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Pastoral Letter 20th June 2021

牧聲 二零二一年六月二十日
20/6/2021
by
Pastor Steaven Cheung

“How do we more young people involved in our church?”. In our Asian culture, we don’t have the best theology of transition between generations. I’ve been asked questions similar to the one at the start of the letter in one form or another ever since I’ve joined in full-time pastoral ministry. In my first church, I served the English Service where our oldest member was in their 30’s, most of my congregation was in their 20’s or younger, and mobilising them was going to determine whether or not we grow or stagnate. In those formative years of my early ministry, I have two reflections on how churches can better empower the next generation to flourish into the pillars of the church; reflections that I’ve seen to be relevant in the various roles and Asian churches that I’ve had the privilege of serving.

1. Give them a seat on the table. One of the most common mistakes churches make -but actually come from the bests intentions - is that we often give our next generation ‘small tasks’ to achieve before entrusting them with decision making in areas that have real stakes. That idea in itself makes sense in a vacuum, but forgets the context our younger members are in. In contemporary society, new ideas and innovation are at a premium, and is vital to the grow of many industries, whether in technology, business strategy or the not-for-profit sector. If we only allow our next-generation to opportunities to ‘serve the table’ rather than having a ‘seat on the table’, our most gifted and passionate will either be given opportunities elsewhere to express their God given talents or we will build disciples that lack the experience to make effective decisions.

Young doctors need years of practice, young soccer stars need minutes on the pitch, young preachers need hundreds of hours of preaching experience and young leaders need opportunities to build their confidence to lead.

2. A culture of feedback and safety when failing. The reason why young leaders aren’t given opportunities often boils down to our fear of how failure may affect the church or the young leaders themselves (mind you, in a church like ours, ‘young’ might look like someone in their 30’s, so they can handle a bit of failure already). What we forget is that failure is sometimes the tool that God uses to most effectively build humility, character and skills. It also gives the wiser, more experienced members of the church to engage in feedback and discipleship. Failure, rather than being a danger, is actually often the catalyst for reflection and growth. Think back to your biggest seasons of growth, were they not when you felt like you could learn from your mistakes?

My first ten sermons in my old church were by my and anyone’s estimation, a blatant theft of mother earth’s oxygen. One of the pieces of feedback I was given by a congregation member was, ‘thanks to your sermon, I now know that need for me to read the bible for myself!’. I could study, but I didn’t understand how to communicate or explain scripture in a formational way. But that season was also when one of the ministers who had taken me under his wing would sit down with me after every sermon and give me points on how to improve. It was only by that culture of feedback that I grew enough in my confidence to speak at prison fellowship camps, Easter conventions and to other churches around Victoria.

Conclusion: Scripture is filled with moments of gracious transition between the older generations to the younger ones. If we want to grow our next generation into not just pillars of the church, but of society, we need to give them a seat on the table and opportunity to grow through failure. Don’t look down on them because of their youth, but let them set an example in speech, conduct, love faith and purity.

“我們如何讓更多的年輕人參與我們的教會?”。在我們的亞洲文化中,我們不善於將我們知道的神學傳給下一代。自從我投入全職牧養事奉以來,我一直被以不同方式地問及類似於上面標題的問題。在我事奉的第一個教會,我所事奉的英語堂中最年長的成員是 30 多歲,我的大部分會眾都是 20 多歲或更年輕的,如何動員他們將決定我們是成長還是停滯不前。在我早期事奉的那些年裡,我對教會如何更好地裝備下一代成長為教會的支柱有兩方面的領會;我在有幸事奉的不同角色和亞洲教會當中得到這些相關的領會。

1. 給他們一個參與的位置教會最常犯的錯誤之一(但實際上出自最好的意圖)是我們經常給我們的年輕的一代“小任務”好讓他們可以完成,然後再委託他們在真正需要作決定的重要事情。這個想法本身是有道理的,但我們卻忘了我們年輕成員所處的環境。在當代社會,新的想法和創新正在大行其道,無論是在科技、商業戰略還是非謀利機構等許多行業裏的發展都至為重要。如果我們只讓我們的下一代有機會“為餐桌服務”而不是“坐在餐桌上”,我們最有天賦和熱情的人不是在其他地方獲得機會來表達上帝賜予的才能,就是我們培養出的門徒缺乏做有效決策的經驗。

年輕的醫生需要多年的實踐,年輕的足球明星需要在球場上的實際參賽經驗的時刻,年輕的傳教士需要數百小時的講道經驗,年輕的領袖需要機會來建立他們的領導信心。

2. 錯失時的回應和安全文化。年輕領袖沒有機會的原因通常由於我們擔心失敗會如何影響教會或年輕領袖本身(請注意,在我們這樣的教會中,“年輕”可能看起來像30多歲的人,所以他們已經可以處理一些失敗了)。我們忘記的是,失敗有時是上帝最有效建立謙卑、品格和技能的工具。它還讓教會中更聰明、更有經驗的成員作出相對的回應和門徒訓練。失敗,而不是危險,實際上往往是反思和成長的催化劑。回想一下你最大的成長時期,不就是當你覺得你可以從錯誤中吸取教訓的時候嗎?

回想我在之前事奉的教會,根據我自己和教會中任何人的評估,我最先的十次講道明顯的是在浪費空中的氧氣。一位會眾成員給我的回應之一是,“感謝你的講道,我現在知道我需要自己閱讀聖經!”。我可以學習,但我當時不明白如何以有組織的方式討論或解釋經文。但當年也是在每次講道後,我的一位牧師導師都會和我坐下來,就我如何可以改進給我意見。正是通過這種回應文化,我才成長到有足夠的信心在監獄團契營、復活節公開聚會和維多利亞省的其他教堂分享講道。

結論:聖經中充滿了年輕一代承傳長一輩的恩典時刻。如果我們想讓我們的下一代不僅成為教會的支柱,更成為社會的支柱,我們需要給他們一個能參與的位置,讓他們有機會在失敗中成長。不要因為他們年幼而輕看他們,而要讓他們在言語、行為、愛心和純潔上做出榜樣。

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