Stewarding Your Cultural Heritage for the Gospel

I apologize, I’m getting over something a little bit. I blame my two little kids for constantly getting me sick. But no, it’s a joy. Thank you so much for being here, taking your Saturday to spend here at this workshop. You know, as youth workers, you’re truly on the front line of gospel ministry. And I mean it when I say that. The first 12 years of ministry, for me, I spent as a youth worker. First, as the junior high counselor. You know how that is? You know, the sleepovers, the pranks, all of that. It’s the most tiring ministry in the world.

I truly feel like anybody who works with middle school students, you’re the champions. Right? So junior high ministry, then high school ministry, then a youth pastor for seven or eight years. By God’s grace, he allowed me to spend most of that time in an Asian American context. Now, for two of the years, early on during my college years, for two years, I took a youth internship at a majority culture church, a non-Asian church. It was good. It was very different. I didn’t skateboard. I didn’t surf. I couldn’t relate to the kids as much. They didn’t want to play basketball.

But I was still able to disciple them, right? and they received me. But there was something about going back in. After two years, I finished that internship, went back to a Chinese heritage church, and there’s something unique about being able to minister to Asian American youth where I had no idea that God had been preparing me all my life in the home that I grew up in, in the Chinese immigrant church that I grew up in, in the community of which I grew up, where I grew up, God was preparing me uniquely, especially to minister to these Asian American youth.

So what I want to talk about today, because you are going to go into workshops later, and later you’re going to get all these specialized topics on youth ministry for Asian Americans. I want to set the tone by talking about stewarding our cultural heritage for the gospel, stewarding our cultural heritage for the gospel. And I want to be clear that I’m not saying that we should ever elevate our ethnic or our cultural heritage over the gospel. And I’m not saying that our ethnic or cultural background or Asian American ministry is better than any other form of ministry. Not at all.

What I am saying is that when it comes embracing our faith and sharing that with the next generation, we cannot ignore our cultural upbringing. We cannot ignore the fact that God chose us, he saved us, he uniquely gave us a cultural heritage so that he could use us for his kingdom. Not all of you will spend your entire life ministering or serving in an Asian American context, but still you will find that he’s given you your cultural background, your ethnic background, your upbringing for a very purpose. So the first thing I want us to look at is 1 Peter 2, verse 9. Just one verse.

Just one verse today. Contextualizing our common faith heritage. Now, 1 Peter 2, 9 is a very special verse for me. Because the idea of Asian American ministry, early on, 10 years ago, something like that, didn’t really sit well with me, right? I was thinking, okay, you know, grew up in an Asian church and we did youth group, but all of our curriculum back then was imported or taught through Lifeway or some majority culture thing or Awana, that’s all good stuff. We still use Awana. And so that’s the big leagues, right? That’s real youth ministry.

That’s real Christianity, this Western majority culture Christianity. There’s nothing wrong with that. And so when I hear Asian American minister, I’m like, why do we got to be ethnically specific? Isn’t the gospel for all nations? And what I didn’t realize was that no matter what, I am contextualizing. Every single time, whether I’m trying to embrace my own faith in my own family, growing up with my parents, or whether I’m ministering to youth, whether they’re majority culture youth or whether they’re, I’ll just, you know, in the church I minister to, there was Hispanic and mostly white.

But whether it’s white, Hispanic, or whether they’re Asian, I am contextualizing. I am contextualizing the gospel, which is our common faith heritage. At first, Peter 2.9 achieves two purposes. Topically, it makes the point that cultural contextualization was what they were doing in the early church. They had to do it. It was necessary. And secondly, it serves the purpose, this verse in particular, that you and your students will face the internal and external pressures and expectations that define success.

So for Asian American youth, it might be academic success, career success, not letting their parents down. It might be finding their identity and being accepted in culture and society. All of this, 1 Peter 2, 9, reminds us that our identity and our value is rooted in Christ. So let’s get into it. If you look at verse 9, let me just read it to you. The first part of verse 9, it says, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.

Now, these words are words of privilege that would have been understood by Jewish Christians or Jews in the early church. So if you’re a Gentile, someone had to explain these terms to you. Otherwise, when you hear these terms, chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, a people for his own possession, you’re like, how is that a privilege? Why is that description even important? I don’t care about that. But notice that Peter, when he writes this, he’s writing to Asians. Not really. I joke about that. He’s writing to Christians who are scattered in Asia Minor. That’s modern-day Turkey.

Asia Minor. And so these are predominantly Gentiles. And so someone was contextualizing, explaining, expository preaching, right? Going, chosen race, this is what it means. that in the Old Testament, the Jews were the, Israel, they were the chosen race. But through Christ, now all nations, anybody can be grafted into the chosen race. Someone had to contextualize and explain to the Gentile believers, oh, royal priesthood. Therefore, for the Jews, the only way that you would be part of the royal line is if you were somehow connected to King David.

But now through the greater son of David, through Christ, any Gentile can be royalty, part of God’s kingdom. Someone had to like, you know, if I’m a Gentile, I’m like, I don’t care about priests. I don’t want to be a priest. Right? But to a Jew, to be part of a priesthood meant you had access to the presence of God, which was everything for them. If you had access to the presence of God, that means your sins were forgiven, at least temporarily in the Old Testament. And so you were a mediator between God and God’s people.

And so when you’re a royal priesthood, if you’re a Gentile, you’re like, why is that important? Because this is your identity now. It’s the most precious and special identity. That God has chosen you out of this world, Jew or Gentile, to be a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. We talk about how our youth and we, as leaders and servants, that we have to live in this world but not be of this world. And we battle, even within our own cultures, definitions of success and achievement. And we put pressure on ourselves.

And we need to be reminded that we’re a holy nation, that we were set apart, washed by the blood of Christ, set apart from the world. But this needed to be explained to the Gentiles. people for his own possession, that out of all the people in this world, God didn’t just call Israelites, but he called Gentiles, including Asian Americans. So my point is, my point is the earliest preachers and teachers and youth workers in the early church ministering to Gentiles were contextualizing. They were contextualizing a faith that was built on the foundations of Old Testament Judaism.

And that’s critical. That’s crucial. Now, for the purpose of our message, my point is that in the same way, when we think about youth ministry that’s geared towards Asian Americans, that’s exactly what we’re doing. And so it took me some time to realize, hey, to label something uniquely contextualized as Asian American ministry is not unbiblical or unfaithful or woke or any type of label you want to give it. But it’s basically what everyone is doing. I know that there’s some of you in here who are not Asian and you choose to minister in an Asian American church.

I know you’re always contextualizing already. You’re thinking, okay, how do I minister to Asian Americans? It’s we who are Asian Americans that sometimes we don’t realize that we’re constantly contextualizing. But we ourselves have been equipped with a life experience that is best suited at times to minister to those who are like us. And there’s nothing wrong with that. This event today is probably, and I’m not sure, but this is the first ever that I’ve ever heard of a youth ministry workshop that’s specifically for Asian Americans. I’m sure someone has done it somewhere, possibly.

And there’s plenty of youth ministry workshops out there. But to my knowledge, this is the first that is uniquely Asian American. So I want to break here, and this will be a shorter point. And I want to invite you guys to get into your table groups. You’re in your tables for discussion. And so take about 10 minutes. And I want you just to interact with this idea. And so there should be questions for you. First question is, what are your honest thoughts when you hear phrases like Asian American youth ministry? Or contextualizing youth ministry for Asian Americans? Just be honest.

Do these terms make you feel affirmed? Like, yes, someone’s thinking about ministry that speaks our heart language, or does it make you feel conflicted? Does it, something else, do you feel like, hey, is this kind of weird? Talk about that, because I think that until you, if you haven’t got past that barrier, you won’t really tap into yourself. You’ll be like me, where I was constantly thinking, okay, Asian American’s good.

I’m always gonna contextualize it down, but really, I just need to import what they’re doing at the majority culture level because that’s where the youth are at, right? That’s the big leagues. But no, actually, God is saying, he’s given you a life experience to contextualize a faith that actually Western majority culture is a version of contextualizing a faith that was built on Old Testament Judaism. European, it’s the same thing. Everyone’s contextualized it. going back to Peter’s audience, going back to the New Testament time.

So how do you feel about that? Number two, in what ways have you had to bridge the gap between majority culture approaches the youth ministry versus ministering to Asian American youth? Sometimes you don’t even know that you’re doing it. You’re contextualizing anyways, right? But how have you had to do that? So why don’t you take about 10 minutes in your groups, discuss it, then I’ll come back with the second half of the message, right? Let’s go do that now. All right, let’s go ahead and come back together. Hopefully, you had some fruitful discussion.

There will be plenty of time for you to continue discussing these topics around lunch and hopefully later on. Well, moving to point number two, which is navigating your cultural experience through the gospel. If we look back at 1 Peter 2, verse 9, the first part is described the common faith heritage.

The words that Peter used to describe New Testament Christians, including Gentiles, roots us back that Christians from the beginning of the church build our faith off of Old Testament Judaism that was fulfilled in Christ and in the New Testament, right? But the second part of 1 Peter 2, 9 talks about our story. So the first part was really God’s story, which included Israel and the Gentiles. But the second part of verse 9 talks about our story.

It says that we are described as those with that privileged language that you may proclaim the excellencies or the praises of him, that’s Christ, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So each and every one of us, we share a common faith heritage rooted in Old Testament Judaism, fulfilled in Christ and in the New Testament, but each of us have an individual story to proclaim. We proclaim a story of the excellencies of Christ, the glory of Christ, the praise of Christ that called us out of darkness.

I’m not saying that Asians are darkness, okay? But your Asian American bicultural or ethnic baggage, whatever you want to say, growing up in a church where maybe, you know, it was a little bit of Christ plus Confucianism. So it’s Confucianism. You know, maybe it’s like that. Maybe it’s like, oh, Jesus and academics, but really it’s academics, then Jesus. All of that is part of what you were saved out of, or you were saved out of unbelief, or you were saved out of sin and worldliness.

The darkness, whatever it is, our cultural upbringing, good and bad, is part of what God sovereignly called us out of and into his marvelous light, the light of the gospel. So each of us proclaim our personal testimonies of Christ who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. And for Peter’s audience, it would have been idol worship, sexuality, or paganism. But whatever it might be, sometimes for us, it’s a shameful story.

Sometimes for us, it’s the darkness of growing up and the sin that you experienced growing up as Asian American, meaning if people picked on you or if you felt lonely, others of you, maybe it wasn’t really an issue. But that’s where I really want to talk about navigating your cultural experience. See, the first part of the journey is recognizing that contextualizing ministry for Asian Americans or any ethnic group for that matter is biblically warranted. And after that, you really ask the Lord, Lord, what have you done in my life? And it’s gonna be different for each and every one of us.

You see, Jesus’s people share a common faith heritage, yet each of us proclaim a unique faith story that intersects with our cultural heritage. When I grew up, I grew up not too far from here. Up until second grade or third grade, I would say. So from the time I was born, I was born in Anaheim. And I was born at a hospital. I don’t think it’s around anymore. It’s called Martin Luther Hospital. Not Martin Luther King. Martin Luther Hospital. So I joked that when I became reformed, I was like, oh, yeah, I was reformed from birth, you know. Yeah, but, you know, Martin Luther Hospital.

But we grew up in Whittier, California up until second grade. And in the 80s, in the 80s when I grew up, I went to a school where I was one of, like, two Asians. The other guy was, like, Thai American. And there was me. So as a second grader, I got all of that. Ching Chong Wah, you know. The number, the two questions, the two biggest questions that were asked of me on the playground. Number one, is your dad Bruce Lee? Is your dad Bruce Lee? Okay. Number two, do you know Kung Fu? And it worked out to my advantage a few times where these kids were making fun of me.

And one of them said, hey, don’t mess with him. His dad’s Bruce Lee. Or they’re like, dude, he knows Kung Fu. But, you know, they would do the wah, you know, all that stuff.

right and when Karate Kid came out I was in I was like please no right and then in the movies the Asians are the bad guys or the you know it’s just weird and you know as boys I don’t I’m not saying this is okay but we would play war you guys play war at school why do I always have to be Vietnam or Japan right why is it and so as a young child you just think what is this is normal now I know some of you were bullied like I didn’t actually get physically harmed but even when I went to the the YMCK summer camp there’s another Asian guy I didn’t know what a Korean was right but then I’m like I bet he’s not Chinese Korean you know his parents speak another Asian dialect but we became friends right because we we realized oh we’re the same our parents don’t speak English as their primary language.

But even the counselors there would make comments. And the other kids, you know, they would do this and the eyes and all of that. And so growing up, you know, I didn’t really think too much about it, but I knew one thing. Man, I feel different. But you know what? Like I play with G.I. Joes. I watch He-Man and Gummy Bears. Why am I so different? I like pizza and burgers. Why am I so different? Then in third grade, my parents did something. They moved us just up the hill to this city called Hacienda Heights. Some of you guys know that. And all of a sudden, I’m surrounded by Asians.

Not everyone’s Asian, but I’m surrounded by Asians. Nobody asked me, is your dad Bruce Lee? Every friend I go to their house, we take off our shoes. You know, like nobody’s, like nobody’s, I’m no longer different. So from third grade all the way through the end of my high school years, I knew I was Asian, but I didn’t feel different. So I never thought too much about those days in Whittier until I went to college. I went to a Christian university, not too far from here. And at that Christian university, now this is early 2000s, right? Actually, you know, 99, 2000, those years.

There weren’t too many Asians on campus. The Asians were the minority. So for the very first time, I didn’t know why I found myself assimilating, constantly changing the way I communicated. If I was with other Chinese Americans, I would just be chill and normal. If I was with non-Asians, I don’t know why I always had to make a joke about being Asian. Oh, yeah, it’s because I’m Asian. I had to apologize or say something. And I would be loud. I’m not saying that non-Asians are loud and obnoxious. But I needed to be loud, like, hey, bro, what’s up, dude? You know, seriously.

Otherwise, I would feel like, you know, they don’t hear me, right? And then when I would hang out with the majority Asians at that school, at the time, were Korean-Americans. So when I hung out with my Korean friends, I had to be loud, you know, and remind them, you know, hey, I’m not Korean, but I’m with you guys. And those became some of my best friends. So I was always assimilating. And I didn’t realize how much my early years in Whittier had impacted me. Like, why am I constantly contextualizing, assimilating my communication style? So applicationally, I believed in the gospel.

I was on my way into pursue the call to ministry. I was a believer. I had forgiven people in my life, like parents and things like that. But I never dealt with myself. I never applied the gospel to myself. I never went back to third grade and before those Whittier years, I never applied the gospel to my Asian American experience. Because that would be my Asian American experience, those early years in Whittier. And so to navigate through your cultural experience is going to be different for you.

But what I had to do is I had to go back to those days on the playground, those days where people would make comments about me, those days where I felt so different. And I had to think, okay, there’s God, others, and self. What did I think and feel and desire about God? What did I think, feel, and desire about others? What did I think, feel, and desire about myself? So I started there. So I went back, imagined myself in first and second grade again. And I said, okay, what did I think or feel or desire about God? Well, I didn’t know God. I wasn’t a Christian yet.

I didn’t understand the fullness of the gospel. Okay, so that’s there. Others, well, and I said, man, you know, at least these non-Asian kids, they still wanted to play with me. And I understand now as an adult where racism comes from, where it comes from. Sometimes people don’t know that they’re being racist, right, at that early age. And I kind of said either way through the gospel, I would forgive them. I would forgive them. I would understand where they’re coming from. Now, again, now I know some of you had worse experiences, like you were physically beat up and things like that.

You need to process. So I processed how I felt about others. But the hardest one, it took me a while. I never really navigated applying the gospel to myself. what did I think and feel desirable about myself? And this is where, man, I really wish my parents spoke English better. I really wish when my mom pulled up or dropped me off that she wouldn’t say something in Chinese. I really wish that, this is kind of for real, like I really wish in kindergarten I didn’t wear the clothes that she bought when she went back for vacation from Hong Kong, you know, that the other kids would make fun of.

you know, I really wish that I wasn’t so different. And I never really thought to it, like I wish I was an Asian. I never got to that point. But I never applied the gospel and God’s sovereign calling upon my life and his choice upon who I am, right? As who God has chosen me to be as an Asian American. I had to apply the gospel to say, oh man, you know, God, but you saved me. as a Chinese American boy with immigrant parents and you put me there in Whittier for those years, then you moved me to a predominantly Asian community.

Why? But then as I felt the specific call to ministry into an Asian American context, it all made sense. That we are able to help other people navigate not only their identity as bicultural, Asian and American, or whatever it might be. You can minister to second gen, even third gen. You can minister to 1.5 generation kids. You can minister to people like you. But the entire push that we are called to be foreigners in this land, sojourners, that this world is not our home. We have dual citizenship. We’re citizens of this world, but we are ultimately citizens of heaven.

And that tension, man, my Asian American experience kind of prepared me, not only for myself, but to instill that into people and disciple people, regardless of their cultural background, as to what it means to be a disciple of Christ. So God can use us to reach others with a similar experience, similar cultural background, but God can also use our experience of feeling like foreigners to embrace our calling to be set apart from this world. And I pray that this talk this morning is just an appetizer to set you up for the rest of the workshops and the messages today.

The big idea, the main point today is that Christ calls us to proclaim his mercy from the intersection of God’s story and our story of redemption. And for many of you, maybe you have already done so, but it’s helpful, extremely beneficial to go back, look at your experience growing up, your cultural heritage, your cultural background, and apply the gospel to how you viewed yourself. And then you’ll understand more why God gave you that experience and how he wants to redeem it so that you can proclaim not this painful story, it could be painful, but a story of his excellencies and his glory.

All right, so we’re gonna move into our second time of table discussion. And this concludes the message portion. And after about 10 minutes, Irv will come up and Irvin will come up and close your time. But two questions I want you to consider. Number one, how has your cultural background shaped the way you experience and express your faith? And number two, in what ways can you intentionally steward your cultural heritage or your experience of being an Asian American to serve and disciple youth more effectively? All right, well, let’s go to it. Thank you..