Hooray for the Chinese Heritage Church!

Hello, friends! 

Last week, I had the pleasure of going to Dallas to participate in the Chinese Heritage Church Collaborative conference as a representative of InterVarsity. I joined InterVarsity's director of Asian American ministries and two other staff so we could network with church leaders and continue to build relationships with the Chinese Heritage Church. 

The Chinese Heritage Church (CHC) is one that has been very near and dear to my heart. I grew up in a CHC (hello to everyone at CBCOC!) and it was formative to my development as a follower of Jesus. The last 2 places that I've lived haven't had CHC's with English services, so I've been out of the CHC community for quite some time. Still, I hold the CHC is high regard and was so blessed to be invited to participate. Here are a few highlights: 

- Connecting with people! I had asked CBCOC if anyone was going to be at the conference but they said no. Imagine my surprise then when I saw my old Senior Pastor there! Apparently, he was one of the original founders of the Collaborative back in the day. What a small world! On top of that, I was able to connect with a guy who CBCOC played in an old high school church basketball league and a guy who dated (and married!) one of my sister's friends from college (#GoBears!).

My favorite story was from the last night. A bunch of us were sharing about where home was for us. I mentioned that I'm in Omaha now but that I grew up in Southern California. There were some California folk there and so they asked me where in SoCal. I told them Garden Grove but that our church was in Anaheim and how I could see the Disneyland Fireworks from our church on Friday nights. Another guy said, that his brother is law could also see the fireworks from his CHC growing up. Knowing that CBCOC was the only CHC in the area, I asked for the church name and his brother in law's name. As I suspected, I totally knew his brother in law and we were friends in high school.=0).

- Learning and Teaching! It was great learning from people who have been in the CHC context for years and decades even, about how to reach people through the CHC. Many of the challenges that the CHC faces are still present from when I attended a CHC but there are also new innovations and ways that the CHC is reaching Chinese folk in America. 

I was also able to be a resource. One of the first people I met was the Senior Pastor at one of the Chinese Churches in Kansas City. He came with his intern, who is hoping to reach out to Chinese international students in Kansas City. I had a great lunch with him, sharing about what I'd learned from watching Megan reach international students for so many years. I even was able to get him connected to the local IV staff. 

- Renewing Hope! Like I said earlier, I haven't regularly attended a CHC for over 20 years. When I visit my CHC every year, it's hard to not notice that the numbers are getting smaller and that many aunties and uncles have died. I've never doubted the good of the CHC, but I have wondered what the future of the CHC is going to be if the numbers and trends continue to move in the direction I was seeing. 

Hearing from folk who have been involved in the CHC for decades and the hope they still have for the CHC was so good for my soul. It's good to hear that God is still doing good work in the CHC and that there is still reason to hope that God will continue to use the CHC to bring the Gospel the Chinese folk in America! 

The CHC isn't perfect. No church is. Still, I'm glad that it's a part of my history and I'm glad that I was able to reconnect to my CHC roots. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam