Are you serving them?
Jer, thanks for the good reminder for us to check our hearts, when it comes to our attitude toward other congregation(s) within the Asian church. I can definitely identify with an attitude of wanting to separate and segregate, rather than to serve and support. As I thought about this question of how to foster unity among the English-speaking and immigrant congregations, the thought that came to my mind was service.
In the church that I am serving in, the median age is currently about 60, but there is an increasing number of young people coming in. So we have a wide demographic gap between those who are older and have been coming here for decades versus those who are younger and have just started attending. It would be all too easy for us to have two congregations within the congregation.
From my experience in Chinese churches across the country, this is all too common. The English-speaking congregation will usually be younger than the Chinese-speaking congregation, creating not only a difference in language, but in culture and age. And yet, precisely because of that difference in age, here is an opportunity to foster unity through service. As the Chinese-speaking congregation grows older, opportunities for the younger English congregation to serve practically will abound. Particularly in the Asian context, if the service is well-organized and communicated, then it would very appropriate for the younger to serve and care for the older, which could very well create opportunities for the older to also interact with the younger. So, to English pastors who are leading English-speaking congregations, whether they are mostly youth, or young adults, or young families, work to model and lead your congregation to develop a culture where you are looking to serve and care for the needs within the ethnic congregation. Communicate with the pastors of the ethnic congregations to see if there might be practical ways your congregation can be serving them.
So what could this look like? Just a few ideas off the top of my head:
- Organizing groups of youth to go over to a home of members who are shut-in, in order to rake leaves or clean their home.
- Arranging for a team of young adults to give rides to older members to church.
- Encouraging college small groups to visit a member in the hospital or nursing home.
- Providing responsible youth who can babysit for parents who want to go on a night out.
I could keep going, but you get the idea. This sort of intentional care and service could be a powerful way to apply the gospel to the lives of the younger English congregation, as they love those who are very different from them, but with whom they have Christ in common.
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