some thoughts

[louis kang]

What I would lilke to see the 2nd Generation church do is STOP doing
and START thinking. I don't know many churches that are not doing
what Saddleback is doing or what Willowcreek is doing...North
Point...etc.
Carbon copies are ok but when it festers itself into the DNA of our
English speaking Korean churches then something is dearly wrong.
Furthermore, i don't really see a problem with the 2nd Gen church as i
do with the 2nd Gen pastors. Change the pastors and you change your
churches. I always seek spiritual advice from the 1st and 1.5 pastors
because their spirituality tends to be rich and full of substance.
Being a young pastor, i have yet to meet a truly global minded (living
it out), emotional astute, etc 2nd Gen Pastor. There must be a reason
why the 1st gen church has reached this magnitude...unfortunately the
2nd gen church's torch has become feeble at best. So what is the
problem...are we more reactionary than we would like to think?

[David Park]

Louis,

Very interesting commentary here. I agree with you on your point about
2nd Gen pastors, but would like you to expand on how the 1-1.5 pastors
are "spiritually rich and full of substance". In what ways do you feel
that they are more global minded and emotionally astute than the 2nd
gen?

In many ways the 2nd Gen is reactionary, many times I have thought, to
the lack of vision in the 1st Gen church. Often however, I've come to
the conclusion that we are too inclined to complain about lack of
vision, rather than forging ahead. In fact, I had often thought that
the 2nd Gen thinks too much, and does nothing, rather than your
opening statement that you wished that they would stop doing, and
start thinking.

So tell me more...I'd like to hear what you're thinking.

[louis kang]

the professional veneer has to exit the building.

There professional veneer in 2nd Gen churches have snuffed the
possibility of multi-ethnic churches, you are too smart for your own
good, and we don't know how to stop it. Getting a group of 2nd
Gen'ers to DO something in a church is accustomed to yanking out one's
teeth. The problem, however, does not lie in the DO as to the WHY.
That is where thinking must must evolve. We are ABLE, we are
INTELLIGENT, we have RESOURCES but we make NEGLIGIBLE IMPACT. It is
not the DO but the WHY.
Why can't we grow more than 150-200 if we are able, intelligent and
resourced? We have the prayer backing of a prayer Juggernaut, what is
stopping us. It has got to be us. If so, the doing is always a by
product of the thinking, so what is our error in thnking. What to do,
what to do, what to do.

If we forge ahead with the DOING then we will jeopardize the the
future of our English Korean Church, 10 years down the road. Thinking
powers the doing, maybe we are asking the wrong questions.

What constitutes a second gen pastor? What is made up of?

Just some thoughts, I need to get back to work...
Blessings

[Samuel Kim]

There's some truth to your comment about the professional veneer but
that's a wide brush stroke. And as for your previous comment on 1/1.5
pastors being more global minded, I'll have to disagree. I think they
seem to be global minded but are really stuck because of their local
situation. The 1 gen church in America does not seem to be thriving
as it is surviving, much like the rest of the nation. That goes
without saying about the 2 gen church, which has its own problems.

Here's my 2 cents worth. One limitation of the immigrant and ethnic
church in America is its target audience. There are only so many
people that can be invited to a Korean language environment or even a
Korean dominated environment. I'm presently in an American church and
experience the exact opposite; I'm comfortable inviting almost anyone
to church but not Korean speaking persons. However, we have mixed
couples who have a Korean heritage but with no working knowledge of
the language or culture who are quite comfortable in our church
environment. It seems that both 1 and 2 gen churches are limited to
their target audience and hence stuck on the question of physical
growth.

However, growth needs to be measured first by spiritual growth, which
manifests itself through physical clues such as character and conduct
(repentance, fellowship, outreach, etc). As a people group, I believe
that Korean Americans/Canadians have a great potential to contribute
to their communities and society as a whole. I don't have much to
offer in terms of how this can be realized but suspect that prayer
might be a tool. I say this because my convictions of prayer is that
this is one discipline that puts us all on the same level (ie. we seek
an answer from God). And when God speaks, those whose ears have been
opened will hear the same message and act on it to the measure of
their faith. I believe that this was evident in the recent Urbana
Conference among the internationals.

Thanks to all who are sharing their heart on this forum. I enjoy the
exercise of learning and considering views that exist out there. Keep
it coming!

...Sam Kim (Raleigh, NC)