Report: The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan – Between prophetic tradition and institutional challenges
By Kwan Yuk Sing, 17 September 2025
This report explores the political engagement of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) through a combination of historical analysis and interviews with pastors, historians, lay members, and youth activists. Once celebrated for its decisive role in Taiwan’s democratization, the PCT now wrestles with the tension between prophetic witness and institutional compromise.
Source: MiNe (zh.wikipedia.org)
As party politics, generational shifts, and grassroots mobilizations reshape the public sphere, the church’s journey from civil resistance to cooperation with government is reflected in its ambivalent position on same-sex marriage and its participation in the 2025 Recall Movement. The voices gathered in these interviews reveal divergent understandings of faithful public engagement and raise the question of whether the PCT has preserved its critical distance from political power. Far from being a single, unified actor, the PCT emerges as a pluralistic body, suspended between its heritage of resistance and the danger of partisan capture.
To read the full report (29 pages), click here to download the PDF
