CONFAB—Wednesday
Introduction
On Monday, we explored how one local church purposely or at least consciously “do church” with a commitment to hold in creative tension a spirit of diversity found in Pentecost. Yesterday, we reviewed how effective communication is the result of understanding the context in which one is communicating. The ability to communicate lays the foundation for effective church ministry.
Now that we are in the new millennium, what will future Chinese North American churches look like? What will the saints need to effectively engage in vibrant and faithful witness of their Christian faith? My hope is to share with you what I think we can expect in the future—becoming a “dwelling place for God.”
Recent Writings
According to Fenggang Yang in his recent book, Chinese Christians in America (Penn State Press: 1999), there were 700 Chinese Protestant churches in the U.S. and 150 Buddhist temples in 1994. William Eng of the Fellowship of American Chinese Evangelicals claims that the American born Chinese population now stands over one million people with 30,000 new births every year. And if the immigrant population continues to grow, the number of ABC births could easily double again in less than two decades. If these new Chinese were to come to church, what will Chinese North American churches look like in the new millennium?
Fenggang Yang, a sociologist and formerly a member of the Chinese Christian Church in Washington, DC, proposes that through “selective assimilation and selective preservation,” the church assists its members to construct integrally three identities: Christian, American, and Chinese. Here are two examples that he gives.
To maintain cultural unity, Chinese see “orthopraxy—correct practice” over “orthodoxy—correct belief.” There are correct ways to perform key rituals associated with life’s cycle: birth, marriage, death, and ancestorhood. While participating in these standardized rituals, one is Chinese and civilized in practicing them. In most Chinese funerals, the mourners come forward to the coffin and bow three times out of respect. When leaving the funeral service, mourners are given the “bok gum” that contains a coin to symbolize your future prosperity and a piece of candy to remove any bitterness that may have befallen you by coming to the funeral.
For most Christians, some of these practices have little or no meaning for their religious faith. Furthermore, some Christians are uncomfortable with these practices because of their association with ancestral veneration. But the point here is that Chinese churches have permitted these rituals because proper behavior is more at stake than proper belief.
Yang in his discussion of preserving Chinese culture concurs with other Chinese scholars that Confucianism as Chinese orthodoxy is largely compatible with Christianity. Filial piety which requires children to respect their parents and elders, to take care of them when in need, to honor them in deed by achieving success, and to venerate them after death, find similarities with the fifth of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 21:12),
“Honor you father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
Also in Ephesians 6:1-3, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother—which is the first commandment with a promise—that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
On the other hand, Daoism and Buddhism, considered religions with systems of gods and spirits, rituals and symbols, are generally rejected by conservative Chinese Christians as incompatible to their understanding of Christianity. Instead, the Chinese Christian Church in Washington, DC sees Buddhists as opportunities to win them to Christ.
The future of the Chinese church according to Yang remains bilingual if not trilingual in some places to help its members integrate their identities of being Christian, American, and Chinese. Yang also believes that most Chinese churches share two characteristics: theological conservative and organizational independent.
In comparison to this perspective, Tim Tseng, formerly at Colgate-Rochester and soon to be church history professor at ABSW wondered if there would be any Asian Pacific churches in the future while a “post-ethnic” ethos prevails. Whereas African Americans and other racial/ethnic groups have no or little choice in being seen as racially different from the white culture, Asian North Americans see their identity as optional. In this post-ethnic view, society favors voluntary over involuntary affiliations with racial/ethnic identity. Can one freely choose how much or how little one wants to affiliate with racial/ethnic identity? This line of thinking suggests that Asian American or Asian Canadian consciousness “was but a cocoon: something useful, something to outgrow.”
In his conclusion, Tseng does propose that Asian North American churches’ reason for existence is to be a prophetic witness against the idolatries of racism and “white privilege” in North American society and churches. Surely maintaining separation from being in Christian fellowship with other churches is offensive to God, but so is racial injustice and privilege. Even if our society is increasingly becoming “post-ethnic,” there needs to be a voice that speaks to this and points to the Reign of God.
For Tseng, Asian Pacific American and Canadian churches exist with a prophetic mission to their sister churches and society at large.
And finally, we have the popular metaphor of three kinds of fish representing three generations of Asian Americans. Kenneth Fong, pastor of Evergreen Baptist Church in LA, in his book, Pursuing the Pearl, applies the image of sports fishing in California in freshwater, bay-water, and saltwater to the acculturation of Asians in North American society.
Ken Fong likens the immigrant (first) generation to freshwater bass that thrive in the lakes and streams and rivers. The second generation is likened to the salmon that start out in fresh water, then go out to the bay where there is a mix of fresh and salt water; and they thrive in both. The third and subsequent generations, well adapted to America (or Canada), are likened to the codfish that live their whole existence in salt water. Fong offers challenges for growth and reconciliation for each kind of fish with an emphasis that inevitably the third and subsequent generations will leave their forebears for Americanized Asian American ministries.
Fong clearly believes that sociological and psychological developmental reasons produce three kinds of Asian North American churches. According to this schema, FCBC is salmon and Sunset Ministry, the church’s recent new church plant is cod. However, I wonder if there is another perspective to our understanding of the future of Chinese North American churches.
Is it possible for estuary fish to exist where the saltwater tide meets a river current? Here the water is dynamic; neither salty or fresh but an ever-active blending of changing water that produces a new kind of fish that lives and thrives in a place of newness and change.
Unity in the Body of Christ
The theme passage for this year’s conference comes from Ephesians 4. The cosmic plan is to unite all things in Christ. Two pleas are given: first, bear with one another in love, and second, maintain the unity of the Spirit. These are interdependent. The direct command is “making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (4:3) Christ makes peace; in fact, Christ is peace. So when we make peace with one another, we also are being Christ-like.
The unity and harmony of the Christian community depends on the capacity of Christians to love one another. We show this Christ-based unity by putting up with each other.
To do this, each of us has been “given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gifts.” Christ gives gifts, and in the giving, the great unifier, Christ, creates a new diversity. This is a very important point. It is often argued that Paul, and here Ephesians, uses the body imagery to argue that Christ takes our diverse natural gifts and creates a new unity out of them. It would be as though we bring our talents to the church and, through the power of the Spirit, Christ molds them into a miraculous unity that is the church. That may be a true insight, but that is not the point in Paul nor in Ephesians. Rather, the unified body needs diversity in order to function.
Listen to Ephesians 4:11-13:
“The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.”
Not only does the unified body needs diversity to function, according to Ephesians, the church is the body and Christ is the head. This fits in with the emphasis in Ephesians on the exaltation of Christ. We live out the power of the Christ who is at the right hand of God. This exalted Christ unifies, diversifies, and coordinates the life of the church.
The point of building up the body of Christ with diversity is further described in Ephesians 2.
“You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.”
Whether it is the image of the body with many parts with Christ as the head or the image of the holy temple with the apostles and prophets as the foundation and Christ as the cornerstone, we the people of God are given different gifts so that the church can function. And when this is affirmed and lived out, we become “a dwelling place for God.”
Asian North American churches in the future will remain varied and diverse. There will not be one model that fits all. However, one thing is clear. For the Body of Christ to function well in the new millennium, there must be diversity. It may be bilingual or trilingual, bicultural, multigenerational, theologically open, economically represented, down-right welcoming and inviting!
Members of a Dwelling Place for God
If the diverse members of this dwelling place for God are to work together in ministry and mission, what are they like?
A. Renew Our Minds
bell hooks, English professor at City College in New York, crusades for American education to become freed from the western culture of domination. She quotes Martin Luther King, Jr. when he told the citizens of this nation that we would be unable to go forward if we did not experience a “true revolution of values.” We can learn from teachers like bell hooks who are engaging students to take responsibility for their own learning. She said,
“Making the classroom a democratic setting where everyone feels a responsibility to contribute is a central goal of transformative pedagogy.”
What will it take for us to make our churches become democratic settings where every member feels a responsibility to contribute toward the central goal of transformative churches?
In Romans 12:2, we read, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
As members of the “dwelling place for God,” we must take the responsibility of being the foundation of apostles and prophets seriously. We must do the kind of work done here. We must immerse ourselves in the language and insights of the Bible, and we must state what we have learned by doing that in language and actions appropriate and relevant for today. The reason that the paradigmatic shift of growth and vitality has changed from mainline churches to the evangelicals is not that we have gotten old. It’s because we have forgotten how to renew our minds.
B. Do Theology
A few years ago, many young Christians were wearing bracelets and t-shirts with the letters, WWJD—What Would Jesus Do? For the majority of youth, this simple acronym helped them to explore how Jesus might have acted in their personal life situations. They poured over Scriptures and found comparable examples of how Jesus acted in his days and how he might want us to act today.
WWJD was a short-lived craze that reminded us that we are capable of doing theology today. Instead of taking someone’s opinion on a subject or interpretation of Scripture, consider reading the Bible for yourself with biblical aids to assist you in order to develop your own conclusions. I believe that many controversial issues that are paralyzing our church life today can progress toward more informed understanding when we are not afraid to learn and talk about them.
Baptists are known to be “people of the Book.” While it is true that Baptists are Bible loving Christians, we do not worship the Bible. We worship Jesus Christ. While the Bible offers the inspired word from God, it is Jesus who fulfills the Scriptures and the Law. WWJD reminds us that Christ’s love for the world is the reason for our living.
Keep in mind, “the gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.” Not only do all us have the ability to do theology, church leaders are singled out to teach the laity.
C. Be a Dwelling Place for God
Ephesians speaks about Christ is the cornerstone around which the foundation of the apostles and prophets is ordered. We are the new temple, and the temple is oriented around the power of God in Christ.
Many churches and their leaders have become increasingly anxious to want to take action in ministry thinking that our actions speak louder than our words. That is generally true. However, we have also seemingly lost the value and importance of being church rather than always doing church. In order to avoid conflict, we have rushed to abandoned our beliefs. Before we have examined and valued our heritage, we are quick to put in place corporate solutions to ecclesiastical problems. Rather than to take time to study and reflect, some churches have only acted on instincts and have caused schisms throughout the larger family.
To dwell means “to hold up or stop oneself so that you can stay awhile.” To be the temple of God, we must seek the power of God in Christ by dwelling with one another in love.
Conclusion
The conference theme of “Equipping the Laity for Christian Service in the New Millennium,” seems to suggest that during this week via the Bible studies, workshops, evening programs, and even these lectures, you would become “equipped.” Far be it.
We may help, but ultimately, it is Christ who has given us the gifts for ministry. And with these diverse gifts, the Body of Christ is able to function properly as it was divinely designed. The future of the Asian North American church with all of its diverse members who are monolingual, bilingual, bicultural, multigenerational, rich and poor, more westernized or more Asian, first generation or third generation all contribute to the building up of the Body of Christ. No one is left out. No strangers or aliens here. All are citizens and members of God’s household.
We have become the dwelling place for God.