I’ve been giving a lot of thought as to how I will be responding to a post titled “Is Francis Chan a sellout?” over at nextgenerasianchurch.com. However, in the interim, a friend of mine sent me a link to another blog post that just about floored me! It’s from a blog titled the cutting truth and the post represents the top 15 confessions of Asian-American Christians. Rather than excerpt, I decided to post the whole list:
- I confess that my faith has been reduced to going through the motions. Go to church on Sunday. Smile. Lift hands. Sing. Smile. Say goodbye.
- I confess that I pray about five minutes a week.
- I confess that when I look at the kids in the youth group, at how emotionally they worship, at how emotionally they express their devotion to God, at how emotionally they seek God’s will, I inwardly smile. For I confess that I think them naive, idealistic, and that their religious enthusiasm is just a stage in life. It’ll pass.
- I confess that even though I say there is no higher calling than the pastorate/ministry vocation, I inwardly hope my children go to Yale Law School, and not Gordon-Conwell Seminary. I will feel affirmed if they become doctors and lawyers; I will feel disappointment if they attend seminary.
- I confess that I do not like watching body worship.
- I confess that I look down on youth pastors. I think of them as academic failures, people unable to get real jobs in the real world. Mostly, I think of them as glorified baby-sitters. They also make very easy targets, and I blame them for all the shortcomings of my children. Somebody has to take the blame, and it sure ain’t gonna be me.
- I confess that I was inwardly shattered when word first came out that the Virginia Tech killer was Asian American; and that shame quickly turned to relief when it was disclosed that the killer was Korean American.
- I confess I prefer to have a white pastor leading the ABC congregation. Blond hair and blue eyes just looks more spiritual. I confess that I find myself always sizing up an Asian American pastor, and feeling like he’s never making the grade. Feeling like he’d never succeed in the corporate/financial/legal/medical/real world.
- I confess that I find the typical AA yuppie Christian (in his 20s, single, career-minded and successful, materialistic) unbearable in his spiritual haughtiness.
- I confess that the church is blind to the rampant sex that goes on under the mask of churchly decency and decorum. It is the unacknowledged and unacknowledgeable swampland beneath the church brochure of tidy scenery. Only a few are brave enough to confront and address it; the rest of us put on petty and hypocritical masks of naïve innocence.
- I confess that while I am all for racial harmony (yay for the “multiethnic” church!), my child will marry an African American over my dead body.
- I confess that I feel like a peon in the (white) working world. And that’s why I jockey for position in the Asian church, where it is an even playing field. Where I can gain a modicum of power and (self-)respect. I will give lip-service to the concept of servant-leadership, of course.
- I confess that I do not like most Christians. I find them boring, narrow-minded, petty, judgmental. That if I crash-landed on a deserted island for a year, I’d prefer being with the cast of Lost than the members of my congregation.
- I confess that I am a hypocrite. I confess that I sometimes think this Christianity thing is all a sham, and I want to throw my arms up and just yell to hell with it all!
If you’re not Asian-American, is this how you perceive Asian-American Christians? If you are Asian-American, is this list something you can relate to? My confession? If this is what Asian-American Christians are struggling with, then by all means we are failing within the church!
Related posts:
- Asian-American Christians, part 3: Who Am I In Christ?
- Asian-American Christians, part 2: Is Francis Chan a Sellout?
- Can Acts 2 be lived out in a second-gen Asian-American church?
- Asian-American vs multi-cultural church, part 3
- Asian-American church vs multi-cultural church, part 2
Tags: asian-american christian
wow. these really struck a nerve with me. I think there’s a strong elitism that I can’t help but to resonate w/ here. we asians can be quite the snobs. but there’s one that I will unabashedly agree with; I do indeed hate with a passion “body worship”.
These confessions could easily be from any upper middle class white person. Some of them were painfully personal and I know I am not alone.
wow dave, this is my first time reading your blog and those 15 confessions are a great find. I would say personally, I have thought these things and instead of confessing I’ve been doing everything in my power to rid myself of them.
These are more universal than your post allows. I can see myself in some of them, can see others as well. I think it proves that we are all of the family of man, and that we all deal with sin in a sinful world.
Dave,
I’m not sure if the author meant to be funny, but I think the confessions are hilarious. My favorite is, “I confess I don’t like body worship”. What the heck is “body worship”? Did I miss this on the Catalyst workshop listing? All I know is that I worship my young hot wife’s body. Does that count?
Anyway, all kidding aside. As others have mentioned, the confessions are a broader experience and should not be just taken as an asian thing. I’m sure all of you know about Willow Creek’s RevealNow report which states that they found they made a mistake in discipleship. In other words, shallow christianity. Which is what the author of the confessions is confessing – he is shallow and self absorbed.
Dave,
I’ll have to admit, the post you linked to in this really saddened me a bit. I love this post though bro!
In His Love,
Richie
By the way bro, I obviously am not an Asian American :-) as you well know; but many of these thoughts never crossed my mind. When I met you, I did not think anything remotely close to this. I listened to your story; was engaged by your smile/spirit; and thought, what a really cool dude!
Maybe I’m weird, but I just don’t ever really think in terms of race unless that person or persons continually reminds me of the differences.
My pops was not the greatest role model in the world, but that was one area of life he did really well for me. Treat people no matter what color or background, the way you want to be treated. So.., I choose Love bro! :-)
IHL,
Richie