While reading a follow-up comment from Daniel So regarding my previous blog post, I was reminded of the larger conversation going around within Asian-American ministry circles. Daniel wrote:
As the NG.AC [nextgenerasianchurch.com] thread shows, many Asian American followers of Christ struggle with figuring out their identity (myself included). That’s part of why I have been *loving* Dave Gibbons’ “The Monkey & the Fish” — I think third culture could transform many insular communities (Asian, Caucasian, whoever!) into Kingdom-minded movements. Embrace who God made us to be (including our ethnic identity) and leverage all of that for the Kingdom!
I’m all for leveraging all things for the kingdom of God! However, I’m confused at the whole idea of having an identity as an Asian-American in Christ being separate from my overall identity within Christ. I’ve been involved in dialog with many other Asian-American’s that truly believe that there is a cultural context to their Christianity and that it is lacking within the 2nd & 3rd generation Asian-American body of Christ. That Asian ethno-centric churches will have a solid ministry to 1st generation people from Korea, Vietnam and China yet bring in non-Asians to lead english language ministries for the 2nd & 3rd generation therefore disengaging from their Asian culture and supplanting them within a Caucasian America culture. Thus, they lose their identity and wander around confused and feel out of place.
This concept of being lost confuses me because I personally do not feel as if my place is in an exclusive Asian-American setting. I am comfortable gathering with others to worship when they are mostly Caucasian or mostly African-American. I have experience in both settings. In actuality, to have a fusion of these two experiences would cause me to feel right at home. I appreciate the enthusiasm, the call-and-response, and most of all the gospel music that I’ve worshiped to in some African-American churches. At the same time, I embrace the desire for the Caucasian church in America to see more diversity within their congregations.
I must admit that I have struggled with trying to decipher the hidden meaning of my being an Asian-American Christian and how I must relate this to a greater culture and subculture of people that see me as Asian first, Christian second. I’ve heard the old cliche that since I am Asian, I am likely to draw Asians as congregants within our church. I actually rebelled against that notion as it just never sat right with me. My city is integrated, my neighborhood is diverse, my workplace has been an equal opportunity employer–why then must I now take my Christianity on Sunday and cause it to be relevant to just Asian-Americans? In fact, Francis Chan who is Chinese has a mostly Caucasian membership at Cornerstone Church in California and Tim Keller who is Caucasian has a mostly Asian-American membership at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York. The shoe obviously doesn’t fit the way some people would like it to.
If I minister to people of various ethnicities and do not cite examples specific to Asians in my messages, does this make me less of an Asian? Will it cause me to question who I am in Christ because I am not being true to my Asian heritage? I really don’t see how this is going to happen. It’s possible I am the only exception to this, but I highly doubt it.
However, let me say something in regards to others that may feel confused or out of place. After having discussions with DJ Chuang, whom I respect greatly because he has examples and experiences from within the Asian context and outside of it as well, I do agree that there are some that have trouble understanding who they are and how they fit in. Often times, it causes Asian-Americans to wander around and look to identify with a body of Christ in some form outside of the ethno-centric church and going back-and-forth in a kind of tug o’ war battle between churches pulling at them to connect. The Caucasian church wants to be multi-cultural, while the ethno-centric church wants to retain people of their heritage for generations to come. In my opinion, the issue of ministry more-so than individual Christianity is the issue. I think we as the church–ethno-centric, white American, or multi-cultural–have caused confusion as we fight to gain believers for the sake of carrying out our human wills. Just as there were many cultures and nations represented on the day of Pentecost when 3,000 came to repent and be saved by the grace of Christ Jesus, I believe the church should be represented in the same way today. If we started looking at how we could be unified, rather than how we can do a better job of being segregated, I think God would move in ways we cannot even imagine.
If you are someone with a sort of identity crisis because of who you are, I’d really appreciate having a chance to see how this affects you and your faith. I ask humbly because while I know this is an issue for you, I don’t quite understand it or know how to minister to you because of it.
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Great post and some interesting ideas. I can’t speak for others, but I can tell you where I’m coming from when I say that Asian-Americans are lost and largely without a cultural identity.
It comes from the fact that everyone has a culture. We live and breathe in a culture and we cannot escape it. We cannot “transcend” culture as much as I can stop speaking English and start speaking a culturally neutral language. The way I dress, do my hair, whether or not a clip my fingernails, what I eat and what I drink, it’s all a part of my culture.
Therefore as I walk with Christ, my identity in Christ is expressed in particular cultural ways. It’s “culturally located.” Whether I sing Hillsong vs Maranatha is a cultural choice. Whether I dress up or dress casually is a cultural expression. How loudly I pray is a cultural expression. Do I react emotionally or intellectually to the bible?
I think Christ intended our worship to be culturally located. But its not just culturally located for an individual person, its a community expression. Community is an essential part of culture. How we pray together is important. How do we encourage each other? And not just worship either. How does the community deal with a cultural problem in a Christ honoring way? What are the sins of the community culture and how does Christ want us to conquer them? So you see a community is important to the culture.
The problem is that Asian Americans have yet to identify the commonness in their culture. They have yet to say, “We have similar sin issues because of our culture, how can we deal with them together?” Or even, “we enjoy similar food, let’s celebrate that together.”
Right now Asian Americans are largely worshiping in cultural isolation. Some Asian Americans have identified with mainstream culture and others have identified with the culture of their parents, but a large number of Asian Americans have no cultural community.
But don’t lose heart. I personally believe a much stronger Asian American culture is being established within the church and also outside the church among unchurched Asian Americans. This cultural identity will make huge strides in the next 10-20 years. I’m really looking forward to seeing what this cultural expression will contribute toward the richness and diversity of the kingdom.
Dave — Thanks for the honest sharing. It’s really encouraging to hear more of your personal journey.
At the risk of oversimplifying many of the conversations I’ve had regarding Asian American Christian identity… here are a couple of my thoughts:
Many AAs have grown up feeling spiritually “homeless” — neither fully Asian (going back “home” wouldn’t make sense for people who grew up here) nor fully American (never being fully accepted here because of our Asian appearance). Sometimes the Church has contributed to this “neither/nor” identity by pushing the notion that we are Christians apart from everything else; in some extreme cases, that we should reject our cultural/ethnic heritage. This only deepens the feelings of alienation for many.
One of the most freeing truths for me was re-discovering my God-given identity as an Asian American. Not that it is the *only* thing that matters, or even the most important; just that it matters. While it might sound too obvious, many AA people need to hear that God did not make a mistake by creating them as AAs.
One thing I hear from you that is really encouraging is the idea of being comfortable in your own skin. I agree with you — it’s not about preaching every week about being AA. I think *overemphasizing* our ethnicity can be counterproductive as well (it ends up just promoting another enclave, holy huddle, cultural version of Christianity). At the same time, though, I’ve seen many AA Christians swing way too far the other way and completely reject anything to do with their Asian-ness.
To me, if we can celebrate who God made us to be, we will discover a better identity. Instead of being “neither/nor” we will become “both/and” people. And, when we come together in genuinely diverse church communities, I believe we’ll actually discover more of who each one of us uniquely created to be.
One final observation: I do believe that diversity honors God. However, I’ve seen churches call themselves “multicultural” because there are people of different racial backgrounds in attendance, but everyone is expected to conform to the majority culture. I think that kind of tokenism dishonors God.
I appreciate your heart to see people as individuals. When we are willing to see the actual people in front of us, and to enter into the mess of their lives, we will become a blessing to each other and to the world.
Thanks for making the concerted effort to surface the complexities and textures of the issues provoked by the initial question from Danny Yang’s blog post over at nextgenerasianchurch.com .
While for some the difficulties revolve around personal and cultural identity, the bigger issue for me is this: how is the Gospel supposed to be embodied in the American evangelicalism? If the Gospel is “color-neutral” and “cultural-neutral”, is it wrong to have an African-American expression of the church? If an African-American church exists, why doesn’t an Asian-American one exist, and should it not also?
If the Gospel is cultural-neutral or trans-cultural, then why is Sunday morning 11:00am still the most segregated hour? And why is the conference platform dominated by one cultural expression?
If the Gospel is cultural-neutral, doesn’t it seem reasonable that any English-speaking church will have a fairly even blend of people from different ethnicities based on the community demographics, rather than most of them being homogeneously mono-cultural? If my recollection is nearly right, less than 5% of American evangelical churches are ethnically/ racially diverse.
Now, if the problem is individual, then it could then be addressed one person at a time. But, if the problem is systemic, corporate, and institutionally organizational, then it’s going to take a lot more than one person at a time, more than 100 comments on a blog post, more than one book titled The Next Evangelicalism.
Randplaty: It seems as if you are trying to unite Asians through their commonalities rather than looking to the ethnic churches to stand alone, such as Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese all being independent because of culture. This I think speaks to your generation.
Knowing that I am who God created me to be that Christ resides inside of me as an Asian-American doesn’t necessarily make me feel as if I am missing out anything from my Asian heritage. Being one who was born in Japan and adopted by a Caucasian, American father and a Japanese mother, I never really struggled with where I would fit in growing up. I was an atheist during the first 37 years of my life and that may have some impact and exclude me from this dialog. I grew up in an almost exclusively white community that was very racist. I know hate and violence just because I am not white. However, that puts me in a similar context with African-Americans or Latin-Americans who have gone through similar adversity.
Connecting with an Asian culture to know more of my identity in Christ still doesn’t really click with me. I’m still missing the understanding of how that plays out in a Christian context. There was a time when I actually wished I were caucasian growing up. However, I embrace my Japanese heritage in an American context. I am different from my adoptive father and other Caucasian Americans, but it doesn’t cause me to feel out of place as a result.
Daniel So: I agree that there are churches calling themselves multi-cultural, yet catering to white, evangelical Americans. However, what does that say about the ethnic diversity in those churches? Why are they there? Is it really because they are wandering and seeking an identity anywhere they can find it, or is it because culturally that is in essence who they are? How much does ethnicity play into our spirituality?
In a conversation with DJ Chuang, he mentioned to me that there are certain things that are common to those within a certain culture that aren’t true in the context of other cultures. For instance, in an Asian context children are respective of their parents even after they become adults. However, in a homogenous American context this isn’t true very often. To be in a church setting and having to have an Asian explain this cultural norm to others outside of this understanding can be trying and repetitive. However, amongst other Asians this doesn’t even need to be discussed–it’s simply understood. In that kind of setting I completely understand. Also, if Koreans are together in church and they pray aloud and at the same time all uttering things independent of others, it is accepted in the context of the Korean church, yet not accepted or appreciated in the white, American church. In those ways I see the relevance of a distinction in culture. However, how this causes me to identify myself in Christ still is an unanswered question to me because it really isn’t something I question.
I respect your viewpoint and I know that others have similar thoughts and experiences. I think I just need to have some more dialog with others regarding what “feeling spiritually homeless” really means so I can try to understand this more.
One of the things I am really trying to work through is how it seems that God has surrounded me with Asian-Americans both as friends (such as yourself) and as people connecting with us locally as Revolution Church Sacramento. Our first gathering was exclusively Asian-American except for two families. Some have come with an interest in seeing how our ministry moves forward and if it is in the context of being Asian-American, while others are just looking for a place to connect with like-minded people in their same stage of life regardless of race or social status. God definitely didn’t send the people I thought he would and I am doing what is necessary to be able to minister in a relevant and correct context to them.
DJ: You bring up some great points. I don’t think we’ve ever had a discussion regarding those points yet, so I’m glad you posted your thoughts!
You mentioned: “If the Gospel is ‘color-neutral’ and ‘cultural-neutral’, is it wrong to have an African-American expression of the church? If an African-American church exists, why doesn’t an Asian-American one exist, and should it not also?” I don’t think the gospel is culture neutral, however I do think it must kingdom minded above all. As the Apostle Paul stated, for those that feel they need to keep the law of clean and unclean foods, then who are we to cause them to stumble? With freedom in Christ, I think the gospel is clear that all things are now considered clean, yet should we impose that as a mandate to all Christians? Paul says no. However, on the day of Pentecost people from many nation came and responded to Peter’s preaching. They took the one gospel back with them to their nations.
In the context of preaching the gospel and living out a Christian faith in a country like India or China, it is obviously going to be different. However, in America are we called to have an ethno-centric gospel? I’m not sure. And if we were to have an African-American church, Asian-American church, etc. then would us as African-Americans and Asian-Americans feel compelled to go to our respective ethnic churches? What about me who is Asian, yet appreciates worshiping to contemporary gospel songs such as those from Israel Houghton, Kirk Franklin, and Fred Hammond? What about the African-American family that wants to go to a Chinese-American church that worships with traditional hymns?
I really see this as more of an individual matter. However, I do concede that the lack of cultural diversity in American churches is obvious and undeniable. To me, I think the root of the problem is Caucasian church leadership trying to reach people in the ethnic minorities because they feel it is the right thing to do. It becomes forced and brings about agendas. It makes Caucasians that really do have issues (even if they are subconcious) with being in a house of worship with non-white people try to put on their best face, but in the end it’s obvious and it drives people away. I think we should realize that it is God who sends people to the church and not our programs and cool ideas that bring them in. So, if a white pastor has a predominantly white congregation, they should celebrate that. If an Asian-American pastor has a predominantly African-American congregation, they should celebrate that too. How this plays out with the cultural context that Daniel & Randplaty mention is unclear to me.
i’m at a white UMC church now, and as your convo with DJ inferred, it gets tiring. if i had the option, i’d probably go to either a chinese church or an AA church. my reason is not very spiritual: i need refuge once a week, and being among people like me creates refuge.
i agree there is a need for the church to be less segregated, but it requires threshold numbers of each group. it wouldn’t be as difficult for me if there were at least a handful of other people like me.
this is not particular to just asians; i think this explains why all minority groups tend to segregate. and whites will do the same; “God’s whiz kids” talks about how whites stopped going to campus fellowship groups when the asian numbers grew too quickly.
so that’s the practical side.
on the theological side, the evangelical gospel is a product of white european and american culture, but it’s also the primary gospel for AAs. i believe there is an expression and interpretation of the gospel that will speak more deeply to asian-americans. but many AA leaders are not open to creating space for theological exploration.
this ambiguity you’ve sensed about being AA is present outside of church as well. but the AA community is starting to organize and define itself better. there are comic books (american born chinese), documentaries (the grace lee project), books (asian american dreams) that survey themes of being AA. i would like the church to help shape that conversation rather than simply reacting.
this is a multi-layered conversation, really difficult to sustain without being face to face. there’s so many elements that can be isolated and discussed at length.