A case of mistaken identity

Did you see "The English Patient"? I don't want to give away the plot, but there's a wicked piece of irony in the film: "The English Patient" is actually Hungarian. This bit of mistaken identity is key to the story line.

I'm a third generation Asian American: But I'm often the victim of mistaken identity. Caucasians are suprised I don't speak Chinese. At the same time immigrant Asians are also suprised that I don't speak Chinese, they expect me to have the same emotional ties to my Asian heritage as they do.

There are a lot of Asian-Americans like me. The immigrant Asian community expects us to be more Asian. The Caucasian majority expects us to be either more Asian or blend into the Caucasian American culture. Neither category fits us, so we're overlooked by many American institutions, including the church.

And that's why we started Grace Community. We believe that God's grace (the expression of His love in our lives) is for everyone, including Asian-Americans. And we believe that the best experience of God happens when we (you, me, everyone) are in community. We hope that you'll experience God's love with us.

Steve Wong

Who we are: Why we started Grace Community

We started Grace Community especially for the Asian-American who's moved here recently. We know that many second and third generation Asian-Americans feel that church is not for them because they've been marginalized by both the Caucasian church and the immigrant Asian church. We want Asian-Americans throughout Silicon Valley to have the opportunity to participate in a family of believers in Jesus who are experiencing God's love, healing and purpose for life. And we want them to feel free to bring their friends, including non-Asians.

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Relationships are more important than programs.

We try to minimize the number of programs within the church community so that we can spend time building relationships. That's because we experience God's love and healing through our relationships with each other. All of our activities are centered around encouraging the building of relationships. We've replaced many of the traditional church programs with "home groups." We call these small groups "home groups" because we want people to feel at home in them, free to share whatever is on their hearts in the knowledge that they will be accepted and cared for, and because the groups meet in homes on various days of the week. We offer a variety of home groups so that everyone can find people to identify with and learn about God with. "It's more important that we do things together than that we get things done."

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Our community matters to God.

God cares about every individual, and one way that He expresses that love is through the actions of His people. So at Grace Community we participate in projects and programs which improve the quality of life in our community, acting in God's name to meet people's needs. As a way of expressing our desire for social justice, we give away 25% of all money given to Grace Community to organizations that will improve the quality of life for people in our community. Our Grace Community in Action Projects encourage the people of Grace Community to get involved regularly in actively helping the disadvantaged.

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There are no dumb questions.

Dialogue is an important means of progress in our spiritual journeys. So we don't shy away from tough questions about our motivations and purposes. Our "Seekers Circle" encourages people in all stages of spiritual development to ask questions about God and the meaning of life in an atmosphere of honest and responsible inquiry. All presuppositions are open to analysis, all questions are given fair consideration. And if a question is asked for which we don't have an immediate answer, we will sincerely seek an answer. Together.

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The bottom line: God loves you.

God Loves You

You may have seen the banners at sporting events that read John 3:16. That verse reads:

For God so loved the world, that he gave His only son, that who should believe in Him, should have everlasting life.

This means that even if we were the last two people on Earth, God still would have sent His son so that we would know God. He loves you that much!

We believe in what is called the four-fold gospel since it has four related truths that affect one another.

Truth 1 None of us deserve Heaven

The book of Romans says:

For all have sinned and fallen short of God.

Sinned? I don't lie or cheat or steal, how am I a sinner?
We don't think about it, but these are man's measurements. But God has a much higher standard. In fact, God's standard is so high that only His son Jesus is good enough. None of us can make it on our own. And beware of anyone who says follow me because they know the way.

Truth 2 Jesus died for us

The Gospel of Peter says:

And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; for by His wound we were healed.

It's really sad the way that Jesus died. The Bible (get the Bible for free) says a soldier stuck a spear in Jesus' side (to check if Jesus was dead) and water poured out. Medical experts are quick to point out that this condition is common in an acute heart seizure. Jesus died of a broken heart. He bore all the sins that we could ever commit. Imagine if you felt an entire life of pain in one moment. It would be too much to bear, yet God loved us so much.

Truth 3 There is a way

Ephesians says:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Faith. It's how the people before Jesus' time came to know God, that a savior would be sent. Faith. It's how the people during Jesus' time came to know Jesus as their savior. Faith. It's how we can know Jesus came and died for us.

Truth 4 You make the call

The book of John says:

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

I have a present for you in my hand. I open my hand to you. Is it yours? Yes. But do you have it? No. You have to first take possession. Then yes it's yours. Jesus is the gift of God. Did He die for you? Yes. Do you want to know Jesus as your personal Savior? You have to make the decision. Are you going to believe? Or not?

Questions?

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