How Churches are Reaching Asian Americans

DJ Chuang Executive Director

L2 Foundation www.L2Foundation.org

L2 Foundation

Developing leadership and legacy for Asian Americans– bless & empower the next generation– connecting leaders for innovation and

healthy leadership development– mobilizing legacy partners to invest in

the next generation

2 print-on-demand books

• Asian American Youth Ministry• Conversations: Asian American Evangelical

Theologies in Formation

reaching next gen Asian Americans

• statistics

• signs

• stories

• structures

When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’, and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

Matthew 16:2-3

50+U.S. churches close each week

from http://www.newchurchinitiatives.org/morechurches/index.htm

80%U.S. churches plateaued or declining

from http://www.newchurchinitiatives.org/morechurches/index.htm

Four stages of organizational decline

Cf. Mark Driscoll’s Confessions of a Reformission Rev pp.141-144 http://www.encounterthis.com/blog/?p=142

Creative Management Defensive Blaming

5%of the US Population is Asian American

(July 2004)

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/006587.html

14.4MAsian Americans in the US

(July 2005)

33.4MAsian Americans by 2050

(projected)

87%of Asian Americans

are high school graduates(age 25 and older)

49%of Asian Americans

are college graduates(age 25 and older)

20%of Asian Americans

have graduate degrees(Masters, Ph.D., M.D.)

$61,094Highest median household income of any racial group

11.1%Poverty rate for

single-race Asians(up from 9.8% in 2004)

17.9%without health insurance:

single-race Asians(up from 16.5% in 2004)

56%Asian Americans unchurched

http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=229

26%Asian Americans

under age 18

69.7%Asian Americans

who speak English “very well”

derived from the Census 2000 report "Language Use and English-Speaking Ability" athttp://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-29.pdf

Four stages of organizational decline

Cf. Mark Driscoll’s Confessions of a Reformission Rev pp.141-144 http://www.encounterthis.com/blog/?p=142

Creative Management Defensive Blaming

window of opportunity

For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed.

Acts 13:36

househttp://www.flickr.com/photos/arnar/402574248/

duplexhttp://flickr.com/photos/sidereal/111616256/

townhousehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/ohadby/151741368/

mansion

hotelhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/94025957/

multiplexhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/ckyuan/1004839506/

ethnic church structures

• Multi-lingual

• Multi-department

• Multi-organization

• Multi-Asian

• Multi-ethnic

• Multiplying: church planting

Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

Matthew 9:17

Evergreen LA

NewSong (Irvine + NOC + LA + Bangkok + more)

Quest Church (Seattle)

photo credits: BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / The Seattle Times, http://flickr.com/photos/54896089@N00/487696832/

Lakeview Church (Chicago)

Grace Covenant Church (Philadelphia)

Vox Veniae (Austin, Texas)

http://flickr.com/photos/speedye/1305243195

100+English-speaking Asian-led churches

less than 10 years old

some characteristics

• spirituality

• creativity

• inspiring worship

• social justice

• leadership

• excellence

$50,000Sarang Community

Church’s annual fund for church planting by 2nd Generation Koreans and

other minorities

http://blog.l2foundation.org/2007/08/29/multiethnic-church-planting-fund/

what existing churches can do

• evangelizing in new ways• cultivating creativity• raising up young leaders• supporting church planting

with prayer, people, and funds

“To reach people no one is reaching, do things no one else is doing.”(Craig Groeschel)

http://flickr.com/photos/jimfrazier/139376081/http://flickr.com/photos/sadaqah/426291086/

these slides + more @ http://blog.L2Foundation.org

DJ Chuang

L2 Foundation

www.L2Foundation.org

dj@L2Foundation.org

949-870-5726