Digital Commons @ George Fox University Doctor of Ministry Seminary 1-1-2013 Church, culture and arts: the supremacy of arts in engaging church with culture in the twenty-first century North American urban neighborhoods Richard Yung H. Chung George Fox University This research is a product of the Doctor of Ministry (DMin) program at George Fox University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Chung, Richard Yung H., "Church, culture and arts: the supremacy of arts in engaging church with culture in the twenty-first century North American urban neighborhoods" (2013). Doctor of Ministry. Paper 51. http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/dmin/51 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Seminary at Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Ministry by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ George Fox University. GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY CHURCH, CULTURE AND ARTS: THE SUPREMACY OF ARTS IN ENGAGING CHURCH WITH CULTURE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY NORTH AMERICAN URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GEORGE FOX EVANGELICAL SEMINARY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY RICHARD YUNG H. CHUNG NEWBERG, OREGON MARCH 2013 i George Fox Evangelical Seminary George Fox University Portland, Oregon CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL ________________________________ DMin Dissertation ________________________________ This is to certify that the DMin Dissertation of Richard Yung H. Chung has been approved by the Dissertation Committee on March 12, 2013 for the degree of Doctor of Ministry in Semiotics and Future Studies. Dissertation Committee: Primary Advisor: Byoungchul Joseph Jun, PhD Secondary Advisor: Daniel Lioy, PhD Lead Mentor: Leonard I. Sweet, PhD Copyright ©2013 by Richard Yung H. Chung All rights reserved All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. ii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi ABSTRACT vii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION: A PROFILE OF GATED CHURCHES (1) 1.1. A Ghetto Church: A Profile of a Korean Immigrant Church in Canada (1) 1.2. A Gated Church: A Profile of a Caucasian Mainline Protestant Church in an urban neighborhood (5) 1.3. Conclusion (10) 2. A FUTURE OF GATED CHURCHES (14) 2.1. The State of Social Isolation in the Church (14) 2.2. The State of Social Isolation in the City (16) 2.3. Church as a Conduit for Social Isolation (17) 2.4. An Overview of Joint Needs Assessment (JNA) Reports (19) 2.5. JNA Summary Analysis (21) 2.6. Social Isolation in Gated Churches: “Driving a 1960 Pontiac Bonneville?” (22) 2.7. Conclusion: From Social Isolation to Social Engagement (24) 3. A HOMOGENEOUS CHURCH IN A HETEROGENEOUS WORLD: Multiculturalism in Canadian Society and Church (26) 3.1. Introduction (26) 3.2. Multiculturalism in Canada (27) 3.3. Multiculturalism in the Canadian Churches (29) 3.4. Multiculturalism in the United Church of Canada (31) 3.5. The Colonialism and Racism in the Multi/Intercultural Ministry Models (33) 3.6. Conclusion (39) 4. A HYBRID THEOLOGY FOR A HYBRID WORLD: An Overview of Current Postcolonial Theology and Reimagining the Hermeneutics of Hybrid Identity (41) 4.1. Introduction (41) 4.2. A Colonial Reality in a Postcolonial World (43) 4.2.1. A Personal Montage: “So, you must be Kim, too?” (43) 4.2.2. A Western Colonial Hermeneutics (45) 4.2.3. Back to the Personal Montage (48) 4.2.4. An Allegory: “A Naked Empire” (50) 4.3. A Hybrid Identity Crisis: Reimagining and Rearticulating a Hybrid Theology in a Hybrid World (53) 4.3.1. A Personal Montage 2: “I’ll call you, Ricky!” (53) 4.3.2. An Agent of Colonialism (54) 4.3.3. A Hybrid Identity Crisis (56) iii 4.3.4. The Impact of Puritan Ideals to Korean Immigrant Evangelical Churches (61) 4.3.5. The Scandal of Model Minority Mind (65) 4.3.6. Overview (67) 4.4. Toward a New Hybrid Leadership: Reimagining Leadership Integrity in a Hybrid World (68) 4.4.1. A Metaphor: “Bridging” (68) 4.4.2. A Song: “A Bridge Over Troubled Water” (76) 4.4.3. Conclusion: “Bridging Church, Culture and Arts” (77) 5. THE CHALLENGES OF CHURCH ENGAGING CULTURE: OVERVIEW, CRITIQUE AND PROPOSAL (78) 5.1. Introduction (78) 5.2. Richard Niebuhr’s “Christ and Culture”: Overview and Critique (79) 5.3. Other Proposals: (84) 5.3.1. An Evangelistic Approach: Christ Witnessing to Culture (84) 5.3.2. A Syncretic Approach: Pancultral & Supracultural Christ (86) 5.4. A Bridge to an Alternate Path: “To Transform the Culture?” (88) 5.5. An Alternate Proposal: Faithful Presence (90) 5.5.1. An Alternate Approach: Soft Power vs. Hard Power (90) 5.5.2. An Alternate Hermeneutics: Creation Mandate (92) 5.5.3. An Alternate Role: Aliens and Strangers with a Kenotic Heart (94) 5.6. Conclusion: Faithful Presence as Sanctification (97) 6. CHURCH ARTS PATRONAGE: The Supremacy of Arts in Engaging Church with Culture in the Twenty-First Century North American Urban Neighborhoods (98) 6.1. Introduction (98) 6.2. A Vision/Theology of Beauty in the Church (100) 6.2.1. The Fifteenth Century Florence Aesthetics (100) 6.2.2. The Socio-Cultural Similarities between the Fifteenth Century Florence and the Twenty-First Century North American Urban Neighborhoods (104) 6.2.3. The Image-Less Protestant Church Tradition (109) 6.2.4. Reclaiming the Vision of Beauty in the Church (111) 6.2.5. A Popular Ideal of Beauty: Pretty Looks (113) 6.2.6. The Source of Beauty: God Is Beautiful (115) 6.2.7. The Church Arts Patronage (117) 6.2.7.1. A Shalom Making (117) 6.2.7.2. A Relationship Building (119) 6.2.8. Conclusion: “The Beauty of Christ Must Kindle Fire” (119) 6.3. A Ministry/Community of Beauty (121) 6.3.1. A Journey of a Vision Quest (121) 6.3.2. Brewing a Vintage Local Church Vision (126) 6.3.3. Why the Vision of Arts Ministry? (131) 6.3.3.1. Contextual Reason (131) 6.3.3.2. Epistemological Reason: Reclaiming the Power of the Right Brain of God (135) iv 6.3.3.3. Relational Reason: Art Making Builds Community (138) 6.3.4. How to Implement an Arts Ministry in the Church (139) 6.3.5. Conclusion (144) 6.4. A Place of Beauty and Arts (144) 6.4.1. Introduction: “The Sanctuary is a Cultural Hub” (144) 6.4.2. The Spiritual Floor Plan of the Sanctuary: Soundmark and Third Place (148) 6.4.3. Reimagining a New Church Building Design: Ministry Fits the Design (150) 6.4.4. Collaboration with the Local Arts Community (158) 6.4.5. A New Name: “the Sanctuary Centre for the Arts and Worship” (158) 6.5. Conclusion (160) Appendix 1: St. Paul’s Sanctuary Branding (162) Appendix 2: St. Paul’s Sanctuary Development Process (166) Bibliography (175) v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Praise and thanksgiving to our God and, the true and full embodiment of his beauty, our Lord, Jesus Christ, and to all those who have prayed and assisted in this effort: To my follow dreamers and travellers on our journey of faith and vision, the St. Paul’s United Church family, your followership and zeal have been an abiding source of inspiration; To my academic advisor, BJ Jun, who challenged, offered, and shared much wisdom, direction, and suggestions, and to my dissertation advisor, Dan Lioy, for your timely insight and direction for my dissertation, I am forever grateful; To the faculty at George Fox, especially, Loren Kerns, Cliff Berger, and our Mentor/Advisor Len Sweet who guided and challenged my growth academically and spiritually, and expanded my field of relations, my humble and deep gratitude; To my proofreader, editor, and dear friend, Susan Sullivan, for your willingness to read, offer suggestions, making corrections, and encouraging me to complete this dissertation, I owe you more than several cups of Starbucks coffee - Thank you; To my son, Simeon, and daughter, Yoon-Hee, and to my loving wife, Sue, all my love and thanks; To God be the glory for what He has done. vi ABSTRACT This dissertation seeks to provide the best possible way for the church, both Protestant evangelicals and mainlines, to engage its culture in the twenty-first century North American urban neighborhood that is rapidly becoming culturally diverse and religiously unaffiliated. While many church ministry efforts and programs have provided a short-term church sustainability, they have tended to be inward-focused and lacked the missional and outward orientation to engage and enhance the world. As a result, many urban churches have become socially and culturally isolated religious gated-house separated from their local culture and community. I propose that the most faithful and effective way to bring sustainability and mission of the church in the twenty-first century North American urban neighborhoods is through the ministry of arts and arts patronage in the church. In Chapter One, I highlighted the issue of (urban) church isolation as I profiled a ghetto and a gated church. In Chapter Two, I am giving examples of church isolation issues through the summaries of church need assessment reports. In Chapter Three, I examined and assessed the multiculturalism in Canada and the Intercultural Ministry in the United Church of Canada. In Chapter Four, I tried to respond to theological challenges inherent in North American churches’ approach to cross/multi/intercultural ministry from the perspectives of a postcolonial hermeneutics and through the lens of my own personal stories. In Chapter Five, I reviewed several key discussions on the subject of church engaging culture since Richard Niebuhr’s “Christ and Culture,” and proposed a theological paradigm for the supremacy of arts in engaging church with culture.