看西街長老教會｜Kanxi Street Church

Dr. Ya-Ge Ma (also James Laidlaw Maxwell) was the first English Presbyterian Missionary who landed in Dagou (now Kaohsiung) on May 28, 1865 and soon he started his medical and preaching service on Kanxi Street in Five-Channel Area (Previously No.43 on Renai Street) in Tainan. Unfortunately, Dr. Ya-Ge Ma’s work had been rejected by the conservative locals. And when they enragedly surrounded his church, he had no choice but moved to Qihou in Dagou, consistently carrying on his mission. Dr. Ya-Ge Ma returned to Tainan at the end of December in 1868 and settled down in Jiulou in Tingzijao (the former of Sin-Lau Hospital). Then, Maxwell Memorial Church was founded in 1903 and its missionary training center was established on Kanxi Street where was also Presbyterianism originated. The training center was officially named Yongle Church in 1915; it’s also where in 1951 a new church was built with a dome like the St. Paul’s Cathedral’s and it was later on renamed to “Kanxi Street Church” in honor of the history of the Presbyterian missionary in Taiwan.

在國華街巷弄間藏著一間仿英國聖保羅大教堂的白色圓頂教會，這裡對於台南與西方接觸的歷史也有著重大的意義，這是馬雅各醫師在西元1865年初來到台南行醫傳教的地點，當時這裡是五條港的重要街道，因街道往西而去，故名看西街，馬雅各醫師在此傳教行醫不久就因為當地守舊派的反彈不得不離開，後來在1868年回台南時，就在現今的新樓醫院位置繼續他的傳教行醫工作。

1951年看西街教會落成後，為紀念這段傳教的開拓史，便將新建的教會命名為「看西街教會」，日間教會純白色外觀在藍天之下在巷弄間顯得神聖，夜間打上燈光之後卻又讓人感到溫馨沉靜，台南的巷弄間永遠都有著驚喜，別忘了穿街走巷尋找一下這座美麗的教會。更多...