Serving and surviving in a Chinese church?
So what is the key? Think and act like a cross-cultural missionary! If you remember nothing else then remember this. To forget or ignore this is the cause of so much unnecessary heartache and problems. I’m not saying that all our problems will go away. Far from it! We follow a crucified messiah. Rather, I’m staying that many of our problems are unnecessary. Believe me - I speak from personal experience. When I look back over nearly 40 yrs of being in my own church, I think many of my problems came about because I was not thinking like a cross- cultural missionary. Often we insist, if not demand that the church agree to our terms and conditions if they want our service. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not say that we are to be men pleasers. Rather, I’m saying we need to think like cross-cultural missionaries. So what does this mean? Here are a few simple tips in bite size bits:
a. It means recognising that change is slow and often painful. Changes can sometimes take many many years. Missionaries don’t like it anymore than we do but they have learnt to be patient and to think long term. Sometimes we will never live to see the change. We may merely be the one’s who lay the foundation for others to build on. Therefore be patient and long suffering.
b. It means recognising that we actually speak a different language. Sometimes it is Chinese vs English. Most time we speak the same language but mean different things altogether. Therefore spend time understanding what others are saying and learn to speak their language.
c. It means recognising the way I do things may actually turn people off, not because I’m being unbiblical but because I’m being insensitive, so therefore I will learn to do things their way. Missionaries do this all the time, so why don’t we?
d. It means recognising that we value and do things differently but that’s OK.
e. It means that I’m not here to be served but to serve and to give my life to them so that they might grow. So stop worrying about what they are not doing for me, but start worrying about what I am not doing for them.
f. It means recognising that it comes at great cost, involving giving up my lifestyle and convenience.
g. It means recognising that while efficiency and effectiveness is everything to us, it might not be so in other cultures
h. It means that while we need to think strategically we still need to look out for the lost sheep. Strategy is important but it is not God. Use it but don’t worship it.
i. It means recognising that while they might stuff me around, Jesus still loves them so I need to love them even if they do want to hang me on a cross.
j. It means, while I can work effectively and more efficiently within my own culture, there are many outside my culture who need my service and so I’m prepared to cross over in order to bring the gospel to them.
k. It means the key to crossing a culture with the gospel is the CROSS of Jesus, nothing more and nothing less. The best Cross-cultural missionaries are those who proclaim the cross and take up the cross of Christ. This crosses all cultures.
These are my thoughts. What are your thoughts?
Good thoughts Ying! I’d add only one other thing – don’t blog so late at night! Have a re-read of your opening paragraph and pick out all the grammatical errors
Thanks steve. Don’t forget, I studied engineering so that I could avoid doing things like this.
[...] Our good friend Pastor Ying Yee heads up one of the biggest and most established Chinese Churches in Sydney. He shares his thoughts on this issue here. [...]
Hi Ying,
I’m glad to have found your blog and have already benefited from reading your posts. I’ve subscribed to your RSS feeds and look forward to reading more bite-sized chunks of wisdom from you.
In Christ,
Elsie
Hi Elsie. Great to hear from you. Keep in contact.
Ying
Ying, seeing my church as a mission field and myself as a cross cultural missionary implies to me that I should not be overly concerned by being served. And you affirm that thinking in point e (“It means that I’m not here to be served but to serve and to give my life to them so that they might grow.”) Sometimes I need to be served because I’m not awesome and perfect and I struggle to be a Christian. If my church doesnt serve me at all, then it seems to be like I’m only getting half the experience at church.
Hi Tony.
Great question. Let me offer a few thoughts.
a. The people I have in mind are those who are wanting to serve but will only do so with certain conditions. I remember talking to one young gun who was invited to serve at a church. He laid down the following conditions – He wanted tenure, he wanted to be paid well (not super well, but paid appropriately), he wanted a position in which his office as a preacher was respected. He wanted this and that etc. When he told me, I slammed him in no uncertain terms. He reminded him of Jeremiah, of Amos, of Paul and of course Jesus. I reminded him of guys like Charles Simeon, and Whitfield and other great one’s in the history of the church. In short the people I was having a go at are those who are not prepared to take up the cross and serve the church
b. Of course the leaders have their own needs, so who cares for the leaders? Philip Jensen in partnership with Tony Payne once wrote a small booklet called “Fellow workers”. It was written for Church committees. In one chapter called “Who pastors the pastor.” he argues that the congregation should be pastoring the pastor. As Philip helpfully points out, a key plank in the reformation was the “Priesthood of ALL believers”. The reformation did away with the hierarchy of spirituality and in so doing placed everyone on the same level as each other. Thus everyone was a priest before God and to each other. Sadly we have forgotten our roots here and in so doing we have rebuilt the hierarchy of ministries. Therefore the pastor is to serve the congregation. On the other hand other fellow pastors are to serve each other. Still higher up, it is the bishops who are given responsibility to care for ministers. And still higher up we have the archbishop. And if we were Catholic we would go to the Pope. Anyway Philip points out the theological difficulties with this as well as the logistical problems with such a system. We need to recapture our reformation roots on this. In this it means that the pastor is also a member of the congregation. Therefore, just as we are forever teaching the congregation to look after each other, in a similar way the congregation should be looking after the pastor (or the leader etc). Not because he is primarily the pastor, but primarily because he is a member first and foremost. And being a member he is in need of encouragement and support just as any other member. So I agree with you. Just as we are called to serve the church, there is an obligation for the church to serve and care for its leaders.
c. Having said this, it always requires one person to start the ball rolling. In my own personal experience, I’ve found that the more I give to others, the more they give to me. There is a lot of truth when the scriptures says; “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”
d. Finally let us never forget that it is God who will serve and care for us. This is something Paul is very strong and big on in 2 Cor 1.
Thanks for the question and the opportunity to clarify things.
[...] Ying Yee of Chinese Christian Church in Sydney, Australia, wrote this blog post, Serving in a Chinese church – A forgotten key, with his thoughts about serving and surviving in an intergenerational ethnic Chinese church: So [...]
Thanks Pastor Ying. This is definitely helpful. I appreciate your humility in ministry and your insight into relations with others.
Thanks for sharing on this topic. I have served as the English Pastor in a Chinese church in California for the past 15 years, and I can resonate with what you say here. I think that every leader in a bilingual Chinese church needs to be part cross-cultural missionary.
By the way, my blog is also called Reflections. Welcome to the blogosphere! I am adding your blog to my feed reader and look forward to your future posts.
Hi Pastor Ying,
I have (maybe stupidly) taken up as the chair of our deacon board. We are a very ‘mutli-culture’ church with chinese peple from various part of the world and of course their second generations…
Only in the position for three months, I also found it exhausting and exhausting. For example, I spent the whole of yesterday (Saturday) to call people, talk to people from my church to discuss an issue we are now facing. I have a three hour meeting with some of the board members yesterday, and going to spend the whole day at church today.
Pastor Ying, to be honest, reading you blog is very comforting; just read about we are not the only one… I am actually serving God…
thank you!!!
Rodney
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