Next Gener.Asian Church

I don’t surf YouTube as much as some others. I did watch this entire 6-minute clip from The View. I get to watch The View maybe once a quarter, and like it for being a talk show that sometimes candidly addresses about the world we live in and its culture, especially allowing different opinions to be voiced without neatly tidying it up at the end.

Whoopi Goldberg and Elisabeth Hasselbeck were singled out on this one episode, for being the most vocal. The whole 5-women crew addressed the issue of Jesse Jackson using the “N” word. While it sounded like a double-standard for African-Americans to have the right to use the word in public and/or private, Caucasians didn’t have the right to use the word.

What caught my attention and prompted me to post, is the remarks that surfaced at the 3:45 mark. Whoppi explains how “… we live in different worlds!” while Elisabeth wants us to live as if we were in the same world.

To some degree, we all live in the same society and the same nation. BUT, there are differences for those who live in the world as a minority vs. one who lives as the majority ethnicity/race. It is this majority cultures’ insensitivity (aka “white privilege“) and lack of acknowledgement of these differences that is particularly troubling. Troubling to some, anyways. This blind spot spills over into the church and into how we do theology.

When my fellow Asian Americans don’t acknowledge the differences of being a minority in a majority culture, that disappoints me all the more.

Some ministry leaders and pastors say there is no need for contextualizing ministry and only the Gospel and its doctrines is essential. Some say that only multi-ethnic churches are needed, where everyone is equally incorporated in a church’s life and corporate culture.

But, when I read remarks like this, it helps me to see that a different flavor of church really is needed for next generation Asian Americans.

This remark is from Josh Deng, a college senior:

I was thinking about where I’d really find my place in the future, what kind of church I would be involved in. I decided that a purely chinese-speaking congregation was not my place. But on the flip side, a purely American (read: white) church would have me still feeling slightly out of place. Wonder where I fit in?

Ken Liu attended the LeadNow conference and surfaced some issues in ministering to Asian American young adults (20-30’s):

Perhaps one of the biggest issues Asian Americans (AAs) have to face is parental expectations. I don’t know what the stats are for AAs, but I’m willing to bet that the average age for marriage among AAs is much higher than the national average. From my observation, academics, career advancement, and financial stability must come first. To pursue marriage while in school or early stages of career development is usually frowned upon even though for many of our parents did the very same thing! Such priorities and expectations take our AA young adults from school to school and city to city which is obviously not conducive towards finding a mate. On top of that, for Christians, there are so few AA churches that serve this demographic.

After a period of time, the parents start bemoaning the fact their kids aren’t married yet without realizing that they are just as culpable. With these pressures and unfair expectations in mind, how do we create and cultivate a community that meets their needs and connects people to one another?

Would it be too easy to say that therefore we need more next generation Asian American churches?

As an Asian American minister of the Gospel, we have an unparalleled opportunity to address the particular context of the gunman’s ethnic and cultural identity, which has so much in common with those of us in that 1.5 and 2.0 generation journey. While there are universal principles to the Christian faith, there are also particulars, and it is up to us to speak into it; non-Asians can’t do it for us.

In my quest for other Asian American voices that addressed the tragedy on Sunday 4/22/07 that specifically address our cultural context through a theological lens, here are sermons I’ve found so far [will be updated as we find more; please add more in the comments section below too]::

• Dr. Peter Cha at Cityview Presbyterian Church in Chicago: “A Blessed Unity” (Psalm 133) mp3 audio
  around 4:30, mention the collective sense of shame and guilt.. concern for backlash.. how about the family of the gunman.. in his isolation, creating a narrative of anger and resentment.. what would have happened if he had found a loving community that would have accepted him and embraced him? And, at around 13:30, begins reflecting about how we fail to talk about problems in an Asian-cultured church… the Cho family was involved in a small Presbyterian church in Centreville… call: to become a different kind of church.. create a safe place.. mentions theology of misfits [cf. Dave Gibbons' NewSong church] …
• Rick Kim at First Harvest Chapel in Irvine CA: “Are We Guilty Too“
  Pastor Rick spends the entire sermon unpacking a number of factors affecting next generation Asian Americans
• DJ Chuang at Great Commission Community Church in Arlington, Virginia: “Why does it hurt so much?” (John 11:17-36) [mp3 audio]
  In my sermon, I strongly suggested that we need a contextualized Gospel and not only a generic Gospel, and how Jesus can redeem and transform every aspect of our lives, especially our Asian shame-based culture and its tendencies (e.g. suppressing emotions, resisting mental health care, and more), and I quote Tim Keller several times
  

• Reverend Hank Hahm at Christ Central Presbyterian Church in Vienna, Virginia (near Centreville) — “Growing in Christ: Shaped by Suffering” (2 Corinthians 1:3-11) — audio + video
  speaks to our need for comfort in the midst of tragedy and suffering, while speaking to the cultural context as well as how the shooter is “not that different from me”; Hank also quotes Keller
• Rev. Eugene Cho at Quest Church in Seattle — “Love Wins” [mp3] (2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Isaiah 1:17, Matthew 5:9)
  Eugene speaks for almost an hour (57 minutes), I (DJ) haven’t listened to it yet, but I’m sure he had a lot to say!
• Pastor Peter Chin at Open Door Presbyterian Church in Herndon, VA (near Centreville), “The God of All Comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3-11) [mp3 audio]
  

• Pastor Henry Mui at Silicon Valley Alliance Church addressed the tragedy a Sunday later on 4/29/07 in his sermon, “VT - Reflections and Questions“
• Pastor Matt Ro at Journey Church of Atlanta, “The Question of Suffering” (John 9:1-12)
  

• Pastor Iggi Choi at Hope Chapel, “The Freedom of Forgiveness” (Luke 23:34)
  

[cross-posted from djchuang.com]

African Americans have their Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. While these few do not represent the whole, they boldly speak up for the whole. And, the mainstream media goes to them for their perspectives.

Caucasian Americans have their Billy Graham and Rick Warren. There’s also Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Again, they don’t represent the whole diversity of Anglo Christians, they boldly speak up for the whole.

Latino and Hispanic Americans kind of have Jesse Miranda and Luis Palau as their voices. I don’t know exactly who speaks for their tribe, but I think they’d boldly speak up for the whole.

Even the Hebrews had their Moses and Joshua.

Asian Americans have no one who boldly speaks up for the whole. We need a voice.

What would it take to have that voice?

Passion. A clarion voice that boldly speaks up with confidence and persuasion. You can’t fake passion. You have to have that fire in the belly, no fear to speak up even if you’re misunderstood, even if you don’t have the perfectly-crafted words. Public speaking is 93% about delivery and only 7% about the words.

Platform. A clarion voice has a large audience that listens to what s/he has to say for both intangible and tangible reasons. Some call it charisma. Definitely need cross-over appeal in both the religious and civic realms, as well as inside the tribe and outside. Need to have an organization with financial supporters that keep that platform active too.

Conviction. A clarion voice has to have something to say. That person has to have a sufficient understanding of the tribe’s compelling concerns. And that person is taking action to address those concerns and boldly advocating others to join the cause. That person lives out that conviction with an unwavering lifetime commitment through both actions and words.

Like it or not, we as Asian Americans will be stereotyped because we have that face. But without a voice, there is no way to change that stereotype of silence. Without a voice, we’ll be invisible and misunderstood.

I know there are many differences among Asian Americans: ethnicities, languages, cultures, generations, affinities. “Asian American” is not an attractive label or strong rally cry. Asians are known for being group-oriented, but Asians aren’t known for rallying around a voice. Without a voice boldly speaking up for the whole, we’ll remain apart.

Could I be that voice? You’ve got to be kidding! I know a lot of things I don’t have in and of myself. It takes a driven and focused Type-A personality to be that clarion voice.

What I do have is my personal blog. I’ve occasionally advocated for the next generation Asian Americans. But like others who are in this space, I didn’t want to be pigeon-holed or stereotyped. I prefer being eclectic and speak of my many varied interests.

But last week has changed me. I will use my words to advocate for the next generation Asian Americans. 7% still counts.

Excerpted from NYT’s Korean Men Use Brokers to Find Brides in Vietnam:

More and more South Korean men are finding wives outside of South Korea, where a surplus of bachelors, a lack of marriageable Korean partners and the rising social status of women have combined to shrink the domestic market for the marriage-minded male. Bachelors in China, India and other Asian nations, where the traditional preference for sons has created a disproportionate number of men now fighting over a smaller pool of women, are facing the same problem.

The rising status of women in the United States sent American men who were searching for more traditional wives to Russia in the 1990s. But the United States’ more balanced population has not led to the shortage of potential brides and the thriving international marriage industry found in South Korea.

Now, that industry is seizing on an increasingly globalized marriage market and sending comparatively affluent Korean bachelors searching for brides in the poorer corners of China and Southeast and Central Asia. The marriage tours are fueling an explosive growth in marriages to foreigners in South Korea, a country whose ethnic homogeneity lies at the core of its self-identity.

In 2005, marriages to foreigners accounted for 14 percent of all marriages in South Korea, up from 4 percent in 2000.

Read the full article >>

Could this kind of thing be increasingly prominent here among next generation Asian Americans too? Not to find marriage traditionalists so much as to see more porous relational fluidity between Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Pakistani, Filipino, et al? Marriage and family dynamics are much more at the core of the spiritual sociology of churches than just college friendships.

Non-Protestant second-generation Asian-Americans more likely to make personal choice about religion: Rice University sociologist studies how Asian-Americans choose religion

The religion preference of second-generation Asian-Americans is more likely to be influenced by their family tradition if they are Protestant but more by a personal faith choice if they belong to other religions.

This finding by sociologists Elaine Howard Ecklund at Rice University and Jerry Park at Baylor University will be presented today at the centennial annual meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA) in Philadelphia.

“Researchers find that families are the primary determiner of individual religious beliefs,” said Ecklund, a postdoctoral fellow in Rice’s Department of Sociology. “But America’s changing demographics may challenge what we know about the place of families in religious transmission. Studying Asian-Americans is ideal for broadening our understanding of family and religious socialization among second-generation immigrant groups because Asian-Americans are one of the fastest-growing new immigrant populations and the most religiously diverse group of new Americans.”

(more…)

[originally posted at One Great City - Chicago: Surprising Insights from 2006 Congress on Urban Ministry]

Rev. Soong-Chan Rah: The Emerging Church

Within a decade or so, the majority of Christians in the United States will be non-white. I can say that with confidence because all the sociological trends, all the ways the white church is declining and all the ways the immigrant church, the African American church, the Spanish-speaking church is growing by leaps and bounds. Within a decade, in every metropolitan corner of the United States, we are going to see more non-white Christians than white Christians.

Why is it that the leadership is still all white? Time magazine does an article on the top 25 evangelical leaders. Twenty-three of those spots are filled by white evangelicals. Why is it that the face of the "emerging church" is always white? I look at invitations I get to conferences on the emerging church, and it's the same old story. They'll have a leadership of 40 people, and one or two will be non-white. The message is that the next generation of leadership that is supposed to come out of this emerging church movement is a perpetually 29-year-old blond male with a goatee. (more…)