Episcopal Diocese of Taiwan


The Episcopal Diocese of Taiwan, also known as the Taiwan Episcopal Church, is the Anglican diocese in Taiwan and a member diocese of the Episcopal Church of the United States. It was established in 1954, five years after Chinese Episcopalians fled from mainland China to Taiwan following the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949.
Early leadership included American military chaplains connected to The Church of the Good Shepherd or St. John's, but in 1965 the Diocese elected its first Chinese bishop. In late 2019 Lennon Yuan-Jung Chang was elected the sixth Bishop of Taiwan, and was consecrated on February 22, 2020.
It is a diocese of Province 8 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. In 2024, the diocese reported average Sunday attendance of 669 persons.
WWW episcopalchurch.org.tw

History

From the earliest origins of Anglicanism on Taiwan until 1945, the island was part of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai Diocese of Osaka. As the presence of American Episcopalians on the island grew, the island came under the jurisdiction of the Episcopal Diocese of Honolulu until 1954, when it achieved some independence — the 60th anniversary of this date was celebrated in 2014. In 1961, Taiwan was organised into a missionary diocese of the Episcopal Church ; and in 1988 it was accepted as a full diocese of the church.

Parishes

Parishes of the diocese:
ChurchAddress
Epiphany Chapel7, Lane 105, Section 1, Hangzhou South Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City
Advent Church499 Sec.4 Danjin Road, Tamsui District, New Taipei City
St. John's Cathedral 280, Section 2, Fuxing South Road, Daan District, Taipei City
Church of the Good Shepherd509 Zhongzheng Road, Shilin District, Taipei City
St. Thomas Church86 Minyou Street, Linkou District, New Taipei City
Holy Trinity Church163 Tung Ming Road, Keelung City
St. Stephen's ChurchNo. 29, Aly. 6, Ln. 168, Zhonghe Rd., Zhongshan Dist., Keelung City
Christ ChurchNo. 33, Chongyi 3rd St., Pingzhen District, Taoyuan City
St. Luke's Church1-6 Ming Hsin Street, Hualien City
Episcopal Church in Hsinchu12 Guanxin N. Street, Hsinchu City
Future: No.152 Sanmin Road, Zhubei City, Hsinchu County
St. James ChurchNo. 23, Section 1, Wuquan West Road, West District, Taichung City
St. Gabriel's ChurchNo. 208 Sec. 1 Chongde 2nd Road, Beitun District, Taichung City
St. Peter's Church8 Hsin Chung Street, Chiayi City
Grace Church24 Lane 550 Tsung Te Road, Tainan City
All Saints' Church5 Chieh Shou Road, Gangshan District, Kaohsiung City
St. Paul's Church200 Tzu Chiang 1st Road, Sanmin District, Kaohsiung City
St. Timothy's Church3F. No. 262 Chung-hsiao 1st. Rd. Sinsing District, Kaohsiung City
St. Mark's Church120 - 11 Chung Hsiao Road, Pingtung City

Bishops

From 1954 until 1960, Harry S. Kennedy, Bishop of Hawaii, had direct care of Taiwan; from 1961 until 1964, Charles P. Gilson, Suffragan Bishop of Honolulu, was delegated care of the missionary diocese and was resident on the island.
Further bishops of the missionary diocese were:
Since full diocesan status was granted, the bishops diocesan have been:

Charles P. Gilson

Charles Packard Gilson, was consecrated a bishop at St Paul's Cathedral, Detroit during the Episcopal Church's 1961 General Convention. He had been missionary-in-charge at Taipei since 1958 when Convention elected him Suffragan Bishop of Honolulu in order to be the bishop resident on Taiwan. In 1964, his geographical jurisdiction was shifted to Okinawa.

Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang

Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang was consecrated a bishop on February 22, 2020 at St John's Cathedral, Taipei. Deaconed in 1995 and priested in 1999, he served as Chaplain of St. John's University (Taiwan) and then as Vicar/Rector of Advent Church ; he was also an associate professor of Mathematics at the university. Chang was elected bishop diocesan on August 3, 2019 and was duly consecrated and installed in 2020 by Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop. He served briefly as coadjutor bishop and succeeded as bishop diocesan automatically upon Lai's retirement in March 2020.