When our older child began high school, my husband and I made a decision to move from a mainstream American church (predominantly influenced by Christianity of European origins and American culture) to a Korean American church.  The  primary  reason  for  this  change involved our desire to expose our children to a different way of encountering and manifesting their faith and being in a Christian community. My spiritual journey has been enhanced by attending various churches across denominations, ethnic groups, geographical regions, and economic classes. And I wanted to provide similarly enriching experiences for our children.

This transition proved to be quite a culture shock for our children as they faced many new expectations: attending various functions to worship and serve, spending consistent time in daily devotion, and participating in helping the local and greater community using their resources, among others. As my children observed, most of our congregation members’ lives seem to revolve around church. This kind of devout commitment to Christ as manifested in faithful service and involvement in church activities may have to do with the fact that many Korean American congregations are composed of first-generation (foreign-born), less assimilated individuals and families whose social life is centered on their churches. Many Koreans in our Silicon Valley neighborhood have immigrated here or are visiting for a certain length of time due to work, with no other families or friends to provide support, encouragement, and guidance. They seek to belong to a church community, sometimes even when they have no faith in God, in order to have a social connection of some sort. Many begin their spiritual journey out of loneliness and then stay as a result of meeting God and desiring to grow spiritually into Christlikeness. It is natural then to be more dedicated and willing to be part of the church body and follow its prescriptions.

Given that my children are non-Korean-speaking, second-generation (born in America to first-generation parents) youths, they encountered other dissonant expectations at our church such as being fluent in Korean; valuing Korean cultural norms of submitting to hierarchy, authority, and community; and dealing with issues pertaining to ethnic identity simultaneously with Christian spiritual formation. As one can imagine, this culminated in a difficult transition for them. Although our church, similar to many other Korean churches, offers services and other activities in English for children, youth, and young adults, there is a priority placed on being bilingual and embracing one’s Korean heritage. I have been asked on numerous occasions, “How come your children cannot speak Korean fluently?” I suspect that my children have been also judged by this same “plumb line.” Given the above expectations, then, my children, not surprisingly, resisted attending our new church in the first few months. Eventually, in spite of the difficulties, by engaging with church activities and its members, my kids learned to focus on and be in Christ, which has been foundational in their spiritual formation.

My children’s initial challenges in assimilating to our Korean church reflect the experiences of many second-generation children and adults for whom English may be their only (or vastly more comfortable) language, and American principles of democracy, equality, and individualism may be the espoused and preferred values. It has often been noted that many Korean churches are solidly based on first-generation families who tend to take responsibility not only for their own faith but also that of their children. Thus, the children of these families often grow up mindlessly following the spiritual tenets of their parents rather than developing their own walk with God. Once they leave home, some abandon their spiritual heritage altogether, while others remember what they have been taught and begin to participate in spiritual practices on their own.

There are various spiritual disciplines that are practiced within the Korean church, some of which are similar to and different from the mainstream American church. All of these can be utilized to facilitate or impede spiritual formation. Although being transformed into Christlikeness is not just about church attendance and experience, I believe that how one thinks and feels about Christ’s body, i.e., the church, and how one behaves in it can influence one’s spiritual journey and thus how one embodies one’s faith.

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01.  Differences in Spiritual Practices

Like my children, I learned about the differences in how Koreans express their faith by attending Korean American churches at various points in my spiritual development. One of the core experiences I had growing up was hearing my parents waking up earlier than 5 a.m. almost every day to attend “SaeByukGhiDo,” which translated means “dawn prayer,” basically a worship service at church or at home. It is customary in the Korean church (both in the United States as well as in Korea) to participate in this spiritual discipline, which includes daily corporate worship through singing, reading of the Bible, listening to a brief sermon, and praying for as long as one wishes before going to work. The expressed purpose of this practice is to begin one’s day with God, following Jesus’ example as depicted in Mark 1:35, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” My parents still continue to get up at dawn and pray, no matter where they are, even when visiting our home. Their singing and praying has often been our morning wakeup call, much to our annoyance (for being awakened so early) and appreciation (for praying for each of us fervently). I often attribute my state of well-being to God’s answers to my parents’ faithful prayers.

Sometimes, our children have remarked that being a member of a Korean-American congregation can feel as if one is at church all the time, which has led to twin feelings of being put upon as well as being thankful, not because they attended dawn prayer much but because Korean American church leaders urge everyone to attend midweek worship services in the evening as well as to take “required” classes to deepen one’s faith and personal relationship with God. There is a sense of being in constant worship as pastors in Korean American churches also strongly promote family worship, which many of the families attempt to observe. For a time, we instituted regular family devotions in our home, with each of us taking turns in leading, which included choosing a gospel song to sing and a Bible passage to read. Then we would discuss the meaning and implication of the text we read. We also attached a fun family activity afterward, which the designated leader also chose. Given the hectic pace of our lives, it was not always easy or convenient to incorporate this into our weekly routine, but I believe that worshiping together in this way brought us closer to one another as well as to God.

In addition to the spiritual practices described above, church retreats in Korean American churches differ from mainstream American church retreats. Usually Korean American churches’ retreat schedules are filled with some form of worship service from morning until late into the night, with possibly a two-hour window of free time in the afternoon to spend as one wishes. Of course, quiet contemplation of God and one’s relationship with him is recommended during this time. While this sounds arduous, these retreats have actually been quite meaningful and instrumental in developing and sustaining not only my faith but the faith of my family as well. We have experienced God’s spirit move our hearts to be more like his during these intense, concentrated days of worship.

Being in and having served in both Korean American and mainstream American churches, I have found that congregation members in the former are much more likely to volunteer their resources to support various people and activities. For example, I am currently attending a Korean American church where we are all urged to go on short-term mission trips in various parts of the world, at least once if not annually. Many of us do participate in these even though involvement requires much time, as training takes over the course of twelve weekly sessions; much money, as we pay our own way; and much sacrifice, as we take our vacation time to embark on one- to three-week trips to help build homes or churches, give medical aid, teach English, and other helpful activities.

Yet another contrast between Korean American and mainstream American Christian communities involves the frequency of churchwide fasting. It is an established tradition for Korean church members to fast and pray, particularly when faced with a crisis where significant decisions have to be made. It is not uncommon to have a twenty-four-hour fasting prayer chain with congregation members volunteering to fast at different mealtimes for a certain time period to ensure that our choices are in tune with God’s will. When confronted with a challenging task, Esther is one of many biblical characters who fasted and prayed. Likewise, Korean American Christians feel strongly that fasting makes a significant difference, and therefore are encouraged to follow Esther’s example. Fasting serves to demonstrate their devotion and need for God.

While applications of biblical principles such as SaeByukGhiDo may be used to build one’s spiritual formation, they also can be used to hinder it. Danger of legalism exists, much like the Pharisees and Sadducees in Jesus’ day, who practiced religion but did not have personal, intimate relationships with God. These spiritual exercises may be manipulated to judge self and others in terms of worthiness to be called children of God, qualifications to hold certain positions in the church, and stage of transformation into Christlikeness. When utilized in these ways, laboring “under keeping the law” instead of following Christ’s grace-empowering leading becomes the norm, which can stunt healthy spiritual formation.

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02.  Basis for the Differences

Although many of the above practices are also encouraged in mainstream American churches, I have often found more compliance and commitment to follow pastors’ exhortations in Korean American churches. This may be due to vesting power to church leaders to speak on behalf of God, which is consistent with the hierarchical nature of Korean culture in general. Although with the absorption of Western influences, Koreans and their culture are changing, still Koreans are trained to honor and respect those who are older and who are in positions of authority. This cultural bias serves to increase participation in various church functions for our own benefit as well as for the blessing of others. An example of this is currently occurring at our church: Our senior pastor has invited all congregation members to participate in reading the whole Bible in 365 days in 2016. They have set up a program for everyone to register and follow together. For many who conform to this proposal, it represents not only an outward manifestation of their faith but also an inner transformational experience as they spend more time being still in God’s word.

How Korean American churches function is also reflective of the early church as depicted in Acts. For example, Acts 2:42All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ states, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Like the early church, Korean American churches tend to urge people to meet often to learn, pray, and eat together. It is quite common to include meals prepared by various church members for small groups and church services throughout the week as well as on Sundays. When people first discover God, there is a thirst and hunger to know and be like him in a way that may be different—not better or worse—than where we settle as we experience various spiritual seasons. Many Koreans have become Christians due to the efforts and sacrifices of mainstream American missionaries who came to Korea to share the gospel. It is only in the last century that Koreans have really embraced Christianity. As such, I wonder if Koreans as a group are in the earlier stages of experiencing God in comparison to their mainstream American counterparts.

Underlying Koreans’ spiritual practices appears to be a drive toward changing one’s behaviors to better reflect Jesus’ life and ministry. All of us are composed of motives, thoughts, feelings, and actions. When we can institute changes based on one part of this dynamic, the other three may follow to be in alignment. Thus, in the Korean church, by focusing on behavioral efforts toward spiritual formation, motives, thinking, and feeling can be transformed into Christlikeness. Other cultural and racial Christian communities may focus on the role of the will or mind or emotions to initiate this transformation. It is important to start somewhere to move toward the goal of becoming more like Christ and actually living in the way Christ intended for our own spiritual development but also to be a positive catalyst for others.

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03.  Similarities of the Heart and the Mind

While some of the theological emphasis and spiritual practices may be different across ethnic communities, there is a common core: All of us seek to follow Christ and allow him to lead us into transformation. No matter the outward procedure and process of one’s spiritual formation, Jesus’ two fundamental commands—“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27)—transcend all human categories, including cultures.