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DPUC INTERCULTURAL YAYA
MINISTRY
This mission and ministry plan is based on the experience and vision
of Dentonia Park United Church within Toronto Southeast Presbytery,
In the Toronto Conference of The United Church of Canada
Prepared by the Rev. John Young-Jung Lee through consultation with the
members of Dentonia Park United Church and supporting colleagues within The
United Church of Canada. This project is approved by the Council of DPUC, who
has recommended it be sent to Toronto Southeast Presbytery on March 28, 2010.
It is updated on February 19, 2011 and still open for further development.
INTRODUCTION
The goal of
this mission is to bring peace in the future world that begins from here and
now. This mission plan challenges DPUC and The United Church of Canada to be “Today’s Church For the Future
World” that proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ which has shown from the
future for the world of here and now. This tells us that the church must serve
the present world that will continue to the future. Looking around the world
that changes with uncertainties, we will come to conclusion that church’s serving
the world is like catching the moving object on a rollercoaster. This means
that we have to think fast and act fast while adding the new factors and
monitoring the development, and adjust with flexibilities.
Without
moving and thinking in new ways, many church leaders will give up trying any
brand new project without enough footnotes or even imagining future world, and
ends up with making the church slow to bring new vision or necessary action for
the changing world and therefore fail to prepare concrete plan for the future
world and to bring vision for today’s world. Without future vision church means nothing
but a social club. To bring the new vision and actualize any new mission plan,
it is crucial to monitor each and every step of process so as to adjust and
challenge with application of new creative ways when experienced unexpected new
factors. In this process, the most secure way is possible by including diverse
perspectives that is comprised of different cultures and traditions, different
areas of profession, Christians and non Christians, different life styles and
sexual orientations.
The United
Church of Canada considers two significant key words intercultural and YAYA*. This
tells us that the United Church’s sense of direction is clear as church that
intends to serve the present and future. It is very fortunate that the United
Church chose the way to be “Today’s Church
For the Future World.” As a church in the multicultural society of Canada, we
are called to nurture respectful spaces for dialogue and equitable
relationships among diverse cultural groups. This journey will lead us to transformation, to be the gift
for the world as individuals, as the church, and as part of the global community. This transformative vision will lead us to our
future life as an intercultural church, to move toward becoming mutually
welcoming and racially just communities. * YAYA means Youth And Young Adult.
We believe that the church should bring a vision for the
world. This is what the church of Christ is called to do. We are called to be a
just community that lives with mutual respect in loving relationship with
people and with nature. To fulfill this responsibility, we seek to educate and nurture young people to be responsible leaders in the coming new society through this ministry. This ministry focuses on two signficant aspects in ministry: Intercultural and YAYA
ministry. The YAYA ministry is not exclusive to a specific age
group: young
people will have the ownership of the mission of this ministry and the
experienced generation will sow seeds of the Gospel. Intercultural ministry
does not end with bring multicultural
component in ministry but humbly build trusting relationship with differences
through intersubjective mutual respect relationship that will move towards
perichoresis which means forming the organic living body of Christ.
The United
Church of Canada has set the direction to provoke and actualize this vision. At the 39th General Council, the Church agreed to “commit
itself to becoming an intercultural church,” which means “that intercultural dimensions of ministries be a
denominational priority” through building mutually reciprocal relationships
among and between cultures. According to this understanding, we need to expand
the meaning of “intercultural” from intentional building of relationships with ethnic
minority groups, to all inclusive interaction of differences such as
generational and sexuality categorizations. On top of this, intercultural ministries should seek to move beyond dialogue for mutual learning and support. This moves towards
welcoming and including diverse cultural minority groups which need church’s
attention in ministry, and leads to seeking transformation in all parts of our church.* Eventually, intercultural
ministries should focus on the wholistic and holistic ministry through
interaction of the whole people of God in the faith community, The United
Church of Canada.
* YAYA group in the United Church of Canada
Ted Dekker points out a part of the
problem:
The lack of time and knowledge amongst senior ministry
staff is not due to any failure on their part. Instead, it is a direct
result of the way that the United Church has structured our ministry
staff. For the most part, pastoral charges expect that their minister
will be able to be everything to everyone, to make Christianity interesting and
applicable to everyone at every stage of their life. Our ministers spend
lots of resources and time to receive great theological training, and then the
pastoral charges expect them to organize potluck dinners and youth group
meetings. Instead, we should identify the people with skills in our
churches who can take on the programming and let the minister do what they are
best at, whether that be youth work, preaching, pastoral care, or whatever.
—The above was written by Ted Dekker. Release
date: 13 October, 2004 and included here by Marion Current as an example.
The ‘Call
to Purpose’ affirmed by the 39th General Council has been the prayer
that has set the spiritual direction for DPUC YAYA Intercultural Ministry proposal:
We are restless with a renewed
call. We are seeking to live faithfully as a united people in a divided world.
We seek to be authentic. We seek relationships that are truthful and just. We
long to embody what we say we believe, to be The United Church of Canada, for
our communities, for the world, and for Creation. In this spirit we pray: God of all
creation, we offer you our thanksgiving for a time rich with connections, among
each other and with you. We thank you for moments when we have experienced what
it is to be united even in our differences. Help us to grow as a listening,
discerning, learning people. Help us to give up patterns and structures that
enslave us and others. Help us to acknowledge our fear and lean into your hope
and your courage. Help us to grow in our trust in each other and in your
Spirit. Fill us with your grace and with your wisdom, with your patience and
with your love. Propel us into your future, rooted in the richness of our past. In Christ
we pray. Amen.
—"Call to Purpose: A message from the church to the church"
was affirmed by the United Church's 39th General Council meeting in Thunder Bay
August 13–19.
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
1. A message from the whole of the United Church to local ministries.
What purpose lies at the heart of The United Church of Canada in its
past, present and future journey? With the Spirit of new creation, DPUC has
moved on in our time, and we have heard a call to step forward to reach out to
the ends of the world, through reaching into the every corner of the town, or
city we are in, and to all local communities within the global village. We,
DPUC, have been together with this spirit of God’s mission, reflecting our past
journey in deep conversations, and intending to incorporate them into our
dreams and future vision. We are called to listen for God's voice, bring our
life in Christ. We want to learn about the church that keeps its identity as
the church of Christ and sustains its relevance to the world, and to discern
its call through spiritual practices of critical evaluation of the past, and
theological reflection. DPUC Intercultural Youth And
Young Adult (YAYA) Ministry is a project that is guided by the spirit of the
“Call to Purpose” of the United Church and brings the vision and concrete
direction to be a transformative church that is in, with and for the
world which is coming from the future. The message from the whole of the United
Church to DPUC is “intercultural ministry” and “YAYA focused transformative
ministry” that is geared towards education and nurturing future Christian
leaders in society in the fast changing global community.
2. We long for a deeper relationship with God.
We,
Dentonia Park United Church, acknowledge that there is
pain in our congregations and our
neighbouring communities. There is pain in our wounded relationships
with all those who have been marginalized and isolated in our past and present.
We recognize the pain in our lives through
the power of what is not of God, and we want to claim to
have courage to resist its domination. We sustain our ministry through awareness
of the healing presence of God in Christ amongst us. After hearing
the news of youth homicide in our neighbourhood in 2005, we had to look again to our raison d’être of the church. DPUC tried
to search for ways to open our
church doors to the community. First, we shifted the bible
study to a healing prayer service to open the church and welcome the
community in to have a quiet time and to pray. This service focuses on
the individual and communal healing of God. DPUC also created other community
opportunities such as setting up the Dentonia Children’s
Choir, holding women’s gathering for sharing stories or art and craft and other
talents, and movie nights at the church. DPUC has long been committed to
leading services at East York General Hospital and now at True Davidson Acres
nursing home.
3. We have positive experience that inspires future
ministry.
In
2001, DPUC started a special program for young people who came to Canada to
study. These were young people who had left their own country with dreams of
gaining international experience and of learning
about different cultures, perspectives and ways of life, and they wanted to have
fellowship with people in Canada. However the reality for most of these
individuals was that nothing exciting happened in the first few months. After
spending around three months without any significant improvement in their
language skill or progress in experiencing the new culture, they began to
experience frustration. They ghettoized themselves and developed a fear of
connecting with the people of different races, cultures and traditions. DPUC
held a gathering of around twenty young people from Korea, China and Japan and
realized that ministry for them was urgent. DPUC had a good experience with
these people and learned that it is not simply a ministry of helping them but
about developing mutual empowerment through learning from each other.
4. We want to rise once more and venture into renewed
mission.
DPUC
was not capable of supporting this ministry which needed extra human resources
and programs supported with financial backing. However, we continue to maintain
connection with the members who were part of this ministry. We have one member
who settled in Canada and began his career as photographer. Two of the members
(now a married couple) regularly attended the service and participated the life
of DPUC in worship leadership and other church events. Although they eventually returned to their home
country, they continue to communicate with the congregation through video
messages, and use many of the ideas that they experienced while here. Thus in many ways the relationship
continues and develops even now. Listening deeply, we are in search
of genuine conversations and understanding—within the church and with
international, ecumenical, and interfaith partners. At DPUC, in our
conversations and decision making we will be mindful of our commitment to
intercultural ministry.
We want to honour children and youth as a vital part of
the church's present, as well as the promise of the future that comes through education and
training these future leaders of the world to be equipped with the Spirit of
Christ. All these connections strengthen us to live out our
faith and to work for justice and peace as the Body of Christ.
5. Renewed call here and now toward the future
DPUC has been faithful to God’s call through
the painful cry of the world that comes from the neighbourhood and the
ministerial context in
which we live. We hold
bible study twice a month at the church. We hear from the neighbouring
community about ignored and neglected young people from other countries who
came to prepare for their future by learning skills that are necessary for
exercising leadership and sharing their gifts in the future life in the global
community. The Church’s intentional reaching out to these people is crucial for
a church that is called to a transformative ministry. We need
to commit
ourselves to seek right relationships with the people
in the shadows, ignored by our busy-ness, and our traditional concept of
mission of charity that simply gives or helps without empowering and nurturing leadership
they need in their future life. We seek the meaning of what it means to be with these people, so that they can be transformed to be the gift for the
world here and now and for
the future global village. Our discernment has persuaded us
that we must pay
our attention intentionally to the YAYA group of culturally diverse background
within our ministerial context.
6. We are inspired and empowered by the Scriptural message:
“The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the
oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Luke 4: 18-19)
“With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or
what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown
upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is
sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large
branches, so that the birds of the air
can make nests in its shade.” (Mark 4: 30-32)
“As Jesus walked
along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who
sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered,
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in
him.” (John 9:1-3)
7. We review DPUC Mission Statement and its Faith Statement
The mission of DPUC is to
proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to our community. We will provide people of
all races and ages with the opportunity to worship and to reach out to one
another and the world in faith and fellowship.
We believe that the church's mission is in
continuity with the mission of Jesus of Nazareth, which can be summed up by the
words of Luke 4:18-19. We believe that the mission of Christ creates its own
church. We believe that we are called to proclaim the good news of God through
healing the sick, liberating the captives and preaching the gospel to the poor.
We believe that to live out God’s call we reach out to the ends of the world
with God’s love. We believe that this will lead us to serve the world as
disciples of Jesus Christ. We believe that the church has its true identity in
the work of Christ. We believe that, to reflect the image of Christ and to
transform the world that changes with cultural and social conditions, the
church must be sensitive to the changes in the world around it, and must cope
with the new needs in the new world.
8. We are aware of the changing context of DPUC
1. The demographics of the East York area
have changed greatly during the last few decades and continues to change.
2. Remarkably, many ethnic people have immigrated into this area:
particularly, East Indian, South/East Asian, Chinese, and Caribbean immigrants.
3. This change moves the area into a more diverse racial, cultural and
religious framework
4. With the development of the transit and transportation system, DPUC
seeks to expand its ministerial context into the wider area of the GTA.
9. Recent experience of DPUC
1. What is notable within ten years of experience is an Intercultural
Ministry of Youth and Young Adults mostly who have come from Korea to Canada to
have language training.
2. They are young people who came to Canada with a big dream of learning
about Canadian culture and people as well as improving their language skills.
3. Three months after their arrival, most of them experience extreme
frustration from no improvement of their language skills and or recovery from
culture shock.
4. Although there are many Korean churches, they generally do not pay much
attention to these groups of people since their stay is limited and their
financial contributions are not significant.
5. Since the young people who come to Canada often feel great hesitation in
stepping into a Caucasian church, they need to be warmly welcomed, into the
local community and guided to realize just how important they are to the
community, not just as subjects for ‘help’ but as equal participants.
DPUC INTERCULTURAL YAYA MINISTRY
1. Intercultural YAYA
Faith Statement
1. We trust in God the Creator and celebrate God's good creation.
2. We are part of this creation and we live in God's world. We are made in God's image and yet
with all different gifts.
3. We seek to respect one another, to
love our neighbours, to care for creation, and to live in harmony.
4. We are called to join in God's
ongoing creation and to live out God’s
will for creation, peace
and justice with love.
5. We believe that, in this
journey, we are together with sustaining
trusting relationship with each other, through
the Spirit of God who is with us always.
Formulated by DPUC YAYA on March 1, 2000
2. Intercultural YAYA Ministry Mission Statement
1. As followers of Jesus Christ, we
serve the world with the spirit of Christ.
2. We share our own cultural identities while learning about other cultures and traditions.
3. We strive
to build a community of trust and mutual respect.
4. We aim to build
a network of support and encouragement for present and future in
each individual’s own context.
Formulated by DPUC YAYA on
March 1, 2000
3.
Intercultural YAYA Ministry
Goals
And Objectives
1. To be the trustful and responsible leader of the future world, we build
the ongoing network of trusting relationship and sustain it.
2. Study and work to be equipped with knowledge, information and experience
to witness the good news of God.
3. Develop and learn to plan and manage small group gatherings.
4. Develop skills to build trusting relationship through small group
sharing and large group gathering.
5. Develop leadership by exchanging their role within the structure.
Formulated by DPUC YAYA on
March 1, 2000
4. What Is the Target Group?
1. Youth and young adult group in the United Church’s ministerial context.
2. University students including who came from different cultural
background for training purposes.
3. Eventually, we will expand to all individuals in the YAYA age group,
including students, young professionals, etc,
4. People of intercultural or interracial marriage group.
5. How to Recruit?
1. Send out an invitation to YAYA group people within the United Church.
2.Send out an invitation to global partner churches over the world.
6. Send out an invitation to students at universities and colleges within
GTA.
7. Publicize the program to ethno-specific communities through newspaper
articles and advertisement of the special events.
6.
Intercultural YAYA Ministry
Action
Plan
1.Thursday evening gathering is the main event that consists of many small
group programs followed by a service that includes the sharing of questions and
new issues that arise in the small group gatherings.
2.We are open to differences among people and are willing to learn from each
other while sharing different perspectives and gifts that we are all given from
creation.
3.We welcome young people of different race, culture and religion, who would
like to share our church life, give them times and spaces to let them feel
home, and support them by creating programs as necessary. We believe that this
is how we live out the spirit of The United Church of Canada.
4.These young people will eventually be scattered around the world but
will carry this spirit to be the genuine gift for the world.
5.We have a vision for this new ministry to bridge young ethnic groups and
wider YAYA groups and to encourage ethic people to join in to a local
congregation and share their own cultures and traditions with the individuals
in congregation.
Plan 1: Small group gathering in general (International students).
1. Led by the members by taking turns.
2. Learn to write and speak
English well by sharing with native English speaking members of DPUC.
3. Question and answer regarding the theme and if it is after the service worship
liturgy and sermon.
4. Recording by the members with corrections made.
5. Through skits, learn
Canadian types of expression. With young people’s perspective and sensitivity,
study the future world and the shape of the church and ministry.
6. Develop resources for the
future management of program in other local context.
7. Share the young people’s
experience with the congregations who want to invite YAYA group.
8. Discussion for other YAYA future plans and business.
9. Evaluation with naming good points and the areas to develop.
Divide the whole into small
groups of 10-12 and the location of gathering may vary depending on the theme and by invitation of congregations.
Plan 2: Thursday gathering
1. Bible study and Practice musicals or skits.
2. Cultural presentation and sharing, talent shows
3. Gathering with the different topics in different
groups.
4. Intercultural Sing-A-Long (with a band if possible)
5. Potluck suppers
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Plan 3: Thursday Worship
1. Worship with inspiring music and liturgical dance.
2. Witnessing to God’s grace and sharing passion for mission
Dei.
3. Healing prayer service with meditative music.
4. Guest speakers on who will provoke the peace and
justice in the world here and now that will lead to the future.
Other Missions to Consider
with Intercultural YAYA Ministry or Independently
GATHERING FOR PREPARING
MINISTRY
FOR FUTURE WORLD AND ITS
STUDY
1. Supporting and Advisory Group for the Future
Global Network
- Forming the supporting group from various areas
and professions to support and advice the YAYA ministry and/or building
the networks of various issues from local to global.
- Develop educational and training curriculum/program
of each group.
- Strategize for the future events and
development.
Note: This group will be
formed when the time is coming with volunteers’ request.
2. Study Group for Future Church and Ministry.
1. Young people’s study group for future world
and lifestyle
2. Based on the study, project the
church’s ministry and worship and its resource.
3. Advanced Program students
gathering of different disciplines.
4. Prepare the future worship,
bible study resource.
Note: This group will be formed when the minimum fund
is available.
WEB MINISTRY IN THE DIGITAL
COMMUNITY
Electronic Communication, Website Creating and
Resource Development Team
1. Develop web application with its contents.
2. Create websites with global and/or
local net works for incorporating church’s mission and sharing ministry information and resources.
3. Global information and resource pool
for culture and theology.
4. Making connections and
communications with churches in countries of young people through internet, and assisting them to find their homes after returning to their own countries or going to other parts of the world.
MY COMMITMENT FOR THIS MISSION
I, NAME , would like to participate in:
helping small group gathering, food prep, communication, story sharing, advisory
team, supporting team or …………………………….
MY COMMITMENT :
Email to Rev. John Young-Jung Lee: johnleeucc@sympatico.ca
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