Early Friday Morning at the Lay Leaders Seminar, Eating Pho…

From the Pastor’s Desk (296)

We are hosting another House Church Seminar for Lay Leaders. This past Friday morning, our House Church Seminar Team prepared pho for participants who had arrived early for the seminar. I also enjoyed a bowl myself. This was possible because we have a significant number of Vietnamese brothers and sisters in our English-speaking congregation. While enjoying that bowl of pho, Pastor Young G. Chai naturally came to mind.

Almost 30 years ago, when I started New Life Fellowship, I felt a strong conviction and desire, based on Matthew 28, to save and make disciples of all nations. To put this into practice, I did not allow the use of Korean language in New Life Fellowship, and I even prohibited eating kimchi. This was done out of consideration for non-Korean members and people of other ethnicities. (Nowadays, people from other ethnicities even ask me why kimchi was prohibited. Times have really changed.)

Pastor Chai, knowing my situation, helped and encouraged me. First, he was confident that this approach was biblical. Second, he wanted to support me as an English-speaking pastor and help me succeed.

Many immigrant churches in North America are in decline. This is largely because churches do not understand their true purpose and because most second-generation English-speaking pastors have left the immigrant churches. One of the biggest reasons is friction with first-generation Korean-speaking senior pastors. (This also applies to other ethnic immigrant churches.) These first generation pastors often focus on secondary issues rather than the most important aspects of ministry. Living in the U.S., learning and adapting to the English language and American culture, and reaching out to people of other ethnicities are essential. Yet some insist on using only Korean and maintaining Korean cultural practices. This made it difficult for second-generation pastors to understand and adapt, leading many to leave one by one. As a result, many immigrant churches in North America are aging, and second-generation members who speak English fluently—especially those now in their 40s and 50s—are largely absent from these Korean immigrant churches. In such circumstances, many of these churches are inevitably heading toward closure.

However, through Pastor Chai’s prayers and support, New Life Fellowship I pastor has become neither a young church nor an aging church, but one with a balanced distribution of members—from college students, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, to even those in their 60s and 70s. I must say, this is a very healthy sign for a church.

This past Friday morning, as I enjoyed a bowl of pho in our fellowship hall prepared for early attendees of the House Church Seminar for Lay Leaders, I thought of Pastor Chai—who devoted himself to ministry grounded in the Word and wholeheartedly helped me as I sought to make disciples of all nations.

Your pastor,

Eric