Reading from a diverse group of writers?
Who do you read?
A couple of months ago our pastor gave the congregation a challenge concerning what we read. He talked about how a large portion of the people he read in the past, when studying Scripture, has primarily been white males.
Pastor Matt talked about how important it is to be intentional in reading from Christian writers of different backgrounds including both ethnic and social backgrounds.
Personally, one of the books I’ve been reading is the autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Clayborne Carson. It’s been eye opening to read about his struggles during the civil rights movement on both a personal level and from a minister’s standpoint. He worked very hard to make sure the people did not turn to violence when things got hard.
Now, with that being said, if you come across someone’s book or blog post and you have a question about their theology, then I suggest either talking with your bible study leader, your minister leader, your elder, or pastor. They’re some of the people responsible for your spiritual growth, so you’ll want to ask them if something is in line with how your church interprets passages of Scripture.
Why? Because they’re already accountable for that as leaders of the church, so ask questions…lots of questions.
Questions for you
How would you describe the writers that you typically read? How can you be intentional about expanding who you read? Why is it important to have your Bible close on hand? Who’s a spiritual authority in your life that can help you with questions, recommendations, and theology?
Blog post by Peter Kihyun Park
© 2012 – 2011, Peter Park. All rights reserved.
How’s your heart doing?
One of the most important questions I’ve learned from my friend Josh David, from Proskuneo Ministries, is…
How your heart doing?
It’s a much better question to ask than, “How’s it going?” I find that when I ask this question people launch into what activities are filling up their schedules. This ranges from how work went to what their family did over the weekend to some movie they saw.
Nothing’s wrong with hearing about those things, but I feel like someone’s activities doesn’t necessarily reveal someone’s heart. Do you know what I mean?
A person could be working all day at a job that they don’t enjoy, but what they’re really passionate about is painting. Maybe another person you know puts on a happy face at church, but their father just passed away.
When my son was in the NICU
Over the summer my newborn son was rushed to the hospital and stayed in NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) for 15 days. It was an extremely stressful time to say the least.
Funny thing is I still had worship rehearsal and I still went to church that Sunday. I think a lot of people were surprised to see me there, especially since I sent an email the day we went to the hospital explaining what happened.
But in this crisis moment people were asking me how this event was affecting each one of us: myself, my wife, and my other son.
This was encouraging because when tragedy and emergencies occur it doesn’t just affect just the one person. It really does affect everyone in the family and close friends.
What does this have to do with the multicultural church?
If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a thousand times…RELATIONSHIPS ARE IMPORTANT IN THE MULTICULTURAL CHURCH.
One of the ways we build those all important relationships are to find out what’s going on in people’s heart. It requires us to ask in humility. It requires us to take extra time to listen.
But if we’re going to build strong bonds with one another, move forward together, and do CHURCH together….then we’re going to have to ask this all important question:
How’s your heart doing?
Blog post by Peter Kihyun Park
© 2011, Peter Park. All rights reserved.
Why don’t I talk more about music?
My time
This is an interesting question for me to tackle. I love how music ministers to God’s people and the wonderful challenges of working with music of different cultures.
But, ministering to God’s people, no matter where your passions are is more than just where you’re exceptionally gifted at. Right?
I know other multicultural worship leaders who divide their time differently, but for me…right now…I probably spend about 80% of my time developing friendships, preparing devotionals, and praying.
I spend the 20% of my time listening to music and preparing music for Sunday’s worship service.
Finding time to do multiple things at once
One of the things I love doing is doing multiple things at once to develop friendships and prepare music. For me, that means spending time doing song translations.
I love spending that time getting to know somebody, translating a song, relearning the song in another language, and maybe have a meal together as well.
And, of course, I enjoy developing friendships and blogging. It’s a great time for me to get to know somebody by thinking more critically about the questions I want to ask. I hope to dig deep into someone’s heart, with the help of the Holy Spirit, that will not only encourage my heart, but yours as well.
How about you?
How do you divide your time in multicultural worship ministry? What are some types of times you enjoy the most during the week doing ministry?
Blog post by Peter Kihyun Park
© 2011, Peter Park. All rights reserved.