Archives for category: church

Express Yourself: Asian American Worship Songwriters, Rise Up!

June 14, 2007 //

David Gate has written a couple of posts urging the church to move beyond mere functionality in songwriting and McWorship and towards creativity, awe and wonder. David has written many incredible worship songs. His song, “Led to the Lost,” includes one of my favorite lines in any song (“worship” or otherwise) — As we follow Your heart, we are led to the lost.

His most recent album, Unapproachable Light, is well worth picking up, particularly if you’ve had enough of the radio-ready, adult contemporary, borderline-country, “modern” praise songs that fill the shelves at the local Christian bookstore. David writes:

Today it is possible to walk into a church in Sydney or London or Dallas or Vancouver or Johannesburg or Phuket or Sao Paulo or Helsinki or Belfast or almost anywhere that is connected to the rest of the world, and to sing the same songs. And more than that, to sing them in the same way. The music has resembled little else but Middle of the Road, American, radio friendly hits. It is full of common denominators, not a crime on its own, but its exclusion of other forms is concerning.

While I have experienced first-hand the joy of worshiping together with believers in faraway places through common songs (singing “Shout to the Lord” in a bamboo hut in a tiny Philippine village — in English, no less), I find it hard to believe that there are no songwriters who can express what God is doing in their particular community. I just met a pastor here in Dallas who spent close to three years in Russia, reaching out to college students. He shared about how amazing it was to sing the same songs with them (translated into Russian, this time) and how connected he felt to the global body of Christ. I believe it is important to have world-wide anthems that proclaim God’s renown to the ends of the earth. But I also believe that there are certain things that God is doing in local gatherings that can only be expressed through new songs rising up from these communities.

This is not only an issue for the global church — this relates directly to what is happening in many Asian American churches today. I can’t think of a single Asian American church I have encountered that did not have either a youth or English-speaking adult worship band. Most often, these churches have both. And yet, there has been a conspicuous lack of songwriting. Usually, we end up with a really great sounding cover band.

David Park tackled some of these issues in his post, “The Search for Asian American Worship.” I would love it if we could express something of our unique context in our music — I don’t know what that might look like, but what a glorious sound that would be! At this point, though, I would be satisfied with any songwriting. I have encouraged many students to write their own songs, but their fear of failure (truly Asian American youth) and lack of role models kept them from really pursuing this.

I’m not advocating a ban on Hillsong United or Chris Tomlin songs in our churches, though this could potentially yield some incredible results. We live in a time of unprecedented availability of worship resources and we would be foolish not to tap into them. But it seems like it would be a more faithful response from our churches if we balanced this use of outside songs with songs that rise up from the hearts of our people in our specific setting. Or, as DM says, we need to, “get the balance right.”

Incidentally, I was this close to purchasing this t-shirt until my wife reminded me how off-putting it would be to see a big guy like me walking around in a DM shirt. Next thing you know, she’s going to be rescuing me from mowing the lawn in a sleeveless undershirt, shorts, dark socks and slippers. So much trauma for so many Asian American youth, and all from how their dads dressed!

Categories asian american, church, hope, ministry, music, worship

We Put the Para in Church!

June 14, 2007 //

Rick Meigs had a great post a little while back about the false dichotomy we often create between church and parachurch organizations. I have been putting some thoughts about this together for awhile now, but with our responsibilities at our church now moving into college ministry this is becoming a very present reality for us (there are a number of universities in close proximity to our church).

It is a well-worn phrase spoken by many pastors: the church is not a building, it is the people. That is, until their local congregation is challenged by a campus ministry, mission group or some other parachurch organization. Unfortunately, the perception of many pastors is that these organizations are competing with them for finite resources — whether human or financial — and that these groups exist for the benefit of their church. At best, such a relationship would be characterized by tolerance; at worst, suspicion and/or hostility. Even the language itself suggests that the local church congregation is the legitimate expression of the body of Christ, while the parachurch is “close” or “near to” it.

When my wife and I sat down with our senior pastor to discuss the future of a college ministry at our church, his underlying attitude was basically that we needed to plug students into a “real” church. Certainly, there are significant benefits for college students to be plugged into a local congregation. There, they can find a diverse, multi-generational community. They can benefit from the wisdom of their elders. They might find a family who will open their home during that Thanksgiving break where they are stuck on campus.

Unfortunately, many college students find their local church experience lacking. Maybe the energy or vitality is missing. Others find that there is no real place for them; they end up in a strange kind of ministry limbo — ready to move out of the kids’ table, but not finding a place at the adults’ table. Sometimes, they wait so long for “their turn” to lead and serve that their time eventually passes.

I believe in the institutional church. After all, I am a pastor at one. I love the idea of being connected across geography and time through our denominational affiliation. I believe in the accountability structures the institutional church provides. But I see a pressing need for church ministers to develop more robust ecclesiology. Viewing parachurch ministries as competition, or as something less than “real” church, only weakens the wider body of Christ. The picture out there is way too big for any single ministry to fill in all the blanks.

The church has so much to learn from parachurch organizations. I have encountered many people who, after graduating from college, really struggle to find a church community to call home. In part, this is due to a lack of close-knit community. I don’t mean that these churches don’t have small group ministries and the like; rather, people actually living in close enough proximity to one another that they could walk over for a visit. These environments, as Joseph Myers might suggest, create the possibility for genuine, organic relationships to arise naturally.

So many Korean American churches are basically commuter churches. While many first-generation believers were willing to make a thirty or forty minute drive in order to find the community that they could not find anywhere else, many second-gen believers find that getting together once or twice a week is not enough to build deep, meaningful friendships. They might have time to get an executive summary of how their friend is doing over donuts during the fellowship hour on Sunday, or time enough to get through the discussion questions during their mid-week small group gathering, but not enough time to cultivate genuine friendships.

In addition to the importance of close-knit community, parachurch ministries can model a sense of adventure or calling to local churches. All too often, despite what the Sunday bulletin says, the vision of the church is to keep the ship afloat. How amazing would it be to find a local congregation as passionate about reaching out to the lost, lonely and hurt as many campus ministries are? What if churches could create a sense of wonder in our gatherings, that life is open-ended and filled with possibilities? The local church can leverage its assets (e.g., its roots in the community, multi-generational setting, etc.) to set this passion and wonder in the context of the rhythm of everyday life — work, family, etc.

We need each other. God’s purposes are much too large for any one church, parachurch, ministry or model to fulfill. As Rick Meigs writes:

…some expressions of the church have a narrow ministry focus (sodality) and others have a broad ministry focus (modality). Each needs the other and each is a part of the whole. We should honor and respect what God is doing through his people regardless of the label we put on it

Categories church, college, ministry

Painting the Days Away

June 6, 2007 //

< < This is pretty much how I have spent quite a bit of my time here at church over the last several days. Not listening to Sigur Ros (although that might keep me calm and centered during some of the hectic times around here) but painting…

We recently had a staff member leave the church. While his departure was kind of sticky (isn’t it always?), this presents our church with an opportunity to redirect some of what we have been doing and to reconsider what we are all about.

Part of our new direction is rediscovering the importance of ministry to children. Our church has so many wonderful, devoted people — but there has not really been anyone to champion children’s ministry. As a result, the kids’ ministry has mostly been maintenance and baby-sitting. Thankfully, our senior pastor has been very supportive as we have begun planting the idea of how vital it is for our kids to discover God’s love and to learn to live for Him. I’m reminded of one of those kind-of-corny ministry anecdotes where an old-time revival preacher was asked how his latest tent meeting went. He replied that three and a half people were saved. The original questioner then said, “That’s wonderful — three adults and one child!” to which the preacher responded, “No, it was three children and one adult” (and, rimshot!).

This past Sunday, we moved our Pre/K group out of the tiny room into which over twenty of them had been crammed (“Jump, jump, jump into the light, light, light… but don’t crush, crush, crush your neighbor!”) and over into a much larger room. Now they have room for interactive learning centers, dynamic action praise songs and room to hop around — all with a much lower percentage chance of causing bodily harm to a friend! But the room, though it was called a “multi-purpose” room, was really just kind of a big, empty, boring space. So, as part of creating a kid-friendly environment, we have been painting and redesigning the space.

I don’t mind painting or cleaning in the church most of the time. In fact, I find repetitive tasks, like washing dishes or vacuuming, to be kind of therapeutic — up to a certain point, at least. But I find myself pushing back a little bit when people expect pastors to perform menial tasks — as if this was some proof of humility. A friend once half-jokingly observed that the qualifications for becoming a youth pastor in Korean American churches seemed to be the ability to drive a passenger van, play between three and seven chords on the guitar, and carry heavy things.

It must be because I still look pretty young (it was only a couple years ago that I was mistaken for a high school football player!), but I sometimes catch a “you still need to pay your dues” vibe from people — despite driving vans and carrying heavy things for the past twelve years or so in youth ministry.

But, if painting a room can make kids feel like they have a place in our church and say, in some small way, that we believe in children’s ministry then I am happy to paint the days away.

Categories church, ministry

Jesus Is My Boyfriend? The Trouble With Lyrics

May 24, 2007 //

As someone who has been a part of leading congregations in worship through music for over ten years, I cringe when I see people angrily denouncing modern praise songs because of their lack of lyrical depth. People have argued back and forth about these kind of love songs to God — some have denounced these as “Jesus is my boyfriend” songs.

In my ministry to Asian American youth and young adults, I have seen a great need for the recovery of godly intimacy in many of their lives. It is extraordinarily difficult for people who are afraid of their dads or never speak to them to sing highest praises to their heavenly Father. While it might not be right to project our brokenness onto God, it still happens. And even in cases where there might not be dad-issues, the honor/shame culture in which so many of us have been raised tends to make us closed off, unable to connect deeply with God or with others. It is virtually impossible to forge a deep, abiding love for God or for others if we are disconnected from God. Music can play a vital role in establishing an intimate, life-changing, life-giving relationship with God.

Certainly, we must always exercise wisdom and discernment. We do not want to devolve into a “me-first” consumer mindset. Worship is rightly directed to God, first and foremost.

I bring all of this up because, in my never-ending search for worship songs that would be appropriate to sing in our church’s context, I recently picked up the new Hillsong United album, All of the Above.

A quick tangent: The title, “All of the Above,” seems to refer to an image on the cover and inside the liner notes of the album. There are five young people wearing plain white t-shirts, each one with a large handwritten phrase. These include: love, truth, hope, justice, and others. It seems that the phrase “all of the above” is intended to show that our calling is not to pick and choose or have an either/or mentality, but that following Christ includes all of these things — a “both/and” kind of faith, if you will.

Although I know that United songs are hugely popular in youth circles, I have never been that much of a fan. Not necessarily a critic, but just not a huge follower. Their musical evolution has been pretty interesting to follow — the Brit-rockish chord progression of “Everyday” to the Blink 182-esque feel of “The Reason I Live” to the modern rock strains of “Salvation is Here” to the emo/punk riffs of “Take It All.” One thing that has always thrown me for a loop is how their uptempo songs have developed a kind of punk rawkish flair, but their more contemplative songs still remain in 80’s Monster Ballad territory. I’m not judging them, mind you — I will sing along to “Heaven” by Warrant and “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” by Poison any day. It just seems kind of odd, that’s all.

I noticed one kind of troubling thing while listening to this album’s lyrics, though. It’s not so much about the simplicity of the lyrics — which, I might add, is not always a bad thing. Another tangent: I used to really dislike singing “Trading My Sorrows” by Darrell Evans. Not only because I would inevitably picture a person going to the checkout counter with a package of sorrow or shame and trading for “the joy of the Lord,” but because I could not understand why the chorus consisted simply of “Yes, Lord” repeated nine times. Then a friend put it into perspective for me. We say, “No” to God all the time. Sometimes, we need to remind ourselves to choose God’s ways — emphatically, nine times over, even.

Anyhoo, what raised my eyebrow was the opening line to the second track, Break Free, which says, “Would you believe me, would you listen if I told you that there is a love that makes a way and never holds you back?” This is extremely similar to the opening line to another United song called (interestingly enough), Free, which asks, “Would you believe me if I said, that we are the ones who can make the change in the world today?” This reminds me of how a number of different United songs use the line, “I wanna be with You,” or a close variation of that phrase.

And, on the track Lead Me to the Cross, they seem to reference two songs not written by United. Leading into the chorus, the lyrics state, “Everything I once held dear I count it all as loss” which sort of compresses the opening verse to Knowing You by Graham Kendrick, “All I once held dear, built my life upon / All this world reveres, and wars to own / All I once thought gain, I have counted loss…”

The chorus of this song says, “Lead me to the cross where Your love poured out / Bring me to my knees, Lord I lay me down” which is oddly reminiscent of the chorus to an old Delirious? track, Oh Lead Me, “Lead me to the cross where we first met / Draw me to my knees, so we can talk.”

I am not accusing them of plagiarism. I understand that referencing prior material can be a very powerful thing; it can recontextualize a powerful experience from the past into our present-day life experience. I think Passion’s work to reclaim some of our old hymns works along these lines. It just reminds me of how difficult and what a high calling it is to write songs of worship that are engaging, thoughtful, singable, melodic, astute, deep and memorable.

Categories church, ministry, music, reviews

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!

May 16, 2007 //

Our neighbors to the north (who still owe me five dollars in real quarters!) might be relieved if this scene from last week’s Taiwanese legislature leads to a new set of corny jokes to distract us from hockey’s violent tendencies: I was at a boxing match and a session of legislation broke out! Speaking of hockey, here’s to the Hockeytown heroes who have defied the low expectations of the Golden Mullet himself and are actually winning their series against the Ducks. I hope I haven’t jinxed them, as I might have done to my beloved Bad Boys. I was just on the verge of hassling my favorite librarian friend (a true Chi-town fan) about the Pistons going up 3-0 when the baby Bulls seem to have made it a series. But I digress…

All too often, the above image describes the life of the church. We find something about which we can wholeheartedly disagree and we turn into Itchy and Scratchy: We fight! And bite! We fight and bite and fight! I might be a bit sensitive to these issues, having attended a seminary that, in conservative Asian American circles, causes some people to go apoplectic. I know people who were told not to attend this school because it was not only “liberal” but it was “satanic.” Makes some of today’s shock jocks sound positively tame. While I was studying there, another student from a nearby, proudly conservative, seminary came to take Hebrew at our seminary. He told his friends he was a “missionary” to the campus. Sheesh.

Sometimes we barely begin discussing a topic before someone takes their ball and goes home — Oh, you think women shouldn’t stay in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant? Well, you must not believe in the Bible. I can’t fellowship with sinners like you. I’m sure it works the other way as well (a progressive voice dismissing a conservative person out of hand) but I’m just relaying what my experiences have been like.

I’m not advocating a naive kind of hand-holding “unity” that ignores theological and/or denominational distinctives. I am, however, all for people dialing it down a couple (several) notches when it comes to engaging those with whom they might disagree. I think John Ortberg might be onto something with his “Sin Prediction Index.” As he writes in Everybody’s Normal ‘Til You Get to Know Them:

When we practice the proverb (basically: less talk, more listen), we begin to learn amazing things. We can live without getting the last word. We can live without trying to make sure we control how other people are thinking about us. We can live without winning every argument, without powering up over every decision, without always drawing attention to ourselves.

Or, as our man James puts it, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

Categories church, ministry