how to do English ministry in Chinese churches
June 13, 2008
While it may be exciting to see new kinds of churches launched to reach the next generation, there are also good activities in ethnic Asian churches that reaches (some of) the next generation too. 2 resources came to my attention recently:
Pastor Kenneth P.Carlson (English Pastor at Chinese for Christ Church, Berkeley since 1994) had been working on his dissertation research, and shared his key findings in this presentation titled, “Reaching the Next Generations in bilingual Chinese Churches.” (Hit the green button under the slides to watch the presentation with audio and auto-advance slides.) Video of presentation also available.
And, Daniel L. Wong (Tyndale University College) launched this web page, Coaching for English Ministry in Chinese Churches, to help answer questions that he often hears about English ministry in Chinese churches, like: How do I connect with the congregation in preaching? I know the Bible text but how does it relate to the people? How do I motivate others to dig into the Bible for themselves? How do I balance my life?
Daniel Wong has also written a paper titled, “Toward A Theological Foundation for English Ministry in the Canadian Chinese Churches” (link to PDF download). Daniel was a full-time English Ministry pastor for 18 years and now teaches in Christian Ministries for the last 8 years.
While the 2 resources above are for the Chinese church, most of the principles and insights are transferable to other ethnic Asian churches. I’ve often noticed how similar inter-generational issues are between 1st generation immigrant Asians and 2nd generation English-speaking Asians, be they Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and so on. There are differences, granted, but there are so many more similiarities.
What other online resources have you found helpful in ministering to English-speaking people in an ethnic Asian church?
Find more like this: EM, L2 Foundation Blog, chinese, church.
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June 13th, 2008
Thanks for mentioning my research in your article. I hope that it is helpful to your readers.
June 14th, 2008
This is interesting… Would not expect L2 Foundation to have an article on this. It was good to look up the resource because I am the English Pastor for the Akron Chinese Christian Church. Thanks for sharing…
God bless,
Todd.
June 15th, 2008
Todd, thanks for your comment, glad it is helpful. Let us know what kind of resources would be valuable to you as an English pastor in an ethnic Asian church, L2 would like to develop next generation leaders in whatever context they’re in.
June 25th, 2008
DJ - thanks for posting my Coaching site and the location of my paper. I am getting more hits and downloads. I am glad to be of service to the wider Christian community.
Todd, in the past I spoke for the Midwest Chinese Christian Conference and have a brother-in-law in Columbus where we often visit from Toronto.
I would also like to do some Q & A on my coaching site as well so your readers can forward me some questions.
By the way, another interest of mine is preaching and I have an article on “Preaching in a Multicultural World” in the Mar/Apr ‘08 issue of Preaching: The Professional Journal for Preachers, on-line at http://www.preaching.com/resources/features/11569912/