Table Of ContentINVESTIGATING PASTORAL CARE IN THE TAIWANESE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
A Dissertation
presented to
the Faculty of
Claremont School of Theology
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
by
San Yi Lin
May 2019
Copyright © 2019 by San Yi Lin
This dissertation completed by
San Yi Lin
has been presented to and accepted by the
faculty of Claremont School of Theology in
partial fulfillment of the requirements of the
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Faculty Committee
K. Samuel Lee, Chairperson
Grace Yia-Hei Kao
Kathleen Greider
Dean of the Faculty
Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook
May 2019
ABSTRACT
INVESTIGATING PASTORAL CARE IN THE TAIWANESE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
By
San Yi Lin
This dissertation seeks to understand the pastoral care needs of Taiwanese American
Presbyterians, using the event of a funeral as an example. This dissertation is an ethnographic study
of two congregations in the Southern California area. I use qualitative research interviews
and participant observation to collect, sort, and interpret the data to investigate how people felt
during their loss, what happened around the funeral, and how they experienced pastoral care. I also
look at the history of Taiwan, Taiwanese churches, Taiwanese immigration, and Taiwanese
American Presbyterian churches to better understand who Taiwanese American Presbyterians
are. Even while pastors and churches want to provide care for their members, it can sometimes be
difficult to do so. Through my ethnographic research, I found that there were several barriers to
care, including people’s desire to save face and the strength of their faith, which encourages them to
stand firmly in the promises of Christ for life after death and to belie their grief. To break through
these barriers, pastors tap into their gifts, experience, and personhood to connect with people
authentically, using their experience of the organizational culture of their churches to inform how
they relate to the church and perform pastoral care, including gaining insight into their needs may be
and how to collaborate with the lay leadership. These pastors intentionally build relationships that
assure people of their non-judgmental presence and create trust.
CONTENTS
Abstract
Chapter One. Introduction……………………………………………………………………. 1
Discussion of the Problem………………………………………………………………. 3
Discussion of the Thesis………………………………………………………………… 4
Review of Closely Related Literature…………………………………………………….. 5
Method and Methodology 6
History of Taiwan, the Church, and Taiwanese American Christians and Their Churches 7
Funerals 12
Stories 17
Organizational Culture 19
Seeking Taiwanese American Presbyterian Churches and Families………………………. 20
Organization of the Dissertation……………………………………………………….... 22
Chapter Two. Taiwan: Past and Present….………………………………………………… 25
History of Taiwan……………………………………………………………………… 25
The Japanese Era 28
The Chinese Occupation: Chiang Kai-Shek and the KMT 31
The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan……………………………………………………..34
Defining “Taiwanese”…………………………………………………………………...36
Churches in Taiwan……………………………………………………………………..37
Taiwanese Christians in the United States……………………………………………….38
Brief History of Pastoral Care & Taiwanese Christianity………………………………...40
Taiwanese American Churches & Immigrants…………………………………………..44
Taiwanese American Churches: Unhindered By Distance………………………………..49
Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and Contextual Theology……………………………….52
Intercultural Pastoral Care……………………………………………………………….56
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………... 60
Chapter Three: Methodology and Data: Study of Formosa and Taiwan Churches……… 63
Practical Theology and Methodology ………..………………………………………… 63
Ethnography & Framework …………………………………………………………… 66
My Research Study……………….…………………………………………………….. 69
Problems Encountered 69
Sites: Seeking Two Congregations……………………………………………………….73
Formosa Church 73
Taiwan Church 76
Participant Observation at the Churches……………………………………………… 80
Artifacts 81
Data Collection 83
Data Analysis and Coding………………………………………………………………85
Findings: Formosa Church……………………………………………………………..87
Pastor Peter 88
How He Got Here: Experiences and Goals 90
Pastor Peter and the Elders 92
Funeral Experience: Mei’s Family 93
Esther 96
Esther’s Loss 98
Esther’s Story and Witness 101
Findings: Taiwan Church………………………………………………………………103
Pastor James 103
The Beginning Challenges and His Solutions 105
Pastor James and the Community 106
Assisting with Death and Dying 108
Funeral Experience: Ming’s Family 110
Paul 111
Thoughts on God, Death, and Dying 114
Funerals………………………………………………………………………………. 115
Mei 115
Ming 117
A Summary…………………………………………………………………………… 118
Chapter Four. Interpretation of the Data: Taiwanese American Pastoral Care…………. 121
Barrier to Relationships……………………………………………………………….. 116
Depending on God 123
The Paradox: Outsiders, Intimacy, and Face 128
Trust 132
Continuity, Flexibility and Authenticity in Pastoral Care………………………………..135
Being Connected 136
Seeing and Being 139
Geographic Challenges and Pastoral Care……………………………...……………….142
Culture and the Church……………………………………………………………..….148
Formosa Church 151
Taiwan Church 154
Culture and Funerals…………………………………………………………………. 156
Funeral as Ritual 158
Storytelling 161
Culture in Families: Troubled Dynamics………………………………………………167
Implications of the Relationship………………………………………………………172
Chapter Five. Practicing Pastoral Care…………………………………………………… 175
Establishing Leadership within the Cultural Norm……………………………………175
Image of Leaders…………………………………………………………………….. 178
Servant Leadership…………………………………………………………………... 181
Practical Theology: The Action-Reflection-Action Model………………….…………183
Final Lessons………………………………………………………………………. . 186
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………189
Appendix A…………………………………………………………………………………..194
Appendix B…………………………………………………………………………………..195
Appendix C…………………………………………………………………………………..196
Informed Consent……………………………………………………………………………197
Chapter One
Introduction
Last June, my mother came to visit me in California a few days early before my brother and
his whole family came to Southern California for vacation with their two children. Before she
arrived, she asked me for my schedule and asked if I had time to visit with a member of her
congregation whose husband had recently died. My father is a pastor in New York and had been the
pastor for this couple for several years before they moved to Southern California. While my father is
a pastor, my mother, like many wives of Taiwanese American pastors, helped with his ministry,
especially with the women. She knew this woman, “Mary,”1 very well. Mary and her husband had
spent the majority of their time in the United States in New York and in my father’s church, but as
they got older, one of their daughters, who lives in Southern California, encouraged them to move
away from the cold New York winters and retire closer to her, to Taiwan, and to other Taiwanese, as
many older Taiwanese Americans have chosen to do. Though they had left New York, they never
lost touch and my mother wanted to offer some support to Mary, on behalf of herself, my father,
and the church. We called Mary, who quickly agreed to have us over for a visit.
We arrived at Mary’s home on a Friday evening. Her home had an open floor plan and there
was not a pan or a dish in sight; not one item looked out of place and all the surfaces sparkled; her
home was impeccable. Mary spoke to us very calmly, sharing some factual details of her late
husband’s illness and death. She talked about their life together and the things they were able to do
with their family before he died, and about their life in California. There were times when she
became teary, but she gently dabbed her eyes to wipe the tears away. At no time did she become
very emotional or lose her composure. While she was recounting her loss, she also shared that she
1 This name has been changed.
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was struggling with California living after moving away from New York, leaving all their friends
behind. Finding a new church home had been difficult for her and her husband. When he died,
Mary did not feel that she had a strong relationship with the Taiwanese American church she had
been attending, so she had her daughter and son-in-law take over all the arrangements. In that
moment, I wondered if this was the first time she had sat down with someone from church to
receive pastoral care. I also wondered what pastoral care for Mary would look like, especially if she
did not feel connected to her current church. Had my mother not coincidentally been visiting
California, who would Mary have talked to? While she has moved to California for a bit and does
attend a Taiwanese American Presbyterian Church here, would she be willing to share with her new
the church same kind of vulnerabilities about her relationships with her spouse and her family that
she had shared with my mother? Would she be open to allowing them to come into her spotless
home and be willing to shed tears with them? What might the church be able to offer in their
support of her, when she feels so new and distant?
The central problem this dissertation investigates is the lack of research done on pastoral
care in Taiwanese American immigrant churches, and whether there is good quality pastoral care
being given and received. I hope, by doing my research, I can see more clearly what pastoral care
looks like in the Taiwanese American church, what the challenges are, and how to overcome the
barriers so that pastors and churches can offer pastoral care to a population who may not even
realize it is something they need. To address this, I have chosen to research one common experience
of pastoral care that happens to many individuals: the funeral. I hope that the funeral can provide
insight allowing for assessment and improvement of pastoral care offered in Taiwanese American
immigrant churches. Pastoral care has always been at the center of the Christian faith. There are
many ways to understand and define pastoral care. Traditionally, pastoral care has been an integral
part of the work of the Christian Church. At the center of pastoral care is an attempt to understand
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