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Over at @TheSolaNetwork , we're talking about ethnic-specific vs. multiethnic ministries. Does Christianity have space for Black, Hispanic, and Asian American churches or is the eschatological vision of Christ's body (e.g., Rev 7) exclusively multiethnic?
This convo started with the founding of @cretecollective which led to an in-house convo amongst Asian American pastors at the Off the Pulpit Podcast ( @eugthedad) asking the question, "Do we need our own planting network?" https://www.facebook.com/offthepulpitpod/videos/2806542132891320
This resulted in a longer exposition of my thoughts about church planting. Where do AsnAmerican millennial pastors w/ a heart for AsnAms go when they're in their mid to late 30s? Healthy EM positions are full & youth positions can rarely support families. https://sola.network/article/why-we-still-need-ethnic-ministries
@TheSolaNetwork will release next week an interview w/ @ThabitiAnyabwil & Alex Jun where we discuss this issue in depth w/ brothers who "made it" to the top echelon of multiethnic contexts but have decided to pursue ethnic-specific ministries instead. Why the sudden change?
We just finished recording another podcast w/ @OngDrew87 and Gray Sutanto at @RTSWashington where we talk abt Bavinck, apartheid, church planting, etc. Much of this convo focuses on sociology & history (which are important), but our guests provide a much-needed theological basis.
@OngDrew87's peer-reviewed article for the Journal of Reformed Theology is arguable the most important peer-reviewed article on ecclesiology to come out in the past decade. It's the article I wanted to write but knew I would never get to. https://www.academia.edu/38686916/Neo_Calvinism_and_Ethnic_Churches_in_Multiethnic_Contexts
Others like Owen Lee and @loudhannah have also been thinking through this issue independently at @TheSolaNetwork. Is the multiethnic church the varsity of ministry and the ethnic-specific church junior varsity? https://sola.network/article/pastoring-asian-american-church
Over at the Korean-American Leadership Initiative (KALI http://kalipca.org ), we're hosting a Zoom call next Wed with several Gen X and millennial pastors where we discuss the generational differences and the future of AsnAmerican churches.
This convo is ongoing, but we need all the help we can get to figure this out. No single org, ministry or pastor will solve this. My hope is that AsnAmericans can come together w/ our minds & resources while learning from other ethnic-specific ministries that have gone before us.
