Eugene Cho

by: John O'Keefe

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1.  how would you define the postmodern movement?

It scares me sometime when I sense that the so-called “postmodern” Christians might be making the same mistake of the groups that we might be inclined to criticize.  Follow the movement as opposed to the MOVER.  Yes, that sounded corny but that’s the mistake that leads to institutionalism which leads to atrophy, which leads to death.  The so-called postmodern movement, in my dinky opinion and my hope, is simply a response to the faith community’s wrestling to embody Christ to this generation and the generations to come.  My fear is that for some churches and leaders, it is a response to the negativity that we either have experienced or perceived as opposed to being compelled by the gospel.  Sure, I can talk about the postmodern movement from an academic, philosophical, sociological, or theological perspective but basically, who gives…  Go read a book.

God is relevant and thus, the Church must be relevant. 

 

2.  what meaning behind the name "quest"?

It’s a twofold answer.  I believe we’re living in a point in Western history, at least, where in my opinion, we are at one of the most spiritual seeking and sensitive periods.  Although it may have been hip a decade or two ago to be an atheist, it’s totally unhip now to be not believing in something.  Everybody seems to believe in something and is seeking after some meaning or truth in life.  Now, that’s good and bad.  People are seeking but we’re also living in one of the more anti-church and organized religion times.  What a paradox?  The Church, as a whole, might not want to admit it but we’re in some big trouble.  So, “Quest” signifies a community of people that are on a quest for truth and meaning but more importantly, it also signifies that we ought to understand that we can seek and seek and seek and seek but it will be impossible for the finitude to come to grasp the infinitude.  In that end, “Quest” embodies the gospel in that it signifies that God is on a quest for His creation and His people.  Truth is not just prepositional, but it is personal and truth became embodied in Jesus Christ.  He is Emmanuel – God with us and God desires all people to come to a saving knowledge of who He is.

 

3.  how do you see the church changing over the next decade of so?

It’s hard to say.  There are so many different churches.  I’ve read at places that nearly 70,000 churches have “died” in the past twenty years in America and that over 30% of all churchgoers are over 60 years old.  I see that trend continuing per se and I also see lots per church plants coming in the next decade.  More than we see right now.  The problem is most of these church plants will not survive beyond their first couple years.  I fear that because GenX, Y, Z, or whatever people want to call them is actually IN, they have become a fad of the larger church.  Most church plants haven’t been processed out and will fade out as well.  What I would like to see is the church engage ministry with an intentional focus on RELATIONSHIPS – with God and with people, a recommitment to missions, to engage culture, to embrace compassion and justice, and yes, to wrestle with multiethnicity.

 

4.  you have great content on your site. how important is the internet to your ministry?

Any church that says it’s not important needs to wake up but at the same time, the cyberspace can never even remotely come close to real and genuine relationship building.  Read a scary statistic that one group estimated that 1 out of 5 Christians will be worshipping online within 5-10 years.  If that happens, someone just shoot me.  Our website is important for two reasons: 1) it’s a window for the outside world to look into our community and 2) for us to create a venue and portal to go about our ministry.  It’s been amazing to see people come and join our community because of the website.

 

5.  how do you, if at all, work "home churches" into your model of ministry?

Our churchplant has a short physical history.  I say physical because I feel like it’s been incubating within me for many years now.  We’re meeting every Sunday for our Sunday celebration/meditation gatherings but will be officially launching the church on October 14, 2001 .  We are starting our “home churches” this month – not because we believe in biblically, but I believe transformation and genuine relationships are built there.  As a 2^nd generation Korean-American, I can tell you that authenticity just doesn’t jive with the Confucian thought process.  You’ll see huge Korean churches but I am skeptical about the depth and substance of relationships.  Not sure how it’s gonna happen but we hope to have our community groups propel our ministry.

 

6.  in a world were friendship is so very important, what is the quest doing to help build friendships?

a)  We start with gathering people (for example, Sunday worship gatherings).

b)  Hold events but go about it in such a way that the event is secondary to the people that come.  People before program.  We’re launching a live music venue soon, hoping to raise some money to build a coffee shop in the warehouse where our offices are located and just hang out.

c)  Home churches.

d)  Stress the importance of internationality in building relationships.

e)  Stress importance of authenticity – but not just exposure of who we are but also accountability.

f)   Hang out.

 

7.  how would you define "a world view of Christianity?"

Good question.  The simplest way would be to say to view the world through the lens of Scripture but we’ve historically seen people and the Church abuse the Scriptures to justify some jacked-up actions.  So in light of that, I'll say, to view the world and culture through not only the lens of Scripture but especially through the Word incarnate – Jesus Christ.

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