Table Of ContentPASTORAL COUNSELING TAIWANESE IMMIGRANTS IN THE
CHURCH SETTING: A CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
A Professional Project
presented to
the Faculty of the
School of Theology at Claremont
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Ministry
by
James Chia-Cheng Lin
May 1997
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This professional project, completed by
James Chia-Cheng Lin
has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty
of the School of Theology at Claremont in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF MINISTRY
Faculty Committee
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© 1997
James Chia-Cheng Lin
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The listing of contributors who deserve special appreciation
is long, but I want to express my special gratitude to the people
and the churches for making this project possible. The churches
and the persons who helped me in conducting the self-administered
questionnaire, "Immigrants from Taiwan: Social-Cultural Problems
and Adjustments" in their churches include: Calvary Chapel
Chinese Assembly in Los Angeles and Rev. James L. Hwang; Formosan
Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles; E.F.C. of South Bay; E.F.C.
of Cerritos; E.F.C. of Arcadia and Rev. Jeremiah Chen; E.F.C. of
San Fernando Valley; E.F.C. of Hacienda Heights and Rev. George
E. Lin; Good Shepherd Taiwanese Presbyterian Church and Rev.
David Huang; E.F.C. of East Valley; E.F.C. of Los Angeles and
Rev. Felix Liu; Inland Empire Presbyterian Church and Rev. James
Peng; E.F.C. of Orange County and Rev. Sue-Hui Chou; Formosan
Presbyterian Church of Orange County and Rev. Yi-Shin Tsai.
Thanks to Mr. Daniel Ling, Mr. Robert Hsieh, and Mr. Louis
Liao for writing the computer programs to handle the survey data.
Thanks to my wife Li-Hsiang Lin for entering the data. All
of your help has made it possible to generate the resulting
statistical data.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
1. Introduction........................................... 1
Problem Addressed by this Project.................... 1
Importance of the Problem............................ 1
Thesis......................... 2
Definitions of Major Terms........................... 2
Scope and Limitations of the Project.................4
Procedure for Integration............................ 4
Chapter Outline...................................... 5
2. The Sufferings and Hope of the Taiwanese: A Historical
Review............................................... 8
Geography and Government............................. 8
People, Languages, and Religions.....................9
Taiwanese Sufferings and Hope....................... 11
3. A Study of Taiwanese Folk Beliefs.....................14
Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism,
and Taiwan Folk Religion.......................... 15
Taiwanese World Views and Religious Life............21
4. Immigrants from Taiwan in the U.S.: A Survey Study....26
The Purposes of the Survey Study.................. 26
Taiwanese Population in the United States...........26
The Selected Sample of the Survey Questionnaire 27
General Characters of the Respondents...............28
Ethnic Identity of the Respondents..................33
Reasons for Immigration of the Respondents..........35
iv
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Crises Encountered by the Respondents...............36
Current Feelings of the Respondents.................37
Current Crises of the Respondents...................38
Helpers Sought by the Respondents in Crisis.........39
Helping Programs Expected by the Respondents........42
Religious Life of the Respondents...................42
Cultural Values Preferences of the Respondents......44
5. Pastoral Counseling in the Local Church Setting.......47
The Crucial Importance of Pastoral Counseling.......47
What Makes Pastoral Counseling Unique?..............50
Correlating Theology with Pastoral Care.............51
Theological Access in Pastoral Counseling...........52
Touching the Spiritual Depths....................... 55
6. Pastoral Counseling across Cultures...................58
What Is Cross-Cultural Counseling...................58
Barriers to Effective Cross-Cultural Counseling.....60
Factors in Effective Cross-Cultural Counseling......66
Effective Cross-Cultural Counseling.................70
7. Implications for Pastoral Counseling Taiwanese
Immigrants.......................................... 75
Implications for Pastors............................ 75
Implications for Counseling the Taiwanese...........76
The Case of Mrs. Lin................................ 77
Reflections on the Case of Mrs. Lin.................85
v
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Appendixes
A. Sample of the Survey Questionnaire (English)......... 87
B. Sample of the survey Questionnaire (Chinese-English)..94
C. Statistical Data of the Survey Questionnaire.........101
Bibliography...................................................110
vi
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ABSTRACT
PASTORAL COUNSELING TAIWANESE IMMIGRANTS IN THE
CHURCH SETTING: A CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
By
James Chia-Cheng Lin
This project explores the central question of how a
culturally skilled pastoral counselor can effectively work with
Taiwanese immigrants within a church setting.
This project proposes theologically sound, culturally
effective pastoral counseling strategies relevant to the needs of
Taiwanese immigrants who seek the help of a pastoral counselor.
The strategies of the project include (1) examining sufferings
and hope in Taiwan history which continue to shape the Taiwanese
characteristic, (2) understanding the current social-cultural
problems and adjustments of Taiwanese immigrants in the U.S. and
(3) identifying cultural barriers to effective pastoral
counseling which were created by Taiwanese world views and folk
religious concepts.
Chapter 2 reviews the sufferings and hopes of Taiwanese in
history. Chapter 3 presents the Taiwanese folk religious beliefs
that have shaped the world view of the Taiwanese. Chapter 4
analyzes the results of the author's survey, ''Immigrants from
Taiwan: Social-Cultural Problems and Adjustments." Chapter 5
discusses the correlation of theology and pastoral counseling in
the church settings. Chapter 6 explores how pastors can become
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culturally skilled counselors so that they work effectively in
their counseling the culturally different. Chapter 7 presents the
case of Mrs. Lin which is a cross-cultural counseling I have
experienced in ray church for reflection. The reflections include
the assumptions, beliefs, and approaches of the persons who were
involved in this counseling situation.
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1
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
Problem Addressed by this Project
The problem addressed by this project is how pastoral
counseling will function from an expanded, inter-cultural
perspective. The desired result is that pastoral counselors will
provide Taiwanese immigrants in the U.S. with theologically sound
and culturally skilled pastoral care and counseling that is
relevant to their needs. This project suggests three strategies
for developing culturally skilled pastoral counselors to work
with Taiwanese in the church setting. The first strategy is the
examining of Taiwanese sufferings and hope in its history. These
sufferings and hopes have continued to shape the Taiwanese
characteristics. The second strategy is to understand the current
social-cultural problems and adjustments of the Taiwanese in the
U.S. The third strategy is to identify barriers to effective
cross-cultural counseling, so that the pastoral counselors can
avoid them. These barriers include the differences in world
views, religious concepts, and culturally bound values.
Importance of the Problem
Pastoral counseling has been a neglected ministry in
Taiwanese churches, but it has gradually become a more important
ministry in Taiwanese churches in the U.S. There are two reasons
for that. One is that the Taiwanese in the U.S. are suffering
from many kinds of social, cultural, and spiritual problems. The
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