A workshop on “simple church” stirred something deep in *Jin. The idea was beautifully uncomplicated. Church could happen anywhere—without walls, without pews, without formality. For months he prayed and wrestled with what that might look like in his home town in Taiwan.
The answer came to him in a place he already loved—the campgrounds of eastern Taiwan.
Jin and several close friends often escaped there twice a month. They were outdoor people who preferred hiking boots to dress shoes, and open skies to sanctuary ceilings. What if church could meet in a campground?
So Jin began showing up with intention. Tucked in his backpack were a short Bible story, a thoughtful discussion question, and one or two simple praise songs anyone could sing around a fire. After breakfast, he and his friends casually invited nearby campers to pull up a chair and join them.
It started small. Just a few curious neighbors lingering by the campfire.
Jin would chat, listen, and build connections. Then he would pose a question, one that everyone could answer from their own experience. As the group warmed up, he would share a Bible story and ask a few simple follow-up questions. Conversations deepened. Needs surfaced. Laughter mixed with vulnerability.
Before long, Jin would offer to pray, lifting up the personal requests that had been shared and speaking a blessing over every camper gathered there. They closed their time singing together, voices rising into the open air. It was becoming a church! Simple, authentic, and alive.
The first to respond to the invitation to follow Jesus was one of Jin’s closest friends. His wife watched quietly at first, taking it all in, until she too chose to follow Jesus too.
Soon, the couple began facilitating the Bible discussions themselves. Jin walked alongside them for a season, coaching them in Bible storytelling and worship, until they felt confident to facilitate on their own.
Today, they are training others to bring this same simple expression of church to more campgrounds. What began as a small circle around a fire is multiplying into a growing movement of people meeting Jesus under the wide Taiwanese sky.
Pray that this simple, uncomplicated way of sharing Jesus would spread like wildfire, that many would become disciples who make disciples.
*pseudonym
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