The English speaking College Group at our ethnic church had dwindling steadily from 5 or 6 to zero, and everyone was getting discouraged. It looked rather hopeless, especially as we knew that any college group was often one of the more difficult ones to maintain, unless it was located close to a college campus. And, the college age group in ethnic churches usually presented additional challenges.
我们中文教会里的英文大学生小组从五到六个人慢慢地减少到到一个都不剩，我们对此都感到沮丧。我们觉得这件事工可能是没有希望了，因为我们知道除非我们的教会离大学很近，大学生小组是特别难以维持的。而在少数族裔教会里维持一个大学生小组更是难上加难。

Older members of the ethnic church preferred services in their own ethnic language, which naturally “limited their church options”. College age adults were usually predominantly or even only English-speaking, with many alternative options. They were “no longer kids”, and often felt they had now “outgrown” the mother church of their childhood and youth, and even possibly their particular ethnicity. They had gotten used to multi-ethnic Christian fellowships and services in college, a relatively new experience and atmosphere for most of them, and they had probably grown to like it. Having now independence and mobility, they no longer necessarily felt any “allegiance” to their mother ethnic church. Most were certainly more American than Asian, and thus “Asian” church life was at some point even counter-cultural to them.
教会里年长的会众们希望用他们的母语崇拜，这很自然对“教会的选项设了限”。读大学的年轻人们绝大部分是说英语的，其中又有很多是只说英语的。他们有很多讲英文的教会可以选择。他们“不再是孩子”。他们通常觉得他们已经长大，小时候的母教会，甚至他们的原生族裔，已不再适合他们。他们已习惯在大学里多族裔的基督教团契和崇拜。这对他们是比较新的经历，而他们也入境随俗开始喜欢上了新的经历。在得到独立与行动自由后，他们不再觉得有“义务”留在少数族裔的母会里。他们绝大部分像美国人多过像亚洲人，因此，在“亚洲人”教会里的生活在某种程度上对他们是格格不入的。

With all this in mind, knowing the challenges, I prayed about it, and asked the elder-ministers’ group for permission to help restart the “college young adult” program. Partly because I loved to work with young people, and since I had previously helped out with this group. Further, I had always been keenly aware of “critical mass” in each ministry, and sensed that there was some potential resolution if we bore that concept firmly in mind. The logic was that each ministry needed a certain essential “critical” number of participants, and anything less than that was usually liable to fail. In analyzing the college group problem, I felt this could be one major reason for its demise.
在种种困难和挑战中，我向神祷告，请求长老及传道人们给我一个机会重启“大学年轻成人”项目。原因之一是我热爱与年轻人一起事奉，也因为我曾经帮助过这个团体。再来，我向来清楚知道“群众效应临界数”（critical mass） 对各项服事的重要性，觉得我们若能把这个概念发挥就还是有希望的。这个概念是说每一种事工都必须有“临界数量”的同工。一个事工若不能达到那个数量，则多数会以失败告终。我分析了我们大学小组的结束，觉得临界数量应该是一个主要原因。

And, with my highly academic research background, I sort of wanted to also “test this hypothesis”. I began to think of a list of 7 or so people that I could invite for this “research study”. I prayed for each one of the 7, approached each one, usually over coffee or lunch, and gave them a simple proposal. I explained the plan that I would personally commit to recruit a minimum of 7 people, a biblical number anyway. But the key condition was that each person recruited, including me, had to make a solid commitment not to leave the group for at least one year. Critical also meant each one was critical! Rain or shine, they had to commit to come every week, unless they were out of town. I excluded people who were often traveling out of town from this “core group”, since their attendance would be inconsistent.
因为我是从事学术研究的，我就想测试我的假设。我开始思考我可以邀请哪七个左右的人来参与这个“研究”。我为这七个人祷告，亲自和每一个人通过喝咖啡或吃午饭谈话，并给他们每一个人一个简明的提案。我向他们说明我要招募至少七个人，七刚好是一个符合圣经的数字。为的条件是每一个人，连我在内，都必须承诺在一年内不离开这个小组。临界点（critical）的意思也是每个人都至关重要（critical）！除非是有事出城，每个人必须承诺每周都要见面，风雨无阻。我把常常出城的人从“核心小组”分出来，因为他们不能稳定地每周出席。

I was pleasantly surprised when, within a month, I got firm commitments from 7 college folk, and off we went! 7 meant that, in reality if one person was sick or had to travel, we still had at least 6 people, and 6 people “looked like” a real group. When people visited, “looks” were the first critical impression, and quite critical to their decision to return or not. Frankly, 3 or 4 people really did not look like a group at all. And if I were in their shoes, I might not return either!
我很惊喜我在一个月内得到了七个大学生的承诺，我们就这样开始了！七个人代表就算我们中间有一个人因为生病或者出城而不能来，我们仍有六个人出席。六个人聚在一起“看起来”也像是一个真正的小组。当有新人来参加我们聚会时，我们“看起来”如何对他们是一个至关重要的印象，这关系着他们决定是否再回来参加我们的聚会。老实说，三或四个人聚在一起真的看起来不像一个小组。我若是一个新人，我也大概不会想回去！

But 6 or 7 indeed seemed like a real group! And so, newcomers began to return, and actually stayed, which presto, meant our mass actually began to increase. Soon, we were 10 people, even 15 people normally, and 20 people during the summer season, when college kids came back to town.
但是六个或七个人就像是一个真正的小组！因此，新人开始返回并留下，在转眼间，我们的人数开始成长了。不多久我们就达到十个人，十五个人。而在暑假，大学生回家的时期，我们小组有二十个人。

There was now a “virtuous cycle” of increased numbers promoting more people, rather than a “vicious cycle” of fewer people creating even fewer. The moral of the story is there is often some kind of a “magical” critical mass number, so that anything less, unfortunately, usually means the ultimate disintegration of the group! Of course, we are assuming the teaching part of the group is solid, without which, all bets are off (if we are allowed to bet).
我们达到了“良性循环”，增长的人数带动更多的人来参与。我们打破了因为人数不足造成成员流失的“恶性循环”。这个故事告诉我们小组通常需要一个“神奇的”临界数量，若是不能达到那个数量，小组通常会瓦解消失！当然，我们以小组有充实的教导内容为前提，若是没有，这一切都是没有用的。

Actually, I had really learned this lesson well while helping the youth group. If there were not around 7-10 people in each grade, I felt the system seemed to start falling apart. Something less, say, 6 people in a grade meant, say, 3 girls and 3 boys. Which meant that if one boy was missing, there were only 2 boys left when any newcomer visited the youth group. If one of the remaining boys was “not likable,” or even “offensive,” there was a brewing disaster. The first or second visit boy might decide quickly on arrival, that he had “no friends,” or even express the teen sentiment, “there’s no one here,” and drop out just like that. Teens are very sensitive, and even though there might be lots of other kids, he’s only counting his immediate same age, same sex friends as “real” kids.
事实上我在帮助青年小组时实实在在地学到了这个功课。如果每一个年龄组没有七个到十个人，我觉得系统就会开始瓦解。就拿三个女孩和三个男孩的六人小组来说，如果其中一个男孩不能来，当新人来时我们就只剩下两个男孩。如果其中一个男孩“不好相处”或者是“有敌意”，麻烦就在酝酿中。来过一两次的新男孩很容易决定他在小组里“没有朋友”或者感觉“那里什么人都没有”，就这样离开不再回来。青少年感觉灵敏，虽然那里可能还有许多孩子们，他只会把和他年龄相当并且同性的孩子们算作“真正的”孩子们。

Adults can barely understand this, because they seem to see “lots of kids” in the youth group, and wonder why kids think that there are not enough! If we can maintain 7-10 youth per grade, we are usually much safer, and more importantly, the youth feel much safer. I have always felt we should strive hard for this critical mass to be reached, to have a sensible healthy youth group. So, one of the goals in the group could actually be to specifically recruit to reach a better number. Or explore merging with another church to achieve critical mass.
大人们对此感到困惑，他们觉得青少年组有“很多孩子”，不明白为什么孩子们觉得人数总是不够！我们若能维持每个年龄组有七个到十个孩子，那些小组就比较安全，而且更重要的是孩子们也觉得安全。我向来觉得我们应该致力于达到这个临界数量，这样我们可以有合理健康的青少年小组。因此，小组的目标之一应该是招募组员以达到数量，或者尝试和其他教会的小组一起聚会来达到临界数量。

Of course, smaller numbers are still possible if we forced all the youth simply into one big group, to learn to consider everyone as a friend, so there are options. But then we truly have to work extra hard to make the kids realize that. A strong youth director or minister who teaches very well, and is able to keep their focused attention, can go a long way to overcome that. But it would be exhausting, and might contribute to burn out for him or her.
当然，若人数较少，我们也可以把所有青少年聚集起来作为一个组，让他们学习与每个人做朋友。这是一个选项，不过我们得特别努力让所有孩子们都明白这一点。虽然一个有能力，很会教导，能专注孩子注意力的青少年小组主任或者传道人能有力地克服这个难题，这是一件浩繁的难事，很容易透支小组主任或传道人的精力。

There is little question that Vacation Bible School, VBS, is one of the liveliest times of the year, but it’s lively only when there is a critical mass of workers. If there are 50 kids, we really need 50 helpers or even 100, it is that important! There are just so many, many, jobs that are needed, going all the way from drivers, craftspeople, food people, teachers, games people, storytellers, to timekeepers and traffic people.
假期圣经学校（VBS）毫无疑问地是一年里最有活力的时间之一，只要我们能有临界数量的同工支持。我们若有五十个孩子，我们就需要五十个或是一百个同工。这是十分重要的！我们有太多太多的是需要人手，如司机，手工艺老师，管食物的人，老师们，游戏同工，讲故事的人，计时员，和交通管理人。

Without all these people, VBS doesn’t run well at all, and it becomes pretty chaotic. But with all these people, with adequate critical mass, suddenly we have a remarkably harmonious, lively and inspirational VBS. So, a key part of the equation is for the coordinator to mobilize, mobilize, cajole, cajole, to find and organize everyone together, for a wonderful time!
如果人手不够，假期圣经学校就不能有效进行，它更可能变成一团糟。反之，我们如果有足够人手，达到临界数量，我们就能有一个顺利的，有活力的，令人启发的假期圣经学校。因此，成功的诀窍在于为这件美好的时间去联系，动员，拉人，找人，并把所有人组织在一起!

Similarly, small churches have great problems when their critical mass of a congregation of about 100 is not reached. When we think about the complexity of a church, there are so many functions that need to be handled, ushers, musicians, chairpersons, Sunday school teachers, childcare givers, preachers, maintenance, outreach, etc. And if there are not enough people, each person holds 3 responsibilities and can easily feel overwhelmed. Beginning a church, with smaller numbers, is definitely not easy, but the hope that within a finite time, numbers might reach about 100, keeps the congregation going.
同样地，小教会会有很多大问题如果它没有大约一百人的临界会众人数。教会里有许多复杂的行政工作如招待，诗班，主日学教师，孩童照顾，组长们，传道，场地维修，外展服务，和各种其他事工。如果人数不够，我们可能要一人兼三职让每个人感到不知所措。从极少数人开始建立一个教会是很不容易的。我们希望在有限的时间内增长到一百个人来持续教会的运作。

We experienced this critical mass problem often in our Chinese church, likely mostly because of the Midwestern location. Even with the church of 300 to 500 people, the sub-population that preferentially spoke English was actually quite small. So throughout the 25 years or so of its life, as we tried hard to build up an English speaking congregation, which we named, aspirationally, as the “All Nations Congregation,” it was a constant uphill battle. In spite of the fact that we had solid biblically-minded ministers in sequence, who valiantly tried to sustain and strengthen the congregation, and many volunteer leaders and helpers, it was only barely possible to get the numbers up to the 100 mark.
我们因为位于中西部，就经历了这个临界人数的问题。即使在三百到五百人的教会里，偏向讲英语的人数实际上很少。因此在我们教会大约二十五年的时间里，我们如逆水行舟地努力建设我们满怀热心叫做“万国事工”的英语会众。即使我们不断有着坚实，以圣经为中心的传道人英勇地试着维持并强化这个会众，加上许多志愿领袖和帮手们的努力，我们也只是勉强地达到了这个一百人的指标。

So as the numbers dropped below that in the recent last few years, it seemed that a vicious cycle did indeed happen, and with spinning down numbers, the English congregation, as I understand it, reverted to an English-speaking fellowship. There are times and seasons for everything, and maybe this noble experiment in the Midwest was destined to be a 25 year phenomenon. From informal feedback, encouragingly, those who “graduated” from this experimental phase remain serving in other, usually “white,” churches and cities, as very small Asian minorities within the all nations Great Commission mandate.
当近年来这个人数降到一百人以下后，人数下降的恶性循环好像开始了。我所听到的是英语会众缩减成了英语团契。万物有定时，也许这个在中西部高理想的实验注定只是一个二十五年的现象。让我感到鼓舞的是我从听到的反馈里知道那些从这个实验中结业的人们到现在还在多数是“白人”的教会或城市里服事。

Much larger English speaking Asian/Chinese populations on the West or East Coast, or in major metropolitan areas, provide a much greater potential, I’m sure, for English speaking congregations in Chinese churches to achieve critical mass. An alternative all nations approach might be also to flip the script. A model that I have recently been involved in, during these last few years in Seattle, is a huge 4,000 member so called “white church,” which recently has included an autonomous small new 60 member Chinese congregation within its physical confines. Plus autonomous Hispanic, African, and Asian Indian congregations. I think this approach could be a much more viable multi-ethnic model. Newer immigrants who are comfortable speaking and listening to Chinese, attend the Chinese church. At the same time, the English-speaking, younger ethnic Chinese adults (and youth and children) could in theory merge well with other English speaking young Asians and non-Asians, as part of the larger multi-ethnic English speaking church, as a not-so-minor minority.
在西岸或东岸或大都市有着广大讲英语的亚洲人人口。在那些地方建立英语会众更有机会达到临界人数。近几年来我在西雅图有四千多人的所谓的“白人教会”参与了另一种形态的万国事工。我们近来在会堂里新开了一个六十多人的华人的独立崇拜。我们另外还有拉美裔，非裔，和印度裔的各自独立崇拜。我觉得这样是比较可行的多族裔模式。讲中文的新移民可以参加中文崇拜，同时，讲英语的较年轻的华裔成人（或者是青少年或孩童）在理论上可以轻易融入其他说英语的亚裔和非亚裔族群，并成为多族裔英语大教会里为数不少的小众。

100 seems to be a good biblical number. Remember Jesus told the famous story of the good shepherd with 100 sheep. The shepherd was able to recognize that he had lost one sheep at the end of the day, and quickly went out to find it. I can imagine if the flock was a lot larger, his job of recognizing his sheep would be a lot more difficult (unless the Shepherd was actually Jesus!). Even Moses father-in-law, Jethro, suggested dividing the people of Israel into 100’s, for Moses’ sanity and better time management. And we all know of hyper efficient Romans, from the Roman centurion stories in the bible. 100 as an organizational critical number.
一百好像也是一个好的圣经数字。我们记得耶稣讲过广为人知的好牧人和一百只羊的故事。在一天结束的时候，牧人发现了他丢失了一羊就赶紧去寻找。我可以想象如果他的羊群数量更多，他将很难认识他的每一只羊（除非这个牧人是耶稣！）就连摩西的岳父叶忒罗也是建议把以色列人分成一百人一组让摩西更好管理。我们也都从罗马人百夫长的圣经故事知道超高效率的罗马人用一百人作为组织的临界人数。

Before that number is reached, creative opportunities are available, for example to work with another small church congregation, to share functions, facilities or workers, to achieve critical numbers. Clearly, together there is strength. In the beginning of our church, we met in a “American” church, the Northern Hills Bible Chapel, for 14 years. The church was most generous in providing the space for us without charge; of course, we made contributions in appreciation. This arrangement also allowed us to join their children’s program, especially their vacation bible school. We used their facilities extensively, while adjusting our times to fit theirs, which wasn’t ideal, but did allow us to survive well for the first difficult 14 years. We treasured this wonderful opportunity to work with others from a very different background, and definitely we learned a lot. And, even though we did not conceptualize it that way, we were likely already experimenting with some kind of all nations approach.
当我们还不能达到这个人数的时候，我们可以尝试一些有创意的机会，例如和其他小教会合作分担工作，场地，以及同工来达到临界人数。团结就是力量。我们教会在刚开始的时候就是在一个叫做北丘圣经教会的“美国人”教会里聚会了十四年。那个教会很慷慨地免费让我们使用场地。当然，我们也因感恩而奉献。我们因此也参与了他们的孩童节目，特别是他们的假期圣经学校。我们很频繁地在尊重他们的时间表为前提之下使用他们的场地。虽然这不是理想的聚会方式，这让我们度过了那艰难的十四年。我们珍惜在艰难的环境里与他人合作的宝贵机会，也从那里学到很多。虽然我们没有刻意设想，我们很可能就是实验了一种万国同工的方式。

I think a key lesson is it’s really important to be humble, to learn to borrow talents where we can. The greater Church of God has lots of talents, and when we tapped those (all nations) talents, it benefitted the entire church. Especially for our developing youth group, it was essential to be able to recruit many non-Asian young men and women to help out as counselors, to achieve critical counselor numbers.
我想这里重要的功课是我们必须谦卑去学习借用我们找得到的才能和资源。神的大教会有众多有才干的人，当我们运用这些来自万国的得神恩赐的同工，整个教会都能得益处。特别是当我们在装备青少年小组时我们需要招募许多非亚裔青年作为辅导员来帮助我们以达到临界人数。

As described in greater detail elsewhere, we made friends with several outstanding churches that had great youth programs, and “borrowed” their talent. These young people themselves were blessed by this usually first experience of working in cross cultural ministry. Thus inspired and encouraged, some even went on to the mission field. Basically, whenever we had holes in our system, we did not feel ashamed or reluctant to recruit from “other” churches, to fill those holes, to reach critical mass level, definitely “critical” for the ministries, as the word implies.
就如我在别处提过的，我们与许多有着很好的青少年事工的杰出教会成为好友，并“借助”与他们许多有得神恩賜的人。神也祝福那些年轻人借着帮助我们得到第一手跨文化事工的经验。他们被此激励鼓舞，跟有些人走向了宣道事工的领域。当我们的系统有漏洞的时候，我们并不感到丢脸也不会不愿意寻求“别的教会”的帮助来填补那些漏洞，来达到临界人数。这些都是事工上不可或缺的，就如临界（critical）这个字所意味着的。

I suppose there is nothing really magical about actual numbers. They are just convenient guides. God can work with any number. In fact, there were only 12 apostles, who started a revolution to now number 2 billion people. So, Jesus felt 12 was critical for His ministry, otherwise He would have recruited more. Or, one David was the right number, against the giant Goliath and his army. As we like to say, one plus God, is huge, and beyond critical. Still, numbers are fun, so ponder on them a bit.
我假设这个数字本身并不神奇，它只是一个方便的指标。在神来说，什么数字都是可以成就的。事实上，十二个使徒开始的一个革命到现在已有二十亿人。所以，耶稣认为十二个人是祂事工的临界人数，若非如此，祂应该会招募更多人。又例如一个人对大卫来说就足够对抗歌利亚和他的军队。就如我们常说的，一个人加神就是大数目，远超过任何一个临界点。即便如此，数字还是很有趣的值得我们去思考的。