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| Hoosier United Methodist News |
April 2001 |
Asian Help Services: sharing tea and Christ
By Lynda C. Ward
Special to the Hoosier UM News
Just inside the entrance of Broadway United Methodist Church, the great, grey, stone church near downtown Indianapolis, one finds clues that this church sees itself as more than a regional church: pictures of Oscar Romero, Dorothy Day, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. adorn its walls. On the second floor, just past a set of large double doors, is another sign that this church strives to embody the UMC's understanding of itself as an international church: this sign reads "Asian Help Services."
Founded under the direction of Sungboon Baik in 1986, Asian Help Services (AHS) was established as a nonprofit organization to assist the growing number of Asian immigrants relocating to Indiana, a number that now reaches more than 50,000. Baik, who serves as AHS' director, says, "Asians have difficulty navigating a new culture, especially when they do not speak the language or understand the traditions; we welcome them and give guidance."
AHS offers English classes, tutoring, interpreters, counseling, medical assistance, and employment services. This mission of AHS fits well with John Wesley's social principles: the notion the church should care about what is going on in the society at large; and where there is a need, respond with Christian service and love.
Broadway additionally responds to the needs of the approximately 15,000 Asian immigrants from 15 different countries currently living in Indianapolis by offering a Korean worship service, hosting an annual Asian Festival each August, and sponsoring Baik to speak at other churches about Asian culture in order to facilitate cross-cultural growth. Baik also wants to remind Christians of the importance of hospitality, a ministry she fears may be going out of fashion, but one which has its roots in the Old and New Testament.
Welcoming strangers as friends benefits both guests and hosts, for it presents us with the unique opportunity to see our lives through different eyes. Hospitality enlarges our world and reminds us of our history: our early Christian ancestors formed communities that fostered a way of life in which believers acted as God's guests and hosts on behalf of the world; and our spiritual ancestors, the Hebrews, were once strangers in the land of Egypt. AHS continues the tradition of hospitality by reaching out to Asians who find themselves strangers in the land of Indiana.
To learn more about AHS and its ministry of hospitality, visit the Web site: www.broadwayumc.org, or call 317/924-4827.