Heart of ARISE

Our vision is to see generations of young people transformed by the gospel and living for God’s glory.  To this end, we recognize that New England and the churches here face unique challenges.   

Being a global academic hub, the Boston area attracts great minds and dynamic talents.  However, for the same reason, Boston is one of the most transient places in the world.  Many people come here for degrees and the starts of careers but very, very few stay to invest, mature and build anything here for the long-term.  

Korean churches in New England went through a fairly rapid and significant change starting about 20 years ago to about 5 years ago when almost all English ministries initially housed within the suburban Korean churches dwindled or left for various reasons to establish themselves as independent churches in or closer to the city.  This created a void in the Korean churches.  Two full “generations” of English speakers—college students and young adults—are missing from the Korean churches.  The youth do not have older, English-speaking brothers and sisters in the church to serve, formally or informally, as role models and teachers.  

The majority of Korean-American seminarians do not want to go back to Korean churches to serve the youth.  In addition, the churches in New England are not large nor mature enough to support and invest in full-time youth leaders. 

The youth are deeply and significantly impacted for the long-term by the way things are.  They find themselves in Korean churches because they have to go with their parents but leave youth group years without a living relationship with their Savior.  They are churched, but few know or are changed by the gospel.  They haven’t experienced spiritual friendships or mentoring and are ill-equipped to continue to remain in the church.  They are set on a course for their college lives, young adulthood and beyond.  We’ve now seen the longitudinal results.

ARISE’s heart is to come alongside the youth, youth leaders and churches to resource and help the youth meet and know Jesus Christ, understand His gospel of grace and start to dream about living life in many different ways as participants in God’s redemptive purpose in the world for His glory.