Anxieties About ABC
Ministries
By Peter Yuen
During
the last decade increasing numbers of Chinese churches have been seeking ABC
workers to help them in their outreach to ABCs.
While more and more ABCs are entering the ministry, the supply falls far
short of the demand. Some churches have
sought such a worker for years and have not been successful in finding a
suitable person.
Most Chinese churches in
In considering launching out
in some kind of ministry for ABCs, OBC leaders face the challenge—the Chinese
term for this is “danger-opportunity”—with fear and hope. They desire that their ABCs continue to grow
in the context of the church. They also
want to maintain peace between the younger and the older, between ABCs and
OBCs, between children and parents.
Many OBC layleaders and pastors
can keep their younger children under control, but they find it difficult to
relate to and understand older ABCs, especially those in their teen years and
above. It is the inability to deal with
and win the confidence of these older ABCs that causes the OBC leadership to
consider some alternatives to maintain their church’s effort to serve
ABCs. Basically, there are two steps
they could take: begin a separate worship and program for their ABCs, and seek
an ABC worker for this segment of the church.
The process of implementing a successful ABC ministry is often a period
of significant anxiety and fears for church leaders.
There is the fear of
conflicts due to differences in culture.
Already, OBC church leaders will have experienced some of this conflict,
or they would not have considered new steps to serve their ABCs. And with the decision to move into this new
phase of the work, cultural differences may become even more pronounced. Factors that exacerbate this conflict are
often due to the gaps between ABCs and OBCs in language, age, interests, or
worship and activity styles.
It is believed by some that
unity in the church is achieved by everyone, young and old, ABCs and OBCs
meeting together for worship in the same hall at the same time. Back in the late 1970s when the leaders in
the first wave of new immigrant churches (established since 1965) watched their
ABC children beginning to drop out of the Chinese church, they could not
consider having a separate worship and program for their ABCs. Instead, they began to translate parts of the
service from Chinese to English in an attempt to help the ABCs understand and
appreciate it, for they could not see beyond having one bilingual translated
service. To meet separately in two
language groups was thought to be dividing the church. Having separate Sunday school classes for
different ages and languages was already acceptable and common, but having
separate English services for their ABCs was untenable because that was
deciding the church. Meanwhile ABCs
continued to drop out. The children
growing up in the churches were abandoning the worship, the church, and their
Christian connections.
By the mid-1980s many of
these same churches found that it was necessary and advantageous to have
separate English and Chinese services.
Not only did these churches find that people were much happier and the
ministry to both groups was much more effective, but many churches found that
the attendance in both ABC and OBC sections took quantum jumps.
There were OBC pastors and
parents who were concerned that the young people would lose their appreciation
for Chinese culture and their capacity to understand preaching in the Chinese
language. This is a valid fear, but the
cost has to be weighed against the loss of their young people from the
Christian church. While Chinese culture
and language are seen as of great value to the OBC parents, their children’s
eternal and spiritual welfare is by far of greater value and must be cultivated
at all costs.
If the church is a winsome
place for fellowship and spiritual nurture for ABCs, they will get the best
balance of the spiritual and the cultural within the context of the Chinese
church. But if they drop out and are
lost to the world because the church does not have a relevant ministry for
them, they will have neither contact with the Chinese church culture nor spiritual
encouragement.
As the English section for
ABCs develops, so goes some of the authority and power of the church. It is incumbent upon both the ABCs and OBC
leadership to cultivate a mutual appreciation and support for the other’s ministry.
This is the essence of unity in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-27). Failure to cultivate such love in Christ,
despite cultural differences or other sundry reasons, has resulted in serious
and painful church splits or dismissal of some leaders. However, in recent experiences of Chinese
churches around the country there have been very, very few splits due to
ABC-OBC conflicts.
Churches at the threshold of
moving into establishing an effective work for the coming generations may look
squarely at the pitfalls and then hesitate for months and years. It is difficult enough to find suitable ABC
workers, and that in itself could delay a church from making progress. But restraint by church leaders from moving
toward ABC ministry due to procrastination could cost churches and families
dearly. Lack of action could result in
yet another wave of exits by young ABCs as they choose the options of the world
rather than languish in boredom in a church which is insensitive to their
needs.
Yes there are genuine
uncertainties when a church takes steps in implementing specialized ABC worship
and programming. And calling an ABC worker is expensive and risky. But the hope of having a strong and healthy
ABC ministry for the children and for the growing generations is worth the
adventure of faith. After all, this is
the Lord’s work, and He is more concerned about, and caring, for His people
than we mortals could ever be. With the
love of Christ and a humility of spirit among the leaders, may there be a common
vision to enhance the work of the whole church.
May fear be overcome by faith, and may great blessing come to those who
are willing to follow God’s leading to the next step in their church’s journey.