Partnering with other churches
I had the opportunity to attend the annual meeting for the association my church is involved with. Besides the time there with fellow staff, it was great to build relationships with leaders of other churches and hear about the ministries going on in our region. One striking observation I had during my time there is simply how few Asian churches were represented (few meaning zero. I was joking with my staff that they were going to put me on their promotional material) …which made me wonder why that is.
In my experience with Chinese churches, very few of them have ever been very engaged in traditional denominational structures. At most, they might be listed on their rolls. But as far as real participation and partnership, I’ve not seen much of that. In fact, as I think on my experience in these churches, even outside denominational affiliation (if there is any), there has usually been very little meaningful partnership with non-ethnic churches at all. Rather, the Chinese churches I’ve known have tended to be rather isolated in their ministry.
Has this been your experience? Are there any reasons for this? How could Asian churches benefit from seeking meaningful relationships with other non-Asian churches or within a denomination?
Hey Geoff,
GREAT post! I too have the same experience as you. Pastoring here in the Bay Area, I have sought to get to know other churches and be a part of different fraternals, associations, and coalitions, and as you have shared, the Asian church representation is slim to none.
It seems to me that the mentality that leads to the development and growth of an Asian church (outside of the immigrant church that needs to assemble due to language barriers), is finding safety and comfort in shared ethnicity and culture, not shared Gospel theology.
As a result, this same mentality that is in the church overflows into how the church relates to other churches, seeking partnerships and cooperation with other churches based on shared ethnicity and culture, not shared Gospel theology.
So YES, there are HUGE benefits with Asian churches seeking meaningful relationships and partnerships with other non-Asian churches. But, what makes the relationships and partnerships meaningful is not a desire to be “multi-ethnic” and simply buck the trend of Asians only associating with Asians, but relationships and partnerships based on the Gospel and shared theology and doctrine.
Furthermore, one thing that regularly sticks out to me in the Gospels is how clear Jesus is that if we only love people who are similar to us externally, we are no different than sinners and tax collectors. We don’t need the Gospel or regeneration to love those or want to be around those who are “like us/similar to us.” There is a huge benefit to having people completely unlike us culturally and externally, with the only thing uniting us being Christ and His undeserved Gospel that brings us into one new family. So if we are part of a primarily Asian church, pushing our church to seek Gospel-centered partnerships with non-Asian churches will test our faith and help better display the Gospel to the world.