Tell me about your spiritual background
growing up.
2nd Generation Asian American: Church, youth
group, Sunday school, and retreats was how I spent most of my time when I
wasn’t in school or doing homework. My parents were committed Christians so
these activities were hard to avoid.
Where do you currently attend church?
2nd Generation Asian American: Some statistic
says that over 90% of committed high school Christians stop attending church
in college. I know that my parents always assumed that I’d continue attending
church in college simply because they made church a part of my life. Guess
it wasn’t enough…
Would you consider attending church again?
2nd Generation Asian American: It’s unlikely.
You know what’s funny though? The Asian ethnic churches expect me to choose
their church because of my ethnic background and the Caucasian churches expect
me to attend their church because I speak English. I’ve visited a few Asian
ethnic churches and Caucasian churches after graduating from college and I
didn’t feel comfortable in their church. One service made it felt like I was
in little China and the other service felt weird so I couldn’t really be myself.
I might consider attending a second generation church if one is available.
But it’s unlikely. Most of them are lacking leaders and are run by people
that can’t relate or understand my unique culture.
Sound too familiar? We will post resources to provide encouragement
and insight.
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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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1.) How would you feel if your church posted this on the building or website? 2.) What takes place in your Church/Fellowship/SmallGroup that make "not yet born-again" guests feel like they don't belong? Please help the Christian community and share your thoughts! | | |
| Here's something I learned from Rick Warren, Pastor & Author of The Purpose Driven Life that he shared during the 2008 (stealth) Purpose Driven summit held in California last week. Rick explained that a church goes through several phases/steps of renewal. 1.) Personal renewal
2.) Relational renewal
3.) Missional renewal
4.) Cultural renewal
5.) Structural renewal
6.) Institutional renewal MY APPLICATION & WHAT YOU CAN DO.
Generational and cultural differences leads to fighting between different congregations over music, etc.. Ultimately, the fighting accomplishes little and the "next generation" suffers. A practical thing a "next generation" pastor or church leader can do is to focus small group, sunday school, and preaching on the steps shared by Rick Warren. Here's what it could look like. 1.) Focus on preaching and small groups that encourages people to make Jesus the lord of their lives for 5 weeks.
2.) Then focus on community for 5 weeks. If people cannot get along with each other, they will not go along or work together.
3.) Then focus on getting people to serve people the family of God and people that are not christians yet for 5 weeks.
4.) Then help people change the style/culture of sunday service and small groups to better reflect God's mission for 5 weeks.
5.) Then reorganize, retrain volunteers and delegate more for 5 weeks.
6.) Then work with seminaries to better train bible students for practical ministry.
Let me suggest that next generation pastors and leaders are unsuccessful at bringing cultural renewal because they have not lead people through personal, relational, or missional renewal. I believe that if you bring people through these steps, culutral renewal won't seem as threatening and you're more likely to see positive change.
======================Side Notes==================
-Please note that I have NOT been endorsed by Rick Warren to speak on his behalf.
-BTW, can anyone get me the DVD's from the stealth conference? I simply don't know how to get a copy and the church hasn't emailed me back yet. Rick said he would give us DVD's if we were willing to commit to doing something with them. I want to learn how to more effectively reach the next generation. Can anyone help me?
-DJ Chuang blogged about this event
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| This post gets me 2000 credits.Entrecard allows users to “Add New Blog” to existing accounts. This allows bloggers to manage multiple blogs in the same accountVisit their ebook for more information. | | |
| Many people visit a local church or small group because they want to give God a chance, know the bible , and practice Christianity. The problem is they don't feel comfortable during service or small group session because the "regular Christians" dominate the entire session. Because of this, most guests NEVER step foot in church again. It's simply too difficult to keep up with the "regular Christians". (There are a few that will return consistently though this is a very small percentage.) Ever bring a friend (that has never been to church) with you to church? You feel like you have to explain certain things to your guest so they don't feel ostracized and so you don't look like a lunatic to them. So what can we do to correct this? Make it EASY for guests to follow along and participate. It's very biblical. "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God." Acts 15:19 "... If you talk to people in a language they don't understand, how will they know what you mean?" Acts 14:9 Making it easy for guests to participate and follow along works. Look at church history, especially the protestant reformation. Luthor made it easy, he said "Justification by faith" while the dominant church at the time didn't change. Guess which church had increased attendance? You're correct if you guessed the church that made it easy to understand and follow along! What about church or small groups can we change so less people will feel like church is for "regular Christians"? If we do this, they're more likely to return :) | | |
| Leadership develops best when they are guided by the best coaches.
"Leadership
(the ability to positively influence) - for better or for worse- always
determines your effectiveness and the potential impact of your organization." I can think of no greater investment (time & financially) a church needs to make that supersedes equipping potential leaders
with the knowledge and skills to develop others. The future of the
church depends on people!
You probably
know some people that offer pretty good advice. It's great to listen to
the advice of those around you, but don't fall for the trap of being
complacent with mediocre advice.
While mediocre advice often
produces good leaders, coaching from experts will often produce great
leaders, "excellence" if you will.
Below are some resources that I believe Asian Americans will benefit greatly from.
Seven Practices of Effective Ministry
Leading at a Higher Level: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations
Invitation to Lead: Guidance for Emerging Asian American Leaders
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