The purpose of TEAM in Taiwan is to
glorify God by helping to establish vibrant, reproducing churches that will in
turn reach out for his glory.
Our focus is the church. While there are many
other things that can be done in Taiwan, we make the church our focus.
We purposely wrote our statement to begin and end with
the glory of God. That is our real reason for being here, and the
result that we seek is to bring the knowledge of God’s glory to others who
will join us in worshipping Him. We want a ministry that comes “full
circle.?o:p>
We emphasized teamwork with the word “helping.?
We are here as a team, and we are working as a team with the national
church as well as other groups that we cooperate with. Missionaries have
the reputation of being the rugged individualists; strong-willed mavericks
who know what they came for and don’t want to be bothered with the visions
of others. But, we want to put forth the special effort to overcome that
and mold ourselves into a truly integrated team.
We purposely chose the word ?i>establish?to
emphasize that our goal was not just evangelizing nor was it even just
starting churches, but it was to help the church to be built up, firmly
rooted in the “soil?of Taiwan.
In some ways the words ?i>vibrant?and ?i>reproducing?
say the same thing, but we used both to give a balance of emphasis. We
want churches with life, life that comes from within and gives power. And,
where there is life, there should be reproduction.
And, it is only when the church has this life—a life
that is contagious—that we can really come full circle, having
churches that also have the same starting point that we have: that God be
glorified.
Our Vision
If our purpose statement is
defined by the question, “Why are we here??a consideration of our vision
springs from, “In light of what and who we have to work with, and considering
our reason for existence, how do we envision our ministry developing??
We will focus our efforts on ministries that have a strategic impact on
the church and where we believe that we have an advantage due to our particular
strengths or due to unique opportunities that have come before us, working in
teams with nationals or other missionaries.
By this we are saying that
the opportunities are so great that we should be selective in what we will do. We
can’t do it all, so we must set priorities of concentration, while
eliminating anything else which my slow us or hinder our ministry.
STRATEGIC IMPACT. By “impact?we are focusing on what
will have the greatest impact on the church, and best allow us to fulfill
our purpose.
STRATEGIC ADVANTAGES. By “advantages?we are looking
for places where TEAM’s strengths give us an advantage over other
organizations. We are trying to take full advantage of our strengths to be
able to do some things that other organizations might not be able to do,
or at least would have more difficulty in doing it than us. At the same
time, we are also willing to partner with other organizations that have
some advantages that will fill in for our weaknesses and mesh with our
advantages.
STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES. By “opportunities?we are
considering areas where we see unique opportunities that we wouldn’t have
elsewhere. These opportunities might not be unique to TEAM, but if other
organizations are not taking advantage of them, and they fit within our
purpose, then we will give priority consideration to them.
TEAMWORK. We have a vision for teamwork. We recognize
that as a team we can do more than we can individually. We also recognize
that our sin nature means that no one person has all the gifts needed, and
therefore anytime we are working alone, we are handicapping our ministry.
We therefore commit to working in teams, in most cases with other
nationals, but in some projects maybe mostly with other missionaries. In addition, we commit to
looking for ways to integrate the different things that we do so that we
can help other teams in different areas.
Our Values
We affirm the core values
of TEAM as stated in the Strategic Vision Statement:
GOD DEPENDENT. We rely on God through prayer. God
provides what is necessary to carry out world evangelization. While only
God can save, we speak His words, use His gifts, and reflect His love.
Without constant reliance on God through prayer, we can do none of these
things.
CHURCH FOCUSED. Our work is focused on the church from
beginning to end. We engage existing churches in cooperative efforts to
establish new churches worldwide and then encourage those churches to
establish even more new churches. We see the day when the people of God
from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation will be gathered around the
throne of heaven, worshipping Him.
VISIONARY. Christian visionaries see the immediate
future in light of eternity. We live in a world that demands ever more
adaptability and flexibility, and we willingly change methods while
keeping our eyes on the goal.
PASSIONATE SERVICE. Because lost people matter to God,
they matter to us. We go to serve, not to be served. We work in corners of
the world where the gospel is not known not only because we've been commanded
to do so, but because we know, deep down, that people's greatest
satisfaction is found in their relationship with God.
LIFE-LONG LEARNERS. Both character and competence are
indispensable. None of us starts with complete maturity or fully developed
skills. Through life-long learning and development we increase our
effectiveness and become what God already knows we can be. We will empower
all of our members to reach their full potential.
CARING COMMUNITY. People are our most valuable asset.
We relate to each other in a community characterized by unity, trust,
acceptance, and diversity, linking arms with God's people wherever we find
them. We will be accountable to one another, evaluating ourselves
regularly. The more we learn to be a caring community, the greater our
ability to demonstrate peace and brotherhood to a world torn apart by
divisive hatreds.
However, as a ministry
area, we have also chosen several values that we feel are particularly
important to us. While these values are included in TEAM’s overall statement of
values, we wanted to express our desire to give them particular emphasis
TEAMWORK.
THE GLORY OF GOD.
DYNAMIC, REPRODUCING CHURCHES.
As part of TEAM's work of establishing
the church in Taiwan, TEAM has also founded several
project ministries. These include
Iron
Mountain Gospel Camp located near Tachia in Taichung County has a long history
of ministering to the youth of Taiwan
LogefeilMemorialHospital(TaitungChristianHospital) has had a significant medical
and evangelistic impact on Taitung This is now an independent
organization.
TEAM Radio Taiwan, now merged with the Taiwan branch of Far Eastern
Broadcasting Company, has been producing radio programs for the mainland
for more than 40 years.
The Door of Hope was started as an orphanage
for girls in Shanghai, and later moved to Taiwan. The orphanage itself was
closed in 1977, but a ministry to its former residents continues.
TEAM also a continuing
relationship with other ministries, including: