Gospel Ministry Among Asian Australians
As a second generation Australian whose parents migrated from China in the late 1980s, 2019 Summer Fellow Grace Lung grew up attending a Chinese Australian church. Since then, she has worked in pastoral ministry with students, young workers and women. Through these experiences, Grace discovered the dilemma that has guided her research.
“I saw a lot of conflict between second generation leaders of the church and the older generation church elders,” she said. “I started to realise there are two different worldviews there; if we could understand that better, we would avoid a lot of unnecessary conflict.”
Having first studied at Sydney Missionary Bible College, Grace recently completed a Certificate in Asian American Contexts at Fuller Theological Seminary. Her work combines cross-cultural counselling and peacemaking disciplines in the ministry context for western Asians. But before her experience as an ADM Summer Fellow, Grace was unsure what her next step would be.
“Twelve months ago I felt pretty lost. I was unsure what God wanted me to do next,” she said. “As a young woman I wasn’t sure I’d be able to contribute to things that affect churches at a high level, since older male leaders mostly occupy those spaces.”
Since completing ADM’s Summer Fellowship, however, the number of queries and consulting opportunities for Grace has grown. Recently, she joined RICE Movement as the Director of Asian Contextual Engagement as well as Interserve CultureConnect. Her writing has appeared in Ethos (EA Centre for Christianity and Society) and The Gospel Coalition.
“The ADM Summer Fellowship came at a perfect time in order to propel and equip me to meet the challenges of providing an Asian Australian voice that points to Jesus”
“Now I feel like I’m getting a seat at the table, and gatekeepers are open to hearing that my work could help them. I’m so thankful for where God has put me now, and ADM played an instrumental role in getting me there.”