Renowned evangelist and founder of the Taiwan-based gospel organization Cosmic Light Holistic Care Organization, Lin Chih-Ping, passed away on the evening of April 27th at the age of 86.
Lin Chih-Ping’s children issued an obituary announcement: “Our beloved father, our mother’s virtue, and everyone’s Brother Lin have found peace from the burdens of this world and entered into the heavenly rest. He laid down his ministries, left his colleagues he has always cared about, and began his more glorious and joyful service in Heaven.”
Cosmic Light also issued an obituary announcement late that night to commemorate Lin Chih-Ping. In an open letter, the current general secretary, Pastor Li Dongliang, reviewed and expressed gratitude for Lin's lifelong journey and contributions. He wrote, “Starting from receiving the vision of the five loaves and two fish, Lin Chih-Ping accompanied Cosmic Light in its fifty-year journey with the philosophy of gospel preparation and holistic care. He had been particularly committed to the practice of holistic evangelism in various areas such as academia, education, publishing, arts and humanities, counseling, and social welfare.”
Lin Chih-Ping, born in 1938, graduated from the Department of Politics at Soochow University and obtained a master’s degree in diplomacy from National Chengchi University. He worked as a professor at Chung Yuan Christian University, concurrently serving as the dean of the College of Humanities and Education and the director of the Institute of Religion. Since 1973, he served as the general secretary and executive director of the Christian Cosmic Light Holistic Care Organization and chairman of the Operation Dawn ministry in Taiwan. Since 2003, he served as chairman of the Bethany Children's Home. Over the years, he was committed to promoting the concept of “holistic education and care”, having brought profound influences to educational and social communities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. His marriage to the renowned Chinese writer Zhang Xiaofeng was a beautiful witness for decades.
Cosmic Light: founded out of a calling, never receiving a penny in 45 years
The Cosmic Light Magazine he founded has also become a renowned Christian magazine in the Chinese-speaking world. According to data from Cosmic Light’s 48th anniversary celebration in 2021, it cumulatively distributed about seven million copies. The organization’s published gospel books and pamphlets reached a total circulation of over ten million copies. Additionally, Cosmic Light has radio programs, audio products, concerts with hundred-person choruses, and counseling work. The organization constantly uses media and culture to do gospel preparatory work and sow the seeds of faith deep into people’s hearts. Not only he personally led more churches to engage in various social care works, but his influence also spread to Chinese communities in many regions around the world.
According to an interview with The Christian Tribune, the founding of Cosmic Light Magazine was related to two callings from God. Lin recalled these two callings during the 45th-anniversary celebration of the magazine in 2018 when he handed over the reins to the next general secretary. The first was the often-mentioned “five loaves and two fish” story. When he was 35 years old, he met Mr. Liu Yiling, a 73-year-old gentleman who had traveled a long distance from the United States to establish the magazine in Taiwan. Although Lin Chih-Ping tried to persuade him to give up the idea because he knew that running a magazine was a thankless task, Mr. Liu believed that founding Cosmic Light was a mission that God had touched him to do. They borrowed a friend’s living room and set up a long table to start the founding work of Cosmic Light. One day, when Lin opened the Bible, the command “You give them to eat” in the story of the five loaves and two fish touched his mind.
The second calling was the parable of sowing seeds. He read Matthew 13:8, “Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” He felt that God was moving him to use the magazine and words to do gospel preparatory work and bring God’s Word to different souls to get ready. He believed that “soil” refers to the world’s culture and social environment. If the “soil of the gospel becomes like a desert," then no matter how much evangelism is carried out, it will be fruitless. Therefore, Cosmic Light is committed to changing the “soil” through historical culture, counseling, social relief, music and art, publishing, audio-visual media, and other forms of expression that have changed the social and cultural landscape, preparing the ground for the gospel. In his view, this was indeed a “foolish cause” that seems to yield no obvious returns. He served as a volunteer for Cosmic Light for 45 years without receiving any payment.
Fool for Life: The Life Story of Lin Chih-Ping is the last book published by the Cosmic Light organization during Professor Lin's lifetime. The book reviews his lifelong journey. In it, he discusses how his understanding of gospel preparatory work was refreshed and strengthened during the Cosmic Light Magazine’s early days at the World Evangelical Conference held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1974. At that time, the secretary-general of the conference invited him to serve as the editor of the Chinese bulletin for the conference. During the conference, he saw an individual dressed in hippie style, with ragged pants and a typical hippie appearance. Unexpectedly, this person was a speaker, and his topic was “How to Preach the Gospel to Hippies.” He stated, “To preach the gospel to hippies, you must first become a hippie. Then, you must accept their identity, stand in their shoes, and speak Christian words that they can understand.”
He once again thought of the parable of sowing seeds told by Jesus in the Bible: “Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced... a hundred times.” He said, “Previously, when church members mentioned ‘gospel preparatory work’, they referred mainly to the vanguard of the gospel spreading. When facing unbelievers, it was necessary to point out their areas of unbelief and make them accept the faith concept. But I feel that this approach is not quite right. The gospel preparatory work is about studying the essential nature of soil and humanity. Instead of sowing seeds in shallow soil, rocky places, or on the roadside, we should find good soil to cultivate and can achieve a thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times harvest.”
Subsequently, Professor Lin integrated this concept with the evangelical work of Cosmic Light. In a retrospective, he said, “But I want to clarify that we are searching for fertile soil. Once we have identified suitable ground, we carefully sow the seeds and nurture them with the utmost care to ensure a bountiful harvest. This is unlike scattering seeds randomly, which would only lead to their demise. Therefore, in our evangelistic efforts at Cosmic Light, we have always adhered to the principle of planning before proceeding. For instance, our early published testimonials were written from the perspective of non-Christians, in the form of stories or novels, to make them accessible and understandable."
“Fool for life”: a lifelong embodied philosophy
As a full-time academic and educator, Professor Lin’s dedication to volunteering for Cosmic Light spanned decades beyond his professional work. Remarkably, he never received a penny for his efforts and even financed the publication of the Cosmic Light Magazine on his own, earning him the nickname “the fool” among outsiders. This moniker was a defining trait throughout his life. At the 2023 book launch event for Fool for Life, Professor Lin shared the origin of this nickname. On one occasion, a writer and literary critic named Liang Xuan visited his home. Professor Lin presented him with a pen and paper, inviting him to write something. Unexpectedly, Liang Xuan penned the words “Fool for Life.”
During the decades of magazine management, despite being a university professor, his salary was insufficient to cover the expenses of publication. Nevertheless, he persevered with unwavering determination. For over 50 years, every issue of Cosmic Light Magazine was published on schedule, even during times of financial constraint. He expanded the organization’s scope to include music, art, and public welfare campaigns.
Reflecting on his lifelong “foolishness”, Professor Lin stated at the 2023 book launch, “Being a fool for life is also a theological practice”. He believed that in an environment where everyone strives for rights, Christian institutions must revert to natural and pure humanity to truly fulfill the work of care. He hoped that everyone could approach life with such foolishness, maintaining this spirit throughout their entire existence.
- Translated by Charlie Li
当地时间4月27日晚，华人教会著名牧者、台湾福音机构宇宙光的发起人林治平(Lin Chi-Ping)教授逝世，享年86岁。
林治平教授的儿女发出讣闻公告，写到：“我们亲爱的爸爸、妈妈的德、大家的林哥......息了世上的劳苦，进入属天的安息，放下了他一直挂心的事工与同工，开始他更荣耀更喜乐的事奉。”
宇宙光当天深夜也发出讣告纪念。现任宇宙光的总干事李栋良牧师在这封公开信中回顾和感恩了林治平一生的历程和贡献，其中写到“从领受五饼二鱼的异象开始，林治平林哥一路以福音预工、全人关怀的理念，陪伴宇宙光走完五十个年头，他特别在学术教育、文字出版、艺术人文、辅导关顾、社会公益等各方面，致力于全人理念的宣教实践。”
林治平，出生于1938年，毕业于东吴大学政治系，政治大学外交研究所硕士，曾任中原大学专任教授、兼人文与教育学院院长、宗教研究所所长。自1973年起，以终身义工身分，担任财团法人基督教宇宙光全人关怀机构总干事、宇宙光关怀中心执行长、财团法人基督教晨曦会董事长；2003年起，担任伯大尼育幼院董事长。多年来致力推动“全人教育”、“全人关怀”理念，深远影响两岸之教育界及社会大众。他与妻子华人界著名作家张晓风的婚姻几十年如一日，是一个美好的见证。
宇宙光：感受到呼召创办 45年未领一块钱
他创办的《宇宙光》也成为华人教会著名的信仰杂志。在宇宙光2021年48周年庆上有数据说，累计发行约七百余万本。同时还出版福音书籍、小册，总发行量达一千余万册，另外宇宙光事工机构还有广播节目、有声产品、百人大合唱音乐会及关怀辅导工作，不断藉由传媒和文化做福音预工的工作，把信仰的种子撒到人心深处，不仅自己也带动更多教会积极投入到各种社会关怀的工作，其影响力可以说遍及全球多个地区的华人社会。
据《基督教论坛报》的专访，《宇宙光》杂志的创办和上帝给他的2个呼召有关。他曾于2018年宇宙光45周年庆交棒下一任总干事时，回顾说到这两个呼召。第一个是他常常提起的“五饼二鱼”。当时他35岁，结识了一位高龄73岁的刘翼凌老先生不远千里从美国飞来想在台湾创办《宇宙光》杂志。虽然林治平努力想劝退他，因为他知道办杂志是非常吃力不讨好的事，但刘先生相信创办《宇宙光》是“上帝感动他要做的事”，借了朋友的客厅摆了一张长桌就开始了宇宙光的创刊工作。有一天林打开圣经时，五饼二鱼故事中“你们给他们吃吧”的这句呼召进入他心。
第二个是撒种的比喻，他读到马太福音13:8“有落在好土里的，就结实百倍”，感到上帝在感动他用杂志和文字做福音预工，带出上帝的道进入到不同的人心来预备。他说，“土地”就是世界文化和社会环境，若“福音土壤沙漠化”则再怎么宣教都是无功用，因此宇宙光致力于改变“土壤”，通过历史文化丶关怀辅导、社会救助丶音乐艺术、书刊出版丶影音媒体等改变社会和文化土壤，为福音预备好土地。在他看来，这的确是一份类似只赔不赚的“傻瓜事业”，他也被称为是宇宙光的终身义工，服事45年未领过一块钱。
《傻瓜一世：林治平的生命故事》是宇宙光机构在林治平教授生前给他出版的最后一本书，回顾了林治平一生的生命故事，其中他谈到宇宙光杂志早期参加1974年在瑞士洛桑召开的世界福音会议时再次更新和强化了他对福音预工的理解。当时，大会秘书长邀请他去担任会议期间中文快报的编辑。会议期间，他看到有个人竟然穿了一身嬉皮装，裤子破破烂烂的，一副嬉皮士的形象，没有想到这个人是讲员，分享的题目是“如何向嬉皮士传福音”，说到“你们要向嬉皮传福音，首先要自己是嬉皮，然后要接纳他们的身分，站在他们的立场，讲他们听得懂的基督教的话语”。
他再次想到曾经感动过他的“有落在好土里的，就结实百倍”的耶稣讲的撒种的比喻。“以前教会人士提到‘福音预工’，通常是指传福音的最前哨，也就是，面对不信的人，必须要直指他们不信之处，让他们能接受信仰观念。但我觉得这样的方式不太对……福音预工就是要去研究土地人性本质，土浅石头地啦、路旁啊、荆棘杂草地都不要撒种，而是要找到那一块好土再去耕耘，就可以结实三十倍、六十倍、一百倍。”
于是，他后来就把这个观念跟宇宙光的福音预工连结在一起。林曾回顾说：“但我说明我们是在找一块好土，鉴定为好土之后，再小心的撒种，然后小心的照顾他，才能够结实纍纍，而不是随意撒种，让种子枯死。所以宇宙光在传福音这件事上，向来是先订好计划再传，如早期出版的见证集，就是站在非基督徒的立场，以写故事或写小说的方式，让他们能读进去并且读懂。”
“傻瓜一世”：一生践行的理念
对于一位从事学术和教学的全职学者，他在工作之外持之以恒的做“宇宙光”义工数十年之久，并且从未领过一分钱，还自己贴钱、找钱去办《宇宙光》杂志，这让外人看他好像是“傻瓜”一样。“傻瓜”是影响林治平一生的绰号。在2023年的“傻瓜一世”的新书发布会上，林治平教授分享“傻瓜一世”典故的来历：有一次作家暨文学评论家亮轩来到家中拜访，林治平便拿出纸张与水墨，请亮轩在纸张上大笔一挥，没想到对方却写了“傻瓜一世”四字。
后面几十年的杂志经营过程中，虽然他当时是大学教授，但薪资不够支撑杂志出版的开销，仍然是坚持一股“傻劲”，几十年委身过来，50多年来每期宇宙光杂志都做到了准时出版，即使在缺乏经费时仍坚持运营下去，并把整个事工机构扩展到音乐、艺术和公益活动等更多的领域。
在回顾自己一生的“傻”时，林治平在2023年《傻瓜一世》的新书发布会上曾说：“傻瓜一世，也会是一种神学实践。”他相信在人人争取权利的环境下，基督教机构唯有回到自然纯朴的人性，才能真正落实关怀的工作，他也希望每个人都能傻傻地来傻傻地走，一生一世都能有这样的“傻劲”。
台湾福音机构宇宙光创办人林治平逝世享年86岁 一生致力藉文化和教育开展福音预工
Renowned evangelist and founder of the Taiwan-based gospel organization Cosmic Light Holistic Care Organization, Lin Chih-Ping, passed away on the evening of April 27th at the age of 86.
Lin Chih-Ping’s children issued an obituary announcement: “Our beloved father, our mother’s virtue, and everyone’s Brother Lin have found peace from the burdens of this world and entered into the heavenly rest. He laid down his ministries, left his colleagues he has always cared about, and began his more glorious and joyful service in Heaven.”
Cosmic Light also issued an obituary announcement late that night to commemorate Lin Chih-Ping. In an open letter, the current general secretary, Pastor Li Dongliang, reviewed and expressed gratitude for Lin's lifelong journey and contributions. He wrote, “Starting from receiving the vision of the five loaves and two fish, Lin Chih-Ping accompanied Cosmic Light in its fifty-year journey with the philosophy of gospel preparation and holistic care. He had been particularly committed to the practice of holistic evangelism in various areas such as academia, education, publishing, arts and humanities, counseling, and social welfare.”
Lin Chih-Ping, born in 1938, graduated from the Department of Politics at Soochow University and obtained a master’s degree in diplomacy from National Chengchi University. He worked as a professor at Chung Yuan Christian University, concurrently serving as the dean of the College of Humanities and Education and the director of the Institute of Religion. Since 1973, he served as the general secretary and executive director of the Christian Cosmic Light Holistic Care Organization and chairman of the Operation Dawn ministry in Taiwan. Since 2003, he served as chairman of the Bethany Children's Home. Over the years, he was committed to promoting the concept of “holistic education and care”, having brought profound influences to educational and social communities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. His marriage to the renowned Chinese writer Zhang Xiaofeng was a beautiful witness for decades.
Cosmic Light: founded out of a calling, never receiving a penny in 45 years
The Cosmic Light Magazine he founded has also become a renowned Christian magazine in the Chinese-speaking world. According to data from Cosmic Light’s 48th anniversary celebration in 2021, it cumulatively distributed about seven million copies. The organization’s published gospel books and pamphlets reached a total circulation of over ten million copies. Additionally, Cosmic Light has radio programs, audio products, concerts with hundred-person choruses, and counseling work. The organization constantly uses media and culture to do gospel preparatory work and sow the seeds of faith deep into people’s hearts. Not only he personally led more churches to engage in various social care works, but his influence also spread to Chinese communities in many regions around the world.
According to an interview with The Christian Tribune, the founding of Cosmic Light Magazine was related to two callings from God. Lin recalled these two callings during the 45th-anniversary celebration of the magazine in 2018 when he handed over the reins to the next general secretary. The first was the often-mentioned “five loaves and two fish” story. When he was 35 years old, he met Mr. Liu Yiling, a 73-year-old gentleman who had traveled a long distance from the United States to establish the magazine in Taiwan. Although Lin Chih-Ping tried to persuade him to give up the idea because he knew that running a magazine was a thankless task, Mr. Liu believed that founding Cosmic Light was a mission that God had touched him to do. They borrowed a friend’s living room and set up a long table to start the founding work of Cosmic Light. One day, when Lin opened the Bible, the command “You give them to eat” in the story of the five loaves and two fish touched his mind.
The second calling was the parable of sowing seeds. He read Matthew 13:8, “Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” He felt that God was moving him to use the magazine and words to do gospel preparatory work and bring God’s Word to different souls to get ready. He believed that “soil” refers to the world’s culture and social environment. If the “soil of the gospel becomes like a desert," then no matter how much evangelism is carried out, it will be fruitless. Therefore, Cosmic Light is committed to changing the “soil” through historical culture, counseling, social relief, music and art, publishing, audio-visual media, and other forms of expression that have changed the social and cultural landscape, preparing the ground for the gospel. In his view, this was indeed a “foolish cause” that seems to yield no obvious returns. He served as a volunteer for Cosmic Light for 45 years without receiving any payment.
Fool for Life: The Life Story of Lin Chih-Ping is the last book published by the Cosmic Light organization during Professor Lin's lifetime. The book reviews his lifelong journey. In it, he discusses how his understanding of gospel preparatory work was refreshed and strengthened during the Cosmic Light Magazine’s early days at the World Evangelical Conference held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1974. At that time, the secretary-general of the conference invited him to serve as the editor of the Chinese bulletin for the conference. During the conference, he saw an individual dressed in hippie style, with ragged pants and a typical hippie appearance. Unexpectedly, this person was a speaker, and his topic was “How to Preach the Gospel to Hippies.” He stated, “To preach the gospel to hippies, you must first become a hippie. Then, you must accept their identity, stand in their shoes, and speak Christian words that they can understand.”
He once again thought of the parable of sowing seeds told by Jesus in the Bible: “Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced... a hundred times.” He said, “Previously, when church members mentioned ‘gospel preparatory work’, they referred mainly to the vanguard of the gospel spreading. When facing unbelievers, it was necessary to point out their areas of unbelief and make them accept the faith concept. But I feel that this approach is not quite right. The gospel preparatory work is about studying the essential nature of soil and humanity. Instead of sowing seeds in shallow soil, rocky places, or on the roadside, we should find good soil to cultivate and can achieve a thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times harvest.”
Subsequently, Professor Lin integrated this concept with the evangelical work of Cosmic Light. In a retrospective, he said, “But I want to clarify that we are searching for fertile soil. Once we have identified suitable ground, we carefully sow the seeds and nurture them with the utmost care to ensure a bountiful harvest. This is unlike scattering seeds randomly, which would only lead to their demise. Therefore, in our evangelistic efforts at Cosmic Light, we have always adhered to the principle of planning before proceeding. For instance, our early published testimonials were written from the perspective of non-Christians, in the form of stories or novels, to make them accessible and understandable."
“Fool for life”: a lifelong embodied philosophy
As a full-time academic and educator, Professor Lin’s dedication to volunteering for Cosmic Light spanned decades beyond his professional work. Remarkably, he never received a penny for his efforts and even financed the publication of the Cosmic Light Magazine on his own, earning him the nickname “the fool” among outsiders. This moniker was a defining trait throughout his life. At the 2023 book launch event for Fool for Life, Professor Lin shared the origin of this nickname. On one occasion, a writer and literary critic named Liang Xuan visited his home. Professor Lin presented him with a pen and paper, inviting him to write something. Unexpectedly, Liang Xuan penned the words “Fool for Life.”
During the decades of magazine management, despite being a university professor, his salary was insufficient to cover the expenses of publication. Nevertheless, he persevered with unwavering determination. For over 50 years, every issue of Cosmic Light Magazine was published on schedule, even during times of financial constraint. He expanded the organization’s scope to include music, art, and public welfare campaigns.
Reflecting on his lifelong “foolishness”, Professor Lin stated at the 2023 book launch, “Being a fool for life is also a theological practice”. He believed that in an environment where everyone strives for rights, Christian institutions must revert to natural and pure humanity to truly fulfill the work of care. He hoped that everyone could approach life with such foolishness, maintaining this spirit throughout their entire existence.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Founder of Taiwanese Cosmic Light Ministry Lin Chih-Ping Dies at 86
