Title: American Asian Disciples celebrate growth, hear challenge
Date: August 3, 1998
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
98b-47
by W. Evan Golder Editor, United Church News
OAKLAND, Calif. (DNS) -- Four hundred percent in only six and one-half years. That's how much American Asian churches have grown in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
This statistic was one of many contained in the annual report of the Rev. Geunhee Yu, executive pastor of North American Asian Pacific ministries, during NAPAD's tenth biennial convocation, July 30-Aug. 1, at Mills College here. More than 125 people from 15 different states attended the convocation.
Currently North American Pacific/Asian Disciples number 43 congregations as well as five missions and three new church starts. Yu added that in the past 18 months alone, seven American Asian ministers were ordained and eight pastors from other communions became Disciples. However, Yu reminded the attendees, a large percentage of the 9 million American Asians in North America are not Christians. "I can tell you that the great era of Asian and Pacific Islanders is at hand in the North American continent," he said. "Are you ready for this era?"
Yu challenged each NAPAD church to branch out to one new church in the next two years, to send their young leaders for seminary education, to work for a language-specific program in at least one Disciples seminary, and to tithe as a church to Basic Mission Finance. "Many of you started your new churches from the benefits of BMF," he said. "Now it is time for you to give back. Regardless of your church's financial situation, your giving through BMF is part of our ministry."
The convocation featured worship, workshops and a banquet at Oakland's First Korean Christian Church, the host congregation. Keynote speaker, the Rev. Wallace Ryan Kuriowa, executive director of the Office for Church in Society of the United Church of Christ, urged delegates to "speak truth to power."
Basing his speech on the convocation theme, "For Such a Time as This," Ryan Kuriowa said, "God has placed us here in this time, for such a time as this. We need to work for fairer, more just immigration laws. We need to work against hate crimes perpetrated against people of color. And we need to create a more hospitable presence for other Asians and Pacific Islanders as they come to a strange and new land."
The opening worship session featured a procession of banners and symbols by delegates wearing traditional attire from nine lands: China, Hawaii, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. The evening's offering of $530 was shared between the David Kagiwada Scholarship Fund and the newly established Soongook Choi Scholarship Fund. Both funds benefit students studying for the ministry.
During the business session, delegates voted to invite the Disciples' other two racial-ethnic caucuses, the National Hispanic and Bilingual Fellowship and the National Convocation to share a three-way convocation with NAPAD in the year 2002. Delegates also heard a Young NAPAD report which urged broader participation from young people in convocation planning and the possibility of joint youth/adult workshops in the future.
The following officers were elected to two-year terms: Moderator Jeri Sias, Columbus, Ohio; vice moderator, the Rev. Namsoo Woo, Oakland, Calif.; recording secretary, Timothy S. Lee, Torrance, Calif.; treasurer, Pauline Choi, Fullerton, Calif.; executive council members at-large, the Rev. Nobuyoshi L. Kaneko (ex officio), Tujunga, Calif.; Haejin Chung (Young NAPAD), Downey, Calif.; Grace Kim, Los Angeles; Pat Payuyo, Los Angeles; Xiaoling Zhu, Alliance, Ohio; and the Rev. Geunhee Yu (ex officio), Indianapolis.
NAPAD's next biennial convocation will be held from July 27-29, 2000, in Indianapolis, with Bethel Christian Church as the host congregation.
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