Walking the Talk

I'm sure Rev. Soong-Chan Rah did not set out to be a spokes-person for the racism that exists against Asian Americans. But when he sees it, he is able to face it with clarity, humility, integrity and Christian love. Another of the guest speakers at the National Youth Workers Convention, Rev. Rah challenged everyone to step out of the 'white western gospel' to provide a much more culturally relevant and accurate picture of the Gospel to those we teach. I can guarantee you that many were squirming in their seats during his powerful, prophetic and honest message. He raises the good and tough questions that we need to be raising at this time in our cultural and spiritual history. How have we as white westerners (Americans) co-opted the Gospel and twisted it to meet our own cultural and racial mindsets? How have we been mis-reading and mis-teaching the Scriptures based on our own limitted cultural and racial lenses? Are we allowing other cultural, racial and ethnic voices to enter into our readings, our discussions and our worldviews so that we avoid ethno-centric and even racist interpretations of Scripture? Check out Rah's blog and read more. And be sure to read about how he confronted two major publishing companies for their stereotyping of Asian Americans in their literature.

Kudos to Rev. Rah for challenging a stereotype, and to Youth Specialties, Zondervan and the Skit Guys for their retraction of the offensive material and public apology to the Asian American community. These are people I'm proud to associate with as part of the body of Christ.