Comments on: asian american youth ministry

By: Danny Park

Danny Park — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:44:29 +0000

Dear Brother Mark,
I have been very encouraged by your post, and your desire to understand the context of youth ministry beyond the mainstream because of your love and commitment to youth at large. In response to your comment and the book’s premise that in AA churches the youth workers are still viewed as second or third class citizen, I would like to agree that the biggest factor which has been addressed is that it has been viewed as a stepping stone to a bigger and better ministry. But, I would like to add something else to shed greater light of reality into the picture. I believe that this culture of short-lived youth ministers within the AA church context, is largely due to the fact that within the AA churches, there is a tremendous gap between the treatment between the senior pastor and all of the associate pastors, and youth pastors are further down the totem pole, so to speak. These young youth pastors just out of seminiary, with heart for God and vision for youth are quickly indoctrinated that the real ministry is the senior pastorship, and this is especially more true within the context of AA churches where the ways of thinking of shaminism which is deeply ingrained into the mindset of 1st generation where the senior pastor is treated in essence like a shaman. He is given the highest of respect and treatment which is reflected in his salary package to everything else. Therefore, I believe that these young impressionable (of course there are exceptions) pastors buy into the notion that in order for them to really get the respect and authority, they need to work with adults, and more specifically they need to become the head pastor themselves.
I have not bought into this mindset. I am a product of one of the best youth ministry trainings at Briercrest Bible College in the 80′s under the leadership of Prof. Dave Currie who began my first class in youth ministry with the statement that has been my motto that “youth ministry is not a stepping stone, and if anyone thinks it is, you need to get out.”
I have never viewed youth ministry as a stepping stone, but only as the real ministry which deserves the best. I have been in youth ministry exclusively within the Korean American church context for the past 20 years, and God-willing I hope to stay in it for life.
Coming back to the comment that AA youth pastors are viewed as second or third class citizens are due in part by the wrong mindset of 1st generations, but this is also greatly impacted by the fact that no one has stayed the course long enough to prove that it is worth its respect. I am a youth specialist, and I am proud of it. I will continue to be in the trenches fighting the good fight for the greatest ministries on earth – youth ministry.
I always tell people that there are two things that describe me best 1) I love God; and 2)I love youth.

By: Reflections on Asian American (Youth) Ministry: Part Three « headsparks*

Reflections on Asian American (Youth) Ministry: Part Three « headsparks* — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:11:30 +0000

[...] In this third installment of this series of thoughts, I would like to continue to engage some of the thoughts Marko shared here at his blog. His third observation about Asian American youth ministry centers around the idea of integrating youth into the overall life and ministry of the church. As Marko notes, this isn’t really a choice for most AA youth ministries — whether we like it or not, we exist as the lopsided little 2G ear, attached to the larger 1G “Mickey” head. [...]

By: Reflections on Asian American (Youth) Ministry: Part One « headsparks

Reflections on Asian American (Youth) Ministry: Part One « headsparks — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:18:45 +0000

[...] I was very encouraged by the time I spent with Marko. He is a sincere, down-to-earth and caring individual. I’m not sure how many presidents of other companies (Christian or not) would sit down for a couple of hours with some random emailer, but that’s exactly what Marko did. It was powerful to see an influential person take these issues to heart — Marko had just finished reading Asian American Youth Ministry (edited by DJ Chuang) as part of his desire to engage these issues on a deeper level. He posted some of his observations here on his blog. [...]

By: daniel so

daniel so — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 22:05:33 +0000

marko — thanks for thoughtfully weighing in on these issues. i believe these issues have relevance not only for asian-american ministries, but the broader church as a whole as well.

i’m sorry it has taken such a long time to begin interacting with these powerful observations. i’ve been wrestling with these thoughts from the time we had a chance to sit down together the other week. i have just begun to share some of my own thoughts on these issues over at my own blog.

as we have seen over the last several weeks, understanding diversity in the kingdom of God goes way beyond slogans or quick-fix solutions. the process can (and probably will) be messy and ugly, but for the life of the church (we all have a lot to learn from each other) and the life of the world (who else but Jesus can offer hope for reconciliation across such insurmountable barriers), we must build bridges across cultures.

By: djchuang

djchuang — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 01:21:22 +0000

Ben, the short answer is to buy the book :) :) There are 2 chapters (from what I recall) that specifically address issues of student leadership development. There are many transcendent principles about developing leaders, and I think developing student leaders among Asian Americans has a lot of similarities to developing leaders in any arena — it involves teaching, training, mentoring, and supporting. The particular sensitivities in an Asian American context is navigating the inter-cultural differences of Asian immigrant parents and teen students raised in multi-cultural America, and working with students who have limited time for youth group activities due to a demands for scholastic achievement.

Mark, thank you for taking a leap of faith to make some additional comments about the book and making some valid compare/contrast of where Asian American youth ministry seems to be, against the backdrop of your many more years of youth ministry experience. As an editor, I recognize the book’s limitations and didn’t want to wind up being stereotypically self-effacing by adding so many disclaimers and why we couldn’t do more. I think the void in this space compelled us to get some thoughts written down and published, in hopes of pushing things forward + bring things to light. Your acknowledgement of the book, and reading it thoughtfully, even critiquing it, has given it much street cred and encouragement. Thank you!

By: L2 Foundation Blog

L2 Foundation Blog — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 13:30:44 +0000

new review of L2 youth ministry book

Mark Oestreicher, President of Youth Specialties, just wrote a book review of L2 Foundation’s self-published Asian American Youth Ministry book (at his personal blog). We appreciate this particular review from a non-Asian and also professional pu…

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 05:08:16 +0000

Could you provide a little more detail about the “developing student leaders” portion(s) of the book? Like, how do they do it? What does that look like? Is there a nervousness that student-led ministry is not as “effective” or as meaningful as adult-driven care?
Thanks!

By: danny

danny — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 22:51:29 +0000

on notion #2, another reason student leaders are critical– many of the adults are first generation christians and know less about faith than their children. in fact, some parents start coming to church after their kids are drawn into either children or youth ministries by their friends. other parents are intimidated by the language barrier. let’s just say spiritual jargon is one of the last things you pick up in a foreign language (which may be a whole other discussion re: christian theology; i don’t seem to recall Jesus using specialist language to explain the gospel and its implications).