Winfield Reformed Church
Encyclopedia
Winfield Reformed Church (恩惠歸正教會) is a Protestant church founded in 1880, located in Woodside, NY, USA. The church was originally located on Queens Blvd, and moved to its current location in 1910. The current building was built in 1914. It is part of the Reformed Church in America
(RCA) denomination. It is the oldest Taiwan
ese church established in North America
.
-speaking and remained a mainly white congregation until a large wave of Taiwanese immigrants came in the community in the 1960s. It became mostly Taiwanese in the late 60s and became the first mainly Taiwanese congregation in North America in 1969. Preaching continued in both English
and Taiwanese.
in 1979 NBC
sent reporters to interview the opinions of New York Taiwanese at Winfield.
. After Winfield, Rev. Kuo was also influential in founding another presbyterian church in New Brunswick, NJ.
Acclaimed Taiwanese independence activist and pastor Dr. Wu-Tong Hwang (黃武東) also served as senior pastor at Winfield from 1973-1978. Hwang was trained in the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan
and came to the United States in 1973 after being politically exiled by the Kuomintang
government. Rev. Dr. Hwang died in November 1994.
Rev. Dr. Martin Wang (王成章), a former professor at Taiwan Theological Seminary, served as minister in the 1980s. He died in 2007 Dr. Wang was a translator of the Chinese Bible.
Taiwanese musician and composer Michael Cheng (鄭明堂) attended Winfield and directed the church choir before moving back to Taiwan.
Reformed Church in America
The Reformed Church in America is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 170,000 members, with the total declining in recent decades. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1819, it...
(RCA) denomination. It is the oldest Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
ese church established in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
History
The church was historically DutchDutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
-speaking and remained a mainly white congregation until a large wave of Taiwanese immigrants came in the community in the 1960s. It became mostly Taiwanese in the late 60s and became the first mainly Taiwanese congregation in North America in 1969. Preaching continued in both English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Taiwanese.
Taiwanese activism
Winfield was a hotbed for Taiwanese independence activism outside of Taiwan for many decades. Pastors and worshipers frequently engaged in Taiwan rallies and causes. When China replaced Taiwan on the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
in 1979 NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
sent reporters to interview the opinions of New York Taiwanese at Winfield.
Notable people
The church was led by many renown Taiwanese ministers, beginning with Rev. Andrew Kuo (郭得烈) in the 1960s who volunteered to serve as minister while working for the American Bible SocietyAmerican Bible Society
The American Bible Society is an interconfessional, non-denominational, nonprofit organization, founded in 1816 in New York City, which publishes, distributes and translates the Bible and provides study aids and other tools to help people engage with the Bible.It is probably best known for its...
. After Winfield, Rev. Kuo was also influential in founding another presbyterian church in New Brunswick, NJ.
Acclaimed Taiwanese independence activist and pastor Dr. Wu-Tong Hwang (黃武東) also served as senior pastor at Winfield from 1973-1978. Hwang was trained in the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan
Presbyterian Church in Taiwan
The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan was planted in Taiwan in the 19th century by Dr James Laidlaw Maxwell Snr of the Presbyterian Church of England and Dr George Leslie Mackay of the Presbyterian Church in Canada....
and came to the United States in 1973 after being politically exiled by the Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
government. Rev. Dr. Hwang died in November 1994.
Rev. Dr. Martin Wang (王成章), a former professor at Taiwan Theological Seminary, served as minister in the 1980s. He died in 2007 Dr. Wang was a translator of the Chinese Bible.
Taiwanese musician and composer Michael Cheng (鄭明堂) attended Winfield and directed the church choir before moving back to Taiwan.