At Rooted, we love to help youth ministers contextualize the gospel for many different ethnic and geographical settings—both celebrating our culture and also challenging it. We asked Rooted writers to tell us specifically about elements of Asian American culture they have needed to address with the gospel. We hope their responses below will be helpful as you engage with teenagers and their parents.
Please join us for an upcoming Rooted Webinar: Christianity and Asian American Culture on Thursday, February 6 at 1:00 p.m. EST. Panelists Clark Fobes, Dorothy Lau, Brian Ryu, and Kevin Yi will discuss how to help teenagers navigate their cultural heritage through the grace of the gospel. Sign up here.
1. Danny Kwon, Veteran Youth Minister and Rooted Staff in Philadelphia PA
A well-known Asian American comedian talked about the common ambition of Asian parents for their children to become medical doctors. He noted that helping people didn’t make the list of reasons for this desire of so many Asain American parents; rather, prestige and money were two of the primary reasons parents cited. Many Asian Americans can relate to family pressure to be successful. Particularly in Korean-American families, many from the older generations grew up during or after the Korean War, in extreme poverty and hardship—and the hardships continued for those who immigrated to the United States.
Of course, seeking material success due to past hardships seemingly is not a bad thing. Still, it can conflict with the Christian values of sacrificial living for Jesus and the Christian teaching about seeking heavenly things rather than worldly ones. As a result, Asian American teenagers are often torn between a cultural value of success on one hand and Christian discipleship on the other. As a long-time youth pastor, one of my ministries was to lovingly challenge parents in their values of success with what Scripture tells us, how it impacts their teenagers, and what kind of imprint it leaves on their views of faith.
2. Dorothy Lau, Youth Director at the Chinese Bible Church of Maryland in Rockville, MD
The blending of culture and Christian faith can be so subtle, but also stifling. In the Disney animated film Mulan, the mini-dragon-comic-relief character Mushu appears to Mulan with helpful intentions. But when Mulan rejects Mushu, he unleashes the diatribe, “All right, that’s it! Dishonor! Dishonor on your whole family!…Dishonor on you! …Dishonor on your cow!” Even as the family-friendly film is meant to entertain, it illustrates how deeply the Confucian values of shame and honor are embedded in East Asian culture. We see this especially in our spiritual communities today, where admitting fault can cause one to “lose face” and credibility.
Serving in a Chinese heritage church, I have learned that we cannot expect from youth and families what they have not seen modeled. I’ve challenged parents who’ve said, “We’re Chinese; we don’t [admit fault to our kids].” I’ve confessed sin to trusted ministry coworkers and asked for forgiveness, as well as telling my student leaders, “I’m sorry, I was wrong.” That didn’t absolve me of fault or failure; rather, I was received with mercy and love. This is just a snapshot of how shame and honor in Asian culture are redeemable and still a work-in-progress. Yet in light of the gospel, there’s no shame or condemnation for those in Christ (Rom. 8:1), and the Lord opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
3. Justin Wong, Veteran Youth Minister and Advocate in Houston, TX
Historically, in our church’s context—shaped by several generations of immigration—many students have struggled to navigate the role of their cultural heritage within the broader cultural context. The majority of our students were born into families in which even their parents did not understand the native tongue. Unlike many of our ethnic church counterparts, where students often wrestle with balancing their ethnic and American identities, our students identified more closely with “American” culture than “Chinese” culture.
This difference meant that, when considering their ethnic and Christian identities, our students did not face significant struggles with distinguishing between the two. Instead, our challenge was helping them recognize their cultural identity as a unique gift from God to be stewarded for his purposes. We wanted them to understand that God intentionally created them as Asian Americans for a reason—not just for their own benefit, but for the sake of others in light of the gospel.
We sought to help our students see the missional potential in their identity, encouraging them to view their heritage as a tool for engaging others with the gospel. Whether in their schools, online gaming platforms, universities, or the broader cultural square, we wanted them to embrace their role as bridges between cultures, uniquely positioned to share Christ through their God-given identity.
4. Jen Ting, Veteran Youth Minister in Boston, MA
A unique opportunity in working with Asian American teenagers is helping them distinguish between the cultural values they’ve grown up with and their Christian faith, particularly when they clash. Asian cultures often emphasize self-sacrifice and prioritizing the collective over the individual. While these values can beautifully align with Christian faith, they can also lead to confusion when faith becomes equated with outward acts of service rather than a personal relationship with God. In other words, their faith can become performative rather than personal.
For many students, serving the church—being on a youth leadership team, joining the worship team, or volunteering at events—can become the primary expression of their faith. This service focus often stems from cultural pressure to contribute to the group, uphold family expectations and save face, and avoid bringing shame to the family or church. As a result, their service can often mask a faith that is rooted more in obligation than love for the Lord.
Addressing this issue requires that we help teenagers to reflect on their motivations behind serving and directing them to Scriptures like Ephesians 2:8-9, which remind us that grace is through faith and not by works. Helping students see that God’s love is not earned through service frees them from the pressure to perform, directing them to approach service as an act of worship rather than duty. Ultimately, we want to teach teenagers that their identity is not tied to how much they serve, but instead, rooted in the truth that they are loved unconditionally by a gracious Father. This shift helps them reframe their service as an overflow of their relationship with Christ rather than the foundation of it.
5. Terrence Shay, Family Ministry Pastor at FCBC Walnut in Southern California
The modus operandi for Asian-American learning is rote memorization. Give us the facts, we will regurgitate them on exams. Provide the correct equations, we will plug and play to get the answers. The problem with that as it relates to our spirituality is the lack of deep processing required to take ownership of our faith. We need more than just the biblical answers painted in black-and-white shades. Jesus directed us to evaluate his truth claims with our minds and hearts, then to trust and obey regardless of our feelings or circumstances.
Jesus asks his disciples in Matthew 16:13 “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” Peter answers that question simply “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” The reason why Jesus commends his response is because these were Peter’s conclusions after walking with the Lord closely. Peter’s experience with Jesus compelled him to confess the truth.
We need to give our students the same opportunity to question, doubt, and even give the wrong answers at times so that the Holy Spirit may illuminate Scripture and shape them into the image of Christ as God’s children. Don’t settle for getting the right answers. Keep engaging with their hearts until Jesus is their treasure that is worthy of surrendering all of their earthly riches.
6. Brian Ryu, Youth Pastor at Bethel Korean Presbyterian Church in Ellicott City, MD
In my Korean-American ministry context, we have many parents who genuinely love the church and are committed to her. The local church is where they came to saving faith as a youth or where they met their eventual spouse, and as a result, they serve the church tirelessly. It should not surprise us, then, when parents hope their own children experience something similar. The challenge arises, however, when parents place an inordinate amount of hope on their children’s mimicking a coming to faith moment that mirrors their own experiences.
Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with this desire for children to walk in faith. To hope that one’s child would also experience the gospel joy of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is a shared hope of any Christian parent. But, the manner, timing, and place in which that happens is ultimately in God’s hands. To assure parents that God’s timing is better and more perfect than our hopeful wishes is sometimes difficult to share as a youth minister, and sometimes more difficult for an anxious parent to hear and acknowledge.
As we support teenagers who feel pressure to meet their parents’ spiritual expectations, we remind them to keep seeking to know the One who already knows them so intimately as an adopted son or daughter. The church, while used by God to bring his children into the kingdom, can never replace God. He is the One who is ultimately faithful and worthy of our trust.
7. Cristobal Tong, Lead English Pastor at 3Stone/NYCAC in New York, NY
Marriage is both a biblical institution and a cultural expectation—especially so for some Asian Americans. A well-known phrase among first- and second-generation young adult females of Chinese descent is “left-over women.” Women face a cultural expectation that they will marry and have children around the time they turn 30 (or else something must be “wrong” with them). While marriage and having children is part of the creation mandate, it also carries with it a lot of cultural baggage, especially for women.
Our sisters are working through enough these days that they shouldn’t have to face constant reminders of aging out of “prime” marriage age. Still, I often hear that parents, family members, and even church members still hold our sisters to this standard. Scripture reminds us that while having children honors God, it is not the measure we are to hold above their relationship with Jesus. It is one of the cultural values that sometimes does more harm than good, especially for those already wrestling with their self-worth and identity.
Over the years, I’ve had numerous conversations with my college students and young adults who have to constantly deal with these pressures—sometimes passively, other times overtly. Each time, I have to remind them and their parents that their relationship with Christ comes first—their identity in Christ is most important. “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Rom. 8:15).
