Meet Andrew Chu
Hi, Faith Bible family! I want to take this opportunity to share the great things that God has done to set me free from past hurts and sins through Faith’s Re:generation ministry.
I am the son of a Chinese father and a Korean mother who are first-generation immigrants from South Korea. Both came from broken families that didn’t know about Christ’s love and coped with life through materialism and Buddhist beliefs. Their mixed-ethnicity marriage violated generational taboos and created so much conflict with their families that they left Korea and moved to America, where I was born. My childhood memories are filled with tension. My parents loved me, but I was affected by their marital dysfunction which was magnified by the stress of immigration and disconnection from their families. Their insecurities led them to teach me that I could only survive in this world by being the best, a belief that led me to find validation from my accomplishments. This tendency was reinforced by childhood experiences with racial discrimination while growing up in Memphis, Tennessee. By God’s grace, my mother started to seek God and persuaded my father to bring our family to church. Unfortunately, our experiences were tainted by serious dysfunction at the churches we attended, which kindled a long-standing resentment in my heart toward the church.
Fast forward to late 2021, when my family started attending Faith Bible. God used experiences during the pandemic to open my eyes to unresolved spiritual issues that were keeping me from enjoying the freedom in Christ that He wants for me. On the outside, I looked like I had it all: a great career, respect from peers, and a beautiful family. But my inner life was hounded by anxiety, resentment, shame, and anger. I lived with a constant feeling that I wasn't good enough, preoccupation with being validated by my work, and resentment toward others and even the church. I struggled with how to address them because I was caught up with workaholic tendencies and the vicious effects of an inferiority complex despite my worldly achievements. When I learned about Re:gen, I knew that I needed to check it out.
My Re:gen group included men who came from all walks of life and with many different challenges. Our leaders helped our group to feel safe being vulnerable with each other and committed to praying for us. Re:gen took us through a structured curriculum that helped me to rely on God's Word and to see the truth about myself in the light of His Word instead of what I had been told to believe about myself by my parents or others. Part of the process involved working with a mentor who gave me a safe space to share my innermost thoughts kept me accountable to work on the material, and patiently helped me to shape a godly response to my inner struggles during our weekly meetings. I came to honestly admit that I am powerless to change myself on my own. I learned to put my full trust in God and to carefully inventory my issues and past hurts in the light of God's love. I realized that I had not truly forgiven certain people or the church for past hurts, and this knowledge challenged me to work out my faith in the loving grace of God through a disciplined plan. I learned to let go of past hurts and to forgive, and I started to make amends with people I wounded such as my wife, who had been hurt by my workaholism.
I really encourage everyone at Faith to consider going through Re:gen at some point because at its core, it aims to help you apply the truths of the Gospel more effectively to your daily life no matter where you are in your spiritual walk. While I’m a work in progress and will continue to face challenges in life, through Re:gen, I have acquired important spiritual disciplines that will help me to face them when they come.
I am the son of a Chinese father and a Korean mother who are first-generation immigrants from South Korea. Both came from broken families that didn’t know about Christ’s love and coped with life through materialism and Buddhist beliefs. Their mixed-ethnicity marriage violated generational taboos and created so much conflict with their families that they left Korea and moved to America, where I was born. My childhood memories are filled with tension. My parents loved me, but I was affected by their marital dysfunction which was magnified by the stress of immigration and disconnection from their families. Their insecurities led them to teach me that I could only survive in this world by being the best, a belief that led me to find validation from my accomplishments. This tendency was reinforced by childhood experiences with racial discrimination while growing up in Memphis, Tennessee. By God’s grace, my mother started to seek God and persuaded my father to bring our family to church. Unfortunately, our experiences were tainted by serious dysfunction at the churches we attended, which kindled a long-standing resentment in my heart toward the church.
Fast forward to late 2021, when my family started attending Faith Bible. God used experiences during the pandemic to open my eyes to unresolved spiritual issues that were keeping me from enjoying the freedom in Christ that He wants for me. On the outside, I looked like I had it all: a great career, respect from peers, and a beautiful family. But my inner life was hounded by anxiety, resentment, shame, and anger. I lived with a constant feeling that I wasn't good enough, preoccupation with being validated by my work, and resentment toward others and even the church. I struggled with how to address them because I was caught up with workaholic tendencies and the vicious effects of an inferiority complex despite my worldly achievements. When I learned about Re:gen, I knew that I needed to check it out.
My Re:gen group included men who came from all walks of life and with many different challenges. Our leaders helped our group to feel safe being vulnerable with each other and committed to praying for us. Re:gen took us through a structured curriculum that helped me to rely on God's Word and to see the truth about myself in the light of His Word instead of what I had been told to believe about myself by my parents or others. Part of the process involved working with a mentor who gave me a safe space to share my innermost thoughts kept me accountable to work on the material, and patiently helped me to shape a godly response to my inner struggles during our weekly meetings. I came to honestly admit that I am powerless to change myself on my own. I learned to put my full trust in God and to carefully inventory my issues and past hurts in the light of God's love. I realized that I had not truly forgiven certain people or the church for past hurts, and this knowledge challenged me to work out my faith in the loving grace of God through a disciplined plan. I learned to let go of past hurts and to forgive, and I started to make amends with people I wounded such as my wife, who had been hurt by my workaholism.
I really encourage everyone at Faith to consider going through Re:gen at some point because at its core, it aims to help you apply the truths of the Gospel more effectively to your daily life no matter where you are in your spiritual walk. While I’m a work in progress and will continue to face challenges in life, through Re:gen, I have acquired important spiritual disciplines that will help me to face them when they come.
Posted in Faces of Faith