ATA General Assembly Summary

My name is Steve Chang and I teach New Testament at Torch Trinity Graduate University in Korea. Let me introduce to you the Listening Team for this GA (Stephen Pardue, Dick Eugenio, Sooi Ling Tan, and myself). As the Listening Team, we were All Ears! When GS Theresa asked me to summarize this GA, I knew right away her values; she values humor more than intellect and wisdom! So let me entertain you with my signature Light Bulb Jokes!

1. How many pre-millennials does it take to change a lightbulb?

• Four!
• one to argue that the lightbulb will not be changed until the end of the tribulation
• one to point out that the changed lightbulb should last a literal one thousand years…
• [wrong PREMILLENNIAL!]

2. How many (generational) pre-millennials does it take to change a lightbulb?

• 300! one to change the lightbulb
• two to ask why millennials aren’t changing lightbulbs
• three to complain about how millennials don’t have an attention span long enough to change a lightbulb
• four to preach that the future of lightbulb changing belongs to the millennials
• 290 to discuss about how to get millennials to engage lightbulbs and participate in lightbulb changing for the sake of the future church…

3. How many millennials does it take to change a lightbulb?

• Seven! one to say that lightbulb changers are misunderstood.
• one to say, “there’s a mobile app for changing lightbulbs.”
• one to take a selfie while talking about lightbulb changing
• one to document the whole lightbulb thing on Instagram
• one to make a viral video about attractive lightbulb changers
• and two to demand that all lightbulbs be green LED-type and complain that premillennials are killing the planet.

As a way of summary, I’d like to offer you something that embodies what we have heard about millennials, their characteristics and desires. After trying to come up with a way of wording bite-sized summaries of each plenary session, I sent it off to the Listening Team. Within a matter of minutes, the millennial member of team, who shall remain nameless (but his initials are DE!) came up with some amazing, tweetable lines. And then I asked a millennial among us to come up with some fitting #s. If you don’t understand them, join the club! I’m not sure I understand them! So here is the embodied summary, “For Millennials, by Millennials, with 8-second attention spans, bite-sized microlearning, ready to publish on social media!”

Session 1: Joey Asher Tan

Understanding the Millennials and Post-Millennials 

“Learn to bait millennials with mini-bites of learning”

#ShortAttentionSpan

Session 2: So-Young Kang

Digital Christianity

“Online living spaces must provide space for human-like living.”

#MyCrib

Session 3: Dwi Maria Handayani

Building Communities

“Millennials create communities wherever they are present; our role is to creatively make our presence felt in their communities.”

#TheCrew

Session 4: Samuel Koshy

Authenticity 

“Millennials value truth that they can trust.”

#RealTalk

Session 5: Rei Lemuel Crizaldo

Arts and Spirituality

“If we seek to communicate with millennials, we need to learn their language.”

#Artstagram

Session 6: Victor Lee

Theological Education and the Millennials

“Making a difference among millennials might imply approaching them differently.”

#StayFresh

Session 7: Motoaki Shinohara

Evangelical Diversity

“Millennials will lead in creating unity among evangelicals.”

#OneFam

On a more serious note, I must offer a “Theological Response.” One millennial among us noted that there wasn’t much of a “theological response” in the presentations and the Listening Team also found it difficult to find theological responses among the breakout sessions. As a theological response, let me share three points based on the acronym, ATA (since millennials love short acronyms!). We are ATA! Asia Theological Association.

Reconceptualizing “Asia”

What is “Asia”? We think of Asia as a geographic term. As opposed to the West or other major regions of the world, Africa, Latin America, etc. But ATA has already redefined “Asia” as an ethnic identity of people on the move, i.e. diaspora Asia. And so ATA has extended its ministry into the diaspora. Now, I believe the Lord is telling us that ATA’s mission must be generational, not just geographic or ethnic. Geography is not our mission; it’s the people. Some mission movements have recognized that our mission is not geographical but generational: 4-14 window; Compassion International, etc. We must come to terms with the fact that 1/3 of India (more than 440 million) are millennials and beyond; 400 million in China are millennials. The mission of ATA must be reconceptualized, more than ever before, in generational terms.

Reaffirming “Theological”

What is “Theological”? The devotionals this week by Ivor Poobalan, Yohanna Katanacho, Michael Ortiz, and Bennet Arren have reminded us that our foundation, our hope, our dream, our empowerment is found in God alone, through JC alone. ATA have always insisted on being “theological” in that sense that we hold to a limited set of timeless truths. Truths about the timeless God, about God’s timeless Word, the Scriptures, and about God’s timeless mission of the Gospel. We must continue to insist that God is relevant, that God’s word is relevant, that God’s mission is relevant, to everyone, including the millennials. Interestingly, this solid foundation is exactly what today’s anxiety-laden millennials want. They are looking something solid to hold on to in the tumultuous seas of today’s Asian cultures. The strength of ATA must be our evangelical theology.

Reframing “Association”

What is “Association”? Related words we have heard from our speakers: connection, community, and collaboration. First, millennials are looking for connection. The technology invented and used by millennials, even to the point of addiction, is driven by the search for connection. The irony, as some speakers have pointed out, is that millennials today are some of the loneliest people on earth. Second, millennials are looking for authentic community, we have heard. They are not looking for a loose “association” (this part of our name is not very appealing to millennials), but they are looking for real relationships and authentic sharing of life. We must deepen our sense of “association,” in ways that are more akin to ancient Greco-Roman associations. They ate together, they drank together, they worshipped together, and they buried and mourned each other. In such a context, the NT church was born and formed a new “association.” Perhaps ATA must go back to this type of “church association.” Finally, millennials want to collaborate for a cause greater than themselves. They want to work and do things together. They innately know that two are better than one. How ironic that the church today, arguably the most collaborative, missional entity on the planet, is losing the millennials! We need to collaborate with millennials not only for conferences about reaching millennials, but for every meeting, every theological consultation, every theological institution, and every mission we serve. The goal of ATA must be inclusive of millennials at every opportunity.

Listen and Love

We all should be on the “listening team” and all be ALL EARS. Ralph Enlow repeatedly said last night, “Give me your heart!” I felt that that’s what the millennials are saying to us; Ralph was embodying the cry of the millennials! We need to listen, really listen, wholeheartedly listen to the millennials. The way that James says, “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become frustrated…” (Jas 1:19).

By listening, we are loving the millennials. It was heartwarming to show our love to our seniors and patriarchs last night. Asians are good at affirming our seniors (filial piety) but not so much our juniors. But I would argue that, more than the seniors, the millennials need us to say, “We love and appreciate you!” Look at the All Ears photo again. The Listening Team have made the Korean millennials’ sign for “love,” crossing the thumb and index finger. I am reminded of the apostle John’s plea to the believers in Asia Minor: “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:18). This is what millennials want from us, “to love with actions and in truth.” This is our “theological response.”

I want to congratulate the ATA board and leadership for thinking seriously about the future and deciding to focus on probably the most important issue of our time. Especially as we approach the 50th anniversary of ATA, it is critical to invite the millennials and post-millennials to the table. In a conference like this, follow up is far more important than the conference itself. We must give our heart in listening to the millennials, and love them with actions and in truth. That is the future church of Asia. That is the future of ATA!

I’m convicted that this summary should have been done by a good-looking millennial, not by me! (I’m good looking but I’m not a millennial.) So I asked a millennial among us, Melanie from Malaysia, to come and bless us, and pray for the future of ATA from her heart! Let us extend our hearts and pray with Melanie.

Prayer of Melanie Lim 

Lord, thank You for ATA, for what You are doing in the Asian Church. Thank You for how You have shaped and formed the Asian Church, so diverse in so many ways for You love diversity, and how You have put together different ethnic, generation and denomination that we find in Asia.

Lord, as we look to the Future Church, we look back at how You have led the Church, and we say, Lord we trust Your leadership. You are leading us forward, and You will continue to lead us in all that we are doing. You lead us, Lord, and show us what You are doing, that we may be sensitive to see what You are doing in our generation, that we may be able to partner with You in what You want to do in this world. 

Lord, thank You for those who have gone before us – who have mentored, who believed in us, who cared for us, who listened and loved us. Thank You for the focus in this GA that we are looking and trying to understand. I see how the generations that have gone before me are loving my generation. Lord, I thank You for this love, for this is only possible because of You Lord. 

Lord, I thank You for the gifts and challenges that the younger generation are giving us as a Church, to take seriously how You have created us as human beings – not just rational beings with brains to learn truth, but affective, volitional, relational beings – who are to be discipled, to be transformed into the image of Your Son, Jesus, and to redeem this world that You have created. You are the only one who can reconcile all things to Yourself. 

Lord, I take this time as well to ask for Your forgiveness. Forgive us millennials, Lord, for having zeal without knowledge, for making ourselves the locus of our orientation, for failing to pay attention to what You have done before us, for being entitled and failing to be grateful for those who’ve gone before us, and for being overly optimistic in our human ability to build utopia on earth. Lord, we need You. And our hope is in You alone. We say that the burden to save the world is not on our shoulders. You alone can save us. 

Lord, we need You. Give us grace to be Your agents of reconciliation. To bring the message of reconciliation not just to those who are yet to know You but to bring reconciliation between theological institutions and churches, among different nations, denominations, and generations, that we, of different nations, denominations, and generations, may all be one as You and the Father are One, that we may be in You and You in us. Lord, we need You, and we can’t do anything apart from You. 

Lord, in all that we do, may You be glorified, in having a people who is fully alive, a Body that exemplifies the peace that You have made possible, and a Body that loves and has concern for redeeming not just us humans, but the society and this world, for Your glory. May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace, in believing in Your leadership, that by the power of the Holy Spirit we may abound in hope, as we persevere in endurance in all that You are calling us to do. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen.