See also AUG 24 Administrative History.
When the Communist revolution occurred in 1949, more than two million native Chinese fled to Taiwan and the Nationalist movement established a government on the island in December 1949. Word was sent to the Augustana Mission in Hong Kong that an opportunity for work existed in Taiwan. The Rev. John L. Benson, an Augustana missionary in Hong Kong, was sent to Taiwan and on June 3, 1951, he established a Lutheran congregation at Kaohsiung. Augustana missionaries Ethel M. Akins and Eleanor Anderson were the first Lutheran missionaries in Taiwan, arriving in September 1951. A year and a half after the mission was established, the Kaohsiung congregation had a membership of more than 100 and three Sunday Schools were operating in the city.
In 1952 other Lutheran churches began to send missionaries to Taiwan, and because of the influx of missionaries representing various European and American Lutheran churches, discussions commenced about combining the efforts of the different churches. It was decided to create a unified mission known as the Lutheran Mission in Taiwan. The Taiwan Lutheran Mission was a cooperative effort of European participants: the Norwegian Mission Society, the Danish Mission Society, the Lutheran Free Church of Norway, and the Norwegian Lutheran Mission; and American participants: the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and the Lutheran Free Church. The Taiwan Lutheran Church (TLC) was established in the fall of 1954. In 1963 the Taiwan Lutheran Mission transferred all administrative and evangelistic duties to the TLC.
From the description of Photographs and Negatives 1950-1959; 1954-1955. (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Library). WorldCat record id: 51760723
