Kindred Spirits
Related by pain, unified through Jesus - formation in the Asian Church
We're On The Map
As myself, my wife, and several others have embarked on a church planting journey in southeast Michigan, it has put into perspective for me, what the Church has been and what it can become, particularly for many Asian-Americans who have grown up in the Church.
If you've been following any of my social media, specifically Instagram (since that's really the only platform I use) you'll know that me and a handful of others started a little baby church plant in southeast Michigan a couple of months ago named, "Kindred Church." In short, I took a job as the youth pastor back at my home church (Korean New Life Church - "KNLC") in January of this year. After a couple of months into the role, talking with my wife Hannah, we decided to begin the journey to also start a church plant, partnered with KNLC. Our official "soft launch" happened the Sunday after Resurrection Sunday and thus, Kindred Church was put on the map.
Our Greatest Strength & Weakness: Community
When you think of the Asian-American Christian experience, the most common word you'll hear that defines this experience is, "community." Reaching back to the immigrant-generation, community was nearly Gospel for our parents. They didn't go to church because they were necessarily a Christian (though I'm sure some were), but they went because they immigrated to a foreign land and needed to find people like them. Your local Chinese, Korean, Hmong, etc. Church was your main form of community. It's where you'd go to find people who looked like you, smelled like you, ate the same food as you, and spoke the same language as you. It was their home away from their homeland.
This, I firmly believe, is where the sense of community for my generation of Asian-Americans comes from. Especially if you grew up in the immigrant church. And because of that, much of the people we've become was formed by this area of our upbringing. It is within the immigrant-church, where many Asian-Americans have experienced the greatest joys in life and also the deepest and most traumatic of wounds we carry to this day.
As we planted Kindred Church, I was confronted by the harsh reality of how formative and de-formative the Asian-American Christian community has been among my friends and peers. Following the idea where our "greatest strength is also our greatest weakness," so then community is our greatest strength, while doubling as our greatest weakness. Because as amazing as Asian-Americans are with community, this also means when communities become divided and fractured, they really get divided and fractured. Often times, communities get split into two, or an individual or a pair of people gets (passively) ostracized out of the community. Why? Because we were indirectly (or directly) taught by our parent's generation and those older than us how to create and remain in community, but were never discipled in the ways of reconciling, healing, and restoring community.
Don't believe me? Just take a minute to think about which church community you can or cannot be a part of simply because that one person is a part of that community. If it's not you, then you most likely know someone who falls under these circumstances. Unfortunately, I believe we also learned this from our parent's generation.
Don't believe me again? Just take a look at how many churches started ... as a result of church splits.
With Kindred, I have a deep desire to re-form the way Asian-Americans Biblically understand community. Culturally speaking, I believe many of us understand what community looks like and functions like. However, when it comes to Biblical community and all that it comes with (e.g. reconciliation, formation, Church ecclesiology, etc.) the journey is long and arduous, but one that is necessary to go down because it is in Scripture-centered, Jesus empowered community that we can actually find deep healing and restoration as we understand what it means to be a beloved child of God and pursue forgiveness and reconciliation with other children of God who we may have hurt or have been hurt by.
I'm Excited For Kindred
I'm excited for myself, my wife, and this group of people who have decided to start up a church for those who have been spiritually homeless for quite some time. Because the direction we're going with Kindred is for the church to not just be a place where people go to on a Sunday and hear a short teaching and sing a few songs, but rather, the direction we're headed toward is the church being a center for spiritual formation (becoming more like Jesus) and counter-formation (unraveling the pain and hurt we've experienced).
I'm excited for Kindred because it can be another shot for many of us who may have been hurt by the Church or Christian community in the past and to find a spiritual family centered around the beauty of Jesus and His Word, as all of it leads us to revisit our past and look forward to a deeply transformed life.
I'm excited for Kindred because it's not a blank slate. If anyone tells you joining a church plant offers you a new starting point for your journey with the Lord, they're lying to you. Because every single one of us in Kindred (and the ones who may join in the future) all carry some type of baggage when walking into this community and the Lord is ready to meet you where you're at and change you more into His likeness.
I'm excited for Kindred because we're making it into a space where there is genuine freedom and space to take a long hard look at your past and embrace the ugliness, darkness, devastation, and trauma you've experienced, while making strides forward with one another as we bring all of that to the foot of the cross and ask Jesus to guide us through it all.
If you're in the southeast Michigan area, particularly around Novi/Commerce, feel free to join us on Sundays at 1:30pm at Korean New Life Church's building.
You can find more information at www.kindredchurchmi.com.
I worked in China in my twenties (teaching at a medical college for a couple of years), and once back in the US I taught Korean, Japanese and Chinese students, among other international students. Having been involved with the Chinese church in the US, I understand your point about learning how to work through reconciliation and healing in relationships. I worked with the college age group for a number of years and loved those times. But I remember when the college kids organized a trip and they had some interpersonal struggles. One commented to me afterwards that the enemy got the best of them. They just didn’t know how to resolve conflict yet. Praying for your church plant. May God be honored and His name magnified among you as you seek to build a healthy community of believers.
Don't do it. Reconciliation sucks. Ugh. You have to take their calls, answer their texts... avoid avoiding them on Sundays... keep choosing to move toward them. Even pray FOR them instead of at or about them. WHAT A TRULY TERRIBLE IDEA. No stars - do not recommend.
...And for sure I needed this reminder to not give up as easily as I have been on someone I'm really in the middle of it with right now. I am beyond pissed at how their attitude and actions as a leader are affecting entire swaths of ministry, and I've been losing hope and giving up. While I do expect an eventual outcome of them stepping out of their position as we modify the expectations for the role, I needed the reminder to fight for them. So thank you. And prayers up as you help navigate that in your spaces as well.