Pastor Benjamin Israel Robinson is the lead pastor of Living Hope Christian Center, a missions-focused and charismatic church of 300 located in Emeryville, CA. Robinson leads the church alongside his wife, Sunhee Son Robinson, and both are well-known among the Christian community and are invited to speak at various conferences and events, especially regarding topics such as missions, identity, destiny, and the Holy Spirit. Robinson shared his experiences pastoring at Living Hope and shared more specifically on how Living Hope deals with issues that may arise as a multi-generational and multi-ethnic church.
Q: Could you briefly describe how Living Hope was started?
A: One Tuesday morning in October of 2003, we were having a staff prayer meeting at a church called Faith Fellowship where I was serving at the time, and I walked into the sanctuary with the things that I had on my mind to pray for. And I got on my knees, and all of a sudden, the Lord said to me, “I’m getting ready to send you out.” I was pretty surprised – I wasn’t expecting to leave at the time. I was only 26 years old. So I went on a 10-day fast, and asked the Lord what he wanted me to do.
At the time, I was also working on a worship CD, and towards the end of the fasting period, as I was driving to the recording studio for a recording session in Oakland, I got lost—which was strange, because I was born and raised in Oakland. I was baffled, and I was frustrated because I was late for the recording. Then I turned into a street, and I saw a sign that said, “Welcome to Emeryville” – and all of a sudden, God’s presence came on me so strongly that I was trembling. He said, “I’m calling you to this city. I’m calling you to plant in this city.”
When I told my pastor at Faith Fellowship, he told me that he felt the Lord was telling him to let me go immediately. And I left with their blessing in two weeks to plant Living Hope in Emeryville.
Q: What are some struggles and/or obstacles that Living Hope faced in the past eleven years?
A: Some of the greatest struggles we faced were in the beginning. 2004 and 2005 were warfare years. Emeryville was a very unfriendly place for churches, and people went to city hall to express their opposition to our church when we came in. The city attorney also tried to block us from doing a public event and tried to shut down our event the night before.
Another struggle was having to move locations in 2007. We were moved into a movie theater, and about two-thirds of our congregation left when we moved. That was very painful. Staying in the movie theater as our worship location was also very difficult because we had so many constraints. Our worship service was at 9 AM and we had to be out by 11:30. And on the fall of 2008, I told my wife, “I’m tired of this. We’re gonna give up our salary, do whatever we have to do, and we’re gonna get our church a building.” And she wholeheartedly agreed with me, and said, “Yeah, let’s do it.” But when I brought up the idea to my spiritual father and mentor, he actually rebuked me, saying, “Don’t you realize that what you’re saying is that God is not doing this fast enough for you? This is what the Lord says: In six months I will provide you with a building, and you’re not going to pay a dime for it.” And I kid you not, we got a building by the end of those six months which we still use to this day.
Through this process, we learned what it is that God wanted and envisioned for our church and for Emeryville. I once ran into a pastor who pastored in Oakland, just before we opened up our church. And he asked me, “Benjamin, what are you up to these days?” and I told him that we’re about to start the church in Emeryville. And on hearing that, he stopped and looked at me, and tears welled up in his eyes. And he said, “There was an elderly woman in our congregation who had been interceding and praying for ten years to send a powerful ministry to Emeryville.” And we’ve been realizing that God has been envisioning this church, in this city, long before he ever told me to go.
Q: As a multi-generational church, how has Living Hope tried to tackle barriers between the older and younger generations?
A: We believe that there is something that God has placed in both the younger and the older generations that we need in the church. No one generation can come to maturity without receiving wisdom from and being accountable to the previous, older generation, and being responsible for the generation to come.
The primary way we try to attack the tendency to isolate generationally is by teaching. We have been communicating a vision of trans-generational discipleship. A church can be multi-generational, but it’s not trans-generational until something is being transferred from one generation to the other.
An easy way that the younger generation can have a rapport with the older is through technological inclusion. “I can teach you how to set up your computer, or use your smartphone.” “I can help change the time on your microwave.” “Would you like to use my computer to check your email?” These are some things that the younger can help the older generation with.
We also try to build confidence in the older generation in what they have to offer, by telling them that their experiences and stories, their understanding of history, are so valuable to the younger generation, and we continually encourage them to share their wisdom with the younger people.
Q: What are some ways Living Hope has tried to bridge gaps between ethnic groups, especially for those members who aren’t able to speak English? Do you offer translations for sermons, for example?
A: We actually don’t provide translation – it always shocks me to see how some of the members in our church are able to understand.
My wife and I once visited a Korean couple who have been attending our church for about a year and a half. The wife of the couple doesn’t speak English very well. So my wife, who is Korean, asked her, “You don’t speak English very well – how do you handle Benjamin preaching?” and the woman responded, “It’s amazing – I understand more when I’m listening to him preaching, than any other time when I’m listening to English. I feel the presence of God, even when I don’t understand the language. God ministers to me through him.” The presence of the Holy Spirit is a trans-cultural reality. When the presence of the living God is so real, it goes through any culture.
In terms of bridging the gap between ethnic groups, we actually try to celebrate the diversity in our church and make sure that everyone of any background would feel welcome. So our church is devoid of any sense of ethnic predominance.
Now there are a lot of churches that are multi-ethnic, but some of them actually tend to be mono-cultural. There are different ethnic groups but they may feel that they have to act in a certain way, talk a certain way, or dress a certain way. The cultural contributions of the ethnic groups are not honored, and they are simply assimilated into the dominant culture of the house.
We want people to be who they are at Living Hope. We want people who are ghetto to be ghetto, and we want immigrants who just immigrated from Central or South America or from Africa to be able to celebrate their cultures. We like to celebrate the diversity as best we can.
Q: Christianity Daily has been interviewing several Korean American pastors over the past few months, and many Korean immigrant churches face issues that arise from being a multi-generational church, and even from being a multi-cultural church since the first and second generations have different cultures as well. For your fellow pastor colleagues, what kind of encouragement would you share?
A: Man, I would say, hang in there – it’s gonna get better. The Lord is guiding this thing. I was involved in a Korean church when I was in college, and I also have several Korean American friends who are pastoring as well, so I’m familiar with the struggles.
The challenge for the Korean-American church is that it's only one generation old. If you go back 50 years, there were hardly any Korean American churches. The English-speaking Korean American church is still new, and it’s still trying to figure out its identity; it hasn’t been around long enough to understand its cultural distinctness, or what it has to offer to the church as a whole. So I think the Korean American church just needs time and space to develop its sense of identity and beauty, because there’s a powerful contribution to be made from the Korean American church.
I would also encourage my colleagues who are pastoring to hang in there because there’s a transient model of discipleship that has been prevailing and this is what I think is turning away the younger generation. It’s a western church problem. When the pastors are transient – when they just come and go – the kids are handed off from one pastor to the next, to the next, and the next, and there’s no real discipleship with them. A lot of these kids have had teachers, but not spiritual fathers – no one’s committed to their lives. We need pastors to reject the concept of seeing children’s ministry or youth ministry as a stepping stone, and say to the kids, "I’m gonna walk with you and share life with you."
