Ethnic specific ministry - Ministry Exchange (MX)

ETHNIC SPECIFIC MINISTRY: A DIFFERENT LENS
By Collin Tadao Tomikawa
September 1998

“When you close your eyes and envision the Kingdom of Heaven, what will it
be like?”

I distinctly remember being asked this question and than I remembered back
as a fourth grader, one morning at my annual church summer camp. As we
gathered for worship that day, I was awe struck by the beauty and majesty
invoked by the chorus of nearly 400 Japanese Americans singing praises to
God. The melding of people, from senior citizens to infants, gathered
together to proclaim one singular love and truth to our God was an amazing
sight I had never experienced before. So when I was asked to picture heaven
and all the multitudes singing, this was the exact image that came to mind.
I thought about all the people who will be worshiping God together and how
mind-blowing that will be… an amazing image emblazoned in my mind. So
when I do picture the Kingdom of Heaven, what does it look like? Well,
when all of us die and go to heaven, from my 10 year-old’s perspective, you
will be a new creation. You will all be Japanese American.

Jesus is central, in the pursuit of our faith as people of different
cultures, individually and collectively. The truth of God is the same
yesterday, today and tomorrow, but the way we understand this truth is
strongly shaped by influences that are unique to our respective cultural
backgrounds. Ethnicity is a powerful and influential lens through which we
come to know and understand ourselves, our world, and our God. There are
vital questions to be asked about the cultural lens through which we see
our faith development. Do we all understand the same things when we study
scripture? Are we limited in our view? How does our cultural perspective
enhance our understanding of God? How does it inhibit it?

Ethnic specific ministry offers a strategy to redeem culture, equip and
train minority leaders, and reach unchurched people. Ethnic specific
ministry enables us to tap creative avenues in developing minority leaders
who love, know and understand God, being who he has made them to be. As we
learn to understand both the beauty of who God has made us and the
sinfulness of who we within our cultural contexts, we can speak God’s truth
to others seeking the redemption of all the nations.

I. Redeeming Culture

InterVarsity has developed a strength in listening to and critiquing our
current culture and offering a genuine and deep biblical response. Every
people group, culture, and person, reflects the image of God. At the same
time, inherent within each culture, society and individual, is the
influence of Sin and the fall.

Identifying differences of culture, it’s influences and evaluating it in a
biblical light is essential for growth and development. Many Asian &
Pacific Islander populations (APIA-Asian/Pacific Islander Americans) place
a high value on harmony of friendships in a relational circle. Having too
strong of a voice or “rocking the boat” is often not affirmed or taught in
an Asian context. Thus many APIA have a stronger corporate understanding of
the world around them (family units versus individuals). The opinions and
beliefs of the surrounding voices are greater and very influential in the
shaping of a person’s identity. An ethnic specific setting offers a special
opportunity to address some issues of cultural dynamics.

In my experience, ethnic identity development is a key discipleship issue
for many APIA and even more for a subset of this group Dr. Ken Uyeda Fong
calls Americanized Asian Americans (who I will more simply refer to as
Asian Americans)[1]. Asian Americans students struggle to know who they are
and how to process their ethnicity. Faced with fundamental questions of
“who am I?” being in the minority culture complicates this process for
Asian Americans. I love a good burger and fries, but yet most of my meals
at home I use chop sticks. I see my parents express themselves in their own
way, and compare them to models of non-Asian families around – and there is
a disconnect. I want everyone who comes into my room to take their shoes
off, but not everyone does. Do I confront them, or is it just okay. I was
raised knowing that the “nail that sticks up gets hammered”, but a more
western voice declares that the “squeaky wheel gets oil”. Why do these
things cause tension in me? Understanding who God has created us to be as
individuals, as well as a corporate people, is foundational in learning to
love and accept ourselves, God and others. In the context of an ethnic
specific fellowship, these issues can be named and worked with.

II. Equipping and Training Leaders

As we build leaders and fellowships we want to be aware of the how each
person makes a unique contribution to our chapters. While an ethnic
specific ministry provides space for more specific issues of culture and
ethnicity to be addressed, it also gives ethnic minority students a place
to learn, grow and fail in leadership. As some Asian churches experience a
decline in membership and a transfer from older generations to a yonger
generation, there is a need for a new wave of Asian leaders to help lead
the church. Being a part of what God is doing to raise up a generation of
Asian American leaders who are both prophetic to the Asian American
community and to the Non-Asian American community is an opportunity we have
today.

As we prepare students for lives of discipleship, topics of stewardship and
vocational call are important issues for many Asian Americans. Most Asian
American families who faced economic and cultural hardship when they came
to America, a generation or two later are now experiencing a higher level
of economic return. God has blessed parts of the Asian American church with
much worldly wealth. As a body we are blessed with this to be a blessing
to others. Thus fighting the tide of materialism and success which has
become so prevalent in segments of the Asian American community. I fear
that the Asian American church is not listening to how it is to bless the
others with what God has given it. And at the same time lead them in the
area of compassion to those who are in similar and needy positions today.

Obviously this in not the only way to build Asian American leaders who have
a corporate perspective, but it does build towards the forming of a
corporate minority voice, a much needed voice as we work for justice and
the eradication of racism.

III. Evangelism

The truth of the scriptures is something that transcends time and culture.
But in our current evangelism training are there ways in which we are not
speaking about Jesus in the most to relevant way? While Asian Americans
are by no means the only ones who can speak the truth of Jesus to other
Asian American, doing evangelism in the Asian American context offers some
distinct advantages. Points of connections, familiarity, and the ability to
role model and lead from a common context offer a unique perspective to
other Asians. As ethnic specific ministries help redeem culture and train
minority leaders, they can also offer non-churched Asian Americans
outreach, welcome and proclamation of the gospel that is contextualized for
them as a specific audience.

Growth edges for Asian American ministries are developing outreach
strategies to the Asian American community, South East Asians, South
Asians, as wells as other East Asians. The Asian American population is
very diverse socio-economically, culturally, and generationally. The
immigration waves have all been very different too. This makes for less
than homogenous group of people to reach out.

As a body of believers we need to raise up leaders who are thinking
critically and creatively about how to proclaim the truths of our faith in
the most effective and relevant ways possible in the Asian American
context.

IV. CONCLUSION

Criticism for ethnic specific ministry has come from the perspective that
ethnic specific groups are exclusive and ethnocentric. This is a valid
criticism and a danger for ethnic specific ministries. As no person or
collective body is free from racism and ethnocentrism, we need to repent of
ways this is true in our fellowships, in our hearts, and in our minds. As a
minority group historically excluded from settings on the basis of ethnic
background reversing the behavior would be particularly grieving. We must
ask God for help in knowing how to welcome others into our lives in a
trusting and meaningful way and to be looking to Jesus to transform our
hearts to love with forgiveness and compassion. Taking on the call of
racial reconciliation more seriously.

With respect to the larger multi-ethnic emphasis it is vitally important to
understand that
ethnic specific ministry is a part of a greater movement of God. At
Harvard University the two undergraduate fellowships (one multi-ethnic, one
ethnic specific) have a vital partnership with each other. The multi-
ethnic fellowship and the Asian American fellowship enjoy a strong
commitment to each other that is renewed and affirmed each year. Each
fellowship is committed to the other in prayer and campus partnership. The

partnership brings each fellowship much joy and thankfulness for the
greater body of believers on campus. Each year the partnership grows and
matures. Each Exec team comes together to meet regularly to pray and
plan.(see the Harvard-Radcliffe Christian Fellowship & the Harvard-
Radcliffe Asian American Christian Fellowship Covenant,
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~hraacf/about/covenant.htm)

A common question asked about ethnic specific ministry is one concerning
unity. Are we not all Christians and is this not the central commonality
we should focus on? To this one responds with a resounding Yes. We are all
disciples of Jesus and inextricably of the same body. This is indeed our
common call. However, within the diversity of the body there is a unique
call and place for ethnic specific ministry to minister, teach, train,
heal, challenge and reach a generation of people in the context of their
culture and experience.

In conclusion, Unity is not as simple as gathering diverse believers in one
room singing the same songs together. God calls us to a process that goes
much deeper than “diversity”. He asks us to fully engage in wrestling with
the root issues that lead to racial reconciliation. God calls us—as
different ethnic groups-to struggle to understand the fullness of who we
are in the context of culture, institutions and power. He engages our
hearts in acknowledging and grieving our ethnocentrism, our silence amidst
injustice, and our participation in “the game of assimilation” with the
dominant culture. In the pursuit to eradicate racism, our commitment
extends not only to the present with this student generation, but to our
family circles, social arenas, and institutional structures. With God’s
grace and mercy, because of the work of Jesus at the Cross, and through the
empowerment of the Holy Spirit we strive to build reconciliation and
forgiveness, a central mark to our community.

Collin Tadao Tomikawa was the team leader for the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian
American Christian Fellowship from 1995-2000. Currently an Area Director
in Berkeley, CA.———————————-
[1] Asian America is a diverse group of people, with multiple generations
and ethnic heritages. When I talk about Asian Pacific Islanders or Asian
Americans I am most keenly thinking about the growing population of
Americanized Asian Americans, the population that is most likely to join an
InterVarsity Campus fellowship.