Asian American young adults, ministers, and pastors were able to gather at INFUSE Conference and discuss with each other specific issues that they encounter at church and in society as an Asian American Christian.
"There is hope for our generation - we just need to keep learning, growing, and developing our identity to understand how we can use it for the kingdom," said William Tseng, the executive director of INHERTIANCE Media.
INHERITANCE Media, in partnership with Access Bible Convention, hosted INFUSE Conference on Saturday, September 14, to allow Asian American Christians to understand how their ethnic identity comes into play in their walk with God, and what the role of Asian Americans might be in the body of Christ. The one day conference featured 20 different workshop sessions and two main plenary sessions.
Access Bible Convention, an annual conference that consists mostly of first generation Chinese Christians, had been wanting to put together a conference for the second generation, and welcomed the opportunity to partner with INHERITANCE to make it happen.
"They have been so supportive of us," said Tseng. "They helped us in everything we wanted to do and everything we needed."
Attendees of INFUSE Conference gathered all together during the opening and closing plenary sessions to worship together. During plenary sessions, Pastor John Lo from Epicentre Church preached a message about the role of Asian Americans in the body of Christ.
INHERITANCE was able to bring some of the most well-known speakers, including Dr. Siang-Yang Tan, Dr. Ben Shin, Ken Fong, Hyepin Im, and DK Kim, through connections that have been built over the five years of running the INHERITANCE Magazine, and with God's help, for some.
Dr. Tan, a well-known author and speaker who is generally booked years in advance, had been invited on relatively short notice; yet he still decided to come and speak regardless because he felt "it's important to build up the next generation," and he said that he "believes in this ministry."
Tseng said that the speakers who had been invited are not only well-known, but also very passionate about the next generation.
"[These speakers] have been pouring out their lives for the future leaders," he added.
Indeed, many of the seminars were focused on topics about the next generation, such as that led by Sam Shui, an elder at Evangelical Formosan Church, East Valley, called "Leading Across Generations."
In an interactive atmosphere during which many of the attendees shared their own experiences and church issues, Shui also opened up about his own stories of growing up and serving in an intergenerational, immigrant, Asian church. He recalled that when he was in high school, he and the rest of the youth group at his church went through six different EM counselors, and even had gaps of times without any counselors at all, a phenomenon that is shared by many who grew up in an Asian immigrant church.
"We need to consider the church as a real family, and stick it through together like a family," Shui explained. "Both the first and second generations have to advocate for one another, and love each other even when it's inconvenient."
Ben Shin also discussed the younger generation in his seminar, "Called to Stay," during which he focused on how to minister to young adults who are transitioning into post-college life. He said that young people are "inundated with lies," and because of those lies, are often led to look for love all the wrong places."
John Lo from Epicentre Church, who spoke in both the opening and closing plenary sessions, also touched upon that idea, referring to the "cross" in our relationships - vertically with the Lord, and horizontally with others.
"Many of us live in a drought of affirmation," he said, referring to a tendency in Asian cultures to refrain from praising children.
"But looking out to other people or even in ourselves for our validity is not going to work," he added. "We need put down our roots into the Word and into God, and we have to be authentic in the way that God has made us."
Through the seminars, coffee breaks, and plenary sessions, attendees, speakers, volunteers, and organizers were able to have conversations about specific topics regarding ministry and life, and how individuals in the Asian American church context can navigate through these issues. Tseng described that these are essentially the conversations that have been taking place in the INHERITANCE Magazine, but simply face-to-face.
"This [conference] is something we're hoping to hold on a regular basis," he said. "These are things that need to be told and talked about."
