Chinese churches in America

Thankful for the past weekend of catching up with old friends. A brother recently wrote about a particular burden of his:

“In my personal experience in the DMV area, Chinese-American or Asian-American churches are either:

1) Family Churches
2) Just YA’s / Single’s / Young couples

Young Adult’s ministries are either thriving, dying, or non-existent. Praying for more churches with solid inter-generational fellowship.“

There could be, in the same way second-generation Asians are trying to navigate and define their standing in the mainstream culture, a spiritual parallel of identity-seeking that causes this disconnect within the second-generation church with respect to fellowshipping across generations.

To the praise and glory of our God, there are a couple examples where this true inter-generation fellowship and love occurs, albeit with specifically 1.5-generation and primarily Chinese-speaking members. One comes out of a city church where the leadership holds deep convictions about manifesting God’s covenant to his people – think children sitting through the entire service and young adults actively serving the disabled and elderly. Another example comes from a selfless, sacrificial love on the part of some young adults in a suburban context, where that environment costs them career and social advantages.

Both were Chinese churches, one presbyterian and the other non-denominational (baptist), yet both saw how desperately they needed each other for the sake of their own discipleship with Christ (Acts 2:44). Even more ideal would be the marriage of the best of these two theological traditions: a deep covenantal commitment to each and every member (Hebrews 10:24-25) while each one heeds the call to diligently strive for individual holiness (Colossians 1:29).

The potential perspectives and gifts that could be shared across generations simply blows the mind. Thank you again for the brothers who hold this vision by the Spirit.