Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Ethnos: the Greek word for “nations”

We sing in different languages

Scott Eng
Scott Eng

Ethnos Community Church

  • Contact: 3950 Berino Court, San Diego 858-46-8329 www.ethnos.us
  • Neighborhood: University City
  • Membership: 100
  • Pastor: Scott Eng
  • Age: 39
  • Born: Anaheim
  • Formation: University of California-Berkley; Golden Gate Baptist Seminary (now Gateway Seminary), Ontario, CA
  • Years Ordained: 6

San Diego Reader: What’s your favorite subject on which to preach?

Sponsored
Sponsored

Pastor Scott Eng: How radical God’s grace is. That’s something we have a lot of human conceptions about, and his grace is always bigger than we expect. I find a lot of people have different backgrounds, whether spiritual or non-spiritual, and they all have an idea of who God is. If we misunderstand who God is and his character, then we have a misunderstanding of how he wants to love us and provide for us and feed us. I enjoy helping people have those “Ah-ha moments” where they see something new.

SDR: What’s the mission of Ethnos?

PE: Ethnos is the Greek word for “nations.” A big part of our mission is that we recognize that God wants to bring people from every corner of the world to get to know him. So part of our job and mission is, as our vision statement says, to be a community for all peoples. So no matter where they come from, where they grew up, or who they are, we believe God wants to welcome them. So we try to do that. It’s especially important for our neighborhood – University City – which has a lot of ethnicities, with people coming from other countries. Ethnos is also a place for people to go back out into the world. They come to the universities and different industries in the area, and if we can be part of how they learn about God’s love here and then take that to the rest of the world, we think we’ve done our job. Our musical worship director, Eric Lige, does a great job of highlighting how different cultures worship God. We sing in different languages, use different musical genres, to grow an appreciation of how people around the world worship God, and how we can all learn from that. We usually have four or five songs on a Sunday. We would usually have one or two that are in a different language… For instance, if we sing a song that was written in Iran and speaks of the persecution of the Christian Church there, by singing that, we’re also connecting with their story.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PE: I believe in heaven and hell. As an addendum, though, I would also say that we believe that, at the end of the Bible, the picture is heaven, God’s realm, meeting with earth. The Bible talks about a new heaven and a new earth, but the two are coming together and taking a new form, an eternal form we are not exactly going to know until we get there. Heaven is a different realm, but it also has got to be here and now. That’s part of why we care about what’s going on in the world, because we’re all supposed to be a part of bringing about heaven through witness and by living out God’s values… In grace through faith, Jesus gives a free invitation to all people that he has paid for, and we need to accept that invitation. We want to follow his way instead of our own. Let’s say we don’t accept the invitation; then we basically live in an eternal state of rejection where we’ve staying separated from God because that’s what we’ve chosen.

– Joseph O’Brien

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Raging Cider & Mead celebrates nine years

Company wants to bring America back to its apple-tree roots
Scott Eng
Scott Eng

Ethnos Community Church

  • Contact: 3950 Berino Court, San Diego 858-46-8329 www.ethnos.us
  • Neighborhood: University City
  • Membership: 100
  • Pastor: Scott Eng
  • Age: 39
  • Born: Anaheim
  • Formation: University of California-Berkley; Golden Gate Baptist Seminary (now Gateway Seminary), Ontario, CA
  • Years Ordained: 6

San Diego Reader: What’s your favorite subject on which to preach?

Sponsored
Sponsored

Pastor Scott Eng: How radical God’s grace is. That’s something we have a lot of human conceptions about, and his grace is always bigger than we expect. I find a lot of people have different backgrounds, whether spiritual or non-spiritual, and they all have an idea of who God is. If we misunderstand who God is and his character, then we have a misunderstanding of how he wants to love us and provide for us and feed us. I enjoy helping people have those “Ah-ha moments” where they see something new.

SDR: What’s the mission of Ethnos?

PE: Ethnos is the Greek word for “nations.” A big part of our mission is that we recognize that God wants to bring people from every corner of the world to get to know him. So part of our job and mission is, as our vision statement says, to be a community for all peoples. So no matter where they come from, where they grew up, or who they are, we believe God wants to welcome them. So we try to do that. It’s especially important for our neighborhood – University City – which has a lot of ethnicities, with people coming from other countries. Ethnos is also a place for people to go back out into the world. They come to the universities and different industries in the area, and if we can be part of how they learn about God’s love here and then take that to the rest of the world, we think we’ve done our job. Our musical worship director, Eric Lige, does a great job of highlighting how different cultures worship God. We sing in different languages, use different musical genres, to grow an appreciation of how people around the world worship God, and how we can all learn from that. We usually have four or five songs on a Sunday. We would usually have one or two that are in a different language… For instance, if we sing a song that was written in Iran and speaks of the persecution of the Christian Church there, by singing that, we’re also connecting with their story.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PE: I believe in heaven and hell. As an addendum, though, I would also say that we believe that, at the end of the Bible, the picture is heaven, God’s realm, meeting with earth. The Bible talks about a new heaven and a new earth, but the two are coming together and taking a new form, an eternal form we are not exactly going to know until we get there. Heaven is a different realm, but it also has got to be here and now. That’s part of why we care about what’s going on in the world, because we’re all supposed to be a part of bringing about heaven through witness and by living out God’s values… In grace through faith, Jesus gives a free invitation to all people that he has paid for, and we need to accept that invitation. We want to follow his way instead of our own. Let’s say we don’t accept the invitation; then we basically live in an eternal state of rejection where we’ve staying separated from God because that’s what we’ve chosen.

– Joseph O’Brien

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Trophy truck crushes four at Baja 1000

"Two other racers on quads died too,"
Next Article

Woodpeckers are stocking away acorns, Amorous tarantulas

Stunning sycamores, Mars rising
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader