evangelism/outreach « daveingland.com

evangelism/outreach

Asian church vs. multi-cultural church, part 1

It’s amazing to me that through a simple question so much information can be found through study and research in order to confirm an answer. I was asked the following question by a Korean friend:

What should be our attitude toward multi-cultural church? Should we seek it out or just build a church without actively seeking it?

As someone that has way more experience on this subject than me, I contacted DJ Chuang and got some insight from him, which he posted on his blog to illicit feedback from others to help as well. Then I started finding that through following blog links that this is a subject discussed a lot within the Asian-American context. As an Asian-American, this interests me a great deal. It seems that there is quite a lot of debate on the issue of having segregated Asian churches in the US or whether we should strive to be an amalgamation of one body within one homogeneous church.

For me, I really feel more comfortable in a multi-cultural church. I want church to be about loving God and loving others and being in-service to my fellow man rather than being served. I feel like being in an ethnic church makes it more about one’s heritage rather than about serving others. In a Korean church, the context of the message is going to be presented in a way relevant to the culture of Korea. Food will cater to Korean taste buds. So, what if God sends a Mexican family to a Korean church? Well, maybe they will connect, but most-likely I think they will feel out of place. Even if they connect, the church is probably so inwardly focused on reaching other Koreans than unchurched Mexican, Caucasian, African-American, Argentinian (etc.) people with the saving grace of Christ for both the Jew and the Gentile, that they will miss out on connecting others to the church and subsequently to the gospel of Christ.

One thing that puts me up against a lot of others in ministry is that I believe church was never intended to be safe and comfortable. The minute it is, where do we need to seek Jesus? If the church is feeling all warm and fuzzy then why would they want to venture out and attract those unlike them to be a part of their community? Jesus called upon the disciples to be challenged and always learning and growing. They were put in situations so risky that at times their life was dependent on whether or not they would be willing to die for their faith in Christ. I don’t think we can truly comprehend this idea in modern-day America.

Looking at the church and it’s amazingly rapid growth under oppression and persecution, it causes me to wonder something. They are Chinese and don’t really have options to worship in multi-cultural churches, but if religious freedom came about, I’m wondering what would happen. As a country that just hosted 200+ nations for the Olympic Summer Games and is reaching out to the US, Middle East & Europe and adopting some of our cultures into their way of life, would they really want to be just a church to the Chinese?

If we are to expect the kingdom of heaven to reign here on earth, will there be ethnically separated churches on that day? Are their segregated streets with segregated worship spaces in heaven? I seriously doubt it! So, we might as well realize that Christ has only one bride and it has nothing to do with our birthplace or skin color. It has to do with our love and faith as we set out in the journey to follow Christ.

For more thoughts, some of which go against my thoughts in this post, take a look at:

Churches should stay segregated: http://waynepark.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/churches-should-stay-segregated/
I could write pages and pages on this: http://www.randplaty.com/2008/08/06/i-could-write-pages-and-pages-on-this/#more-223
Does a multi-cultural church need to be intentional?: http://www.djchuang.com/2008/does-a-multiethnic-church-have-to-be-intentional/
Asian-American churches…the wave of the future?: http://www.randplaty.com/2008/07/26/asian-american-churches-the-wave-of-the-future/
In class today: Mosaic Church: http://nextgenerasianchurch.com/2007/10/16/in-class-today-mosaic-churches/#more-352
Why many Amerians prefer their Sundays segregated: http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/why-many-americans-prefer-their-sundays-segregated/

Christianity / church / church relevance / culture / diversity / evangelism/outreach / God / life / ministry / people — 1 Comment
21
Aug 08

Is diversity a taboo subject within the church?

Scott Williams, campus pastor of LifeChurch.tv NW Oklahoma campus asks in his blog, “is diversity taboo to talk about in your team or organization?” Also, “how diverse is your church?”

As I prepare to wrap up my season leading services at a predominantly Korean-American church and begin the journey of being a Japanese-American pastor planting an intentionally diverse church I am getting feelings of misunderstanding. To some, there is a need for ethnocentric ministries to help keep individual cultures alive and well in the US. While I agree there should be some ministry that speaks to people that may have English as their second language, I think it makes the church more about one’s culture and less about God’s kingdom. Are we to minister to people based on race or are we to be light and salt in a world that doesn’t know Jesus?

When we get to heaven, there will no longer be a Chinatown, or Little Italy. It is a kingdom made up of disciples of Christ all worshipping the Lord in one voice with one love. If the kingdom of heaven should be made here on earth, then shouldn’t we cross ethnic boundaries and worship in one language with one heart to see others come to know what we know--Christ died for the world to be saved, not just me and not just you.

It would be so sad to know that diversity was a taboo subject in the church today, even though I know that the church is one of the most-segregated places in modern society.

Pastor Scott shared a thought provoking scenario. What if the world were reduced to just a population of 100 people. Keeping the ratios exactly as they are today, what would earth look like? Here is the result:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both North and South
8 Africans
52 would be female; 48 would be male
70 would be non-white; 30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian; 30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual; 11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59% of the world’s wealth and all 6 would be from the U.S.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer (an he/she would be blogging LOL)

Are you surprised? Are you affected? Will you help change the world through seeing Christ known in the hearts of the 70% of people that do not know him already? Will you band together in love to help see malnutrition become a thing of the past? Would you encourage young students to stay in school so that more than 1% of the world’s population can be educated to be better equipped to be leaders of the nations in the future?

Bible / Christianity / church / church relevance / evangelism/outreach / God / leadership — No Comments
21
Aug 08

what if 57% of people in your church didn’t believe in the Bible?

Well, if you’re Tim Stevens, executive pastor at Grainger Community Church, you rejoice that there must be those in that group that are new believers or unbelievers.

When I first saw the stats of Grainger’s Reveal survey on Tim’s blog post it kind of threw me. Grainger is well-known for being a relevant church at the forefront of cutting edge stuff. They must be baptizing and discipling tons of people. Well, I’m sure they are, but in a church of 5,000 people on any given Sunday to know that they are attracting a lot of people to explore their faith is pretty great.

It just shows that different methods are being used to reach people and that God will be glorified through it all. People come to know Christ in different ways and their paths to the truth come about in various stages. One can’t expect that someone that wants to know the Lord personally may automatically believe the Bible to be fully true and without error or contradiction. For me though, I believe that engaging people in a missional environment where they have the chance to see lives changed through the power of the Holy Spirit will lead people to want to believe passionately that the Bible is relevant and truthful as they see things unfold in front of their eyes that mirror things they read in the gospel.

Whether missional or attractional, churches will still struggle with balancing what to do for both the believer and non-believer and it is open dialog such as what Tim Stevens is doing that will help us all obtain the goal of one day seeing the kingdom of heaven on earth.

Bible / church / evangelism/outreach / God / leadership / ministry / preaching — No Comments
20
Aug 08

We may only get one chance

Another post by Craig Groeschel on the Swerve blog calls pastors to preach the gospel every time. In his “10 ways to Make Your Spiritual Invitation Stronger” post, he lists these action steps:

Truly believe in the power of the gospel to change lives.
Recognize that not everyone is saved (including some people who have been members of your church for years).
Hate sin. Explain repentance. Preach Christ.
Don’t promise a better life. Promise a better eternity and the Holy Spirit to lead you through this life.
Preach as if this is someone’s only chance to hear about Christ. It might be.
Present the gospel in every message.
Call for a decision.
Trust that the Holy Spirit has already been at work in someone’s life.
Believe people will be saved.
Worship God when they are.

Isn’t it amazing that this is a call to pastors? Seriously, shouldn’t we all get this before we accept a call to preach? Well, we should, but we don’t always do this. In particular, I have been to services where decisions are never given. The messages are delivered specifically to those that believe in Christ already. Same with the gospel message. Many services have messages based on scripture on how to be a good parent or good steward of your finances or give money when times are tough to be blessed, yet they never touch on the gospel of Christ’s saving grace.

Another important point here is that I think a lot of pastors don’t really consider that they may have only one chance to connect with someone. God is infinite and he may use several people to call on someone to be saved, yet the road may stop with you. You may be the last hope of seeing someone come to know Christ. Is that reflected in your preaching?

One of the advantages of starting in youth ministry is relating to the statistic that 70% of teens that have been part of a church will leave and never come back once they go to college. That is 7 out of 10 students that will walk away from their faith and choose the world over the kingdom of heaven. If I know time is short, then I know I have take advantage of every opportunity. In the end, I am not perfect and I have failed at times. If I truly believe the gospel has the power to change lives, I must preach it every time for the sake of seeing one more person experience transformation through the power of the Holy Spirit.

If we can’t confirm through our own examples from the pulpit that the gospel as has the power to transform lives and that we trust the Holy Spirit has moved before us to soften hearts, how can we expect those in the seats to believe it and live it? Doesn’t the world deserve our best effort to preach the gospel and Christ crucified every time we speak? Are we to be agents of change in revolutionary ways to spread the love and gospel of Christ or should we resort to messages of having better lives for ourselves without repentance and belief that the gospel saves?

This is my act of obedience I must live by and hope that there is still time to see more lives eternally affected through the kingdom of heaven. Romans 1:16-17 will be on my devotional list this week and thanks (as always) to Pastor Craig Groeschel for challenging me and helping to strengthen my faith and ministry! May my ministry come to reflect what God put in my heart every Sunday, rather than what will cause people to like me or consider me to be a better preaching pastor. The transformation must start with me.

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20
Aug 08

Reasons not to invite others to follow Christ

Craig Groeschel hit home once again in his list of 10 reasons why people won’t invite others to follow Christ. His number one, and one that I completely agree is the top reason, is fear of rejection. Working in sales most of my adult life before following Christ and entering the ministry, I saw this fact everyday. Imagine people that choose a job that requires them to make a sale in order to earn commission or not get paid, yet being so afraid of rejection that they never asked for the sale? They would explain all the great things about the item/service yet never ask the prospective client to buy. In the world known as the kingdom of God, why should we fear such rejection? If God wants someone to accept an invitation from us, it will happen. If His plan calls for different timing, then so be it. Are people that refuse our invitation refusing us personally or are the refusing God/Jesus/Christianity/Church/Bible?

Craig’s number 10 on the list is powerful and I believe it should have been placed higher on the list (assuming it is chronological). That point is that some Christians won’t extend an invitation to others because they don’t really believe the gospel themselves. It shouldn’t be the case, but this notion is definitely true for a lot of people that may not admit it with their lips, but do so through their actions. I’ll comment more on this in my next post.

Read the whole list of ten reasons at the Swerve blog here.

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