Update and attempt at sparking some discussion
John Lee
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Now... on to the bulk of this discussion:
Sorry discussions on this Google Group have been sparse... I've been
very busy at work and in my own personal life. At the end of December
06, I officially stepped down as Teaching/Small Group Pastor at my
church, Hebron Community Church (www.hebroncommunity.org). In the
meantime, my wife Jeannie and I have been visiting several different
2nd Gen ministries in the north/northwest suburbs of Chicago each week
- it's been a refreshing experience... mostly because it feels like I
actually have a Sabbath (full-time secular job + part-time ministry
job can do that to you)!
It has also been interesting to see how churches are different from
one another; yet, other than smoke and mirrors, there really doesn't
seem to be much of a difference. I am particularly interested in how
churches differ with their worship styles and have been paying
particular attention to what songs each church sings along with other
technical aspects of their worship.
Lately, I've also been paying attention to how the respective
congregations react TO the worship. Of the different churches we've
been to so far (4 of them), the people don't seem to be "caught up" in
worship so much as they just stand there, clap, and mouth/sing the
words of the songs. This is in no way a criticism of the churches or
even their congregations; rather, I think it's a telling indicator the
comfort level of the 2nd Gen Church.
When I was our youth group worship leader in 11th grade, our full band
was broken up and I was left with the pieces - me on vocals and
acoustic guitar, and 2 girls singing: one on keyboard and the other on
tambourine. It was "dull" to say the least! People just stood there,
clapped, and mouthed/sung the words, just like I wrote above.
After my torturous year of worship development (see, that was the
perfect training ground for me as a worship leader!), my exponentially
more talented friend assembled a better team and led praise with
rockin' drums, electric guitar, you name it! At first, Friday night
meetings and Sunday services were markedly different than when I led
with the John Lee 3; but after a couple of months, the majority of our
youth group were back to their "stand, clap, blink, mouth/sing"-ing
ways!
So, here's my question:
Is this something unique to the 2nd Gen? Well, at least unique to
Korean-American Christians? Sure that over 12 years ago (yikes! Yes, I
just turned 30, so it was easy to calculate), but have things really
changed much?
john;)
David Park
i don't think this problem is unique for Korean American Christians at
all. I attended Northpoint (www.northpoint.org), a large megachurch
under Pastor Andy Stanley in the North Metro Atlanta area, for about
six months, which is known for its well-produced worship. Under all
the lights and balanced sound, my wife and I stopped clapping and
dancing and worshipping to look around us and see that despite the
excellent "music", not many people were even singing.
i think part of that was due to the "performance" orientation of
contemporary worship. a band faces the crowd, which is far different
from a choir facing the crowd, at least the latter sings back at you.
I've found this problematic with my own youth group, which resembles
your John Lee 3 format. One thing I've found, is to just strip
everything away, all the amplification, but just to say, if your
voices don't fill this place, none of us will hear anything..actually
helps create an atmosphere conducive to worship. So, I tend to be more
minimalistic. Worship does not equal music. That's the big
misconception that the youth have. Worship is not performance.
I have witnessed worship and partaken in sweet worship, but not so
much in a 2nd Gen Asian American context (with the possible exception
of worshipping in AACF at college, but even then that was few and
farther between). I think there are cultural obstacles to it, but I
believe that we also don't have a strong theology for AA church yet
and creating that "space" for worship. What I mean by that is that
most youth and those of the young generation do not really understand
how we come to that place of brokenness of being able to respond in
worship, in song and movement. They do not feel free to do that. Asian
Americans by and large have had limitations expressing themselves as a
whole, and while our sense of musicality (and the fact that parents
made sure we had lessons) can help us get over the technicalities of
worship, we still do not feel comfortable actually expressing real
worship, if that makes sense.
I think that we need more Asian American conscious- worship leaders
and songwriters. One of the things that I found to be fascinating is
that the Korean hymnal has a few original pieces that were composed by
Koreans. Why? Because the writer of that song had to write his own
response, worship, to what Christ means to him. And while we are busy
picking up the latest Tomlin song or Redman song, we need to engage
and promote more writers who are giving melodies and words to our
response in worship. Worship is such a small focus of churches, such
an afterthought, but really, ultimately do we go to church on Sundays
to hear a sermon, or do we go to enter into worship? And even if you
say, hear a sermon, isn't it ultimately that people would respond in
worship? to celebrate, to go out in joy, to declare that God is good,
to do as Bonhoeffer says, sing in unison a prayer.
I think we've made worship too small. And occasionally, I will have a
"reverse Sunday" where I give my sermon before we sing, because
ultimately that is what we are gathered for, to give God glory, not
hear me talk.
Sorry for the long answer...but the short answer is we're not unique
in our resistance to worship, but we do have unique cultual problems
to worship and the propensity to throw out the latest and greatest in
worship technology or song is not alleviating the problem.
> Or, you can just email me at johneh...@gmail.com with your number and