Although the Christian community is known and somewhat visible, neither Presbyterianism nor Catholicism are a viable part of Taiwanese religious culture. Ancestor worship is the name of the game in Taiwan, regardless of whether you consider yourself a Buddhist or a Taoist. There are two auspicious days a month, according to the Chinese lunar calendar, reserved specifically for ancestor worship. On these days, one, if out and about, can count hundreds of homes with offering tables set up out front. At night one can see the glow of red lights shining from one out of every 3 or 4 homes where the family altar, containing any of several hundred possible idols or the family's ancestor tablet, has been erected in a special room on the roof on the house.
Funerals are thoroughly pagan and saturated with the fear of death and of ghosts.
Reports of demon possession are not an uncommon occurrence. It is the consensus of evangelical missionaries in Taiwan that Satan has a strangle hold on this island. These people are as lost intellectually and spiritually as a people can be. We believe that the gospel is the only hope for this country, its government, its education system, and its people. Until the day when the Church in Taiwan is established enough to finish the task of evangelizing its own, we hope to continue building solid missionary teams in strategic locations around the island who can become proficient in the language of their target group and plant churches after the New Testament pattern which are led by mature national leadership.