Chinese for Christ Church

I came to the English worship service here last week since I was visiting my parents who attend the Mandarin speaking worship service. With this being the summer and also with a guest speaker (Pastor Eddie Cheng — who used to be youth pastor here, I think), I am not sure if the Sunday I visited is representative of what most Sundays are like here.
I felt like this was one of the few instances over the past year where I have felt like I could truly worship God even though the worship team and powerpoint slides seemed quite simple compared to other churches I’ve visited in the last year — sometimes simpler is easier to focus. The sermon (delivered by a guest speaker) also gave me new insight into the book of Ruth that I didn’t have before — although I found the application itself to be a little weak.
Overall the congregation itself did not seem the most welcoming but one or two individuals did introduce themselves to me, but maybe this is normal for churches in this part of the US compared to churches in Texas.
If I were to ever move to the East Bay area, I would consider coming here again — and not just because my parents attend the Mandarin speaking side.

First, I should like to say that visiting a church from out of town and finding a church to join and worship with regularly are two very different things to undertake. If you want to join a church and be actively involved in the life of its congregation, stability really is key. If what you want is to find a place to grow roots and be part of the community, CFC, as a medium-​sized evangelical church with lots of Chinese families and a more diverse young crowd, can be a really good place to do that. I commend Tiffany H’s review to you if you haven’t read that one. Below are some qualifications and updates I would give.
I. Doctrine.
The church’s official teaching position, which people agree not to contradict in their official teaching capacities, does imply Arminian and Premillennialist (possibly Dispensationalist) positions. The two articles of this statement that I would call Arminian affirm ‘Unlimited Atonement’ and ‘Resistible Grace’. That said, there are mainstream Reformed views that would not necessarily conflict with these statements as written. The article on unlimited atonement says simply that Christ has died for every human who has ever lived, an affirmation that does not in any way conflict with the ‘Calvinist’ Canons of Dort: the point of contention between Reformed and Arminian interpretations of predestination in the atonement is whether Christ died with an absolute intention to secure anyone’s salvation, not whether there is a sense in which Christ died for everyone and makes a well-​meant offer of life to everyone. Likewise, the article on resistible grace does not deny the existence of irresistible grace, contenting itself with affirming that there is such a thing as resistible grace. As for Premillennial views of the ‘end times’, others have taught students about the Premillennial, Amillennial and Postmillennial systems without definitely ruling out the other two. Those who disagree with Arminianism and Premillennial eschatology will not be turned away from serving as Bible study leaders, but they ought to be aware that CFC generally presupposes these theological ideas.
II. Other Stuff.
As of 2011, Pastor Ken has moved up to Oregon, so the youth minister, Chris Yen, has become the English pastor. Pastor Chris (or Kiki, as he’s sometimes called), being less intellectually inclined than Pastor Ken, preaches less doctrinally and more pietistically, though the words of Scripture are still the heart of his preaching. In my opinion, sound doctrine, intellectual seriousness, genuine feeling and poetic eloquence are best combined in the sermons of John Donne (yes, that difficult, badass English Renaissance poet who used to be a playboy), but everyone has to start from somewhere. For better or for worse, Pastor Chris’s sermons rely more heavily on personal illustrations than on intellectual development of the truths revealed in Scripture.
If one wishes to read patterns, it’s also become clear that the number of young graduates from CFC going into ordained ministry to pastor and plant churches has seen a lull since about 2005, if not a little earlier. Though I have my own thoughts on this trend, I don’t have full explanations. One thought I have is that Pastor Ken used to be more heavily involved in the college ministry than he was later on. Seventeenth-​century pastors Richard Baxter and George Herbert (who wrote /​The Reformed Pastor/​and /​The Country Parson/​respectively) are good examples of how a parish is well-​served by the kind of pastor who visits parishioners regularly. But as stimulating as it was to work closely with college students, especially the leader committee (‘Council’), I think Pastor Ken must’ve grown tired over the years, because a lot of the pastoral involvement became the work of the Crossroads Advisors, whose role was introduced in 2007. This, at least, is the current state of things.
A few more things of note:
Agape, the junior and senior high school fellowship, currently has no youth pastor; the director is a layman, Melissa Wong.
Use of the NASB in Crossroads has almost completely shifted to the ESV; Pastor Chris usually preaches out of the NIV.

It’s difficult for me to write this review because I grew up at CFC – nay, attended it even before I was born, while still inside my mommy’s womb! So, as with anything that has been dealt with for almost all of one’s life, being at CFC has not been without its shares of ups and downs. Some of my happiest and most precious memories were while I was here, as well as some of the most painful and depressing. In spite of it all, CFC still remains dear to me and I will probably always consider it my home church.
The church is medium-​sized and most of its staff are bilingual, with an English congregation and a Chinese congregation. I was a part of the English congregation so I’ll only write about what I know concerning this side of CFC. Being located so close to UC Berkeley, it attracts a lot of college students and as expected, has a great college ministry and fellowship group, known as Crossroads. There is a youth group called Agape (for junior high and high school kids), and a young adult group called Livingstones. Since most of the older attendees are on the Chinese side, there is a fellowship group for families (the Chinese group also has fellowships for all ages, I just forget their names). Even though each congregation has its own head pastor and a youth pastor, the congregation also elects a group of deacons every couple of years to help lead the church.
Theologically, it is considered a nondenominational Evangelical Protestant church. Pastor Ken is a closet Arminianist and Dispensationalist – and I say ‘closet’ because he doesn’t parade this viewpoint and because when I attended Crossroads, an overwhelming number of us were Reformed. The youth pastor (who has since moved on to becoming a pastor in Walnut Creek) when I attended Agape started out as a Dispensationalist, I think, but then became Reformed. Or it might have been the other way around.
Regardless of these slight theological differences, the teaching here is Biblically sound. The leaders of CFC take the Word very seriously. Most people are encouraged to read the NASB version because its translation is closest to the original syntactical structure. There is great spiritual teaching here that will appeal to the intellectually inclined (no surprise, given its location in an academic mecca), with Sunday school classes offered every semester (sort of like a mini-​seminary school!), and Bible studies emphasizing exegesis. The sermons reflect this attitude as well, so those who are looking to hear fiery, heart-​stirring messages each and every Sunday may be disappointed with the focus on intellectual and spiritual understanding.
You’ll find that other Berkeley churches focus more on outreach ministry and social justice, so if that is a direction God is leading you towards, I recommend checking out First Presbyterian. CFC is more of a place that is looking to equip and train future church leaders in a church setting. Several people have gone onto seminary school and have either planted new churches, or are serving as pastors at other places. If you are looking to develop your skills in apologetics and would feel more comfortable in an English-​Chinese church, CFC would be worth checking out.