Comments for Next Gener.Asian Church

Comment on apologies by Steve

Steve — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:09:52 +0000

I don’t like this article or the one before it. It is full of judgement, first on Francis Chan and then on the “white church of America. All of us Christians are in this together, we are all a part of the body of Christ. These articles do nothing to promote unity within the body. I would suggest that we all focus on unity, grace, love, and reconciliation instead of what seems to be a bitter spirit. Christ himself prayed for the unity of his church.

The beauty of the church is diversity of races, backgrounds, denominations, individual personality, socio-economic, worship styles, etc which is all under the head of Jesus Christ. You sound like an angry elf, but I won’t hate on you because you’re my brother in Christ.

May God bless you!

Comment on May 2012 is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by djchuang

djchuang — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:16:43 +0000

@Adrian, thanks for sharing about the experience there at Epic Movement staff conference. Once in a blue moon, or less often, I hear of an event where an exercise or presentation is made that mentions and honors the Asian American leaders who have gone before us, and IMHO it’s something that’s not done enough, something that doesn’t flow into the consciousness of a larger number of Asian Americans, and so on the whole we don’t benefit as much as we could from their role models and examples for making a difference in the world.

In my past 10+ years of working in this realm of leadership development with Asian Americans, the #1 issue with current leaders is the lack of role models for themselves. So you’ve put your fingers on a very critical issue for the Asian American community.

Comment on May 2012 is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by Adrian

Adrian — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:07:46 +0000

Thanks for getting this conversation started, DJ. In terms of what makes our heritage worth celebrating, I’d suggest courage and resilience. When we think of so much of the adversity that generations before us faced, whether due to poverty, discrimination, or adjusting to a new life in a new and unfamiliar country… there are some inspiring examples. Last month, we in Epic Movement had a staff conference based on the theme of “resilience,” and featured pictures around the room of Asians and AAs who have “led the way” or inspired in various ways. Then we did an exercise where each of us wrote down names of those who have personally “come before us”, and those who might be leaders of the future, and we put them on the wall, as a visual representation of the “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1-3). It was a visual and powerful way that we celebrated who we are in Epic, and as community that’s part of the AA story.

Comment on Jeremy Lin, The Civil Rights Movement, & The Empowerment of Voice by Adrian

Adrian — Wed, 09 May 2012 23:59:56 +0000

Auberry, so glad you found this website and thanks for sharing some of your background! It’s interesting how being a minority (or in diverse environments) brings awareness to identity issues, isn’t it? That’s also been the case for me. And you’re right on, about how important these identity issues are, not only on a personal / individual level, but corporately… and as a culture. And unfortunately, so much in the church has pressured us toward compliance and assimilation. I think some of that is due to the immigrant background of just wanting to fit in and “not make waves”, and part of it may also be the relatively young history of AAs in this country… after all, we are still forming a great sense of who we are, and what we stand for. Maybe there are other reasons that you have seen, as well… I’d love to hear, if so.

I think with all the tragedy of being somewhat undefined, however, there’s opportunity, and that excites me. It especially excites me that we as Asian American Christians can lead in some of these conversations and discussions, among Asian Americans and culture as a whole… which is why I’m grateful for the existence of this team blog. Isn’t that a neat picture, and appropriate: that we are fighting for the dignity of our stories, values, and history, because we believe they have an equal and valuable part in God’s history in the world (which ethno-centric history books simply can’t grasp)? As you said so well, if we don’t care for these things, or shy away from these conversations, we lose more and more of who God made us to be.

Anyway, thanks for such a thoughtful response, and honestly, just knowing there are people out there like you who care about these things, gives me hope. Looking forward to dialoguing with you more here or elsewhere.

Comment on Differentiated Oneness and Implications for Asian Americans by djchuang

djchuang — Sat, 05 May 2012 15:46:49 +0000

@Auberry, thank you for adding your comment and noticing the difference that a subject’s cultural influences can make. I too have my own challenges learning about Chinese culture, since I grew up in America, and navigating non-verbals felt like groping in the dark. Seems to me that much of culture is caught than taught, and it’s something one learns through experience. In a mostly white town, I’d say that media could give people a glimpse (albeit limited and distorted) view into a different culture, but the need for exposure and experience is irreplaceable.

Soong-Chan Rah’s book, Many Colors: Cultural Intelligence for a Changing Church, explains the importance of developing CQ (cultural intelligence) as much as we need EQ (emotional intelligence) and IQ (intelligence). This could be a good starting point to introduced to the importance of understanding cultural differences.

Comment on Differentiated Oneness and Implications for Asian Americans by Auberry Lane

Auberry Lane — Sat, 05 May 2012 04:22:47 +0000

I appreciate the Western v. Eastern view of self described here. There are many nuances to the way Asians relate that are hard to put into words.
Not understanding the different ways of relating can have drastic effects on those counseled. A well-meaning white missionary friend of mine, counseled an ethnic family using her Western psychology world view, and it broke up the family. She staged an intervention in English (which the mother could not speak) and did a psych exercise involving writing down affirmations (can you imagine an immigrant mom doing this?). When the missionary didn’t get the result she wanted, she encouraged the family’s teenage daughter to leave her own family to move in her temporarily. In my opinion, it was unnecessary and a complete misunderstanding of how ethnic family relationships work. It was heartbreaking and I warned her about it, but she went ahead any way.
I live in a mostly white town, and my question is, how do I educate white people about these relational differences, when it is so hard to put into words?

Comment on Jeremy Lin, The Civil Rights Movement, & The Empowerment of Voice by Auberry Lane

Auberry Lane — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:28:07 +0000

Adrian, you are not crazy. I’ve thought about this a lot recently. I just found this website a few days ago and am reading through different contributors. Husband & I just moved to a Cali town where it’s 50% white, 50% Latino. Boom, the ethnic identity issues hit me again. Our church is all white with 3 Asians (other than us), all of which have married white spouses. I have a 4mo old son now, and I’m constantly thinking, what kind of culture am I going to pass down to him? It’s impossible to pass down Asian culture to the next gen without being around other AAs because our values rely so much around family & community. So we may move again. I digress.
I’ve always admired the Civil Rights Movement, particularly Dr King, as I’ve read many of his writings, speeches from my Berkeley days. I can’t help but compare- there is a horrible tragic lack of identity/culture in the AA (AsianAm) community, and most AA people don’t care. Why is it that the AA church, instead of empowering us as a people, uses spirituality to keep us quiet & compliant? I posted yesterday a reply to Mr Jeung’s post on the idolatry of supporting Jeremy Lin– in which I feel he completely misplaces spirituality and fails to see the bigger picture that Lin represents, for all AA people. We desperately need AA leaders in our community, role models, people that our children can look up to. Otherwise, they (like us) will grow up reading/learning about white & black leaders, all of whom grew up in a completely different cultural context than us. And we’ll lose more and more of who God made us to be. There is a greater thing at stake here. If you get a chance, let me know your thoughts on my reply to Dr Jeung.

Comment on do you know vincent chin? by Auberry Lane

Auberry Lane — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:23:15 +0000

Danny, are you still posting? I just found this website a few days ago and reading from different contributors. My line of thinking totally resonates with yours. There is a horrible tragic lack of identity/culture in the AA community, and most AA people don’t care. Husband & I just moved to a Cali town where it’s 50% white, 50% Latino. Boom, the ethnic identity issues hit me again. Our church is all white with 3 Asians (other than us), all of which have married white spouses. I have a 4mo old son now, and I’m constantly thinking, what kind of culture am I going to pass down to him? It’s impossible to pass down Asian culture to the next gen without being around other AAs because our values rely so much around family & community. So we may move again. I digress.
Why is it that the AA church, instead of empowering us as a people, uses spirituality to keep us quiet & compliant? I posted yesterday a reply to Mr Jeung’s post on the idolatry of supporting Jeremy Lin– in which I feel he completely misplaces spirituality and fails to see the bigger picture that Lin represents, for all AA people. We desperately need AA leaders in our community, role models, people that our children can look up to. Otherwise, they (like us) will grow up reading/learning about white & black leaders, all of whom grew up in a completely different cultural context than ourselves. And we’ll lose more and more of who God made us to be. There is a greater thing at stake here.