thanks, david.

thanks for the kind words. this entry was one of those posts that i wrote in one quick sitting. i don’t know what came over me…but i do want to make sure, more than anything, that i can embody this vision.

tim, you’ve helped me so much over the last couple of years helping me chase out some of my own demons that i can write these things with integrity. thank you for your friendship. i’ll call you soon…this week’s a doozy!

If we could awaken in even one of these areas you have identified, our churches would be utterly revitalized. I can only hope that God is stirring up a holy discontent that will lead to a genuine revolution.

chris, we’ll have to meet up if you’re in the atl again. i’ve really enjoyed getting to know jadanzzy recently. but let me say that there is a place for sanctified discontentment especially when you look at the breadth of korean american churches, the range of presentation is so narrow. they look and feel remarkably similar regardless of denomination. when i look at that landscape, we are either all right or all wrong, but we definitely need to incorporate extravagant thinking in that midst. i recently heard a john reuben song where he playfully mixes up the idiom, “familiarity breeds contempt; familiarity breeds content; are we content?”

secondly, i will make the statement that faithfulness does not equate to faith. as one of the most churched, best educated, and highest income-earning demographics in america, we have a greater responsibility to speak to the culture at large. tending our own gardens is not enough. german churches who supported the nazis had the same mentality. churches in the South who supported slavery were faithful, but they were not acting out of their faith. again, i’m not saying that this is the pitfall for the korean american church, i’m merely asserting that faithfulness and our prolific church planting does not indicate true substantial faith.

what i mean by my comment is that there are some in the korean american church who do more walking than talking. or thinking. when i think about the church i came from, there were church leaders who, like a wartime soldier, would trudge forth, faithfully obeying and faithfully leading. for them, there seemed to be no dissatisfaction that their ministry sponsored white american evangelical christianity, or that the korean american christian identity wasn’t totally addressed. in other words, they don’t really care about what we’re talking about. that seemed wrong to me… but looking at their personal lives of devotion and their attitudes towards serving, i can’t really knock them. they’re just faithful workers for the Lord.

so my comment originated from my own skepticism of my dissatisfaction with the korean american church. are we really onto something when we think/talk about these issues, or do our dissatisfactions stem from some sin-tainted motive? i guess i use the faithful, satisfied korean american church goer as an anchor that helps ground my sometimes extravagant thoughts about what korean american christians could/should do.

also… elderj – i’m totally going through that right now. or i think i am. thats crazy.

and… by the way, david, i’m a friend of jadanzzy and i just left atl. i’m sorry i missed you.

i agree with you in terms of being frustrated, however i’d have to say that not enough people are actually discussing their frustration or as you noted, turning that criticism into something constructive. i will note that this is an indication of how systemic our problems are. the notion of holding our korean identity and our american identity and our identity in Christ together creates an incredible tension that most of our churches do not address holistically. Meaning that we spiritualize the notion of finding our identity in Christ without exploring the questions of how he created us as we are, all of which contributes to the destiny and purposes for which he created us. And by and large, we subscribe to White American Evangelical Christianity, which is to say that we suppress ourselves at the very least and at the very worst, we become co-oppressors of those who stand in the way of White American Christianity. again, don’t get me wrong, i’m not hating on white christianity, i’m just saying it’s forfeiting our own contribution and nuances to understanding who God made us to be. this is why we ignore our fellow Asian and minority churches, but work very hard to emulate white forms of worship, preaching, and church models.

the inability to hold these things in tension is why korean americans are disillusioned with the church. we believed that the products and programs of the dominant majority church culture could address our problems, but they don’t. you say that you’ve heard that talk before, so i’ll leave it there, but i assure you that until we do the hard work of tying all three of our identities together, we in essence deny ourselves a fuller expression of who God made us to be. the inevitable transition that you speak of will be more than awkward, it will be disenchanting.

i’d also like you to elaborate on your statement, “meanwhile, the korean american church continues to serve faithfully”. what do you mean by that?

i don’t think talk is ever cheap, and i wholeheartedly agree with the content of what u say. but the frustrating thing is – i’ve heard this all before, and nothing seems to change. what’s it gonna take to get some new wineskins to go along with the new wine?