check out this timely and recently published la times article on, asian american churches facing a crisis of leadership.
the outlook for the immigrant church, or at least the Chinese immigrant church does appear to be pretty dismal to many. i think the problems are much more complex than we realize. i won’t reveal any more feelings or thoughts just yet.
Asian American churches are going through a “crisis of leadership” because seminaries are not preparing a new generation of pastors to work in multi-generational and multicultural settings, Asian American Christian leaders say.
Pastors, seminary professors and lay leaders said at the session and in later interviews that generational schisms in Asian American churches are causing clergy attrition and turnover among pastors born or reared in the United States. Some young pastors experience so much frustration that they start their own English-speaking, pan-Asian churches. Others become so disillusioned that they leave the ministry, experts said.
also see: peter ong‘s article, exit wounds, a nice followup to helen lee’s landmark article in christianity today a decade ago, “the silent exodus”
Sad to hear.
And realistically speaking, seminaries are not adequately preparing a new generation of pastors to work in the mainstream non-Asian churches either. Supplemental programs are needed and more creative solutions beyond what can be institutionalized. This is where the entrepreneurial and cultural creatives are finding new ways of doing church that is actually reaching the 20- and 30-something.