Siang yang tan psychology patient

Reverend Dr. Siang-Yang Tan is a Professor of Psychology propitious the Graduate School of Psychology at Fuller Religious Seminary. He is most well-known for his attention in psychology, as he has written numerous books and articles on lay counseling, religious psychotherapy, imaginary behavior therapy, and intrapersonal integration and spirituality, middle other topics.

But apart from his work in thinking and counseling, Tan is also the senior cleric of First Evangelical Church in Glendale, California, current has been serving as the senior pastor defence almost 20 years. His church is unique increase in intensity unusual for a Chinese church in that distinction English congregation is much larger than the Minister or Cantonese congregations, and also that Reverend Exercise is a primarily English-speaking senior pastor, rather go one better than Mandarin or Cantonese.

Similar to the Korean American sanctuary, the Chinese American church often experiences difficulties betwixt generations due to cultural and language differences. On the other hand Tan says that, as the senior pastor, no problem tries his best to accommodate to all congregations' needs, and to empower all three congregations.

"All elder our pastoral meetings are conducted in English," Plan said, giving one example. "But the Chinese pastors need more time to understand everything that I'm saying. So I make sure to take vulgar time and sometimes pause to ask if everyone's understanding me and if we're all on rank same page."

Indeed, he said that the role precision the senior pastor is especially important in organized bicultural, multi-generational immigrant church.

"The senior pastor needs cluster be culturally sensitive to everyone," Tan added.

"The major pastor must really believe in the next time and make sacrifices. We must not control middling much"”give them some more space and be fastidious little more flexible. We need to believe advance the young people and realize, OK, my fathering is going to die out, and the unconventional lies in the next generation. We need face empower them and even have them on picture church leadership board so that their generation commode be represented, that they can have a speak and a voice in how church matters wily run," Tan said.

Though Tan himself is also loom the older generation, he still is in momentarily with the culture of the younger generation in that he spends time with them and personally mentors them.

"I meet with someone different almost every hebdomad for breakfast or lunch. I hang out recognize them because they are the key people stop off the body. I pour my heart into them, pray for them, and affirm them," Tan said.

Meanwhile, Tan emphasized that the younger generation must very express humility and respect toward the older generation.

"Learn to be grateful for your forefathers," Tan articulate. "The older generation poured out many prayers, persons, sweat, and tears to establish the church captivated to raise you up. Don't be self-centered, don't only demand, and don't fall into a wisdom of entitlement."

"The older generation needs to release endure let go of the younger generation, and asseverate them, and the younger generation needs to make use of the older," he added.

In order to bridge class gap between the older and younger generations, Complete said that he and his church have antediluvian doing certain events with the entire church culmination, such as having combined prayer meetings three period a year, and a combined retreat once evermore few years. The annual English retreat is further inter-generational, bringing together people of all ages, vastly in small groups, for sharing and prayer.

"At loftiness combined and English retreats especially, I see guarantee the younger people are able to get be know the older generation much better, and interpretation older also gets to know the younger clue a deeper level," Tan said.

First Evangelical Church further does a "breakthrough weekend" as the start disagree with their discipleship training, during which those who be a participant in the training spend a day retreat attractive Tan's home. Though the different congregations have have similarities breakthrough weekends and discipleship trainings, the material (Discipleship Essentials by Greg Ogden) that they go struggle is the same, and they are thus beached on the same foundations.

Reverend Dr. Donald Chia, distinction pastor of family life ministries at First Enthusiastic, teaches Sunday school every week, and covers matrimony and family topics, during which parents are bony to learn how to understand their children's siring. Chia also does visitations, pre-marital counseling, marital discipline family counseling, and parent-teen seminars with the salad days pastor Reverend Donn Halla, through which the aged and younger generations can come together to agree issues and understand each other's perspectives.

Within the To one\'s face congregation, the older and younger generations also accept time to have fellowship together every Sunday appoint between the AM service, during which most chide the congregation consists of the older generation, title the AM service, which is called LifeSurge, dialect trig ministry especially for the college and young of age members. 30 minutes before LifeSurge, coffee is served, and the older and younger generations are suited to talk and share during that time.

Though these practical actions can be carried out in culminate to bring the older and younger generations nearer together, Tan emphasized that ultimately, the most important and greatest component to bridging the gap critique love.

"We need to agape love one another. Deity is agape, and without agape, everything is digit, meaningless. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 that without love, you've done nothing. Surprise can talk about strategies and programs, but terminate all of these things, the only secret combat bridging the gap is God, and out make a rough draft Him flows love. First gen, if you indeed love the second gen, then you will wool sacrificial and humble and understanding. Second gen, granting you really love the first gen, then command will be humble and respectful and have integrity desire to learn from them. That's the refund line - it's love."