Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.
How do you grow a Chinese-American church?
I heard my daddy thinking out loud about this question.
My daddy gets asked to preach a lot. He teaches people about Jesus at churches who don’t have any preacher. He preaches for them until they find somebody to stay with them for a long time. Then daddy goes some place else, or he comes to the Chinese church with mommy and me.
He went with us this morning for the first time in a long time.
“There’s a lot of people here,” daddy said. “It’s really grown.”
Mommy and I knew that because we go there every week. Daddy can only go sometimes.
Daddy says he is as old as 2 and sometimes 3 of any of the people in the worship with him.
That might be true.
I wonder if daddy counts for 3 people!? Hmm…
But I think I know the answer to how to grow a Chinese-American church.
I think it might be the same answer for any church.
The easiest and best way to grow a Chinese-American church is first – I have to go. Then you have to go. And if each of us brought out daddies, or mommies and our friends … well then the church would grow.
That makes pretty simple sense to me.
Where do you go to church?
Do you want to go with me? You might just meet Jeremy Lin there. He he he.
Talk to Bill and others about their experiences raising bi-cultural Japanese-American kids.
Hi Mia,
This is an very important question. Growing the church is something that God does but we play a role in helping. Our role is to just tell others about Jesus. Especially people that we think may not go to church. When you tell people about Jesus sometimes they get defensive because they are not sure how they feel about Jesus. If you think some people are feeling defensive that’s okay, just be yourself and they may decide they want to know more about Jesus just because they know and like you. When people like you, they tend to be more willing to listen to the things that you like too. Its really about building friendships with people and letting them know you love Jesus. If enough of your friends do this it will attract more people to the church because the church grows on the basis of relationships. The best relationships are good friendships. So just try to be a good friend and let others know you love Jesus. Pretty soon, they will be asking you about your church because of their friendship with you!
So wonderful your daddy could come and worship with you. I am sure he really enjoyed this time worshipping with you.
I understand completely. I am a daddy who also spends most Sundays speaking at another church and I miss my family during that time
Thank you for reading. My daddy is finishing a ministry this month. I thought we will go together again next month … but he is talking to another church tomorrow. My daddy sure loves talking about Jesus and God and stuff. I am really glad people like to listen to my daddy.
Thank you for reading.