Chinese American church

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Chinese American church refers to Christian churches in the United States made up of predominantly ethnic Chinese congregations. The term is primary used to describe certain Protestant congregations found in large American cities, with a majority Chinese membership, and who typically offer bilingual services in both English and Chinese.

Contents

Organization

Most Chinese American churches belong to non-ethnic denominations, or are non-denominational. A significant number of them are Baptist and/or refer to themselves as “bible churches”. Chinese American churches tend to be conservative Evangelical Protestant bodies, following some variation of Reformed theology. [1]

Cultural assimilation

Many Chinese churches originate to serve recent Chinese immigrants arriving from Greater China. Church services are usually conducted in Cantonese, Mandarin or other Chinese languages. With the growing numbers of children and youth, there is often an increased need for English-speaking programs to address subsequent generations. [2]

As with other ethnic churches, Chinese American churches raise concerns around "assimilation" into the broader European American context versus preserving Chinese identity, especially with subsequent generations. On one level, this revolves around the preservation of the Chinese language. [3] In other respects, questions of assimilation relate to the loss of Chinese culture, especially as found in Confucianism. [2]

However, while the older generations tend to be less confident in English, many churches find themselves being "multi-congregational" by the fact that English-speaking younger generations are typically served under the same roof. According to this type of church organization and growth model, the problem occurs when the Chinese speaking congregation shrinks and leaves behind the larger non-Chinese speaking members. The failure to attract new members usually means the end of the church, especially when the original purpose of worship seems to be lost. [4] In addition to worship service, generally, churches also serve ministries in their local community context.

Notable churches

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References

  1. ↑ Ong, Andrew (2018-05-08). "Why Most Chinese American Christians Are Conservative Evangelicals". SOLA Network. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  2. 1 2 May, Grace Y. (1998). "Viewing God Through the Twin Lenses of Holiness and Mercy: A Chinese American Perspective". In Spencer, Aída Besançon; Spencer, William David (eds.). The Global God: Multicultural Evangelical Views of God. Baker Academic. pp. 167–169. ISBN   978-0-8010-2163-3.
  3. ↑ Fenggang Yang (2010). Chinese Christians in America: Conversion, Assimilation, and Adhesive Identities. Penn State Press. p. 139. ISBN   978-0-271-04252-7.
  4. ↑ Tow, Fee Kee (2008). Training American-born Chinese pastors to minister in a predominantly Chinese bicultural church (PhD Dissertation). Asbury Theological Seminary. ProQuest   304814962.
  5. ↑ "OUR STORY". Presbyterian Church in Chinatown. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
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