What would you want to see in a conference?

[David Park]

Here's a question I'd like pose to you out there...

Let's say you were on the planning committee for a conference that
would focus on the issues of the 2nd generation. What issues would you
like to have covered? What areas of information do you feel your
community / church / leadership group need to be equipped with?
Who are some people that you would like to hear from directly and
perhaps ask questions?

I'd love to hear your responses...thanks.
To God be the glory....

[John Lee]

Here are some possible conference sessions I'd like to see available
for a 2nd Gen Conference:

2nd Gen Church Model
2nd Gen in a 3rd-4th Gen World
Serving as a minority in a foreign ethnic church
Is it necessary to retain your culture in a global multi-ethnic
community
2nd Gen Worship - what sets it apart, if anything at all

[Joyce Chun]

Partially echoing John's ideas, I would love for a 2nd gen conference
to cover issues of retaining culture in a global multi-ethnic
community. The 2nd gen. doesn't talk about it enough. We talk about
healing, personal devotion and our identity in Christ, fellowship,
worship, inner-city and global missions...but not so much about
multiethnic/multicultural issues.

[Samuel Kim]

I guess I'd like to see a time of celebration and recognition of our
uniqueness amidst the vast mosaic that encompasses God's kingdom. We
don't do enough to acknowledge the unique place in time, history and
location that God has placed us in. So some of the topics can be:
- what specific vision has God given 2nd gen
- what can 2nd gen contribute to the bigger/global picture of the
church
- how does the gospel bring healing to 1st/2nd gen relationship
Having been on the 2nd gen side of church I've often found finding
fault with 1st gen a natural fallback strategy to gather similar
sympathizers. It may be time for 2nd gen to grow up, try out their
wings and fly (celebrate, indentify our uniqueness and contribute to
the great commandment and great commission). This is one way we can
approach our present situation.

...Sam Kim (Raleigh, NC)

[John Lee]

I like how Sam said that maybe the 2nd Gen should grow up and leave the nest. It is very easy to blame the 1st Gen for their mistakes/character flaws.

Here are some other topics I'd love to see discussed at the conference:

• Strategies for working together with the 1st Gen
• How to make the best out of a small church environment
  
• Networking with other 2nd Gen ministries for the good of all
  
• Accountability among pastors and leaders
• Establishing a mentoring model
  

[DJ Chuang]

I'll confess that I have a personal bias for ideas, and having
whatever topics open for discussions would be a lot of fun for me. But
what seems to make the difference in the world is also those who have
a bias for action. So, one thing that'd be most compelling would be
the living examples of 2nd generation Asian Americans who are doing
good things for God's Kingdom in the areas of serving their
neighborhood community, in the global village, in the business world,
in mainstream society, and, of course, churches that are a little (or
a lot) different from the typical Asian church. Another topic that'd
be stimulating is planting and launching new 2nd gen Asian American
churches.

DJ Chuang
www.djchuang.com

[John Lee]

In response to DJ's post, I'd like to post some info on what our church is doing to help identify the 2nd Gen church.

Our church, Hebron Community Church (www.hebroncommunity.org ), has voted to merge with another church , New Community Presbyterian Church (http://www.ncpcchicago.com), for the sake of progress. Our church was the English component of a Korean church here in Chicago for most of its 10+ year history. Along the way, several of our English pastors branched off and took some members of the congregation with them as they started brand new independent 2nd Gen churches. A handful of people, however, wanted to remain closely connected to the 1st Gen Koreans with the hope of working together with them instead of just packing up and leaving. Eventually, we became financially independent and wanted to be a church in the mold of Young Nak church in L.A. - a "church-within-a-church model" - basically a 2nd Gen church working alongside a 1st Gen church - each is financially independent, but they have a symbiotic relationship as opposed to a parasitic one! Apparently, it was agreed upon by the 1st Gen senior pastor; but they never really treated us as anything other than a sub-ministry rather than a joint-ministry.

Our pastor had been praying about merging with another church for the past 2 years... when I found out about it, I thought it was a brilliant idea b/c the 2 churches joining their resources meant that we would no longer have to do maintenance ministry, but it allowed us to actually move forward. I won't get into the details here, but it really did mean that we didn't have to simply fill in the gaps in our ministry, but we would be able to bring the right people in to the right places.

In any case, our pastor was contacted by Pastor Brad from New Community and they decided to bring up the potential merger to their leadership. Both leaderships approved and our congregation voted unanimously to go ahead with the merger.

I find 2 interesting features of this merger:

1) the coming together of two 2nd Gen ministries might be able to serve as a model for a new way of doing 2nd Gen Church: one major feature of the 1st Gen (at least for Korean churches) is church splits. But if our ministry can become a model, it would not only set itself apart from the 1st Gen, but would also provide a model that responds to the pain and hurt of the 1st Gen.

2) while our ministry was primarily 2nd Gen Koreans, New Community is a mixed bag that maybe began as a 2nd Gen ministry but now they do not necessarily specify who their target demographic is other than those who need Christ. So, in a way, our church (which would serve as a satellite campus of the other) would probably also go in that direction, which I wouldn't necessarily classify as 2nd Gen.

john;)