for the family’s finances. It was a big test for me when I was placed in charge of the church. I had to take care of the church operation, the church finances, the construction loan payment, and encourage church members to give an offering. I had no other way but to pray to the Heavenly Father everyday so that He would provide for us.
Miraculously, our church members were enthusiastic in their contributions. The matching funds were soon raised to qualify for a loan from the Taiwan Baptist Convention. However, just as we started to work with a construction company to draw up the contract and begin construction, we ran into an obstacle: we discovered that we needed an additional $3000 NT for the deposit. We also needed more money to rent a temporary place for the meetings while the church was under construction. One day, I was praying privately for this fund. I thought about borrowing the $3000 NT from a friend. Just as I was about to pick up a pen and write the letter, a thought came to my mind. Why not write to Jesus? So I typed up an English letter to Jesus which said, “Dear Jesus, we need three thousand dollars for the deposit of our new church building. Please provide, and quick — Helen S. Liu.” After I finished typing, I posted the letter on the wall in my home. I knelt down to pray. After I got up, I felt exceptionally peaceful and didn’t write that letter to my friend.
Two days later I received a phone call while eating breakfast. It was from a pastor of an American Calvary Church in Taipei. He asked me to give my testimony at their Sunday evening service. On that evening, I brought with me the blueprint of the new church building. Before I started to talk about how I accepted Jesus as my personal savior and was born again, I asked the audience to pray for the need of our new church building. After the meeting, the deacon of the church handed me an envelope. I didn’t pay much attention to it, because I thought it was probably a reimbursement for my travel expenses. After I arrived home, I opened the envelope. I found a check for $4000 NT as a contribution for our church building construction. I could not hold back my tears. I had written to Jesus for $3000 NT and He had prepared $4000 NT for me. Our Lord is a real and living God. Later, many young people devoted themselves to God’s mission work. When they came across needs for church construction, they would cry out and say, “Let’s write to Jesus!”
While the church construction was going on, I was invited to lead the Youth Retreat Meeting of the North Corner Baptist Church in Hong Kong. During the meeting, I got to meet many church members. When they heard about how we started to build a new church building, many of them were eager to help. Offerings kept coming in after I returned to Taipei. I must make a special mention of a church member from an Evangelical Church. She asked me if I had any special needs and she was willing to contribute. I told her that since she was a member of an Evangelical Church, her offering should be made to her own church in accordance with the Bible. But, she told me her offering was divided into two parts. One was for her own church and the other was for God’s mission work. As a result, I accepted a pretty handsome amount in contribution to our church from her.
In October 1970, the construction of the MeiRen Baptist Church was completed. It covered an area of 7000 square feet with a capacity of more than 300 seats. It was all God’s work.
I must make a special mention about my eldest son, DaChung Liu. He was the chief architect of the new church building. After he graduated from the Department of Architecture in ChenKung University of Tainan, he went for his masters in architecture from the University of California at Berkeley. He had been suffering from minor seizures since childhood and the seizure attacks grew worse when he was at UC Berkeley. I was later told by an American doctor that the seizures were caused by a brain tumor. He finally had to give up on his graduate studies and return to Taiwan for recovery. He helped us in designing and constructing the building while he was on sick leave. Shortly after the construction was finished, he returned to his heavenly home with the Lord. He was a brother in Christ who cherished a very deep love for the Lord. He had dedicated himself to become a missionary for God not long before he went to Heaven to join the Lord. He had devoted himself enthusiastically in serving God at the FuChieng Road Baptist Church of Tainan during his college years and during the short period of his graduate study in the U.S., he also made a great effort to serve God. My husband and I have always been proud of having a son like him.
After DaChung went to be with the Lord, I was heartbroken. I had a guilty feeling of not fulfilling my responsibility as a mother. I was always busy with my church work after I became a Christian. Had I gone to the U.S. to take care of DaChung when he was sick, his condition may not have grown worse and he would not have died so young. I repented to the Lord and I have found forgiveness, comfort and condolence from Him. I also forgave myself.
Missionary Journey in Southeast Asia
Shortly after I lost my son, I received an invitation from Pastor Zhiren Zhang, the pastor of the Malacca Baptist Church in Malaysia, to preach at their revival meetings. While I was in Malaysia, a female Christian co-worker of the Malaysia Baptist Convention accompanied me to preach in many other churches in the Chinese communities. I also visited the seminary in the city of Bin. From Malaysia, I went to Jakarta, Indonesia, to preach at many of the Chinese churches there. I spoke in Chinese and a Christian brother translated for me into Indonesian. While in Jakarta, I was invited to preach at the Holy Spirit Church of Indonesia where thousands of people attended the meetings. After the Jakarta mission, I visited Suraba and went on to Singapore. Finally, I went to preach at the Grace Chinese Baptist Church of Rangoon in Thailand. It was only after this period of continuous travel and preaching that my grief in losing my son was finally eased. Thinking back, I realize it was my Heavenly Father who had arranged this missionary work for me in Southeast Asia to ease the deep pain and sorrow of losing my beloved son, DaChung. God’s love is beyond the comprehension of any human being.
When I started the missionary work in MeiRenLi, it was purely a volunteer work and I did not receive any compensation. Only after Pastor Chen left for Malaysia, did I officially accept the position as the preacher of MeiRen Baptist Church and I continued to serve there until my retirement in 1984. In those nearly twenty years of church responsibilities, I often was asked how I could lead the church without accepting the position of pastor. At that time, Pastor Herbert Barker and his wife came as a missionary couple sent by the Foreign Mission Board of the American Southern Baptist Convention. They had volunteered to help in our church work. He often led the Baptism ceremonies at our church; he preached and served the Holy Communion every month and I carried on the church work without any problem.