When Caleb and Stephanie Schrock-Hurst first applied to be international service workers with Mennonite Mission Network, they wanted a placement somewhere in Asia, and if possible, they wanted to be placed in a Chinese-speaking area.
“Maybe Taiwan,” Caleb said, recounting the application process. “But that doesn’t seem very realistic.”
It just so happened that it was, in fact, realistic. A few months before the Schrock-Hursts submitted their application, Mennonite Christian Hospital (MCH), in Hualien, Taiwan, had reached out Mission Network, wanting to renew its connections with its western partners.
MCH is the largest Mennonite hospital in the world, with more than 500 beds and 1,000 staff. It was established in 1948, as a mobile clinic and then became a small, 30-bed facility. Today, MCH is committed to holistic care and serving underprivileged people in Hualien and beyond.
The Schrock-Hursts held a fundraiser in Fairfax, Virginia, at the home of Cindy and Steve Fogleman, Feb. 1, near where Caleb works as an associate pastor at Daniel’s Run Peace Church. Their guest speaker was Dr. Richard Bush, nonresident senior fellow in the Center for Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution and former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan.
Dr. Bush is the son of former missionaries to Taiwan and is well acquainted with mission work there. According to the Schrock-Hursts, he’s very supportive of people from the West living in Taiwan and getting to know the country.
The fundraiser was hosted by the Foglemans and Nancy Sprunger Kettelhut. Cindy Fogleman and Kettlehut are the children of Hugh and Janet Sprunger, long-term missionaries, who served in Taiwan from 1954-1978 with the Commission on Overseas Mission (COM, a predecessor agency of Mission Network).
The Sprungers were the first COM workers to be sent to Taiwan in 1954, four years after their marriage in 1950. They were instrumental in planting several Mennonite churches and mentoring new pastors, from the start of their ministry to 1978. They also served in the ministries of the Mennonite churches in Hong Kong from 1980-1994.
Fogleman said that her parents modeled so much to her and her siblings while they were children. One of their earliest lessons, Fogleman recalled, was through her parents’ speaking the Taiwanese language, rather than Taiwan’s official language of Mandarin.
“There were only a handful of American missionaries in Taiwan that spoke Taiwanese,” Fogleman said. But her parents’ efforts to learn and speak Taiwanese, and even help plant churches that spoke Taiwanese, went a long way toward helping them do the work of God in communities all over Taiwan.
Fogleman also recounted how her parents exemplified two-way mission. “They never wanted to be the boss,” she said. “They always asked where the local church wanted them to work.” Over time, Fogleman said, the local churches began giving her parents’ their assignments.
There’s a legacy of important mission work in Taiwan, and the Schrock-Hursts are more than ready to continue it.
“It’s an important time for folks in the West to develop relationships with China and Taiwan and do people-to-people peacebuilding,” Caleb said. “We’re really excited to continue along some of the veins of Hugh and Janet’s work.”
“It’s important to be a peace witness there,” Stephanie added. “By just living and loving and being with people, so that if there’s any conflict down the road, we’ve built those relationships and can hopefully help.”
When it comes to languages, Caleb and Stephanie are already working on learning Mandarin. They plan on following in the footsteps of the Sprungers, once again, and learning Taiwanese, as well. “One thing I learned from my time in Bangladesh with SALT (Mennonite Central Committee’s Serving and Learning Together program) is that you can connect with people a lot better in their first language,” Stephanie said.
Both Caleb and Stephanie served with SALT from 2018-2019. Caleb served in Vietnam, and Stephanie served in Bangladesh.
“One thing that is exciting for us is Mission Network’s posture of two-way mission. We’re not just going to Taiwan to share the gospel,” Caleb said. “We want to go learn beside, learn from and learn with Taiwanese and Chinese people. We want to be a connection between east and west, rather than just taking ministry west to east.”
Fogleman has high hopes for the Schrock-Hursts’ ministries in Taiwan. “I hope they will come to love Taiwan, just like we do,” she said.
The Schrock-Hursts are still fundraising to make their ministries in Taiwan a reality. They are 90% of the way to their goal. Help them join in the rich legacy of mission work in Taiwan by giving today!
