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PASTORAL COUNSELING TAIWANESE IMMIGRANTS IN THE CHURCH SETTING: A CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE A Professional Project presented to the Faculty of the School of Theology at Claremont In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by James Chia-Cheng Lin May 1997 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This professional project, completed by James Chia-Cheng Lin has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty of the School of Theology at Claremont in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF MINISTRY Faculty Committee PJJL^ PI ; /ff? / Dater Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. © 1997 James Chia-Cheng Lin ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The listing of contributors who deserve special appreciation is long, but I want to express my special gratitude to the people and the churches for making this project possible. The churches and the persons who helped me in conducting the self-administered questionnaire, "Immigrants from Taiwan: Social-Cultural Problems and Adjustments" in their churches include: Calvary Chapel Chinese Assembly in Los Angeles and Rev. James L. Hwang; Formosan Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles; E.F.C. of South Bay; E.F.C. of Cerritos; E.F.C. of Arcadia and Rev. Jeremiah Chen; E.F.C. of San Fernando Valley; E.F.C. of Hacienda Heights and Rev. George E. Lin; Good Shepherd Taiwanese Presbyterian Church and Rev. David Huang; E.F.C. of East Valley; E.F.C. of Los Angeles and Rev. Felix Liu; Inland Empire Presbyterian Church and Rev. James Peng; E.F.C. of Orange County and Rev. Sue-Hui Chou; Formosan Presbyterian Church of Orange County and Rev. Yi-Shin Tsai. Thanks to Mr. Daniel Ling, Mr. Robert Hsieh, and Mr. Louis Liao for writing the computer programs to handle the survey data. Thanks to my wife Li-Hsiang Lin for entering the data. All of your help has made it possible to generate the resulting statistical data. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1. Introduction........................................... 1 Problem Addressed by this Project.................... 1 Importance of the Problem............................ 1 Thesis......................... 2 Definitions of Major Terms........................... 2 Scope and Limitations of the Project.................4 Procedure for Integration............................ 4 Chapter Outline...................................... 5 2. The Sufferings and Hope of the Taiwanese: A Historical Review............................................... 8 Geography and Government............................. 8 People, Languages, and Religions.....................9 Taiwanese Sufferings and Hope....................... 11 3. A Study of Taiwanese Folk Beliefs.....................14 Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Taiwan Folk Religion.......................... 15 Taiwanese World Views and Religious Life............21 4. Immigrants from Taiwan in the U.S.: A Survey Study....26 The Purposes of the Survey Study.................. 26 Taiwanese Population in the United States...........26 The Selected Sample of the Survey Questionnaire 27 General Characters of the Respondents...............28 Ethnic Identity of the Respondents..................33 Reasons for Immigration of the Respondents..........35 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Crises Encountered by the Respondents...............36 Current Feelings of the Respondents.................37 Current Crises of the Respondents...................38 Helpers Sought by the Respondents in Crisis.........39 Helping Programs Expected by the Respondents........42 Religious Life of the Respondents...................42 Cultural Values Preferences of the Respondents......44 5. Pastoral Counseling in the Local Church Setting.......47 The Crucial Importance of Pastoral Counseling.......47 What Makes Pastoral Counseling Unique?..............50 Correlating Theology with Pastoral Care.............51 Theological Access in Pastoral Counseling...........52 Touching the Spiritual Depths....................... 55 6. Pastoral Counseling across Cultures...................58 What Is Cross-Cultural Counseling...................58 Barriers to Effective Cross-Cultural Counseling.....60 Factors in Effective Cross-Cultural Counseling......66 Effective Cross-Cultural Counseling.................70 7. Implications for Pastoral Counseling Taiwanese Immigrants.......................................... 75 Implications for Pastors............................ 75 Implications for Counseling the Taiwanese...........76 The Case of Mrs. Lin................................ 77 Reflections on the Case of Mrs. Lin.................85 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Appendixes A. Sample of the Survey Questionnaire (English)......... 87 B. Sample of the survey Questionnaire (Chinese-English)..94 C. Statistical Data of the Survey Questionnaire.........101 Bibliography...................................................110 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT PASTORAL COUNSELING TAIWANESE IMMIGRANTS IN THE CHURCH SETTING: A CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE By James Chia-Cheng Lin This project explores the central question of how a culturally skilled pastoral counselor can effectively work with Taiwanese immigrants within a church setting. This project proposes theologically sound, culturally effective pastoral counseling strategies relevant to the needs of Taiwanese immigrants who seek the help of a pastoral counselor. The strategies of the project include (1) examining sufferings and hope in Taiwan history which continue to shape the Taiwanese characteristic, (2) understanding the current social-cultural problems and adjustments of Taiwanese immigrants in the U.S. and (3) identifying cultural barriers to effective pastoral counseling which were created by Taiwanese world views and folk religious concepts. Chapter 2 reviews the sufferings and hopes of Taiwanese in history. Chapter 3 presents the Taiwanese folk religious beliefs that have shaped the world view of the Taiwanese. Chapter 4 analyzes the results of the author's survey, ''Immigrants from Taiwan: Social-Cultural Problems and Adjustments." Chapter 5 discusses the correlation of theology and pastoral counseling in the church settings. Chapter 6 explores how pastors can become Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. culturally skilled counselors so that they work effectively in their counseling the culturally different. Chapter 7 presents the case of Mrs. Lin which is a cross-cultural counseling I have experienced in ray church for reflection. The reflections include the assumptions, beliefs, and approaches of the persons who were involved in this counseling situation. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 CHAPTER 1 Introduction Problem Addressed by this Project The problem addressed by this project is how pastoral counseling will function from an expanded, inter-cultural perspective. The desired result is that pastoral counselors will provide Taiwanese immigrants in the U.S. with theologically sound and culturally skilled pastoral care and counseling that is relevant to their needs. This project suggests three strategies for developing culturally skilled pastoral counselors to work with Taiwanese in the church setting. The first strategy is the examining of Taiwanese sufferings and hope in its history. These sufferings and hopes have continued to shape the Taiwanese characteristics. The second strategy is to understand the current social-cultural problems and adjustments of the Taiwanese in the U.S. The third strategy is to identify barriers to effective cross-cultural counseling, so that the pastoral counselors can avoid them. These barriers include the differences in world views, religious concepts, and culturally bound values. Importance of the Problem Pastoral counseling has been a neglected ministry in Taiwanese churches, but it has gradually become a more important ministry in Taiwanese churches in the U.S. There are two reasons for that. One is that the Taiwanese in the U.S. are suffering from many kinds of social, cultural, and spiritual problems. The Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.