Another thought provoking post… about Piper and his comment about Asians and missions.

I personally agree with thecuttingtruth on this one. I myself have had the thought that we Asians have a better chance of ministering in Asia just because of our face… but when I had these thoughts, they were in a personal conviction type of thought. They were meant for me, and had no bearing on other Asian-Americans or non Asian Americans and their ability to minister in Asia.

Piper should not use this thought to try to convict whole groups of Asians to go to Asia or to Muslims. That becomes stereotyping. I think it can be a personal convicting thought, but he should not use these statements at conference to speak to Asians as a whole. That is slightly offensive. I understand he probably has really good intentions and he is NOT racist, but he needs to be careful in the words he uses.

It shows Piper has no understanding of the cultural issues that Asian Americans have. Some Asians would never want to go back to Asia because they left Asia for certain very specific reasons. Some Asians would never want to to Asia because they DO NOT understand Asian culture and are actually more “westernized” than a lot of “white” people. Some Asians would never be able to minister in Asia because they don’t speak Asian languages, and moreover do not have a knack for learning languages like some of our “white” brothers and sisters do. On top of that, they may feel more ostracized in Asia due to the language barrier. (What?!?! You’re Chinese but you don’t speak Chinese?). A lot of Asians have unresolved ethnic identity issues that would be huge barriers to going to Asia.

Piper just shows his complete lack of understanding about theese issues. Asians in general are NO more qualified or able to be missionaries in Asia than their non-Asian brothers and sisters. Some Asians may be LESS qualified to minister in Asia than some of their non-Asian brothers and sisters. (I’ve focused on the Asians going to Asia argument, but this could also be applied to Asians going to Muslims.)

http://www.aaministry.org/cac/articles/silentexodus.txt

Cindy and I had a talk with Pastor Ron about Chinese churches over the weekend, and there were some interesting things that he said.

1.  According to Samuel Ling (read the article above) only 4% of ABC’s are integrated into the Chinese church.  The reason for this is that the Chinese church is culturally irrelevant.

2.  Pastor Ron said that Asian American churches (Newsong, Evergreen etc.) are not the answer.  Immigrant churches are thriving and will continue to thrive as more immigrants come from China and other Asian countries.  The children and youth from those churches will grow up with American culture and feel that their parents churches are irrelevant.  Therefore most will have already rejected Christianity by the time they reach college, or soon after college depend on whether or not they were integrated into a college fellowship.  Even though there may be a good Asian American church in the area, the immigrant church will still need it’s own “english ministry.”  Parents won’t drop off their children at the local Asian American church while they attend an immigrant church.  The “silent exodus” will continue.

3.  The problem is that immigrant churches are not culturally sensitive enough to allow an “english ministry” to exist that has the resources, programs, and autonomy to be fully culturally relevant to the next generation.  One observation I have made personally is that most Pastors that I know that have worked with ABC’s in any significant capacity are bitter and have been seriously wounded by the immigrant Chinese church.

What to do to stop the silent exodus?