Who Am I?

1st Gen = Immigrating Generation to Canada 
2nd Gen = Born and raised in Canada (but with Asian parents) 
Next Gen = Those were were born and raised in Canada or came to Canada at a young age.

Who am I?  Am I Asian or am I Canadian?  Why did God create me to be Asian in a Canadian context?

These are common questions to just about any and every Asian Canadian here in Canada.  Especially for the Next Generation.  What is happening is that the Next Gen are born and raised in Canada but are raised with very Asian values & culture because their parents immigrated to Canada.  Yet outside of their homes and in schools and sometimes even their friends, they are constantly exposed to a majority Canadian culture.  This results in a lot of confusion in their identities because they are in a constant state of tug-of-war with their identity.  Do I say I'm Chinese?  Do I say I'm Canadian?  Who am I?

For me, I recently found out that I wasn't 3rd Generation, but actually 5th Generation in Canada.  It was my Great Great Grandfather that moved to Canada during the construction of the railroad.  My mom even has a receipt from the times of the Head Tax.  Even though I am technically 5th Generation, I have been seeing the need to work through my identity as a Chinese Canadian.  Yes, I am definitely Canadian because my parents raised me that way, but on the outside, I am 100% Chinese.  If me being a 5th Generation Chinese Canadian STILL has to work through my own cultural identity, how much more will a 2nd or 3rd Gen have to pay attention to that?

I remember walking around the SFU Campus over this past semester and seeing so many Asian Canadians on the campus.  I started thinking, "I wonder if there will be a need for an Asian specific ministry for Next Gen's here on campus?"  So I spent the next couple of months praying about it and eventually, I felt that it wasn't the time and put it behind me.  Yet as I continued meeting with others who are like-minded in helping the Next Generation and as I continued to receive healing and restoration for my Chinese identity, my passion continued to grow for the Next Gen.

One day, I had to chance to sit down and talk to my Team Leader (Kim) and she said, "Justin, I have a proposition for you.  How would you feel about starting an ethnic specific small group on the SFU Campus? Focusing on 2nd & 3rd Generation Asian Canadians helping them work through their identities as Asian Canadians."  When I heard this couldn't help but laugh.  I did not mention anything to Kim about this in the past and then she brings this up out of nowhere.  Here it is, this is what God was creating me for and training me to do.  To help and empower Next Generations to find their identities in Christ not just  as an Asian or as a Canadian, but as Asian-Canadians.

So starting in the Fall, I will be pioneering this new small group on campus focusing on Asian Canadians.  It feels very daunting because as I looked for another ministries that are doing this, I found none.  The ethnic specific ministries that I did find were more focused on the immigrants.  There was absolutely nothing for the Next Generation.  The only other place I have heard of this actually being done is in Edmonton.

Now some of you may be wondering, "Wouldn't it just be easier to integrate them in the multi-ethnic group?"    I thought about this too and was considering this but soon realized that just thrusting people into a new culture and expecting them to change actually doesn't work to well.  If this is done, usually the person will go to one of two extremes.  They will either accept their Canadian identity and completely reject their Asian identity (which is usually the case) or they will accept their Asian identity and completely reject their Canadian identity.  Either is not good and I can say for certain that if we choose to reject any part of identities, we are not serving the Lord to our full potential because these pieces of our identities are gifts from our Great Creator.

This small group is more a bridge for the students to walk on and to work out, in a safe place, the identity they rejected or are looking for.  I hope as this develops more that it may be a place where they all begin to learn on how to "Lead out of our Identities" and that it may be a place to strengthen and empower these Next Gen students into missions.

I am definitely excited about this and there is so much more to talk about.  So if you have any questions or comments, please contact me.  I would love to have a chance to share more about this.

Upcoming Events & Prayer Requests

Upcoming Events

• Student Leadership Camp (SLC) - August 26-30
• Fall Semester - Starts September 3rd
• New Student Outreach (NSO) - September 3-14
• Clubs Days Burnaby - September 11-13
• Clubs Days Surrey - September 19-20

Prayer Requests

• Pray for the pioneering of the Next Gen Small Group & Surrey Small Group coming up this Fall
• Pray for the upcoming SLC Training for the Student Leaders of SFU & Emily Carr.
• Pray for the SFU Leadership Team that they will begin to grow and gel as a team.
• Pray for NSO this Fall and the planning process at SLC.
• Pray for me as I continue to network and connect with other Chinese Churches in the Lower Mainland.
• Pray for mine & April's relationship as we are going through some counseling to help us ask some of the "deal-breaker" questions before getting married.
• Pray for my funding as I am sitting at around 60%

The Ripple Effect

The Ripple Effect can be best described in this way:  As you drop a pebble or see a raindrop fall in water, it generates ripples in the water around where the pebble or raindrop fell.  At first, the ripples are really tiny no bigger than the pebble or raindrop itself but shortly afterwards, you see those exact same ripples get bigger and bigger and bigger until it engulfs the whole area and then disappears.

In the same way, a person's life can be represented by the water and the pebble or raindrop is Jesus.  The first drop will generate a ripple but eventually, it will dissipate.  However, if there are multiple drops, the ripples will continue to keep moving and actually, the ripples will get bigger (they stack on each other).  With enough ripples, waves can actually be generated.  This was very true for 4 students who were "not yet Christians."  Through Mark West Pacific, there were so many opportunities for pebbles to be dropped in their lives through scripture, art, music, community, fellowship, drama, etc.  These students were willing to experience the pebbles dropped to the point where they said, "I want Jesus always" and then all of them made their first-time commitments to following Jesus.  Today, these pebbles are continuing to be dropped in their lives and hopefully in time, they will be dropping pebbles in others lives as well.

This is also the same on a larger scale.  If you get 50+ students experiencing Jesus coming alive in their lives through many pebbles dropping in their lives, what do you think they will want to do afterwards?  They're going to want to go and drop pebbles in all of their other communities.  I think about Don, Dan, Andy, Esther, and Kevin who are students from SFU but they all go to the same church.  They are now starting up Bible studies in their own Church and leading others to experiencing Jesus in more deeper levels.  Jesus has engulfed their lives so much to the point where it cannot be contained anymore.  They HAVE to share it.

Mark West Pacific

Say Hello to Mark West Pacific Attendees!

What do you get when you put 50 students on an island with the gospel of Mark?

An amazing, enriching, and life-fulfilling experience with Jesus is what you get!

In the 5 years I have gone to Mark West, this would have to be the best.  This year was really exciting for me to see because of the amount of international students and "not yet believers" that came.  On top of that, we were starting to explore more the artistic side of worship through song, dance, poetry, drawing, painting, you name it!  There were many workshops that allowed students (and staff) to exercise their artistic talents and gifts.  Towards the end of the week, we all had an opportunity to share the art that we produced throughout the week.

This year, I had the privilege of co-leading the Mark 2/VUP (Mark 8-16) Track with Christa Smith.  I tell you, it was both exciting and terrifying at the same time.  I learned a great deal about teaching and leading.  However, the most rewarding thing though was to be able to witness and see Jesus transforming each and everyone of our students lives.

Mark II/VUP Track

Mark 2 is not an easy text.  It starts right off into Jesus talking about his death, Peter rebuking Jesus, then Jesus calling Peter Satan.  Talk about light stuff huh?  As we dug deeper and deeper into Mark, our own worldviews of Jesus were being shifted and changed to who Jesus actually is.  The themes of Shalom, Justice, and Believe and Unbelief came up time and time again.  Throughout the week, the students could no longer ignore the truth and reality of what Jesus was trying to say.  They were coming face to face with their own sin and making VERY difficult decision to repent and follow Jesus with their everyday lives.  For some, their own career choices have been drastically affected and shaped through this experience, others made difficult decision to "cut off" sin, while others experienced significant healing in their own identities with Christ.  Every single person in that room received a conviction and I believe that every single one of them chose to say "Yes" to Jesus despite the cost and risk.

In the end, our track decided to practically apply what it means to be good stewards of our finances.  We will be fasting together on a bi-weekly basis and every month, we will pool together $20/person to give to the poor.  We are also keeping each other accountable by writing up a contract of what we intend on doing once we leave Mark West Pacific.

It was such an blessing to be able to see God work and change the hearts of our students and to be used by Him to deliver what He wanted to say.  Please pray that God will continue to stir up desire and passion in each of our students to live their lives fully for Jesus.

Yeah!!  Team SFU!!

Daniel, "Oh... this is tough stuff!"

Coffee House - SFU Skit

Our wonderful graduate Carrie Peng

The VUP Experience

What did you do this summer?

"I met Jesus in a dirty, dark, feces infested, and needle infested alleyway.  His name was Pam."

As we walked across the street, our team listened intently to Dave and Brian, the police officers who were showing us around and telling us how to spot out a drug dealer.  We walk towards an alleyway.  A few feet in, we look around and see dozens of needles lying around.  At this moment we don't really know what to say so we continue to listen.  The police officer then talks to a lady standing in the alleyway and asks if he could see her pipe (crack pipe).  She denies her having one but Dave gently asks for it again, telling her that he just wanted to show us what one looked like and that he would give it right back.  She finally conceded and then walked away and sat within an eye shot away.  Dave begins to explain what the pipe was for but then stops and looks to his right.  We all look in the same direction and see a woman with her back turned against us not aware that we are even there.

Dave then responds, "Please don't tell me you are shooting up."

The woman jumps and is startled, but Dave then tells her in a gentle voice to calm down and not be afraid.  He starts to talk with her and gives her a hand-wipe to wipe away the blood on her hands.  The talk between them was an actual conversation and not one person dominating over the other.  Dave was gentle and compassionate in the conversation and he invited this woman to come and talk to us.

The woman walks over slowly with a nervous look on her face and asks us where we we're from.  We responded from all different campuses in Vancouver.

She then starts to say, "Look at me.  Look at me and remember me as a person that you never want to be.  I was never like this nor did I ever want to be down here, but that is what happens when you are alone and you have lost the love of your life.  So don't forget me and never forget this face as someone that you never want to be."

As she was saying this, she rolled up her sleeve to reveal a deformed right arm.  There were blood stains on it from her just shooting up and it looked to be barely usable.  The site of this completely shocked us and we didn't know how to respond or what to say, so we just listened.  She shared about how her arm got that way and as she was sharing she started to cry.  The hopelessness we saw in her eyes as she shared her story of pain and loneliness, we felt it.  Dave came over and comforted her and asked if she wanted to meet up later to talk.  So they set up a time to meet afterwards at Pigeon Park and we went on our own ways.

A few of us stayed back to listen to more of her story, there were 4 of us.

She says, "Everyone judges me, no one treats me like a human or cares about me."

One of the group members, filled with compassion, says, "You are important." and proceeded to give her a hug.  It was then that I saw tears of joy streaming down her face as she was being hugged.  It was as if a her humanness was given back to her.  I thought to myself, "In the same way Jesus touches and loves the leper, we are also called to love and receive the people down her for who they are."

It was then I heard her say the words, "I will never forget this."

We as a team saw Jesus in 2 places here.  First, in Dave who talked with her and cared for her as she was and did not judge her.  He loved and received Pam as Jesus would have done.  Secondly, in Pam who reminded us that Jesus came into the world for all but especially these in the margins.  We were reminded that to love and accept Jesus, we need to love and accept the "least" for who they are.

VUP* was not your typical "missions" trip.  We didn't go to the DTES* with the mindset of, "I will bring Jesus into here."  Instead, we went and searched for Jesus here and found him in some of the most unexpected places.  Places like the shelter we were staying, the food line-ups, the people we talked with, local organizations, Insite, Pam, etc.  We humbled ourselves and took on the posture of learners and listeners.  From the neighbourhood, we learned very strong values of community and how to accept and love people for who they are, even in all their brokenness.  In turn, we soon saw that the DTES was but a mirror, reflecting our own brokenness back to us.  The story you just read was one of the MANY experiences and was probably one of the most memorable for our team.  If you would like to hear more about our time in the DTES, all you have to do is ask.  Please continue to pray for our Team as we integrate back into our "regular" lives and also keep Pam and the DTES in your prayers.

* VUP - Vancouver Urban Partnership
   DTES - Downtown Eastside

Community Dinner's at Jacob's Well

Say Hello to the VUP Team!

A Gourmet meal our students put on for us.

Street Market every Sunday

A fun and silly photo

Crab Beach

Community Garden

Hotel Balmoral - Single Room Occupancy

Jacob's Well

Carnige Hall

Upcoming Events and Prayer Requests

Vacation - Toronto (June 9 - 23) & Regina (June 23 - July 2)

April and I will be taking vacation together to get to know each other's home communities.  If you would like to meet up and chat please let me know and we will try and schedule you in.

• Please pray for mine and April's relationship as we continue to learn more about each others communication styles.
• Please pray for our ability to listen to each other with an open heart and to resolve conflict well.
• Please pray for our own personal walks with God and that we may constantly be reminded that He is the source of our relationship.
• Please pray for open minds and hearts as we engage in each others communities this summer.  

Summer Small Groups & Leadership Invitations

Our students have already started a summer small group with their Church community.  Also, I will be starting some small groups with a few Asian students around identity.  Don & Lida will be meeting up to talk about who to invite into leadership this year.

• Please pray for guidance for the students as they lead Manuscript studies.
• Please pray for Don & Lida that God will give them wisdom and discernment in who to invite for leadership
• Please pray for me that these Asian specific small groups this summer will build momentum into the beginning of the upcoming semester.

Fundraising

Assuming my support levels stay the same, I am at around 70% of my annual budget.

• Please pray for continued support to come in over this summer.
• Please pray for continued connections with the local Chinese churches in the Lower Mainland.

Gathering to Training

So as some of you may know, both Barron and I made a 3 to 5 year plan for the SFU Campus.

Year 1        Gather
Year 2        Train
Year 3        Empower

We thought that once one of these things were done, we didn't have to go back to it.  So for example, once Year 1 finished we wouldn't have to gather anymore.  However, God revealed to us right away that this is going to be a constant thing where these all overlap each other.  So instead of this Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3, it will actually look more like this:

Year 1         Gather
Year 2         Gather           Train
Year 3         Gather           Train           Empower
Year 4         Gather           Train           Empower

Heading into Year 2, we have seen how gathering has been such an integral part in the training process in our students.  This year is a really good reflection of our students doing the gathering (or invitation) process.  If you remember the post about Community Dinners, that is one of the results of our students leaning into invitations.

I want to illustrate this gathering to training process with Don's story.

I remember Don when I first met him.  He came up to the IVCF table and shared about his desire to be more involved on the SFU campus.  He saw that there was more to school than getting his degree, he wanted to something more.  So he started getting involved in IVCF and was then invited to go to China.  This brought up a lot of underlying things for Don especially in his family but in the end, he chose to follow Jesus by saying "Yes" to China.  Him saying "Yes" to following Jesus completely changed his life.  He was no longer the little timid boy who was going to school, but a Man of God set out to make disciples of all nations.  His whole attitude has changed, even to the point where because of China, he had to miss school the next semester.  However, the way he looked at it wasn't, "Oh no!!  I shouldn't have gone to China!" but "Ok, so now I get a chance to be a witness in my workplace and get involved in my church more.  I am wondering though, how else can I be involved on campus at this time?"

Over this past year, Barron and I have seen such a huge change and shift in Don.  Here are a few things that he has been doing over this past year.

• He has invited his brother Daniel to follow Jesus in a much more significant way.  Daniel is actually going to be doing the Vancouver Urban Partnership (VUP) with us this summer!
• They have see how their family have also been impacted by their growth and their family situation has gotten better.
• The impact on their church is that they are completely changing the culture and the students in that church.  They are training the future leaders of their college group.
• Don has been leading scripture studies on the campus and inviting students to lead with him.
• He is constantly being a witness to his co-workers.

As this is the training process of his life in University, we are now moving to the Empowering process which will come next year for Don.