Why do few Asian American Christians care about being Asian American?

Our Asian American experiences are interwoven with multiple layers of pain and shame, intergenerational trauma, neglect, survival, both conscious and unconscious moments, that shape who we are, how we see the world, and how that shapes our spirituality in Christian churches.

In collaboration with Asian American Christian Network of Atlanta (AACNA), this is the unedited raw episode of our extended conversations for nearly 2 hours, with: Dr. Stan Sonu (Pediatrics Physician), Hannah An (Worship Leader and Spiritual Director), David Park (Pastor & Nonprofit Consultant), and DJ Chuang (this podcast’s co-host & Digital Strategy Consultant).

We took time deliberating whether exploring the essence of an Asian American Christian was esoteric or essential, because it’s not really an all or nothing proposition, though it seems like not many are openly engaging in this topic, at least not in public, as if our spirituality and theology was absent of any cultural context. We discuss why it might be important to embrace one's ethnic identity as God sees it, rather than abstract theological concepts. We’ve noticed that in many Asian American churches, God is often talked about in an abstract sense, and what is needed is a deeper relationship with God. We realize that this process of unlearning and relearning is difficult. We use fancy words like dialectic, industrialization, Xanga, blogging, unintended harm, physiology, and much more.

What do you think? Add a comment to chime in with where this conversation should drill down further and farther.

Show Notes at erasingshame.com/why-do-few-asian-american-christians-care-about-being-asian-american/