diversity


4
Aug 10

Book Review: Not Like Me by Eric Bryant

Not Like Me: A Field Guide for Influencing A Diverse World is a reprint of Eric Michael Bryant‘s previous book titled Peppermint-Filled Pinatas. I did not read the first release so I am not sure how it is different, but I do know that in the form of Not Like Me, this book is like gold! There is so much in here to take away and apply that it could easily take me a year (or probably more) to get through all of it. Apparently, I’m not alone as Eric has provided small groups resources and teaching materials from the book’s website: http://notlikeme.org/.

Pastor Bryant shares his own personal stories and incorporates a lot of humor in a way that helps break down defenses and makes us want to connect with this book in a more personal level. It’s exactly the type of thing Bryant advocates for us as Christians–and as the church–to do with those we encounter outside of Christian community. He calls us to help overcome the Christian stereotypes that unchurched people tend to have of churched people. In doing so, he wants us to understand that we must hold others in a new light–that which does not include judgement. As Eric writes, “We [Christians] have created an environment where we are seen as judgmental, irrelevant, mean, and hypocritical.” and “We should not be surprised when people who have not surrendered their lives to God live differently [than we Christians should].” In order to see this happen, Bryant’s answer is to practice “the art of woo.” It is through this “art of woo” that Pastor Eric unfolds a story of how we might learn to develop diverse communities, resolve conflict, overcome bitterness, create a better future, and even heal our fractured world. “Wouldn’t it be amazing,” Eric asks in the introduction, “if as followers of Christ we found ourselves as part of the solution in our divided world rather than as part of the problem? In the end, don’t people matter most?”

Sharing stories and ideas on realizing diversity within the church and reaching those that do not know Christ in a relevant way, Not Like Me is a training manual of sorts. It’s a book written by someone that has accomplished all that he offers to teach us. As a pastor and influencer of Mosaic–a diverse and amazing community that seeks to follow (and be more like) Christ with services that are in various locations such as a nightclub–Eric Bryant is someone who lives what he preaches. His heart for seeing diverse communities of Gospel love, compassion, and grace is big. Eric gets why it’s important to celebrate cultural diversity and why the church must be about loving others more so than becoming a shelter filled with Christians trying to escape from the world that doesn’t know Christ.

Thanks to Zondervan and Eric Bryant for allowing me the opportunity and privilege of being a part of the Not Like Me: A Field Guide for Influencing a Diverse World blog tour. It is with great passion and enthusiasm that I will continue to refer to the pages and apply the things that Eric graciously shares for communicating and building community with those around me, especially those not like me.

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18
Nov 09

If Francis Chan is a sellout, I have no clue why

Long before the whole incident of the Deadly Viper/Zondervan use of Asian culture to promote a book arose, there was a lengthy dialog from the Next Gener.Asian Church blog about how white evangelicals were using Francis Chan because he was a safe spokesperson from the Asian-American ministerial community that would relate to a broad audience. It was titled: Is Francis Chan a sell-out? At the time of this writing, there are 162 comments in reply to that post and more are added each week. It’s a polarizing issue and one that is totally misunderstood. Due to some recent events, it seems that this conversation has taken on a new life and either people are voicing their opinions or left on the sidelines scratching there heads in confusion. If Francis Chan is an Asian-American pastor and his messages don’t have much relevance to his being Asian, how can that be bad? Should there be a Chinese gospel along side a Caucasian/Anglo one? Weren’t we all called to be part of one church anyway? Some people are looking upon the Asian-American Christian community as one that wants to be segregated and appearing to be somewhat elitist.

I’m kind of in the middle on the whole issue–I understand both sides, yet I’m not quite sure I have the answer to build unity on the matter. However, maybe my perspective will help some gain more understanding the heart of the matter.

If you are a white evangelical, a lot of this will probably resonate with you:

  1. It’s not about what we want, but it’s about who God sends to our church. God builds the church, not us.
  2. While we may be white, we are open to people of all races coming in to worship together with us. Not only are we open, but we encourage people of other cultures to join us!
  3. There should be no Black church, White church, Asian church, Latino church–there should just be one church as we are all one in Christ.

In actuality, there are some in the Asian-American evangelical church that would agree with all three of the above-points as well. However, there is a bit of a different perspective that is predominant within Asian-American Christians. Unfortunately, many within the Asian-American community can’t quite place their finger on it or even understand there is an issue.

The perspective from the Asian-American evangelical is like this:

  1. I grew up in a (Chinese/Korean/Vietnamese, etc) church that had services for my parents in (Chinese/Korean/Vietnamese, etc.) and services for me in English. Often times the English services were presided over by a Caucasian pastor who spoke English well, but didn’t really understand the (Chinese/Korean/Vietnamese, etc.) culture I was raised in. My friends aren’t Asian, my neighbors aren’t Asian and I want to go to church with them somewhere that isn’t (Chinese/Korean/Vietnamese, etc.)
  2. When in a predominantly Caucasian church service, I feel like I don’t fit in. I’m not connecting beyond a surface level with others in the church.
  3. I don’t embrace all of the culture forced upon at my parent’s church, yet I don’t feel like I get any culture from the predominantly-Caucasian church.

On an even deeper level, some Asian-American Christians struggle with their identity. They don’t quite know how to feel about being Asian. Are they to look past their cultural heritage and integrate with everyone else disregarding why God birthed them as Asians or is there some relevance they should appreciate by being birthed by God as Asians?

When someone says, “I don’t see color, I just see people. When I look at you Dave, I don’t see someone who is Asian. I just see you as Dave.” I think that’s great. However, what you fail to realize is that you just discredited my cultural heritage. I’m not just like you. Even though we may think and speak in a similar manner, we don’t have similar stories. If you are white growing up in America, you can never really know what it’s like being Asian growing up in America. Racism aside, imagine what it’s like growing up with the pressure to be smarter than the average student. There is a stereotype that Asians are smart and they become accountants and engineers. Not only is there pressure from Asian parents to excel in school, but there is pressure to stay in school and at least obtain a master’s degree. I can understand how some non-Asian people will tell me how they had similar pressure to excel in school, but it’s just not the same. I can’t tell you how many times I have been introduced to people that aren’t Asian and the first thing they ask me is what I do for a living, then they ask me what school I went to. When I tell them what I do (and it’s not being an accountant or engineer) and when they ask me where I went to school and I tell them I did 2 years part-time at a community college and went to seminary when I was 38, they usually walk away from the conversation confused. They spent time trying to quickly assess me before asking the questions, yet my answers were unexpected. At the heart of the matter is whether they would ask me what I do and where I went to school if I weren’t Asian.

So, being deemed too smart and a geek by white students, yet not smart enough for the Asian students is not a very comforting place to be. It leads to conflict and some resentment over who we are.

Another problem is in how we as Asian-Americans represent ourselves. Why should non-Asians really be cautious over what they say or what they find humorous if Asians say and laugh at the same things? Isn’t that hypocritical? In short, yes it is. When there are people like Bobby Lee of MadTv mocking Asians for the sake of getting a laugh, it absolutely sends a confusing message to non-Asians. Unfortunately, for some that aspire to be actors or comedians, perpetuating stereotypes is the only way they can get work. Some Asians don’t even understand how wrong it is to perpetuate the stereotypes and connotations of playing up being Oriental.

As an Asian-American, does Francis Chan have a responsibility to be some super-Asian and season every statement he makes with an Asian perspective? Not at all! From Francis’ perspective, he is doing what is right for him and his messages connect with lots of people. However, at the same time, should Francis Chan operate in circles of influence that only care about his Asian appearance rather than his Asian cultural perspective? No, I don’t think he should. As an Asian-American Christian, I think he does have some responsibility to other Asians. He may speak the language of white evangelicals, but at the same time he obviously doesn’t look like a white evangelical. There is a reason for that. Chan is Asian-American and is gaining respect in the white evangelical church, yet he isn’t white. This has to have some meaning and can’t be equated as just some random thing. It’s similar to Obama’s presidency. We all pat each other on the back and the world stands and applauds us for voting in a black president. However, our expectation is that he is black in appearance only, not in a cultural context. President Clinton went to McDonald’s and was criticized and stereotyped as a result. Imagine if President Obama went to KFC on a regular basis. Even though you may explain to me how you aren’t prejudice or racist and that you see Obama as just another president, I know that your mind wandered into a place of stereotype as you envisioned Obama eating at KFC. It’s the same reason why if Obama plays basketball you’re okay with it, but if he played basketball poorly you’d question it. Stereotypes are difficult to overcome. They wreak havoc on our perceptions even on subconscious levels. As much as we as non-black Americans see in these stereotypes, how do you think black Americans feel? They see Obama as a sign of hope and change. That a black person can be elected president and ultimately bring some respect to African-Americans. They expect that he will represent them in some way that someone like myself couldn’t. In the same way, there is some expectation that Francis Chan will use his opportunities to lend a voice for the voiceless Asian-Americans who deal with conflict and self-esteem issues and feel out of place in the church. In an extreme sense, just as pop culture and Hollywood exploit people like Bobby Lee on MadTv to show some diversity on the set, the white evangelical church can exploit Francis Chan for the sake of claiming some diversity in the pulpit.

In the end, those of us that are Asian-Americans don’t have a unified philosophy on racism, prejudice, stereotypes or exploitation. Some of us (Asian-Americans) laugh at skits that remind us of the days of being an Oriental in a white land because we never lived through that pain and accepted environment oppression. Some of us Asian-Americans use our Chinese voice and squint our eyes and make fun of parents to our white friends because they don’t know what it’s like to be physically threatened because we as Asians were caught talking to a white girl on campus. Yes, some of us Asian-Americans can be insensitive to those that have walked before us because we feel we are above the racism so much so that we can laugh at stuff just like our white friends. In the end, it’s this passive perpetuation of stereotypes that fuels non-Asians to make the same jokes, pull at their eye lids and make the buck teeth while putting on thick coke bottle glasses, say things like “Heh-rro!” in a room full of Asians and expect to get a laugh.

Just so you know, I am an American first. I love my country and am willing to defend her. However, God created me for a reason and I am called to live my journey as a guy born in Japan and brought to California to live amongst a diverse group of people and find my own identity in Christ. It must have some perspective of my culture otherwise my story which begins with being born in Japan is insignificant and irrelevant. If that were to be true, then why are there so many nations of varying cultures on Earth? Why not just be one continent with one people? Even in the Bible we see people of different nations all playing a role. Some positive, some not so positive, but they all are important in the context of entire story. Even Moses was created by God to be extracted from his land and placed into the culture of Egypt, only to be reunited with the people of Israel and lead them to the promised land. His culture was of great importance in the greater context. Mine isn’t to be considered on the same magnitude, but it is still significant in some small way. I am a child of God with a Japanese perspective and heritage living in America. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

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7
Oct 09

The American Church and Racism

Continuing a bit with a theme I started on yesterday’s blog post here, I wanted to clarify something. For those of you that don’t know my story, I wanted to give a bit of background and to confirm my thoughts on race and the American church. Being an Asian with the last name Ingland, you can imagine that it can easily lend to some confusion :)

I was born in Japan, but put up for adoption. My adopted parents are bi-racial, being that my dad was white and grew up in a small coal mining town in Pennsylvania and my mom was a native Japanese woman. My parents met in Japan while my dad was stationed there in the US Air Force. So, while I have my adopted father’s last name, I am 100% Japanese. However, the context of my culture is really American. While my mom is Japanese, due to prejudice and racism she did everything she could to assimilate us into our exclusively white neighborhood. I was one of 3 Asians in my graduating class in high school. So, for me, most of what I know is rooted in white, American culture. In the conversation of Asian-American church, I am kind of the oddball. However, there are aspects of me that are inherently Asian…things that I don’t consciously think about or purposefully do or think, yet they are ingrained in who I am. This is the conflict I have spent the past 9 months trying to figure out–who am I and who am I supposed to minister to?

When I look at the predominantly white, American church I don’t necessarily see it as evil or racist. I don’t even really consider it segregated. What I do see though is that there is a perspective present there that only someone not white would understand. When a white pastor proclaims to a white congregation that they want to purposefully try and reach out to people of color, I know their heart is in the right place. However, in reality, this is a very difficult challenge because of the current establishment. Just as most white people would feel uncomfortable driving into a black neighborhood and worshiping as the only white person in a black church, people of color can feel the same discomfort in a white church. I know that you’re reading that last sentence and believing that it is not true of you, but I think if you were being completely honest you would agree, even if not publicly. Know that not only is there a discomfort for non-whites in a white church, but there is also a disconnect. American culture, as mainstream as it is, really lacks diversity and the incorporation of other cultural perspectives. You can bring in an African-American pastor to share a message on Sunday about Kwanzaa, but that really doesn’t help us break down the discomfort and the disconnect that exists in our churches today.

Having said all of this, let me reiterate again: I do not believe that churches that are predominantly one race are racist. I just believe that the method is causing them not to realize a congregation that truly represents the diversity of their community.

If you are part of a white church, in a white community, in a small farm town in the midwest somewhere, does that make you racist? Not at all. Part of the conversation of diversity and multi-culturalism has to exclude some people just because their ministry has no choice except to be predominantly white. Same is true if you are part of a black church in a predominantly African-American neighborhood.

Does racism exist in the church today? Yes, it absolutely does. However, so does idolatry, addiction, hypocracy, the making of celebrities..etc. The church today is not perfect! We don’t always practice what we preach. If we better-understood the message of Christ and grace, we’d be a happier church without judgment and criticism.

While I acknowledge racism exists in the church, I also believe that racial segregation is a by-product of how we “do” church today. It is rooted in how we have “done” church in the past. It’s become more about us and less about Christ. That being said, I still know that the heart of many churches is in the right place.

Know that if a church is trying to establish a ministry to Russian people that have migrated to the US and still know more about Russian culture and the language than they do about America and English, it does not make them racist. Also know that if white people in a swank suburb are being ministered to in the context of being white collar professionals with no programs or ministries to connect with people other than themselves, does not make them racist. People of different cultures, in different communities, will just naturally want to congregate together.

Know this as well: There are people being called into ministry to start doing a new work that goes beyond color or socio-economic classes. As the future of our American culture changes, we as the church must change with it. For some, the status quo isn’t about racism and segregation, but there is a feeling that change must take place. Let’s not try to bridge the gap of black and white, but instead let us bridge the gap to be people reaching people, regardless of color or social status.

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5
Jun 09

Asian-American Christians, part 2: Is Francis Chan a Sellout?

It’s taken me forever to finally devote time to this, but I feel the need to respond to a blog post from nextgenerasianchurch.com. It was a guest post from Danny Yang that generated over 100 responses so far. It’s a post that I have serious issues with.

First of all, if you aren’t familiar with Francis Chan know that he is a Chinese-American pastor that is gaining notoriety in Christian Church circles. He recently wrote a book titled Crazy Love that has a lot of buzz behind it. He is the senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA, which is also home to Eternity Bible College.

In my opinion, the frustrating thing to me is that for all the accomplishments Pastor Chan has done–including Cornerstone plating 9 churches throughout the US–he is being viewed as a token Asian in a white man’s world. However, it is sad to know that now Francis Chan’s notoriety is being used to drive discussions on how Asian an Asian-American must be with blog posts scandalously being titled like “Is Francis Chan A Sell-out?”

After talking about being surrounded by a “sea of whiteness” at the Orange Conference and how wrong that was, Yang concludes the blog post by stating:

don’t really think he’s a sell-out; I believe Chan is living faithfully to what GOD has called him to be. But I do think Chan is being used by white evangelicals to alleviate their unwillingness to engage race and faith. Chan is welcome at these conferences only because his message could come just as easily from a white male.

Sometimes a little diversity is worse than no diversity.

So, it’s great to know that Yang writes in the end that Francis Chan isn’t being considered a sellout, but in essence Danny Yang affirms that Chan is a sellout when he puts Chan’s speaking engagements as merely a tool used by white evangelicals to relieve themselves of the burden of engaging race and faith. In essence, as I read it, Yang is saying that Francis Chan is a sellout, but he just doesn’t know he’s a sellout.

To take a man that stands on the truth of the Bible and has gained attention outside of the Asian-American church context and then knock him for speaking to white evangelicals really just rubs me the wrong way. Chan has done things as an Asian-American that speak to how big God is within him. He is not being asked to speak because he is of Chinese descent–He is being asked to speak because he has a relevant voice that is drawing people to truly understand what discipleship means. White, black, yellow, brown, neopolitan..it doesn’t matter!

When I think of this subject, it reminds me of the issues that the Apostles had after Jesus had risen to take his place next to the Father and let the work of evangelism to the Gentiles be done by his people. Issues such as eating only what was considered clean by Jewish law and requiring circumcision for Gentile Christians. As much as the Jews wanted to retain their customs and favor as God’s chosen people, God instead was moving them to understand this passage from Galatians 3:28:

    There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Yes people, it’s true: We are all one in Christ! Does it matter that an amazingly gifted and talented servant of God named Francis Chan is speaking to groups of Caucasian Americans? I think not. Don’t you know that through opportunities such as Chan speaking at the Orange Conference or any other forum where the attendees are predominantly Caucasian, that it will inspire other Asian-Americans as well as Latino-Americans, African-Americans, Native Americans, Italian-Americans, etc to embrace a call to preach the gospel to all nations? Just as Christ transformed a Jewish Pharisee of Pharisees and caused him to speak to Asians, Greeks, Romans, and others in the name of grace and love, so too will he call upon people like Francis Chan to do a similar work. Regardless of race God will bring people near to him through the ministry of Francis Chan and we should celebrate this, not downplay it by judging who Chan speaks to and whether or not he recites cultural Chinese aspects in his sermons.

How can we get from a place of no diversity to a place of great diversity? It starts with one person and grows from there. In order to get a place of diversity, it must begin as just a little diversity. I appreciate who Francis Chan is, what God is obviously doing through him, and the fact that regardless of who one is or where one is born, Chan is speaking relevant truth in a loving way to everyone.

Whether you like it or not, one day we will be in a place where there is no Asian, Latin, German, French or Russian–instead we will be in a place of undeserved love and grace in the presence of the God that created us to be one with him through his Son Jesus.

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13
Oct 08

I’m Japanese, you’re not…therefore I win, and you lose!

While responding to a blog post recently I was compelled to introduce a concept to those that follow my blog. It’s a story that was briefly introduced awhile ago, yet only engaged new Asian readers into the discussion, while most of my readership is not Asian. Asian or not, this is an issue that we must face within the church and I’m curious what you all think.

A reply to one of my comments on the blog was:

“In the short-run, you are right, i don’t think you’ll see much positive growth at all, but ethnicity needs to validated as a gift from God and our inheritance from our immigrant parents. so while i agree with your implication that many would benefit from a multi-ethnic or missional church (culture/ethnicity can be viewed as an inefficiency from many people’s eyes, but), an honest exploration into the question of why God created us to be from a certain place and of a certain people should inspire us to discover our ethnicities and cultures in a redemptive light.

This is where i think the example of the people of israel and the biblical practice of remembering, remembering what God has done, who God is, and who God has made us to be, a very real practice to engage in the ethnic context.”

First of all, let me state very clearly that I am extrapolating something from a post that had a larger context. It is not my intention to argue or criticize the blog author or anyone that shares his viewpoint. I am just taking the statement and inflecting my experiences and ideas in the hopes of engaging in some dialog about the subject (hopefully) from both Asian and non-Asians.

Okay, so I’m Japanese, but I’ll admit there were some times in my life where I wished I could have been born looking like Brad Pitt or Joe Montana (nod to my NorCal upbringing) or David Cassidy. Usually it was so that I could have a girl attracted to me that wouldn’t date me because I was Japanese or so that I could avoid the words and violence associated with racism and prejudice. However, I am who I am and all that I am is for the glory of God.

However, do I want to celebrate my heritage in such a way that I need to have everyone around me be Japanese and understand my culture and my language when I’m in a Sunday church service? Is preserving my heritage in such a way something that can honor God much in the same way that the Israelites were true to their place as God’s chosen people? Did God create me as a Japanese person to engage only other Japanese people and rally us around a common cause of preserving who we are?

The Israelites were in-fact God’s chosen people. They were to inherit the earth as Abraham’s descendants. They were not to intermarry or in anyway corrupt the lineage. However, even in the Old Testament we see evidence of something that goes against this notion. Ruth was a Gentile that came to faith in the one true God. Not just any Gentile, but a Moabite and therefore hated by the Israelites. Ruth marries Boaz and bears a son that can be traced to the family line of Jesus himself.

As we see here, introducing Ruth into the Israelite culture of Judah had a profound place in history. Therefore, what is my place as a Japanese person living in the United States? Am I to segregate myself to a place where I can teach the things of God based on the context of my Japanese culture for those that will understand it because they too are Japanese? Or should I celebrate who I am in Christ and share my culture and experience with others so that they may benefit?

Let me shift to a different scenario to help me make my point. With Barack Obama’s candidacy the discussion of black church and white church came up in the media. There were some black churches (I personally dislike this label even though it is socially acceptable) where the message was preached against white America. It was almost an us-against-them mentality that was glorified. However, what if instead of trying to empower African-Americans in the church to stand up to social injustice from the caucasian world they tried to share their stories outside of the black church in a way that brought attention to what has gone on and continues to go on in their lives? How can white America know what is going on in the black community if the black community segregates themselves from the rest of us? The same is true with Asian-Americans in my opinion.

I talk to so many people today that have no clue what I go through as an Asian-American in society. So many think that racism and prejudice is a thing of the past. You wouldn’t believe how many people think I must be smart in math or must have gone to college at UCLA or Cal or that I must be an engineer or know all there is to know about computers or ask me questions about sushi. The outright hatred of me due to my Asian features has diminished greatly over the years, but the stereotypes have not. How does being exclusively with other Japanese people on Sundays help me to make a difference? What if I could take the fulfillment of one of God’s Ten Commandments to honor your mother and father to a whole ‘nother level by introducing my Japanese culture of being there for my parents in ways that aren’t the norm here in America?

I believe that God created me more to honor him and bring glory to his Son Jesus through my unique perspective of a Japanese person with my own individual experiences than he did to see me perpetuate my ethnic values and cultures at all costs. As the Great Commandment in Matthew 25 calls us to do, we are to preach the gospel to all nations and teach them what Christ has taught us. He didn’t say each nation is responsible for the preaching of the gospel to themselves. Three thousand didn’t come to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and believe so that they could go back to their nations and keep their faith within the borders of their individual nations. Paul didn’t preach there is neither slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile only to see us reverse that in order to preserve our ethnic culture in a new land.

I should not have the viewpoint that I am Japanese and you are not so I can perpetuate my culture and heritage in my church and you are excluded, therefore you lose out on all that you could gain through knowing and understanding who I am and what I experienced. Through knowing my struggles with racism and prejudice and the pressures I faced in school here in America you can have some insight on persecution for who I am and how I dealt and continue to deal with that now that I am a Japanese person and a Christian. You can learn how some of the values revealed to us through the Scriptures have been in place in the country of my birth even though less than 1/10th of 1 percent of its people are Christian and how that breaks my heart. You can learn how to look at me as a brother or sister in Christ with individual experiences I can bring to the table and share rather than someone you have no idea how to address since you couldn’t be as mathematical or technologically savvy as me or because you don’t like sushi or whatever.

The harsh reality is that I am different from most of you. Heck, I’m different from many Japanese people as well. However, not only do I truly believe that you can learn from me, I absolutely know that I can learn from you. Together we can celebrate all of God’s people and all that he is doing in this world as the brothers and sisters he created us to be.

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