1.YFAN (youth-for-all-nations) counselors. Our youth ministry was particularly blessed from the good mix of both Asian and white students and counselors. The cross-cultural mix in different ways invigorated and challenged everyone to think and act in creative ways, as a great preparation for life, with all its complexities related to backgrounds and culture. To top it off, into all this mix of serious youth training and fun, especially from the interaction with our major “partner-church,” we even had a cross-cultural, inter-church marriage, which as of this writing had just birthed a new baby, icing on the YFAN cake. Even their own courtship had been activated on a Thai YFAN mission trip!

1. 万国青年辅导员YFAN (Youth-For-All-Nations)。

我们的青年事工特别受到亚裔和白人或者学生和辅导员等良好融合的祝福。跨文化的融合以不同的方式激励和挑战着每个人以创造性的方式思考和行动，这是对生活的一种很好的准备，其复杂性与背景和文化有关。最有趣的事情是，在所有这些严肃的青年训练和有趣味的活动的混合中，特别是在与我们主要的“伙伴教会”的互动中，我们甚至促成了一对儿跨文化、跨教会的婚姻，就在我写这篇文章的时候，他们刚刚生了一个宝宝，更为YFAN锦上添花。甚至他们的恋情也是在一次泰国YFAN的短期宣道旅行中发生的!

But in the beginning of our church, we did not have this contribution by many “white, non-Asian” counselors. We had a much smaller youth group then, and each year or two, some young adult would volunteer as youth director, before he or she moved on to other locations. These were nearly all Asians from Thailand, the Caribbean, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and North America. They created an interesting sequence of leaders from “all nations” for our church and youth, although they were usually not together in Cincinnati at the same time. The best part is they were all impressive role models whom, I’m sure, inspired many of our youth.

但是在我们的教会开始的时候，我们没有太多“白人，非亚洲人”顾问。那时我们的青年团规模要小得多，每隔一两年，就会有一些年轻人自愿担任青年辅导员，然后再去其他地方工作。这些人几乎都是来自泰国、加勒比海、印度尼西亚、马来西亚、新加坡和北美的亚洲人。他们为我们的教会和年轻人创造了一个有趣的由“万国YFAN” 领导的序列，尽管他们通常不会同时出现在辛辛那提。最棒的是，他们都是令人印象深刻的榜样，我相信，他们激励了我们许多年轻人。

When I tracked down what happened to these multi-cultured youth directors, I was excited to know that, as far as I knew, every one of them continued to serve the Lord, in many countries around the world, just an amazing testament to their commitment, and the grace of the Lord in blessing them, and us. As I’m writing this, I can even imagine in my mind each one of them, so precious are they in God’s eyes! Asian YFAN themselves.

当我追溯这些多元文化青年导师之后的发展时, 我很兴奋地知道（根据我所了解的情况）,  他们每一个人继续在世界各地的许多国家事奉主。这是一个了不起的委身侍奉的见证, 有主的恩典祝福他们,也祝福着我们。当我写这篇文章的时候，我甚至可以在我的脑海中想象出他们每一个人，他们在上帝的眼中是如此珍贵!亚洲YFAN本身。

Every one of our youth directors or counselors, as role models, was key to the development of our strong youth program. The “pastor definitely cannot do it alone,” especially applies to youth ministry. It is practically essential that there are enough counselors to be the mentors of the youth, commonly needing I think at least one effective counselor for 10 youth.

我们的每一位青年导师或顾问作榜样，是我们强大的青年项目发展的关键。“牧师绝对不能单独做这件事”，尤其是对青少年事工。有足够的辅导员来指导青少年是非常必要的，我认为通常10个青少年至少需要一个辅导员是最有效的。

I am gratified that each generation of youth seems to be better fortified for college and life, as I see them increasingly join college ministries much more than in the past, serving in leadership positions, including Asian campus ministries! Several of them have even become involved in top leadership positions, affecting the work of the nation. And, as anticipated, some are in overseas missions, serving especially in Asia and China. Youth for All Nations indeed.

令我欣慰的是，我们的每一代年轻人似乎都在大学和生活中得到了更好的提升，因为我看到他们有越来越多的人进入大学参加大学生团体的事奉并担任领导职务（包括在美国亚裔校园团契），他们中的一些人甚至进入了高层领导岗位，参与到国家的决策。而且，正如预期的那样，一些人在海外工作，特别是在亚洲和中国。确实是所有国家的万国青年(YFAN)。

2. Shawn, the white kid. The story of Shawn, a “white kid,” is a great reminder of God’s grace. At his first visit as a young man to our church, he was supposed to meet his buddy Stephen, one of the first “white kids” who had started coming to our ethnic church. Stephen that day was supposed to be taking care of a Sunday school class of younger teens. But for some reason he did not show up at that session on time. However, the topic for that session was on Buddhism, and Shawn had just taken a class on the subject. So, in providential fashion, he stepped up to the plate, and taught the lesson in place of Stephen. That was his introduction to our youth group!
3. 肖恩(Shawn)，那个白人孩子。

肖恩的故事，一个“白人孩子”，是上帝恩典的一个见证。他年轻时第一次来我们的教会是为了见他的好朋友斯蒂芬(Stephen)。斯蒂芬是第一批开始来我们的少数民族教会的“白人孩子”之一。那天，斯蒂芬本应该在主日学校照顾一个由十几岁的孩子组成的班级。但由于某种原因，他没有到场。然而，那堂课的主题是佛教，而肖恩刚刚上了一节关于这个主题的课。于是，出于天意，他走上前去，代替斯蒂芬讲课。那是他对我们青年组的介绍!

I had been forewarned by youth minister Ben from our neighboring church that Shawn was a good potential “recruit” for our church youth ministry. For some reason, I thought he meant Sean, another very fine product of Ben’s youth group, and I was looking forward to seeing Sean. So, I was very surprised when Shawn walked into the Panera restaurant, and introduced himself. But no problem, we hit it off fabulously, and soon Shawn was youth counselor, and later youth minister, a wonderful addition to our ministerial team.

青年牧师本(Ben来自我們的鄰居教会)已经预先提示过我：肖恩可能可以做我们教会青年事工，他是一个很有潜力的“新兵”。出于某种原因，我以为他指的是Sean（本的青年组的另一个优秀成员）。我一直很期待见到Sean（在英文里，Shawn与Sean的发音是完全相同）。 所以，当Shawn走进Panera餐厅并介绍自己时，我很惊讶。但是没有问题，我们相处得非常好，很快Shawn就成为了青年顾问，后来又成为青年牧师，这是我们牧师团队的一个很好的补充。

3.Cross-cultural adjustments. Some of these interactions between “white” and “Chinese” leaders, needed some adjusting on our part, or both parts. When we were planning to invite Ben, the dynamic youth minister, to speak at our church, I suddenly remembered that he sported tattoos and ear rings, presumably partly to encourage better connection with his charges. I approached the elder-ministers group first about this, to “pre-empt” any misunderstandings.

3.跨文化的调整。

“白人”和“中国人”领导人之间的一些互动，需要我们做出一些调整，或者双方都需要调整。当我们计划邀请充满活力的青年牧师本(Ben)在我们的教会讲道时，我突然想起他身上有纹身，他还戴着耳环（大概是为了便于他与教会附近社区的青少年建立更好的联系）。我首先与 我们教会的长老牧师们交代了这一点，以“打预防针”的方式避免之后造成任何误解。

Together, we checked out the Biblical bases for his body ornaments culture, even including biblical references at the time of Moses (men wore earrings back then, did you know that?). I wanted to make sure we did not shock our more conservative church unnecessarily. I think we were able to adequately forewarn the parents of the youth, of this cultural adjustment. Both sides seemed to take the transition well, preparing the way for many years of great cooperation and true fellowship! Meaningful inter-church cooperation, especially a cross-cultural one, needs healthy investments of time, patience and love. And maybe some fore-warnings about cultural peculiarities.

我们一起查阅了圣经中有关他身体饰品文化的依据，甚至包括摩西时代的圣经内容(那时男人戴耳环，你知道吗?)我想确保我们不会不必要地让我们保守的教会感到震惊。我认为我们能够充分地预先警告年轻人的父母这种文化调整。双方似乎都很好地完成了这一转变，为多年的良好合作和真正的友谊铺平了道路!有意义的教会间合作，特别是跨文化的合作，需要良性的投入，包括投入时间、耐心和爱心，也许还包括一些关于文化独特性的预警。

4. Space issues. The good Lord even blessed us with lots of space, something very helpful to grow a strong youth program. I have always felt strongly about the need for lots of classrooms and some kind of gym, which allow good interactions in the youth group. A gym was thus soon built after our first church construction, and was always put to good use by young and old. After we had a major expansion of the youth group, we soon found also a Baptist church just across the street from our northern branch church. The church was very gracious to allow us to use their facilities on Friday night, when, in any case, they did not have activities. This was just perfect, since this church had an adequate chapel, lots of classrooms, 2 basketball courts, and even a fellowship area just right for Friday night snacks (including Chinese snack food!), something which the youth really appreciated. This worked out for years, and was minimally expensive, again a great gift from God.
5. 场地问题。

上帝甚至赐予我们很多场地，这对发展一个强大的青年项目很有帮助。我一直感觉需要大量的教室和多功能的体育馆，这样可以在青年群体中进行良好的互动。因此，在我们第一次建造教堂后不久，就建了一个体育馆，这使无论年轻人还是年长者人都从中受益。在我们扩大了青年团的规模之后，我们很快发现在我们北面的分支教堂的街对面也有一个浸信会教堂。这个教会非常仁慈地允许我们在星期五晚上使用他们的设施，在每个周五，他们一直都没有活动。这真是太完美了，因为这个教堂有一个足够大的主堂，很多教室，两个篮球场，甚至还有一个专供周五晚上吃小吃(包括中国小吃!)的地方，这是年轻人非常喜欢的。多年来，这种方法一直奏效，而且成本最低，这也是上帝的一份大礼。

5.Bicutural elder. I have always felt that a bilingual and bicultural elder kind of person could significantly help the interaction of the youth minister or counselors, especially if they are non-Asian, in relating to the predominantly ethnic Chinese parents and church leadership, particularly in the initial development of the youth program. In my case, I thought my role included playing “defense” and “interference” when necessary, a useful buffer in case of cross-cultural tension.

5.双文化长老

我一直觉得为非亚裔的青年辅导和牧师搭配一个双文化双语言的长老，特别是在青年项目的初期发展上，能够极大地帮助青年牧师或顾问与华人家长和教会领导的互动。就我而言，我认为我的角色包括在必要时扮演“防御”和“干涉”的双重角色，在有文化冲突的情况下，这会是有效的缓冲。

Indeed, over time, we received active parental help, mostly moral support, such as helping with transportation, providing snacks, and even as backup counselors as necessary. In general, we preferred that the primary youth counselors were younger where possible, since youth are in such a state of flux themselves, and needed all kinds of role models. Godly Christians who were closer in age to them provided a significant perspective that they might not have at home. So, in general, the youth group program became a mix of Asian predominant youth, predominantly “white” youth counselors, and Asian parents, all working together in a fascinating way!

事实上，随着时间的推移，我们得到了很多青年父母的积极帮助，主要是精神上的支持，比如帮助交通，提供零食，甚至在必要时充当后备顾问。总的来说，我们更希望核心的的青少年顾问尽可能地年轻一些，因为年轻人本身就处于这样一种不断变化的状态，需要各种各样的榜样。在年龄上与他们更接近的虔诚的基督徒提供了一个重要的视角，这是他们在家里可能没有的。因此，总的来说，青年小组计划变成了一个神奇的混合体：亚裔为主的青年团员、“白人”为主的青年顾问和亚裔的父母，所有这些人在一起工作!

6.YFAN impact. The whole effort was to me such a lot of fun, with many trials and challenges, but immensely meaningful. Especially when we saw the kids grow up and move away into “real life,” into all nations, many with serious commitments to serve God. I always trust that the messages in their hearts will never be forgotten, since the word of God never returns void! Especially, I believe, when Godly messages are received in the critical formative years of youth.

6.YFAN的影响。

所有的努力对我来说都充满了乐趣，经历了许多考验和挑战，但意义非凡。特别是当我们看到孩子们长大了，进入“真正的生活”，进入所有的国家，许多人都致力于侍奉上帝。我始终相信他们心中的灵信永远不会被忘记，因为耶和华的话永不落空! 特别是，我相信，当这些信息是在青少年的关键成长时期被接受时更是如此。