I read a new study released by The Barna Group on Six Reasons Young Christians Leave The Church. Again, it’s another statistic that saddens me. I am beyond being classified as young right now, but I totally relate to what this study found:

1. Churches seem overprotective.
2. Teens’ and twentysomethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow.
3. Churches come across as antagonistic to science.
4. Young Christians’ church experiences related to sexuality are often simplistic, judgmental.
5. They wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity.
   
6. The church feels unfriendly to those who doubt.

I can already hear a lot of so called “mature Christians” looking at the study and condemning younger Christians as being shallow. Heck, it even states that in reason #2! However, it’s not just young Christians that feel this way. How many times have we spoken to someone about attending a church service only to hear the response, “Church just isn’t relevant to me. I have a personal relationship with God and I don’t need to go to a place where all they want to do is take my money and ask me for my time.” I hear stories like this about the church far too often. It’s particularly saddening to me though when it applies to the younger generation. Mainly because the younger generation may find the church irrelevant because they aren’t hearing answers to their questions as shown in Scripture or they just find it boring. I think the two go hand-in-hand.

The contemporary church moves towards seeking to connect with people through modern, guitar-driven music and dynamic preaching. In the end, I feel it’s better-suited to drawing in Boomers rather than Millenials. If the church fails to connect with the younger generation, how does that play out for our future?

The reason this is on my mind and weighing heavy in my heart is that I have been sensing a call to action lately. A lot of passions lie outside of what typically is viewed as taking place within the church and after being engaged in so many conversations about how many people feel they are close to God, yet distance themselves completely from the church makes me wonder if doing good outside the church may be my future.

As I look at my life, I had an experience with God that had nothing to with sitting in a church service and feeling convicted or being at a low point in my life where I was seeking strength and hope. However, I truly believe that God still wants to move through his people and is using the local church to affect transformation in our cities. It’s time that the church woke up to the change in the next generations and take what is good and shed what is not so good. Catering to the whims of Gen Y Christians isn’t the answer though. If you look deeply at what the Barna study states and what I hear from people on the street every day is that they would find church relevant if they truly experienced an encounter with God as they gather together. If they could serve in ways that made a difference, without judgement and chose to answer questions rather than force what is deemed as truth on a disconnected audience, the local church could experience revival. The awesome thing about this would be that it isn’t just going to be relevant to young people. It could be a multi-generational movement of amazing proportions with God in the midst and evidenced through the church’s story.

Obviously, there is a place for ministries of all shapes and sizes and there is definitely a need for people/orgs that will focus on specific areas of need to do good. In the end, the most glaring question to me is this: If the church really did what it seems like it was called to do, would the need for so many organizations exist? If we weren’t bombarded with so many calls for compassion on tv/radio/print media/social media to commit our time and resources to a cause every few seconds each and every day, would we respond differently? Would the world be a different place? Could it be a better place?

My call to action is not a calling or a vision that mandates me to something… yet. I am feeling something is about to change, and this time I don’t think I’ll have the energy to fight against it. This time, I don’t think I’ll feel like I’m in it alone.

The title of this post needs some immediate clarification. It’s strictly in the context of segregated churches that stand on their own for a particular reason, such as ethnic churches (Russian, Chinese, Spanish) or fringe churches (Biker, Hip-Hop, Urban).

I wrote two previous posts here and here that had to do with the apathy of being a diverse local church and why I feel it is important to embrace and celebrate cultural diversity more so than ethnic or socio-econimic diversity.

Having served in pastoral ministry in an ethnic church, I find it very awkward to not be part of the group. Many people will immediately think that me being Asian means I must be comfortable around others Asians. However, I was a Japanese American in an almost exclusively Korean American church and it was not very comfortable for me. I had to learn an entirely new culture and how I could transcend that at times for the sake of communicating effectively. To come in from the street and connect during a Sunday gathering would be great. On the surface the only difference would be that the congregation was Korean in appearance, yet not much would seem different. However, if you kept coming back every week, you’d begin to notice the context of the sermon illustrations were very Korean, some of the words in a sermon were Korean because there really wasn’t a good English equivalent, and the people seemed to have an unspoken communication that outsiders wouldn’t quite get. Many days were spent with me feeling like such an outsider. Many days I felt like those I was serving in the church didn’t appreciate me being different.

As uncomfortable as much of my time in ministry with my Korean American brothers and sisters was, I can’t tell you how much I learned from them. How I could have been (and probably was at times) judgmental of them, before learning of certain things that are taught and seemingly inherent in their nature and personalities. A small thing that ended up being a big thing was the use of titles. Even as a youth pastor intern, I had to be referred to as pastor by the teens in my group. I hate titles and don’t like the formality of being referred to as “Pastor Dave.” However, if the teens just called me Dave it was a sign of disrespect. I was okay with it, but their parents were not. On top of that, I was not really an official pastor in the church since I was not ordained at the time. So, I was referred to differently by adults in the church. I was the jundosa and the senior pastor was the moksanim. It had everything to do with respect and hierarchy. A tough pill for me to swallow at first, but once I grew to understand the culture more, I knew it had to be that way.

In the same way, there is culture that surrounds a church of bikers. As much as we in the suburban local church like to say that we welcome everybody and encourage anyone to “come as they are,” I can assure you that in most white, upper-middle class suburban churches, if a few bikers came in on a Sunday it would freak people out. If they chose to come back several Sundays in a row, it would cause some people to leave for another church. Being surrounded in a church with people that understand the biker culture may be much more positive for them than being around a bunch of accountants and soccer moms sharing stories.

Not just cultural differences that cause a lack of diversity to be a positive thing in a church, but language itself is a barrier. If people immigrate from Spain and only speak Spanish, having a church where they can worship in Spanish would be a good thing, whereas English-only may make it impossible for them to gather in the name of the Lord. Having a church where people of Vietnamese, Russian, or Mexican descent has a place in the community. They serve a particular need that an English-only church cannot. Language, more than culture, can determine diversity sometimes--even if that language is from being a biker or Hip-Hop.

At some point I have to believe that there will be blending of cultures in America. As we make the shift very soon to caucasians being the minority in the US, things are going to change--like it or not. My hope is that rather than continue segregating churches that we will someday be able to celebrate the diversity of cultures in America and embrace them and learn from them. What makes me who I am is a conflict of being a Japanese American with certain traits inherently Japanese, yet feeling fully American. I hope you’ll want to learn more about me as a person so you can understand me and others like me better. I want to learn more about you so that I can relate and celebrate those things that are unique to you and your culture that I may not know or experience had I not come to know you. That makes the world a better place and converges our cultures into something far more beautiful than if we just kept it to ourselves. Don’t just show me your skin color, but take me on a journey with you and let me hear your story and get to know you. We’ll both be better people as a result of our time together.

[This is a continuation of a previous post titled "In the church, ethnic diversity is meaningless," which you can read here.]

Continuing with my perspective on church diversity, let me start off with the three positions the local church takes on diversity (or lack of):

1. The church should be racially diverse because heaven is diverse.
2. The church should be relevant to one’s own culture where people can explore the context of their culture relative to the context of Jesus’ culture.
3. We want to be a church to all people, where everyone feels welcome.

These days it’s hard to escape diversity. We find people of different races and economic levels in the: workplace, school yard, and suburban neighborhood. Yet, in the local church, diversity is tough to come by. Should our local church reflect of the demographics of our neighboring community? I think it should. That goes along with points 1 & 3 above. So, for the purposes of this post, I am going to save point 2 for a third post and focus on points 1 & 3.

We are led to believe, as Christians, that heaven is a place where we will find people from all nations. As we walk out our driveways and look down the street we will probably see people of various ethnicities and varying income levels. So, if we are called to see heaven here on earth the local church should be diverse in its makeup. If we are to be a diverse church in our community, then we have to strive to make all people welcome. Makes sense, right?

I argue that diversity, for the sake of being a colorful congregation is just a facade. It’s something put in place to make congregants feel like they are being cosmopolitan and for ministry leaders to put a feather in their cap. I won’t say that it is all done in the name of vanity, but if you really break down the effect of diversity on the church, what do we accomplish by encouraging it? If everyone in your Sunday church service closed their eyes, would the effect of diversity really have any meaning?

You see, I am not a fan of diversity. What I am is an advocate for infusing culture into the local church. I believe that when we are in a church gathering and we were to close our eyes, that we could feel culture--and its influence on our lives--regardless of the skin color or job title of those around us. To me, beauty is not skin deep. In fact, I contend that our true beauty can only be realized when we get to know what lies under ones skin.

Not only is understanding other people’s culture relevant when it comes to ministering to them, but I say that it is more important for us to take the opportunity to learn their culture for the sake of making us better people. Offering different styles of music or having colorful faces in leadership in the church has no bearing on who the church it is. It may influence some to come so they don’t feel like standouts, but it doesn’t have much impact on us as a gospel community.

If we use the epistles as a reference, we can easily see that each church Paul wrote letters to was praised or admonished differently. They each battled different idols and ideals and were written to differently as a result. We don’t just align ourselves with one of the churches in the New Testament and then say that we will only learn what Paul taught from that particular Epistle. We take each Epistle into account and learn the context of each church and therefore understand why Paul wrote to each individually. We should do the same thing when it comes people of other cultures. Only when we get to know people deeper than what we see on the surface, can we truly be connected and stand alongside them. Only when I see you reach out to me to learn about my culture, will I truly believe that you care about me, rather than desire to see my Japanese face added to the mix of your congregation to confirm that you have your good deed. It is culture, not diversity, that will cause us to grow and become more beautiful as people.

I’ve made many, many attempts to engage people in a continuing dialog about racial diversity and cultural diversity within the local church. There seems to be three camps within church circles these days:

1. The church should be racially diverse because heaven is diverse.
2. The church should be relevant to one’s own culture where people can explore the context of their culture relative to the context of Jesus’ culture.
3. We want to be a church to all people, where everyone feels welcome.

The problem with scenario number 1 is that diversity for the sake of coloring a room to give it the appearance of heaven, isn’t really heaven. Think about it. When you walk into a church gathering and see a lot of races represented, is it truly any different than if you walk into a room with only people that look like you? Is the music any different? Is the perspective of the message any different? What do you take away from a room filled with people of different races vs a room filled with only your own? Maybe pride that you’ve done a good thing?  Aside from that, you have gained--nor learned--nothing.

Scenario number 2 is most often used in the context of an ethnic church such as: Spanish, Chinese, Russian, etc. However, it does apply to the White American church as well. Growing up in Mexico, China, or Russia comes with a different set of cultures than growing up in America. Certain practices/customs/viewpoints/taboos are going to be different than here in the United States. As people migrate to our nation, should we force our culture on them from day one? Do we make them feel unwelcome in the land known as the melting pot of people? Not only do these issues conflict with culture, but they also conflict with faith. One’s faith as practiced in Korea is probably not going to look like ones faith as practiced in Tennessee. Gathering in this manner can lead to exclusion, which leads to inclusion. That’s he problem with this scenario.

Number 3 is like the Disneyland of churches. Most conversations I’ve had with pastors and church planters describes their ideal view of this scenario. A church of diversity, both in race and social/economic class. A church where the alcoholic can worship next to the millionaire and everyone can experience love and grace. I know churches like this do exist in some communities, but what can one learn from such an experience? Just because you enter a room with people that do not look like you, that can afford more or less than you, that speak different languages than you, what difference does it really make?

We’ll never escape any of these three scenarios. Each has some merit and will have those people drawn to gather within those contexts. As I continue this topic in my next blog post, I will argue that what we want to gain from each of these can only truly be found when we get past race and learn to embrace culture. It’s what the first century church did, and I believe it’s what the twenty-first century church must do.

I attended a church worship service Sunday night at Encounter Assembly in Burbank, CA that was billed as an installment in a series on love, sex, and relationships. The guest speaker was Johan Khalilian and he was to speak from the perspective of being single. As someone who has only spent a few of my adult years as a single person, I wasn’t expecting much personal relevance from the message. That is the humbling part, because it was an absolutely amazing presentation that cut me to my core! Johan had a very unique story and delivered it in a very captivating way. He weaved his story into the story of Joseph being courted to commit adultery through the advances of his master’s wife. More than the content of Johan’s story--or the story of Joseph from the Book of Genesis--was the delivery of their stories. One man communicating Scripture in a way that was powerful and relevant. It was educational, motivational, and inspirational. I was brought to tears several times, and at other times felt like Superman, ready to take on the world. That was the vindicating part.

You see, I’ve been an advocate of invoking more story, and less preaching in the church. Rather than having one guy speak to an audience from a perspective of wisdom and holiness, I believe that pastors must find a way to tell a story that can be woven into some Scriptural context and become relevant in the minds of those in the room. It must be done in a way where the speaker can draw others into that story and have them walk away feeling like their life will be impacted in a way that will cause them to in-turn impact the lives of others in a positive way. For the first time ever, I feel like I witnessed a dream come true as I saw the story unfold last night in just such a way. I had the chance to witness God move in a storytelling session that reached into the core of every person in the room. Johan spoke out, people spoke back--it was more like a continual dialog than a sermon. It’s what I have envisioned for the local church and some day I hoped to see it fulfilled on a consistent basis. Yes, yesterday was the day that my dream manifested into a goal. Today, the process of seeing that dream continue into a reality has begun. It gave legs to an idea I’ve been working on for a book of collective stories and it may have birthed an action plan for a new work that has been hibernating within me that will give rise to a place where people can come together and be part of a collaborative story of love and grace within the local church.

There is much power in story, and this one is to be continued…

I’ve sort of come full-circle on this issue. I remember my thoughts as I was in an Episcopal church service about 8 years ago and how I felt out of place and unnoticed. At the time, I was an atheist and went with my fiance to make her happy. My observations at the time were that in order to fit in, I had to be just like them. As an atheist not believing in the God they were singing to, being spoken to about, and praying towards was something I wasn’t going to be comfortable with. Fast forward 8 years and oddly I feel similar as I observe my environment within the church. I don’t know if I really believe in the God that I hear about or see people pray to in church services.

From my own experience, God transformed my way of life in a dramatic way. I gave up a lot of worldly things to pursue a not-of-this-world God. I came to know a God whose Son sacrificed his own self in order to allow us to no longer be separated from an eternal Father. I had knowledge bestowed upon me that had no logical explanation for I had not studied such things previously. My hearts was changed and my righteous judgments were stripped away. I came away from my first experience with God as a different person. My life had new meaning and it had nothing to do with me. To me, I came to know a powerful, loving God filled with grace and compassion. A God that wanted me to know his truth so that I could be set free.

In the church today I occasionally hear stories of such a God, but I also see a lot of indifference in people. I find people arriving out of obligation and bolting for the door before the preacher asks them to worship God through the offering of their finances. I see people sing songs where the words seem to have little meaning to them.

Somehow the God I came to know in October 2004 has become a mediocre God. He is a tolerated God. He has been relegated to the bleacher seats as technology has taken center stage. We have become consumers of church rather than being consumed by God.

My heart aches at what I see around me and I feel helpless to do much other than turn my eyes back to the one who called me to him first. I must make God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit first in my life and hope that someday I can be united with others in a community that expects to see a powerful God that transforms lives and adds to the numbers daily those who come to know this God that loves them and calls upon us to love others. I miss having a church community that I can love and grow with, but even more I miss being in communion with the God I first came to know 6 years ago when he called me to him and asked me to place his trust in him and believe that he was who he said he was.

I had an interesting conversation with my friend LP last weekend. We were talking about the church and how we connected or didn’t connect depending on ethnic makeup and current culture within a church. LP & I are both Asian Americans and talked about issues of feeling out of place in most predominantly Caucasian American church settings. At the same time, we both acknowledged that most Caucasian Americans have no clue why we would feel different and disconnected. Especially those churches that pride themselves on being welcoming of everyone.

As we talked further, I was asked by LP if I saw myself as someone always having to present challenges for the sake of creating conflict, which could ultimately lead to a mutual understanding and resolution of the conflict. I answered that I was not the creator of conflict nor challenging of the status quo. However, the more I reflect back on that conversation, the more I feel like maybe I was wrong. My goal is to see the church united and cultures co-existing with one another in community, but at the same time seeing each individual and their culture celebrated and appreciated. I am not one who wants to see diversity in the church for the sake of diversity--bringing together a collection of different ethnic groups, yet forcing them to align themselves to the established culture (i.e., white, suburban mega church model) of worship is not productive. We shouldn’t be invited to the Sunday gathering, but asked to leave our cultural identity and heritage at the door.

In many regards, I do see myself as someone challenging the church to respond to the future where white America will become the minority easily within my lifetime. It is not for the sake of creating conflict or criticism, but it is to create a tension that must be addressed. I tend to make people feel uncomfortable if they are already comfortable within the church. My experience has proven to me that when things aren’t brought up for the sake of avoiding conflict, usually things don’t get resolved as they are just never discussed.

As I think about this more, I wonder what others think about me. Am I viewed as an ultimate unifier or an instigator? Should I care? Should I do something different?

I don’t want to be seen as someone critical (seeing only the negative) of the church, but I do believe that we as the church are at the forefront of a huge shift that has already begun. Either we can recognize this shift and move with it--maybe even get ahead of it--or seek shelter and hope that it will pass. Complacency and being stagnation is proving to be a detriment for today’s church. We need a renewal and transformed thinking to get us through the 22nd century church. Let’s not bury our talent in the ground waiting for the master to return so that we can give him back exactly what we think he wants returned. Instead, let us find a way to invest and reach across the aisle and come together for the sake of enrichment in a church that knows no boundaries and truly celebrates the wealth we have in the cultural diversity which is the melting pot known as America.

The title is in reference to my friend Jon Reid‘s blog of the same title. In particular, it has to do with this post: “and” (Philippians 1:1 lectio) and Jon’s reply to my comment on that post. I’m sure my takeaway from Jon’s post was different than his thoughts that went into writing the content, but it struck me pretty hard in my own way. You see, I’ve been wandering around here in Portland, OR for the past six months feeling alone and like a stranger in a strange place. No matter what I do, I just feel unsettled here. During a tokbox video chat with my friend Josh Roberts, I found myself unexpectedly going off on a rant about pastoral leadership and how I felt there was a breakdown in pastors caring for and mentoring leaders within their churches. So many people are leaving the ministry and embracing life in roles as speakers, authors, coaches…you name it. They are abandoning the church. It saddens me. So many people are falling away from their roles as servant leaders because of feeling burned out or just going through the motions. They have lost their passion and have become unsupported for their callings. This saddens me as well.

During my rant I told Josh that it was just what was in my mind at the time of our conversation. He insists that it was more than that. He told me it was a burden on my heart. I never thought about it before as a burden, but from that moment on I’ve thought about what he said. Is it a burden? Must I respond?

Feeling lost and alone here in Portland, I too have removed myself from any formal ministry role. I’ve been working up to 12 hours a day, coming home around 9:30pm and even working Sunday mornings until 9:30pm sometimes. I’ve been okay with that up until that tokbox conversation with my friend Josh. I hadn’t really thought about acting on it much until I read the post from my friend Jon. Jon wrote in his blog post:

This crushed me. My heart went out to Jon. I know his pain and anguish. I hope for what he hopes for. We need people to have a burden on their hearts to help equip and encourage others. We need people like the Apostle Paul to pass along his encouragement and training to people like Timothy. It must be a continual cycle of renewal. Somehow we have lost this mentoring relationship. I feel I must get back into this, even at an informal level. I may not be the designated leader in a community at the moment, but I have a burden to give back to those who want to receive and encourage those that just need a little boost.

While I could always just go do this, I feel like there must be more to it than that. A community, a network, a fellowship… something bigger than myself must be the result.

I must admit that for the longest time I felt like a failure…not because our first church planting experience wasn’t a success, but because after all of my time in seminary and as an assistant pastor and lead pastor, I suddenly found myself working at a Kia dealership in Portland, Oregon. To me it was a job--the only job I could get after a two month job search--not a ministry. How foolish of me though! God has been unpacking a lot of things for me in just the 30 days I have been an internet sales manager at this Kia dealership. I have several stories I could share, but one is so poignant that it never seems to leave my mind.

Mr. H is a very successful businessman. He makes over $200,000 a year at a business he has owned for about 20 years. He grew up in the church and has been a pretty faithful Christian until a year ago. You see, Mr. H lost his brother at the age of 57. One night his brother went to sleep and never woke up. His heart stopped beating in the middle of the night and he passed away. A few months after the loss of his brother, Mr. H felt like God had left him. He blamed God for taking his brother away from him and his family. Mr. H was still hurting and still resentful towards God. He stopped going to Sunday services and didn’t want anything else to do with what he thought God wanted. Know that I did not force my faith upon Mr. H, nor did I manipulate the conversation to direct to this topic. Through some crazy, convoluted series of events we ended up on this subject and I never see it coming, until I’m immersed in the dialog.

Through just listening to Mr. H tell his story, I could see that there was some revelation and some healing happening right before my eyes. Mr. H asked me to share my story of how I went from being an atheist of 37 years to a seminary graduate and pastor. Mr. H told said to me that it was obviously God moving in my life. He said that it would just that kind of miraculous act of God coming upon him in his voice in order to resurrect his faith. However, I knew that Mr. H knew that deep down inside he knows God and that he knows God is there. He’s just stinging from the pain of losing his brother to a heart condition that could ultimately take his own life as well. It’s a hereditary condition that the doctors don’t know why it happens or when/if it will strike. That’s scary! Mr. H is in pain, but I know he is also scared. We talked some more and I shared how in Ecclesiastes and the final chapter of Jonah of examples God gave us of being angry or not being able to understand why things happen as they do. It’s a real emotion to be hurt and confused about God’s actions and that he understands that. It’s not a punishment and it’s not for us to feel sorry for ourselves over. As we come to realize that, we free our mind to begin to see some sense in the losses.

The craziest part of all of this, is that a successful businessman named Mr. H came in to buy a truck for his business, yet chose to reveal some painful experiences from the loss of his brother and his personal relationship with God to a stranger. You see, for some strange reason these are the stories and conversations I was never able to have with regular attenders of a church service. However, sitting across from me at my desk as I hold the title of internet sales manager, people seem free to discuss personal aspects of their life and faith and God with me in a very real and meaningful way. I’m at a Kia dealership worried about whether I’ll make enough money to pay my rent, yet God is bringing people to me that have impacted my life and given me opportunities to do what I always dreamed about doing as a lead pastor of a church plant--I’m reaching people outside of the church, speaking language they understand, and getting them to look at church, God, Christ, and people in a different way. What I call a job, God is using as a new ministry. I still find it a mystery, but am very grateful for the opportunity I have been entrusted with to be a small part of the process to (hopefully) seeing some people renew their faith in God and his church.