April 17 Today in OPC History

On this day in 1967, OPC missionaries Richard B. Gaffin and John D. Johnson, members of the Taiwan mission, wrote the 34th General Assembly requesting that the Assembly send more missionaries to Taiwan. They wrote, "As you are aware, here in Taiwan we are seeking to establish a new church true to the historic Reformed and Presbyterian faith. We thank God for the measure of progress already made by the five cooperating missions in Taiwan, but realize how inadequate we are for this great undertaking. We face numerous problems but also have great opportunities to proclaim Christ’s gospel to the unevangelized masses in Taiwan. We urgently need more coworkers in order to take full advantage of these open doors of opportunity. We, therefore, urge you to give prayerful consideration to this plea for more missionaries in order that we may more effectively fulfill the Lord‘s command to preach the gospel to every creature." Seven years later in 1974 Lendall and Sheril Smith would be appointed as missionaries to Taiwan. They would be joined by Robert and Shirley Marshall in 1976 and Steven and Faye Hake in 1977.

Picture: Richard B. Gaffin (far right) and Polly Gaffin with members of the Taiwan mission in the mid-1960s