fusion aside, the differences between this model and the
FKBC Raleigh, our church, incorporates a hybrid EM
English ministries model are that the second-generation
model that I hope someday works towards a “Townhouse”
congregation has an autonomous budget and its own
model that eventually pays most of the bills
board of deacons/elders.
ever, whatever my opinion is on what would work the
☺. How-
best for young 2nd and 1.5 generation Asian Americans
The strength of this model is that it allows for autonomy
in the Raleigh area is, what is important is that the church
while keeping the door for collaboration wide open.
must fulfill the great commission by making disciples who
make disciples within a particular cultural context. In the
The problems associated with this model are that many
case of our EM, our members are reaching out to, and
members are confused about what congregation/church
growing alongside others who grew up in a liminal place.
they belong to, since their parents (and oftentimes Korean
speaking spouses!) go to the first-generation church, but
they feel more at home in the second-generation church.
1. Okyun Kwon, Buddhist and Protestant Korean Immigrants: Reli-
In addition, there are all sorts of room scheduling con-
gious Beliefs and Socioeconomic Aspects of Life, 161.
flicts that arise from lack of communication between the
2. Sharon Kim, A Faith of Our Own: Second-generation Spirituality in
leaders of the first and second-generation churches.
Korean American Churches.35.
3. Ibid, 39.
The Independent Model
4. The second generation of Korean Americans lack representation
The independent model severs all formal ties with the
in the older age demographics because there are few second-gen-
Korean church. Sharon Kim notes that, “the main ad-
eration Korean Americans over the age of 50 at the time of writing
vantage of establishing an independent ministry is the
this paper (most Koreans immigrated after 1965, which means the
new-found sense of autonomy and ownership that they
oldest their American born children would be is 51).
and their members enjoy.”3 One weakness of this model
5. Sang Hyun Lee, From a Liminal Place: An Asian American Theolo-
are that, currently, it lacks a breadth of diversity in terms
gy (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010), 7.
of life stage demographics.4
Sang Hyun Lee uses the term “liminal” to describe the in-between
world that many Second-generation Korean Americans find them-
The Townhouse Model
selves in. He writes: “Those Asian Americans who were born in the
United States have only this country as their home. But at some
While all three models have strengths and