Pastor Mike Rix has been at Church Everyday, a Korean immigrant church located in Northridge, CA, for 9 years now, serving in various positions along the way, and has been specifically serving in EM for about one year. But the thing is, Pastor Mike is not Korean.
Pastor Mike is half Chinese and half German. But, he says, church members often forget that he’s not Korean. It’s a result that’s come because of the effort he’s made to learn the traditions, culture, and language of the Korean Church.
“You know, just the basic things like bowing and saying annyonghasaeyo when I’m passing elders and KM staff,” he said with a smile. “They know and appreciate it when you’re making an effort.”
Pastor Mike started out not as the EM pastor, but simply as a member. He started attending Church Everyday because his wife—girlfriend at the time—was serving there as a children's pastor.
“Although we could’ve chosen to go to the church that I was attending at the time, we both felt that God was calling us to stay and serve at this church,” he explained.
As Pastor Mike continued attending Church Everyday, he eventually also decided to serve in the education department, first serving 4th and 5th graders; then he took on college ministry; and finally the English ministry. He said that there have been many people along the way who either inspired him to take on the position, and/or to remain in it.
One of the people who inspired him was the former EM pastor, Pastor Joshua Park.
“I came to Christ when I was 20, and at first I attended a pretty big church in which most of the congregation was younger, in their twenties or early thirties. So at that time, I didn’t have any relationship with the pastor; he was just the guy who comes on stage every Sunday and preaches. But when I came to Church Everyday, I really formed a relationship with Pastor Joshua, and that was new to me. In our relationship, I saw his heart and vision for people and for the church, and that inspired me.”
Pastor Mike also found a great community among the church staff.
“The Sunday school teachers and our family have a real connection,” he explained. “They really love on our family.” He went on. “The education department as a whole is unified in vision and heart—we all want to just make the gospel the center of the church.”
The head pastor, Pastor Choi, has also been supportive of him and all of the education staff. He entrusts the ministries to the pastors and gives them freedom to have their own visions and direction for their respective ministries.
“He empowers them in that way. It shows that he has confidence in their ministries,” Pastor Mike explained.
But more importantly, Pastor Choi has been a pastor to Pastor Mike’s family. Whenever there were significant events happening in Pastor Mike and his family’s lives, Pastor Choi always showed his support.
“When my mother passed away with cancer, he came to her funeral, and expressed his heart toward us. When our second child was born recently, he was the first to come to the hospital and visit us,” Pastor Mike said.
Other than the people who have supported him along the way, Pastor Mike chooses to serve English ministry for more specific reasons: 1) there are specific struggles he sees in the English ministry; and 2) there are specific visions and hopes that he has for English ministry that leads him to pursue serving in this ministry.
One of the struggles that the 2nd generation Korean American Christians face is taking ownership of their faith.
“They need to take ownership of the gospel themselves. Many of them have misunderstandings about the gospel and think of it as a list of dos and don’ts. And that actually partly comes from an Asian culture—it’s a shame-based culture. But the gospel is not about performance, but what Jesus did for us on the cross.”
Pastor Mike’s vision for EM is to be completely centered on the gospel itself. Several ways through which he is currently taking steps to fulfill that includes holding Wednesday night prayer meetings with the EM members, and preaching about the gospel itself during his Sunday sermons—and his efforts are bearing fruit. He described the reactions he received from members of his congregation during his visitations (the term he uses to refer to 1-on-1 or 1-on-2 meetings with his EM members) and conversations after Sunday worship.
“I see that people have a lot more clarity about the gospel now, and they respond in thankfulness and gratitude rather than obligation or condemnation,” he said.
Pastor Mike has hopes for the future of his church, and for the Korean American church as a whole, and it’s one of the reasons he invests in English ministry despite the difficulties he might have faced. He’s investing in it for the future.
“What about the next generation for Korean Americans? What does that look like? Will my kids grow up in a healthy, thriving Korean American church? I hope so. We need to leave a legacy behind, and have a long term perspective. We need to persevere and stick in it long enough to see the fruit.”
"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:19-23
This is one in a series of interviews with southern California pastors who either serve in English ministry (EM) or have a heart for the intergenerational relationship between Korean ministry (KM) and EM. As the generation of the Korean church is shifting from the first to the second generation, what are the obstacles that are hindering the English ministry from flourishing? How can EM and KM pastors work together to build up the second-generation church? These are among the many questions that these pastors grapple with, and that Christianity Daily is hoping to wrestle together with through these interviews.
