I came into this world in 1948 and have lived my entire life in New York City. Since the time of my conception to today I have attended, participated in, and/or served the Chinese Church in the New York Metropolitan area (my mom went to church while pregnant with me). My home church is Grace Faith Church (formerly Chinese Grace Faith Mission) where I spent the first forty years of my life. When I entered Alliance Theological Seminary in 1988, I also transitioned to Chinese Evangel Mission Church, Manhattan (formerly Chinese Evangel Mission) to expose myself to a different style of leadership, church environment and way of doing things. Upon graduating from Seminary, I was offered a position with Queens Herald Church, C&MA as their English Ministry Pastor. I served there as an intern from 1990-1991 and then as a full-time paid staff from 1991 to 2000. In 2001, I took a position with Pastoral and Laity Ministries as its full-time Executive Director to serve the New York/New Jersey Asian American church at large. Thus, I have been "around the block" and have seen many things. But, what I can't remember seeing is the scale of changes taking place within and around our churches of late.
One major shift that is taking place involves our culture. Our culture is transitioning from modern to post-modern. Such a change impacts our attitudes, our thinking, the way we do things...how church is done. Some of those changes have already impacted us. For example, today Evangelical churches and Christians are more socially aware and active. Today many churches and Christians financially support and/or send teams around the world to feed the hungry, to dig wells for clean water, to stop human trafficking, etc. For most of my Christian life social activism was equated with liberal theology. It was something to stay away from. No longer (and it's about time). Many other cultural changes are taking place and others are coming.
Another major shift that will impact our Asian American churches is taking place directly within the church themselves. This past week I sent out a request for prayer for the three churches seeking English Ministry pastors (there may be a fourth). The churches are Chinese Evangel Mission Church, Manhattan, Chinese Conservative Baptist Church and New York Chinese Alliance Church. What makes this an "earth moving" event is this: 1) These three churches are some of the oldest Chinese English Ministry congregations in our community 2) Those who come to serve in these churches will likely come from outside our region and 3) I cannot remember a time when this many changes have taken place at the same time in our more established churches.
Each of these changes in and of themselves is relatively minor. But when you pool them together and combine them, the impact is monumental. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that the above changes are bad or detrimental. What I am saying is that we are in the midst of a rising tide of changes, the combination of which will significantly impact the Asian American churches in our region and their future. What our churches will look and/or how our churches will do ministry like down the road no one can say. But, what I can say for certain is, the times they are a changing.
One major shift that is taking place involves our culture. Our culture is transitioning from modern to post-modern. Such a change impacts our attitudes, our thinking, the way we do things...how church is done. Some of those changes have already impacted us. For example, today Evangelical churches and Christians are more socially aware and active. Today many churches and Christians financially support and/or send teams around the world to feed the hungry, to dig wells for clean water, to stop human trafficking, etc. For most of my Christian life social activism was equated with liberal theology. It was something to stay away from. No longer (and it's about time). Many other cultural changes are taking place and others are coming.
Another major shift that will impact our Asian American churches is taking place directly within the church themselves. This past week I sent out a request for prayer for the three churches seeking English Ministry pastors (there may be a fourth). The churches are Chinese Evangel Mission Church, Manhattan, Chinese Conservative Baptist Church and New York Chinese Alliance Church. What makes this an "earth moving" event is this: 1) These three churches are some of the oldest Chinese English Ministry congregations in our community 2) Those who come to serve in these churches will likely come from outside our region and 3) I cannot remember a time when this many changes have taken place at the same time in our more established churches.
Each of these changes in and of themselves is relatively minor. But when you pool them together and combine them, the impact is monumental. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that the above changes are bad or detrimental. What I am saying is that we are in the midst of a rising tide of changes, the combination of which will significantly impact the Asian American churches in our region and their future. What our churches will look and/or how our churches will do ministry like down the road no one can say. But, what I can say for certain is, the times they are a changing.
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