APCE 2005 Vancouver
Multi-cultural Christian Education in Asian American and Asian Canadian Contexts
Thursday, 3:30-5:00 PM
A. Purpose of Christian Education is to enable persons in Asian American/Canadian churches to have meaning in life.1
B. Theories in Asian American/Canadian Christian Education
1. Four Distinct Asian Groups 2
Far East Asians
South and Southeast Asians Laotians/Cambodians/Hmongs
Pacific Islanders
2. Histories of Asian Immigration 3
1880s—Laborers Who Crossed the Pacific
1965-85—Sojourners, No Longer
Since 1985—Globalized Settlers
3. Sociological Issues 4
Traditionalism
Assimilation
Bicultural Integration
Isolationism or Marginalism
4. Personal Identity 5
Conformity
Dissonance
Immersion and Resistance
Introspective
Integrative/Awareness
5. Generational Issues 6
Immigrant first generation parents/grandparents and offspring
First generation church leaders/members and younger, 1.5 or second-
generation leaders and members
Authority and autonomy
High context and low context
C. Asian American Multicultural Context
Observations to contextualize Christian education in Asian American settings:
1. Appreciation for Education
Asian Americans have looked toward schooling/education as the means for success and advancement. Parents place high and sometimes unreasonable expectations for children to succeed. Many Asian churches offer English grammar, conversation, and citizenship classes for adults and tutorial sessions after-school for children. Guarding against the danger of reinforcing the pressures parents place on children to succeed, how might we convey to Asian American parents and their families the value of Christian education that they currently have toward regular schooling? How might churches serve as places for Asian Americans to learn the richness of community and interdependence beyond their own family nuclear groups?
2. Valuing Diversity 7
Asian immigration continues to create environments when immigrant first generation people are worshiping and working alongside with American born Asians. As the result of very different background experiences, such groups often hold different views on ethics, theologies, and practices. The challenge for many Asian American churches is to embrace both types of groups in the same church to foster creative tension for ministry and mission. The gifts that different groups bring add to the richness of the human family and are a closer resemblance of the spirit of Pentecost. What might Christian education look like in a church where bilingual/bicultural or multilingual/multicultural strengths exist? In such settings, how would Christian education teach tolerance and appreciation for other traditions?
3. Celebrating Festivals and Holidays
As the United States continues to value more of its rich and diverse citizenry, a greater interest and appreciation for ethnic holidays would grow. Many Asian festivals before observed only by immigrant groups have become mainstreamed. The task of Christian education in such events can be two-fold: integrate the place of ethnic celebrations in the lives of Christians and appropriate ethnic celebrations as means to teaching Christian truths. What ethnic festivals and celebrations that your church members participate apart from the church? How might Christian education infuse additional learnings from such festivals and celebrations in one’s daily living? Name the festivals, celebrations, and holidays that you observe.
4. Christianity and Civil Religion 8
Immigrant first generation Asians who may or may not be Christians often believe that America is a Christian country. This is not difficult to comprehend if immigrants coming from primarily Asian religious traditions see church buildings in every community and when US elected governmental figures conclude speeches by evoking the name of God. The task of Christian education is to help persons to understand the difference between the Christian faith and American civil religion. Examples of American civil religion are: commercialization of Christmas (shopping & Santa Claus), American dream, melting pot, manifest destiny, patriotism, etc. How might Christian education teach the Good News of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior who calls us to a life of discipleship in our secular and pluralistic society? What are our responsibilities as Christians committed to our faith as well as citizens of our country participate in our communities for the welfare and health of everyone?
5. Pastor—“master/teacher” 9
Many Asian American ministers see their role as pastor, preacher, administrator but rarely as “teacher.” The two Chinese characters making up the term, “minister” are “mook see” meaning “master/teacher.” When Asian churches generally recognize the minister as the respected figure, the minister who in the eyes of her/his members is the “master/teacher” has the potential of affirming the teaching ministry of the church. As it is true that pastors taking an integral role in the teaching ministry of the church foster greater effectiveness in Christian education, the same can be said of Asian American ministers as well. The pastor of a local church needs to be seen as a teacher by regularly teaching a Sunday school class or leading a weeknight Bible study group. As a minister, how often do you teach a class at your church? If you are a church member, what topic would you want your pastor to teach on?
Notes
1. Seymour, Jack L., Margaret Ann Crain, Joseph V. Crockett, Educating Christians, The Intersection of Meaning, Learning, and Vocation, Nashville: Abingdon, 1993.
2. Ng, Greer Anne Wenh-In, “Pacific-Asian North American Religious Education,” Multicultural Religious Education, edited by Barbara Wilkerson, Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press, 1977, pp. 190-234.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid. (Kitano and Daniels model—1988)
Kim, Grace Sangok, “Asian North American Youth: A Ministry of Self-Identity and Pastoral Care,” People on the Way edited by David Ng, Valley Forge, PA: Judson, 1996, pp.201-227.
5. Sue, Derald Wing and David Sue, Counseling the Culturally Different, Theory & Practice (2nd Edition), New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1990.
6. Ng, Greer Ann Wenh-In, “Pacific-Asian North American Religious Education,” Multicultural Religious Education.
Kim, Grace Sangok, “Asian North American Immigrant Parents and Youth: Parenting and Growing Up in a Cultural Gap,” People on the Way.
7. Ng, Donald, “Asian American Pentecost: One Spirit, Many Voices,” American Baptist Quarterly, September, 2002, Vol. XXI, Number 3, Valley Forge, PA: American Baptist Historical Society, pp. 337-346.
8. Everist, Norma Cook, The Church As Learning Community, A Comprehensive Guide to Christian Education, Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2002.
9. Ng, Greer Ann Wenh-In, “Pacific-Asian North American Religious Education,” Multicultural Religious Education.
Rev. Don Ng, First Chinese Baptist Church, San Francisco, 1 Waverly Place, San Francisco, CA 94108-2118. 415.362.4139; RevDonNg@fcbc-sf.org