Chinese Baptist Church

Growing up in El Paso, the son of a Baptist minister, I attended worship in a Chinese Baptist church three or four times before the age of 8.  About the only thing I remember about those services was being able to sing (at least the first verse) of most of the hymns that were sung.  I also remember not being able to understand a single word that was spoken from the pulpit, and being mesmerized by the way the words were written in the bible.  I’m pretty sure I spent the sermon part of the service trying to figure out the Chinese language… I never did.

However, that was probably 40 years ago, so time has neatly stored most of my memories of those days away in the dark recesses of my mind and tagged most of them with the a sign that reads, “unrecoverable.”

I haven’t thought about those days for many years now.  To tell the truth, it wasn’t until I had returned to worship in a Chinese Baptist church that I even remembered I had ever experienced it before. 

Now, it may seem a little odd, but my father is currently the pastor of a Southwest Chinese Baptist Church in Houston, Texas.  The church’s pastor left and Dad is the interim pastor while the church searches for a new pastor.  This new pastor must be a person who can speak, read and preach in Cantonese.

I know what you’re thinking, “Hugh, I didn’t think you were of Asian descent.”  You are correct, I am not.   You many also be wondering about my father’s command of the Cantonese language.   I’m proud to announce that after a couple of years, Dad can quite clearly pronounce several phrases in the native tongue of his congregation.  I’ve heard him say, “Hello,” “Thank you,” “May God be with you,” and of course, “Which way to the restroom?”

Anyway, Melissa and I headed south to Houston last Friday with our good friends Winji and Darryl. Winji and Darryl, both being Chinese, were a little curious about my dad’s current pastorate.  Together, we went down, spent the weekend in Houston, and experienced a service that had to be translated from English to Cantonese, or Cantonese to English depending on who was talking at the time. 

In the end I was really impressed with both the church, my worship experience and my dad’s ability to pause every few sentences and wait for the translator to catch up.  I knew he was going to have to be doing that, but I hadn’t really thought about how it could chop up your thinking as well as you words. 

It was easy to see why my mother and father enjoy Southwest so much.  The people are friendly and very welcoming.  After the service we went out to eat at Dad’s favorite Chinese restaurant.  And I’m here to tell you that the food was good and unbelievably plentiful.  It literally just kept coming and coming and coming. 

In the end a good time was had by all.

So if you’re I Houston and looking for a church whose service is half in Cantonese and half in English, give Southwest Chinese Baptist Church a try.  If you do, tell Pastor Atkinson that you read about it here.  Who knows, maybe he’ll take you to his favorite Chinese restaurant.