About Us

ABOUT PASTOR HSIEH
謝茂榮牧師簡介(Maurice Hsieh)

謝茂榮牧師出生於牧師的家庭，從小在父母親的培育下建立良好的基督教信仰基礎，在成長的過程中深深體驗到上帝的同在與帶領，決志獻身為主所用，於主後1980 年由台灣台南神學院畢業，且於1998 年由台灣神學院牧範學博士班畢業，前後牧會於彰化縣竹塘教會二年；台南縣新和教會三年；1985 年在台北板橋市後埔教會牧會十五年，從事牧會工作，其間於1999 年8 月15 日與新竹義興教會結為姐妹教會、 1999 年4 月21 日於新莊市開設北原教會；曾擔任板橋區不分教派聯禱會四年、苗栗中華禱告院董事、國際開路者傳播協會中華民國總會理事、愛加倍關懷協會監事（此為一關懷聾啞者且為他們傳福音的機構），牧會至今有許多不同的經歷。

在上帝的恩典之下，主後1979 年與施美鳳(Jackie) 結婚，蒙神的恩典與賜福育有二個女兒一起成長，全家於1999 年12 月14 日到波特蘭台灣教會同心服事主。

Introduction to Reverend Hsieh Mao-jong (Maurice Hsieh)

Reverend Hsieh Mao-jong was born in a pastor’s family, raised with excellent foundation as a Christian under the cultivation of the parents. During his adolescence he deeply experienced God’s presence and guidance; he decided to devote himself to the Lord. In 1980 he graduated from Tainan Theological Seminary School, and in 1988 he finished the Doctoral degree in pastorship. He became a minister in Jong-Hwa Hsien’s Chu-Tong Church for two years, in Tainan Hsien’s Hsin-Ho Church for three years. Starting in 1985 he served as the pastor in Taipei Hsien, Baan Chiao City’s Ho-Pu Church for 15 years. He worked in ministry, and on August 15 1999 he organized the sister-church relations with Hsin-Chu’s I-Sing Church. On April 21 1999 he established the Hsin-Chuang City’s Bei-Yuan Church. He served in the Baan Chiao District’s multi-denominational United Prayers Association. He served on the Board of Maio-Li’s Chinese Prayers Institute, as a Supervisor in the Chinese Assembly of the International Vanguard and Broadcasting Association, and as a governor in the Doubling Love and Concern Association (this being an organization concerned about deaf and dumb people and spreading gospel to these people). Since the beginning of his ministry, he had experienced a variety of events.

Under the God’s grace he married Jackie Shih, and they have two daughters. Thanks to God’s grace and blessing, the entire family immigrated on December 14 1999 to Portland Oregon to jointly serve the Lord in a Taiwanese Church.

THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF OUR CHURCH
by former Pastor Y. C. Kuo

After praying fervently with my family and with several groups of people I closely associated with in the light of seeking God's will and guidance, I accepted God's calling in 1988 and was commissioned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America to move from Dallas, Texas to Portland, Oregon for pioneering Christian ministry among the Asians.

Mrs. Kuo and I started driving on September 1988. We left St. Luke's Lutheran Church where I used to pastor for more than 5 years, passed through southern California to visit some relatives and friends, and we finally arrived to Portland on October 1, as planned. From that day on I started this new Christian ministry, within Taiwanese population.

When I first started our church we had zero member. Thinking back, the autumn rain that year seemed to come particularly early. Perhaps it was due to our new move, or the climate being very different from where we came from, Mrs. Kuo and I felt very lonely. Later, one Lutheran pastor gave me the telephone number of Dr. & Mrs. Sian-Ming Hung who were baptized at the Lutheran church right here in Portland. Thereafter, we began to know each other better and they became the first members of our church. In addition, through the introduction from other Taiwanese colleagues of Dr. Sian-Ming Hung's family, and with God's leading and arrangement, we came to know Mrs. Pearl Chi and Mrs. Grace Chao. Getting to know these people is truly a great blessing from God who answers prayers. We also discovered that St. Mark Lutheran Church, located in southeast Portland, had been praying for evangelistic ministries among Asians for three years. Gracefully, Mrs. Pearl Chi had also prayed for a Taiwanese church for several years by then.

After about five months of frequent small group bible studies and prayer meetings, we all agreed to meet at St. Mark Lutheran Church. Our first Sunday service took place on Easter Sunday March the 26th of 1989. Thirty-five people showed up that day. Among them were those who are still constantly caring our church today include the families of Dr. & Mrs. Sian-Ming Hung, Mrs. Pearl Chi, Mrs. Grace Chao, Dr. & Mrs. Yii-Chiang Khan, Mrs. Hwie Chang, and Pastor & Mrs. Kuo. The Oregon Synod Bishop also came to attend the first Sunday service. Since the first Sunday service until now, there are eight people who have moved away from Portland area and others left due to language differences. That same year, our church council was established. Since then, ministry's decisions had been steering by our church council.

Starting on October 8, 1990, our meeting place moved to St. Luke Lutheran Church in southwest Portland. We met at their Shalom Center. We made the decision to move to St. Luke Lutheran Church was for the convenience of congregation members and partly due to the fact that most of our members live in that general vicinity. However, this move was somehow unpleasant for the members of the St. Mark Lutheran Church. After all, they had prayed fervently for three years before they began to see the development of this ministry, and we were meeting there only for one and a half years. However, for the sake of the continual development of our church, they all wished us the best as we moved on to our new meeting location.

St. Luke Lutheran Church is a big church. There were about five hundred people meeting on Sunday at that time. Their members were all very willing to help our church. The sense of acceptance really created a warm relationship between us, as the new comers, and the members of St. Luke Lutheran Church. They also invited us to attend their Sunday school including which had excellent programs to help our overall church's spiritual growth. In addition, many members there volunteered to teach our church members' English conversation and many of us benefited from that service. In the yards of St. Luke Lutheran Church, there were many plants such as Japanese pears, cherries, apples, and blueberries. We often shared those delicious fruits with their congregation members. That was indeed a sweet fellowship.

After another year and three months, our church moved again. This time we moved to St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Beaverton, Oregon. We started our first service there with a combined service with St. Andrews Lutheran Church on February 2, 1992. The time we moved again was mainly due to the increasing number of members in our church that began to fill-up the space at Shalom Center. For the sake of the development of our church, we had an urgent need to find a bigger place for worshiping the Lord, Jesus Christ. After identifying this need, the two pastors at St. Luke Lutheran Church and their committee members began to think about expanding the room or installing noise insulation in one of their rooms downstairs so that we might be able to use. Nevertheless, this would require some time to fix. Since our church already began to grow, we could not wait much longer and thus decided to move again, to where we are now meeting.

On January 26, 1992, all our church members helped to move church utensils to St. Andrew Church. Two young people from our church helped Mrs. Kuo and me move the church sign. Until now, members of our church have contributed greatly to the church; their love for the Lord has also grown. We all see our church as a big family. Many thanks to God!

It has been seven years since we moved to St. Andrew Lutheran Church. With the leadership of our church Committee, we held a special service to celebrate our formal establishment and organization on June 14, 1992. On that day, Oregon Synod Bishop came to conduct the service. Soon thereafter, we also legally registered with both the Federal and the State Governments to become a church abiding by law. Starting from 1995, lay people at church began to serve as the council chairperson. This is also another important step our church is taking. Slowly but surely, our church has been growing over these years. Please continue to pray God to bless His church and for us to be His useful instruments and for His own glory!