Presbyterian Church in Taiwan
| Presbyterian Church in Taiwan Tâi-oân Ki-tok Tiúⁿ-ló Kàu-hoē 台灣基督長老教會 |
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| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | Mainline |
| Polity | Presbyterian |
| Moderator | Rev. Tin Bun-jin |
| Associations | World Council of Churches, Christian Conference of Asia, National Council of Churches of Taiwan, World Communion of Reformed Churches, Council for World Mission |
| Region | Taiwan |
| Founder | James Laidlaw Maxwell and George Leslie Mackay |
| Origin | 1865 Taiwan |
| Congregations | 1,219 |
| Members | 238,372 |
| Ministers | 1,205 |
| Hospitals | Mackay Memorial Hospital |
| Secondary schools | 3 |
| Tertiary institutions | 6 (incl. 3 seminaries and 1 bible college) |
| Official website | www.pct.org.tw |
The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-oân Ki-tok Tiúⁿ-ló Kàu-hoē; Chinese: 台灣基督長老教會) is the largest Protestant Christian denomination based in Taiwan.
It was started there in the 19th century by Dr. James Laidlaw Maxwell Sr. of the Presbyterian Church of England and Dr. George Leslie Mackay of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
In Taiwan, Presbyterians have historically been active in promoting the use of the local vernacular Taiwanese, both during the Japanese colonial period, as well as after the transfer of rulership to the Republic of China, during which the exclusive use of Mandarin was legally mandated. Also, the church has historically been an active proponent of human rights and democracy in Taiwan, a tradition which began during the Japanese colonial period and extended into the martial law period of the ROC. The Presbyterian Church is heavily involved in the evangelisation among the aborigines since the 1930s. Today about 30 percent of the native Taiwanese belong to the Taiwanese Presbyterian denomination. The most rapid church growth was experienced from 1955 to 1965 during the Double Church Movement. From 1978 the denomination was engaged in an extensive evangelisation effort known as the Ten One Movement aimed at 10% increase of the communicant membership each year.
As such, the church has been somewhat associated with the Taiwan independence movement. The PCT has also been a consistent and conspicuous proponent of Aboriginal Rights:
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Wikipedia