Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Eng.
Hi Jonathan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
“Never say never.” Except I did. I still remember sitting in church as a 10 year old and swearing to myself that I would never be a pastor or a missionary. Without ever learning about the personal costs and pitfalls of serving in a church, the life already seemed too uncomfortable and not nearly glamorous enough for my young aspirations. Even worse, if I ended up doing ministry outside of the states, what would I do without my 73 degree, air-conditioned spaces? At a young age, I understood comfort versus discomfort, and like most children, I sought the former and ran from the latter. Yet through my formative years, I began to realize that it’s often through the uncomfortable where meaning is forged and purpose is discovered.
Fast forward to today. As an Asian American pastor serving in an inclusive, multigenerational and multicultural church, my role is neither comfortable nor glamorous. It’s challenging; it’s demanding; it pushes my limits and then reminds me of my limits. But like few other ventures can, it connects me to something bigger than myself and commits me to loving all of my neighbors. For over 16 years, I have served in vocational ministry – first as a college minister, and then as a pastor. I’ve gotten to walk alongside individuals from almost every stage of life. I’ve witnessed parents welcoming their newborns and grieved with couples who have lost their children or could not have biological children. I’ve seen college students struggling with addictions, families being impacted by domestic violence, and individuals navigating a world that is increasingly hostile to one another. I’ve held the painful stories of LGBTQ+ individuals who have been rejected by their own parents and communities. I’ve grieved with other POCs (people of color) as our collective dignity has been challenged in our streets and neighborhoods. Through these experiences and more, I’ve learned to ask two important questions that animate my role today: 1) What does mutual flourishing look like? and 2) How can we partner together for mutual flourishing?
Currently, I serve as the planting and lead pastor of Union Church. We are a new church in the Pflugerville/North Austin metro area, and we’re committed to flourishing together. I’ve loved co-creating a community where people can fully belong and justice isn’t a question but a commitment. In one of the most diverse parts of our city, we’ve chosen to serve as a sanctuary for all people.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The journey to establishing our community has been an unexpected adventure. We started in 2021 as a campus of a multi-site church in Austin, TX. However, due to the impacts of the pandemic, the church-at-large needed to right-size through staff reductions and campus closures, including our location in Pflugerville. In response, we worked together to find an alternative solution and received approval to become an independent church. Navigating through this change required incredible fortitude, grit, and trust among our people. There were moments of extreme doubt and tension. Working with no established budget and no way to forecast where we would be in a month, much less a year, we rallied and saw people commit to moving forward together. To this day, I am still in awe of how our people believed in our community and invested in our future. We officially transitioned to being an independent church in June 2024.
Since then, we’ve worked hard to cultivate our vision to pursue flourishing for all people. As a new church, we wanted to be clear about where we were going and who we were becoming. The leadership team and I felt strongly about not postponing this foundational work indefinitely. Our heart wasn’t simply to change our name and keep “doing business as usual.” Instead, we dreamed of building the kind of church that didn’t just exist for our own comforts but committed to seeking the common good of our neighbors and communities. With this in mind, we prioritized this past year to leading our congregation with clarity and transparency. This helped people, both new and familiar, to have an opportunity to decide how they wanted to connect with us.
Inevitably, with any change, there are difficult losses and there are hopeful gains. We were no exception to this reality. As Union grew to become an inclusive and multicultural church, I began to field difficult conversations and encounter pushback. It was painful to eventually see people we dearly loved leave our community. However, we’ve also been encouraged to see others responding positively. Someone newer to our church recently shared: “We’ve been looking for a church like this for over a year, and we’re so glad we finally found you.” People are reconnecting to their faith, finding healing and experiencing safety to ask questions and deconstruct/reconstruct their faith. Through our Sunday teachings, learning pods and community development initiatives, we have grown our capacity to flourish together. We practice curiosity and compassion with one another, and we “love justice, do mercy, and walk humbly” (Micah 6:8). Each day, we’re learning more about what this looks like in real-time. We’re an imperfect community that won’t get it right all the time, but we’re hopeful and committed to Union becoming a place where people find breath, experience healing and grow in love for all people.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As a pastor and community developer, I love creating spaces where people can connect in diverse communities, develop a healthy spirituality, and make a difference together. Too often, faith spaces have become a place where you can only belong if you look, think, believe, and vote like everyone else. When I teamed together with others to start Union Church, we intentionally wanted to move away from being a homogenous community. Instead, we sought to draw from the strengths of our people and the different experiences and communities they represent. We also wanted to do our very best to come together around some core practices that we see modeled in the life of Jesus: justice for the marginalized, mercy towards our neighbors, inclusion for all people, transparent leadership and love across differences. These practices have been foundational for us, and they are also driving us to develop partnerships to serve our most vulnerable neighbors. Over the next year, we will be mobilizing people to reduce food insecurity, partner with local schools, and serve marginalized and immigrant communities.
I love that some have called our church the unicorn church! If you’re deconstructing your faith, looking for an inclusive place to reconnect, or wanting to find a community that truly cares for the overlooked in our world, we’re here for you. Union Church is a community where all of us flourish together.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Take the time to show up for other people. Learn to listen well to others.
When it comes to mentoring, get creative. Unless you are connecting with a leadership development program, most people will not have the capacity to commit to a formal mentorship relationship. Consider inviting someone to coffee (and pay for their drink, too). Identify shared values, and seek out opportunities where you can mutually add value to each other’s lives and communities.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://unionaustin.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/unionchurchaustin
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/unionchurchaustin
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@unionchurchaustin
