Our SOLA Network website has had its biggest year, and we are so grateful to our contributors and readers who help create conversations. As we end 2019, we wanted to share the 10 most-read articles that were published this year. We hope reading (or re-reading!) these pieces will help us to be inspired for all of the writing that will come in 2020, as well as encourage you that God has been, is, and will always be with us.
1. A Letter to My Complementarian Brothers
This letter by Soojin Park struck a chord with our readers. We hope it creates dialogues within our churches to talk humbly and gently about the role of women in His Body.
“It is my personal opinion that [Pastor John] MacArthur’s biggest blind spot in this situation was that he was upset that someone could act so differently from what he believed was so “clearly and easily” biblical. He assumed that a woman who claimed to be Christian should also be able to see it so clearly.
I want to make a plea to all of the brothers out there, especially those who are doing ministry: Please don’t take it for granted that the women in your church should easily and quickly subscribe to your interpretation of complementarianism just because you see it as biblical.
I say this as a woman who has, now, joyfully submitted to what my pastors define as complementarianism and have no desire to preach on the pulpit. I say this as a woman who has, now, joyfully accepted that I have a different role as a woman, and I submit to my elders and if I get married, my husband. But even as someone who loves the Word, it was not easy to get to this point, nor is it easy to live out its implications each day.”
2. How Asian Americans Misunderstand Shame
This essay by Fred Mok was one of our most commented articles of 2019. He redefines our western view of “shame” and encourages us to appreciating shame in our Asian American culture.
“Before shame became public emotional enemy #1, there were Asians. Eastern cultures have been centered around honor and shame for thousands of years.
Misunderstanding shame is particularly painful to Asian Americans because it results in cognitive dissonance. Because honor and shame are the bedrock of Eastern cultures, when we demonize shame, we demonize our heritage. The result is internal conflict and self-hatred.
Breaking out of that self -hatred means having a fuller picture of what shame is. The most popular definition of shame comes from Brene Brown, who writes that shame is the “intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging.” But I believe her definition is incomplete.”
You can also read his follow-up article, How Asian Americans Bear the Shame of Jesus.
3. Why Kanye West Needs the Local Church
Kanye West was a phenomenon in the cultural zeitgeist this year. His much-anticipated album led to a flood of memes, commentaries. PJ Tibayan gently and excellently called on Christians to not only care about Kanye’s public face, but his private life with a church body.
“As Christians, we want to honor Christ and love Kanye West as our neighbor, but what do we do with his public profession of faith?
The two options seem to be an uncritical affirmation of his faith on the one hand and critical rigorism on the other. Critical rigorism says, “Let’s wait and see until there is enough time and evidence that proves he really has been converted and born again.” But the other side quips, “You didn’t doubt your conversion, so why doubt his?” Both sides accuse the other of judging too quickly.
I don’t want to be judgmental in my attitude. Instead, I want to celebrate grace! At the same time, I don’t want to be presumptuous. As a pastor, I regularly think about and personally affirm or withhold affirming someone’s profession of faith. Pastors do this because the Bible teaches how to publicly affirm someone professing faith in Christ. So I believe that we don’t need to be confused or judgmental.
What is the way forward? I suggest we celebrate, hesitate, and contemplate.”
4. Beyond Varsity: An Interview with Owen Lee on Pastoring an Asian American Church
Read SOLA Council member Owen Lee’s honest interview in which he shares about how he chased the dream of leading a “white” ministry.
“But I wasn’t happy with being an EM pastor in the Korean American Church. I saw everything in the Korean American church as being compromised, inconsistent, and even corrupt. I thought that the white, European way of doing church was more biblical. In other words, I believed that “white was right.” When there was a problem in my Korean American church, I would imagine that my white professors at their white churches knew all the answers, or even better, that they probably didn’t even struggle with these types of problems in their churches.
Furthermore, I felt like my experience, and in fact, my existence as a minority was a liability. I knew that I knowledge gaps because I was a minority and grew up in the Korean American church. I felt my status as a minority and constantly felt like an outsider.”
5. The Minefield of Ministry: A Conversation with Harold Kim in Response to Joshua Harris
One story that rocked the evangelical world this year was the deconversion of Joshua Harris. Pastor Harold Kim was interviewed about the obstacles and pitfalls many Christian leaders face.
“Harold Kim: A word of comfort or counsel for those are disappointed or disillusioned, by Joshua Harris or any other pastor or leader who has stumbled: I would just say that there are too many biblical examples of lea
ders who have stumbled and have scandalized themselves. I say carefully that this is nothing new. Leaders and those who follow them alike, we have all been naïve. We’ve been naïve to think that leaders are super-human, super-spiritual, and different from the rest of us. We put them on a pedestal and idolize them.
This can foster great loneliness [in our leaders], because they can never break that mold of being on a pedestal. If they do, it might ruin their brand, their church, their fame, and their effectiveness.
This is toxic. We need a healthy dosage of the doctrine of sin for everyone, where every pastor and every leader is recognized as utterly frail and human. They get time with family and friends and safe places for counsel, fellowship and intimate prayers.”
6. Grafting Two Churches Together: An Interview with Mitch Kim
In an interview with the SOLA Network, Pastor Mitch Kim shares the unique journey of how his growing Asian American church merged with a declining white majority church to form a new, “hybrid” church.
“A lot of multiethnic churches are like a flower bouquet, where the best day of a flower bouquet is its first day. You cut off the flowers from their roots, you put them together, and it looks beautiful. But it wilts over time. What often happens with a multiethnic church is you kind of remove people from their context, and there’s a dominant culture, whether it’s white or Asian or whatever else.
And yet what I felt we were called to is more of a graft than a flower bouquet. Because in a graft, you take two sprigs and you bring them together, and it creates a third hybrid reality, that is neither A nor B. It’s a C. It’s like when two parents get married and have a kid. The kid is neither mom nor dad; it’s a new life.
As a graft, we didn’t want to just assimilate to white culture. We also didn’t want the Blanchard to just assimilate and do it our way now. But we felt there are unique strengths from both sides that we wanted to combine together. So, from the Asian American heritage, there’s a strong, prayerful spirituality and a sacrificial community. Those are the two values we feel that were coming out of our Asian American heritage.”
7. Two Conversations on Ethnicity in the Local Church
Race in the church can be a tricky thing to talk about. Tony Thomas helps us navigate conversations about ethnicity in the church by helping us to step into the shoes of people with different viewpoints than our own.
“Is it possible to see both sides? Can we have a nuanced discussion? I’ve personally found discussions around this issue to be quite polarized with a lot of misunderstanding all around. I hope this article can help movement towards a more nuanced conversation of (and not by any means resolving) the issue of ethnicity and culture inside the church.
One of the helpful ways we can do that is through actual dialogue and discussion. Let’s “model” loving dialogue by listening in on two hypothetical conversations which are based on various conversations I have had in the church.”
8. Token Asian American Pastor?
Pastor Peter Park didn’t intend to lead a majority-white Asian church. In fact, he fought against God’s plan to move him from Los Angeles to Texas. But instead of becoming a token Asian American Pastor, he believes God is using him to be a voice at the table.
“‘Are you open to Texas?’ This was the question that changed my world.
Growing up for most of my life in Southern California, I had never considered moving, and out of all places, I never thought of moving to…TEXAS?!?
I was not looking to leave my predominantly Asian American church nor move away from all my family, friends, and church. I had no reason to pack up and move my family to the South. I was more than content living on the West Coast.
Who was asking me to go to Texas? A predominantly (75%) white megachurch in Plano (yes, Toyota’s new home city) that was started the year I was born: 1972. Honestly, my first thought was, “Are they looking for a token Asian? Then no, thank you.” Secondly, why search all the way in California when I was sure there were plenty of Asian American pastors available in the belt buckle of the Bible belt?”
9. 7 Preaching Tips to Effectively Reach Gen Z
Part of SOLA’s vision is to support the local church. To do so, we provide resources to youth workers. This guide by Chris Li gives practical tools on how to preach to the next generation.
“Every time I go up to the pulpit (which is just a music stand), I try to swing for the fences. Sometimes a sermon connects with students but other times, I feel like I strikeout. Why?
I believe that teenagers have changed and research proves it. Gen Z is defined by Barna as anyone born from 1999-2015, and they are like no generation that has come before them. This means a sermon given a few years ago may not be as effective today.
Over the past couple of years, I have learned (often by painful mistakes) more about how to effectively reach this new generation. Through careful observation, here are some tips that can hopefully help you preach to Gen Z more effectively.”
10. Burdens and Truth: Inspired by “The Farewell”
As a website that platforms and promotes Asian American Christian writers, we believe it is important that we interact with and critique culture as it intersects with our Asian heritage. SOLA Editor Hannah Chao showcases this in her response to the film The Farewell, which deals with the question of whether it is “morally acceptable to tell your grandmother that she is healthy even when she is dying of Stage 4 cancer?”
“Watching the film, I achingly resonated Billi’s conflict and inner turmoil. It was the familiar tension of living between two cultures. I identified more closely with Billi’s more Western beliefs, but I could also see the logic and perspective of her parents’ generation, which held to Eastern
standards.
Though I had empathy for both sides, I struggled with whether or not what the family was doing was wrong. As Christians, we generally believe that lying is a sin. So then is the family in The Farewell a bad family? Are a lot of Asian families bad families? I’ve personally heard stories from many people about their families hid the seriousness of health issues from person who has been diagnosed.
Is there something inherently wrong with this Eastern way of thinking?”