God's Intent for 2nd and 3rd Generation Churches

As I was praying about God's intent for the Arabic Church, I remembered a talk that Pastor Soon-Chan Rah gave about "Generational Differences in Immigrant Churches". It's been a while since I've heard it.

Pastor Soon-Chan Rah is a second generation Korean who has gone through very similar things with the Korean-American church and share his experiences and suggestions of how the Arabic-American church can grow past the 1st generation "new comers" to the 2nd and 3rd generations.



The first time I heard it, it was such a relief to hear that there are other churches that are facing the same questions that we're facing... Will the "kids" ditch Arabic churches... will they go to English-speaking churches? Will they find their identity? It felt so nice to know that there are people who've done it before and are now 3rd and 4th generation churches. I feel like it's so relevant.

I loved that there are models of what the Arabic-American church can be like in a few years... having an Arab-American (2nd generation) church within the Arabic (1st generation) church or having an Arabic (1st generation) church within an Arab-American (2nd generation) church. He talked about other models too.

I also like the banana idea :-D the high assimilation, low identity individual. The FOB who's low assimilation and high identity.

Please God help the 1st generation to see the 2nd generation as an important part of the church. They are the future of the church... and actually the present. Please help the youth to be assimilated into the white culture, but also appreciate their identity, which is Arabic, as something that You've given them. Help them to realize their identity as Arab-American Christians and help their parents understand that as a valid, honorable thing (that they might not understand completely). Thank you God for letting Pastor Rah share his experiences with the Korean church and thank you for letting them go ahead of us and show us how to be a light to the 2nd generation and the 1st generation and how to bridge that gap between the two.

Let me know your reactions from hearing.