Reaching Non-English Speaking Chinese

As a bred and born inner-westie (yes the meaning of that has changed as people have gone. .er. . more west) there are some cultural terms you get used to. One that people in Burwood are hearing more often is nickname ‘Burwoo’ (no ‘d’!) — because there are just so many Asians around, and not just Australian Born Chinese like yours truly, but people from mainland China. With our eyes we see overseas Chinese walking up and down Burwood Road, with our ears we hear the chatter of Mandarin and with our taste buds – well, there’s plenty of great Chinese food to be had

As Gracepoint continues to wrestle with how to be a church in the community, of the community and serving the community, it makes sense that learning to reach non-English speaking Chinese is an important group that we need to consider and struggle towards.

After having a crash course in using the Australian Bureau of Statistics site (HT to Andrew Hong), here’s what it tells us.

There are 2,643 people from Chinese backgrounds who have indicated that their proficiency in English is between “not at all” and “very well”. The table below shows the breakdown.

		Very Well	Well	Not Well	Not at All
Burwood		1,164	1,589	764	288

Out of 3,805 Chinese people in Burwood, 2,641 are not fluent in English. . that’s 70%!!!!

Where can we find these people?

This is really insightful is showing where these people might be found — now, how are we to reach them?

The Challenge We Face At GracePoint

10 years ago we began GracePoint English (then Burwood@5) with a core group of 30 young people as part of the Burwood Chinese Presbyterian Church.  With our existing Cantonese congregation we’ve shared a common mission to build up God’s people to reach God’s world.  As such our vision as a church has been to bring the saving and transforming power of Jesus and his saving work not just to our personal lives, but to our church community, our suburb, our city and our world in partnership with those who share our vision.

In the last 10 years we’ve become very much part of the Burwood community which has been home for us and the base of our ministry.  Ministry for us has always focused on building a community centered on Jesus and his saving work, where our people are empowered and equipped for His ministry and mission, and where we’re always working towards seeing the planting of such churches across our city.  To facilitate this we’ve been sharing the use of the Burwood premises based on a partnership agreement with St.James Burwood Presbyterian Church (BPC) the last 10 years.

However, St.James has recently indicated to us that they would like to change the current partnership agreement with the effect that our GracePoint Burwood evening congregation will no longer be able to use the premises.  St.James has informed us that they believe it is not feasible to have two English ministries on the same site as it would be a hindrance to their future growth.  However, the Cantonese congregation as a non-English speaking congregation will be able to continue on the same site. As leaders of the English congregation this comes as a surprise to us given that we thought we had an ongoing partnership with St.James.  Consequently, there will be changes ahead of us from next year as we look for alternative premises to continue our ministry in Burwood.

Undoubtedly some in our congregation will have questions, and we’ll face a period of uncertainty.  But, as I’ve often shared with those in our congregation, our church has never been built around a building, or a denomination, or a physical location.  As a church, our community at GracePoint has always been built around Jesus and his saving work.  Our calling to serve the ministry and mission of Jesus has never been dependent on the four walls of the building we meet in.  Our identity and witness as God’s people has never been defined by the premises we use.  It has served us well the last 10 years, and for that we are thankful.  It’s now time for us to move on trusting the Lord with new ministry possibilities and opportunities in Burwood.  We’re looking for new premises in Burwood and plan to continue our ministry where we have established ourselves the last 10 years.  Even in the last month new ministry opportunities have begun opening up to us.  I am daunted by what lies ahead, but humbled at the Lord’s goodness, and excited by where the Lord might be leading us.

We must remember that the Lord continues to be in control as he leads us as a GracePoint community.  Nothing happens by chance, and the challenges we’ll face are really an opportunity for us to grow as a GracePoint community.  Rather than seeing this trial as something that will hinder us or obstruct our ministry, James tells us to consider it pure joy (James 1:2-5).  Why?  Because this is a testing of our faith that the Lord is using to mature us, to grow us to depend more on Him, to teach us to trust Him, and to turn to Him for help and wisdom to navigate a way forward. I am reminded this week of Paul who saw his every situation as an opportunity to advance the gospel, even when he was in chains (Phil.1:12-14).  Rather than seeing this situation as something that will hinder or obstruct our ministry, Paul tells us to use it as an opportunity to grow the ministry of the gospel as a GracePoint community in Burwood.  As I shared tonight in our congregation, Paul was not bound by the chains of his circumstances, we are not bound by the chains of our circumstances, because the gospel is not bound.

Click here to hear or right click to download the mp3 message I gave.

Over the next few weeks and months I’m asking you to seek the Lord’s help and wisdom with us.  Our first and greatest need at this time is for prayer – for each one of our regulars to be in prayer for our church community, our leadership, and the ministry and mission Jesus calls us to.  How we move forward depends on how the Lord answers our prayers.  We need to begin praying for each other, and the Lord’s leading as a GracePoint community.  My prayer for us at this time is that we might keep our eyes focused on Jesus alone, who loved us and died for us; who is risen and alive; who gathers us as a church; who is present and here with us by his Holy Spirit; and who continues to leads us in serving his ministry and mission in our city.  We look to Him for greater things yet to come in bringing the saving and transforming power of Jesus to our lives, our church, our suburb, our city and our world.

Pastor Eugene Hor – lead English elder/pastor