Returning to Taiwan
March 2025
“Go and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19).
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15).
“Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations” (Luke 24:47).
“You shall be witnesses to Me . . . to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Dear Praying Friends:
Lots of folks have asked about why we went overseas as missionaries and what we did after that. To recap briefly:
In 1974, convinced that Jesus’ last words on earth applied to us personally and literally, Dori and I decided to go to Asia with the Overseas Missionary Fellowship. But we had no clear leading to any particular people or place.
One day, as I was reading the Bible and praying, I suddenly “saw” in my mind a map of China and Taiwan (without Korea, Japan, or the Philippines) and “heard” an interior voice saying, “I want you in Asia.” It seemed that “Asia” referred either to China or Taiwan. Since China was closed at the time, after several days of seeking confirmation that God was speaking to me, I concluded that the Lord wanted us in Taiwan. Ever faithful and eager to serve God, Dori agreed.
So in the fall of 1975 after training in Singapore, we went to Taiwan for intensive language study. We lived there on and off, excluding furloughs, for ten years. We returned to the United States in 1988. From then until 2013, I made about twenty-five trips back across the Pacific to Taiwan to preach, teach, lecture and, most of all, to see our friends. Dori accompanied me on some of those returns; she also went to China several times and led five small group tours to China. (During those years I also visited China ten times, as well as India, Africa, Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France).
Now, after a lapse of twelve years, I plan (God willing) to return this spring to the place I call home[1]. I hope to see many friends, as well as China Institute Partners and Global China Center Associates, with two goals: to learn how they are doing and pray with them, and to share with them my experience of the grace of God since we last saw each other.
Currently, I have invitations to preach in the church of former members of International Christian Fellowship in Charlottesville and to speak at the faculty prayer meeting of China Evangelical Seminary, where I taught for eight years. I would also like to introduce books published since 2013, especially those on Carl Henry.
Finally, I hope to increase my knowledge of traditional Chinese civilization (by visiting two museums, including the National Palace Museum - pictured) and of rapidly changing Taiwan society and the state of the church.
A family member will accompany me for the first portion. Rather than traveling all over the island, as I have previously, I will stay in Taipei and its environs, where most of our friends live. Several others have offered to come from as far as two hundred miles away to visit us.
Please pray for us: as I said in a previous letter, Taiwan is one of Satan’s strongholds. We have felt his opposition from many directions since late December, when we made the decision for me to go.
Please ask God to:
Give me safe travel, good health and strength, and spiritual alertness.
Speak through me despite my rusty Mandarin and enable me to communicate God’s grace and truth effectively.
Make us a blessing to our friends, who are dealing with a rapidly declining church and an uncertain future.
“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness'" (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Yours in his all-sufficient grace,
Wright
[1] I love America and our family and friends here, and I know this is where I am supposed to live, but I often feel that, though very pleasant and comfortable, it is a place of exile for me.