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Seicho-No-Ie News

NEW MISSIONARY CENTER BUILDING COMPLETED HIGH EXPECTATION FOR THE EXPANSION OF MEMBERSHIP


In June of this year Seicho-No-Ie Republic of China Missionary Area refurbished the sixth floor of a 12-story office building in Kaohsiung. It was completed as the Kaohsiung Missionary Center.

On June 17 a completion/dedication ceremony
was held with 201 followers

The site for the Center was purchased in November of last year. It is conveniently located—about 200 meters from the Kaohsiung Station and in December of this year a subway station is to be opened. There is also a plan to open a station on the Taiwan Superexpress Railway (Bullet Train) in the future. The Center has floor space of 515 square meters, or four times that of the old Center. The total construction cost includes 10,894,642 yuan (approx. 39.8 million yen) for purchasing cost and 4,003,652 yuan (approx. 14.6 million yen) for refurbishing cost.

There is a big hall (approx. 130 square meters), which takes up about a quarter of the sixth floor and can seat 150 people. In back of it, on the right side, there are a medium-size hall (approx. 40 square meters) and a small hall (approx. 31 square meters). Altogether, a total of 200 people can be accommodated. These halls are divided with movable separators to allow flexible usage, depending upon the number of attendees. If these separators are opened, the front side is shielded with a pillar. That is why two 37-inch monitor screens and a 120-inch automatic scrolling screen are installed on the pillars on the right and left side of the large hall.

In addition, the Center has a stage, a prayer room, a broadcasting room, office/organization officers’ space, the Bishop’s Office, members’ lounges, a kitchen and bathrooms.

On the west side of the porch (9 meters wide) there is a planter with vine trees to lower the room temperature. A large fan is installed on the ceiling of each room for the purpose of effective air circulation.

When the old Missionary Center was acquired, a member offered her residence for no charge. The Missionary Area was renting it for use as the Kaohsiung Missionary Center. Subsequently, another member made a large donation. The current site was purchased in November of last year and the refurbishing work began in March of this year and was recently completed. On June 17 a completion/dedication ceremony was held, which was attended by 201 followers.

Mrs. Tsai Yue Chan, who made the donation, remarked, “Twenty years ago when I participated in a spiritual training seminar with my husband, I was saved. So I became involved in the Enlightenment Movement activity. I am pleased that we now have a propagation center in southern Taiwan.”


Remarks by Rev. Masanori Morita,

Bishop of Seicho-No-Ie Republic of China

“Mrs.Tsai, who made the donation, was very pleased that a new center, a center of her dream, was paid for entirely with the donated fund. I hope that the Center will become ‘a place of salvation.’”