SOLA Network

In this interview, Daniel K. Eng chats with Pastor Steven Siu of Chinese Evangelical Church of San Diego about exploring the call into vocational ministry. Along with personal stories as well as stories of those at his church, Pastor Steven highlights the Render West Coast conference coming up in May. This conference is for those who are contemplating the potential of entering into full-time ministry, seeking to affirm God’s calling for full-time ministry, or are already attending seminary. Read or listen on to learn more.

00:00 Introduction

00:57 What have you observed about Asian Americans aspiring to vocational ministry?

05:41 Why do you think people don’t consider vocational ministry?

08:00 Render West Coast

14:38 Encouragement for those considering full time ministry

Full transcript:

https://sola.network/article/considering-vocational-ministry-interview/

Links:

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Website: https://sola.network

In this interview, Aaron Lee sits down with Daniel K. Eng to discuss the genesis and offerings of a new program he is leading called, “Asian American Ministry Formation”. This program will focus on leadership formation, ministry models to reach Asian Americans, and contextualization.

00:00 Asian American Ministry Formation

Watch the video on YouTube:

⁠https://youtu.be/rIZ9NLr6W0U⁠

How can you have confidence in the trustworthiness of the Word? What role does history have in our interaction with the Bible? In this episode of our podcast, Aaron speaks with Susan C. Lim to discuss these questions and many more as they relate to her new book, Light of the Word.

0:00 - Intro

1:48 - Susan's History Background

3:04 - How Susan's Testimony Intersects with her background as a Historian

5:33 - Examples of ancient history's parallels with the Bible

7:50 - Writing for accessibility

9:37 - Does History Contradict the Bible?

12:14 - Is the Bible circular in its reasoning that it's God's word?

14:30 - Encouragement for Pastors

18:37 - Encouragement for those who struggle with doubting God's word

Watch on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iLZKXvJ_ro

Shownotes:

https://sola.network/article/light-of-the-word-interview/

https://sola.network/article/light-of-the-word-book-review/

https://sola.network/books-reviews/

Links:

Weekly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/tgif

Monthly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/newsletter

Facebook: https://facebook.com/thesolanetwork

Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesolanetwork

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesolanetwork

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SOLANetwork

Podcast: http://anchor.fm/solanetwork

Website: https://sola.network

How have churches been affected by “the great dechurching?” How can we help people stay connected to the local church? And, just as important, how does the great dechurching affect immigrant and Asian American churches?

Michael Graham, co-author of the book The Great Dechurching, spoke to SOLA Council President Steve Chang and SOLA Editorial Board member Kevin Yi about the phenomenon of dechurching.

His findings on Asian Americans leaving the church were particularly alarming:

“Because Asian American dechurching is is worse than any other ethnicity. The dechuching that's going on there is twice the rate of, of those who are Hispanic and Latino. And I think 40 or 50% faster than those who are Anglo or African American.”

But Graham was also quick to point out that it was hard to draw further statistical conclusions about Asian Americans leaving the church, simply because there isn’t a lot of data about Asian American Christians.

Other topics they discuss include:

Declining religious affiliation among Asian Americans

Church attendance and pastoral care for congregants who are mobile and don’t stay in one church their whole lives

Assisting newcomers connect with the church

Parental influence on church attendance

Telling a better story

We hope that this conversation helps all Christians to think about how we can better study the Asian American church. We also hope it will encourage pastors to think about how to serve their congregations to prevent dechurching and help former members to return and find true community.

Video and article:

https://sola.network/article/asian-american-christians-and-the-great-dechurching-interview/

Links:

Here at the SOLA Network, we host illuminating conversations on the intersection of faith and identity. We continue this discussion with an interview with Michelle Lee-Barnewall, author of A Longing to Belong: Reflections on Faith, Identity, and Race, which discusses the topics of race and race relations by integrating a biblical worldview and her personal experiences.

I had a writing crisis this summer. I was asked to write an article for a ministry blog on a certain topic. I had three whole months to write it. And I had two solid (I thought) ideas. I was sure that if I dedicated just a few hours over a few days, the first draft would basically write itself. After that, all that remained was editing and a few proofreads to tighten the prose—piece of cake.

What would you preach to your congregation the week before your members were shipped off to an internment camp simply because they were of Japanese heritage? Pastor Tom Sugimura wrote about these pastors and their messages in an article in Christianity Today called “How Japanese American Pastors Prepared their Flocks for Internment.

Tom Sugimura is also a SOLA Editorial Board member, so we invited him to talk to us about the research he did for his article and to give us more insight into the Japanese people who lived through the camps, including his own family. SOLA Editorial Curator Aaron Lee interviewed him, and we invite you to listen to their conversation here.

Video and transcript:

https://sola.network/article/learning-from-pastors-at-japanese-american-internment-camps-interview/

Shownotes:

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/september-web-only/japanese-american-internment-pastors-sermons-christians.html

Links:

Weekly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/tgif

Monthly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/newsletter

Facebook: https://facebook.com/thesolanetwork

Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesolanetwork

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesolanetwork

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SOLANetwork

Podcast: http://anchor.fm/solanetwork

Website: https://sola.network

"I knew all too well that being female in my Korean American home meant not being chosen. The unspoken but implied understanding was that men are like heaven or the sky and women the earth or the ground. This principle persisted, neither challenged or questioned.

Is there space for Asian American voices in the evangelical church? How have recent events changed how Asian Americans view both the local and broader church?

On August 20, 2023, Exilic Church hosted a discussion called “An Asian American Moment: Our Place in the Future of the Evangelical Church.”

Gene Joo, associate pastor of Exilic Church, moderated a conversation between Aaron Chung, senior pastor of Exilic Church and SOLA Council member, and Pastor Abe Cho, senior director of training at Redeemer City to City NYC and North America and associate pastor at Redeemer East Harlem. They shared their thoughts on the past, present, and future of the Asian American church through the following questions:

On the past:

Would you agree that the Asian-American church has largely remained siloed from the broader evangelical church in America? If so, why do you think that is?

Here in New York, the Evangelical Asian American Church is considerably more underrepresented compared to the Black church, Jewish communities, and the White evangelical church. What is the historical and anthropological context behind how this came to be?

How do you define what constitutes a multi-cultural church, and who gets to define it?

Should every church be multi-ethnic? Is there a space for Asian American, Black, or Latino churches? Why are they important?

How does this relate to what Rev. Martin Luther King said about Sunday morning being the most segregated time in America?

On the present:

Do Asian Americans have more to offer the church than just the topics of race and justice? If so, what are they?

What is unique about this present moment for the Asian American Church?

On the future:

You might say that the Korean Ministry/English Ministry partnership represented the infancy of the Asian American church or at least the Korean American church. We’re now starting to see the Asian American church in its adolescent phase as we see more independent Asian American churches and church plants. What might the Asian American church look like in its adulthood, and what sort of impact and contribution can you see it making to the larger evangelical church?

Exilic Church, which is a supporter of SOLA Network, graciously shared this video with us so we could share it with our audience. We are grateful to them for leading this conversation. We hope this video sparks important conversations as we seek to build Christ’s kingdom together.

https://sola.network/article/a-place-for-asian-americans-in-the-future-of-the-evangelical-church/

With all the cultural shifts, divisions, and challenges the American church faces, we can look towards the immigrant church and learn from them. Like all churches, they are not perfect, but I believe there is much that White-majority and multiethnic churches can learn from them, especially about community and discipleship.

Video and article:

https://sola.network/article/three-lessons-we-can-learn-from-the-immigrant-church/

Email us your questions or conversation topics:

[email protected]

E.L Sherene Joseph writes about the intersection of faith, culture, and community on her personal website (https://www.sherenejoseph.me/). She is a Third Culture Kid by way of India, Oman, and the United States and has lived the majority of her life as an immigrant Indian. Her greatest joy is sharing with others how Jesus has been her constant through life's challenges, and while her identity is firstly a Christ follower, she can also live my life fully as an Indian American.