Maybe it’s just me, but there seems to be a tension of sorts when we discuss Asian American Christians. For one, the immigrant churches are not happy that their children don’t consider the mother church “home”. Church leaders and pastors would be deeply saddened, or should be, when they hear what I hear from more than a few young, professional Asian Americans. Namely, “I don’t see what the point of dealing with all the politics and the rumors and the dating scene. I just want to worship and get fed spiritually. It’s not that I don’t want to go to an Asian church, I just don’t see the need to put up with all that other stuff.”

Defenders of ethnic churches would bristle at the notion that the annoying social dynamics of the immigrant church are that different from the dynamics in any other church in any country. And they probably are, to some extent, right. Our generation is perhaps to a flaw, intolerant of the disciplined Christian life. The younger generation is quick to point out the bulk in church bureaucracy and accusing their parents of putting the “hip” back in hypocrisy, but scarce to prove that they themselves carry any weight at all, fluttering from church to church or without nary a reverent moment from the sanctuary to the fellowship hall. English Ministries around the country buck at notion that they are treated as thirty-something-year-old children, while the “adults” point back and accuse the congregation of financially barely being able to sustain itself.

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There does indeed, as DJ Chuang has pointed out, seem to be a flurry of more interest in Asian American Christianity and our leadership as there have been a number of new books released.

A book that I had the privilege to read and copyedit before it hit the press entitled, “Conversations: Asian American Evangelical Theologies in Formation”. Edited by DJ Chuang and Timothy Tseng (ISAAC), the book offers some great historical information as well as further insight into the problems with identity formation within the next generation. I think the book was a wonderful way for me to further delve into where culture meets theology in a personal and refreshing way. I’ll be definitely using some of their chapters as conversation-starters here.

“More Than Serving Tea,” an Intervarsity Press book that sings of the things that Anna menions in her post on this blog. I can’t wait to give that a read.

“God’s New Whiz Kids?: Korean American Evangelicals on Campus”, by a Rebecca Kim available for pre-order on Amazon. I would love to read it and meet Ms. Kim someday. It sounds like it may provide some comfort to those who worry about the Silent Exodus, although I suspect it won’t help immigrant church pastors sleep any better.

Finally, “Korean American Evangelicals: New Models for Civic Life” by Elaine Howard Ecklund is available now on Amazon as well. Just the mere title strikes me as fascinating, new models for civic life? I could use a new model.

There are also a few surveys that I spotted on ISAAC that I thought would be good to post here if it helps to increase participation. As someone with one foot in the marketing world, I’m always interested to see what “survey says”…

The first is a survey for Asian American pastors for a study by Dr. Jonathan Kim at the Talbot School of Theology. If you’re still hesitating, suffice it to say that you could win a new iPod Shuffle.

Second is for “Scholars of Asian American Christianity (including doctoral candidates)! Help us develop a network of scholars and research agenda (SANACS). Complete our on-line survey by Dec. 31! Click here to take survey“

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American Heritage Dictionary – Cite This Source

hybrid vigor
n. Increased vigor or other superior qualities arising from the crossbreeding of genetically different plants or animals. Also called heterosis.

In a recent discussion with an African-American friend, he made the comment that contrary to common understanding, black people have a great deal of ethnic diversity within them. Many American black people have Native American, Hispanic and white blood in them, but that phenotypically (to borrow a word from 7th grade biology), they are still black. They are still treated black and accepted into black culture, well, because they look black.

Are children of Asians mixed with other races still considered Asian?

In my experience, the answer in the immigrant church is “no”. The homogenity of the motherland causes a great number of immigrants to consciously or unconsciously discount their inheritance besides physical ethnic features. Children to “army wives” are simply left to figure it out themselves in terms of who they are, but in reality, they take the form of who many 2nd generation feel as though we are inside. My only advantage (or perhaps, disadvantage) — I still look Korean.

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One of the goals of this blog is to be a safe place for dialogue about Asian American culture and its intersection / collision with the Christian faith. To that end, we want to invite other writers of different Asian ethnicities to give insight to their context. The hope is, as we share our struggles and testimonies, “bear one another’s burdens”, and let our eyes adjust to the light of the Gospel, that together we might share what we see, and in our own small ways, work to transform our cultures in this new light. So we are proud to introduce Anna Lee to the Next Gener.Asian Church blog.

Anna Lee is a Chinese-American InterVarsity campus leader at New York University . Currently she is pioneering the Graduate Student Fellowship there after having had a huge part in launching the Multi-Ethnic Fellowship there as well (here’s a great tale, I’m sure it’s just one of many). On top of the years that she has in campus ministry, she also holds degrees in Journalism and in Social Work from NYU, which really gives Anna a unique set of lenses to comment on AA Christian issues in both church and parachurch, as well as on the “street-level”.

I met Anna in September at the ECBC Conference this year, where we had the chance to be on a Asian American Leadership Roundtable together thanks to Peter Ong. We also got the chance to be a part of the impromptu discussion that led to the post, “Game Theory and the Asian American Church”. I have an enormous respect for Anna and really look forward to dialoguing with her here.

So be on the look out for new posts from Anna Lee!

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Found this video on Youtube the other day and thought it was so reminiscent of my own conversations with my parents and relatives. Of course, it’s done in the style of  “The Nutty Professor” dinner table scene by this talented actress.

Maybe other ethnicities have these types of discussions as well, but I guess I wouldn’t know since I didn’t grow up in an African-American or White household. The interruption of the story to ask what she makes from her job and that she might have gained weight — ah, masterfully done. Bravo. And the totally random question from her mom, I get that too. I totally know where she’s coming from. And if you want to see more of her fun videos, you can see more here…

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I looked at my wife across the kitchen table and without blinking uttered the horrible words, “If I never see them again in my life, my life will be fine. I don’t need them. I don’t want them. I don’t have to see them. I don’t have to talk to them. I’m fine with that. Do you hear me? I’m perfectly fine with that.”

My wife said calmingly, “I understand.” And while those were good words for me to hear at the time, later she said that she was surprised.

I recently had a heated argument with someone. With so much piss and vinegar in the words we exchanged, I somehow managed to keep my cool, maintained a room-level voice, uttering words of understanding and resolution and even fortitude right up until I hung up my phone. Then I took off my jacket, heaved a big sigh, and fell back into my seat. As the venom continued to sink in, those words reverberating in my mind over and over again like they were trapped in my skull, creating some sort of self-esteem feedback. As the words went from my ears to my heart, I began to weep silently at my desk at work (how I hated these low cubicle walls), and I had to excuse myself a couple of times just to make sure I didn’t draw attention to myself. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was growing steadily angrier as though the words were now just completely in my bloodstream and having their desired effect on me — which led me to those words that I spoke to my wife about that someone later on that evening.

On the drive home the following evening, as I mentioned before, my wife stated that she was surprised at my response. She recalled that she had heard me threaten that before, to cut someone off completely and then she said something more interesting.

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