Abstract

Since the 1990s, evangelical efforts to create multiracial churches (MRCs) have grown exponentially. This article analyzes the experiences of Asian American evangelical ministers leading MRCs. Through interviews we explore how Asian American evangelicals came to be involved in MRC-ministry and how they approach issues of racial diversity in this context. We compare the racial attitudes of Asian American evangelical ministers leading MRCs with those of White and Black evangelicals delineated in Emerson and Smith’s Divide by Faith. Rather than conform to the colorblind approach of many White evangelicals, the majority of our respondents utilize structural explanations for social inequality and promote a colorconscious approach to diversity. We conclude that Asian American evangelicals utilize a unique framework for MRC-ministry, what we call a ‘racialized multiculturalism,’ that has much to offer American evangelicalism.

Highlights

  • The United States is mythologized as a country built by immigrants and many Americans take great pride in the archetypal immigrant success story

  • Though they make up only two percent of the American evangelical population, Asian Americans have a noticeable presence within evangelicalism [3]

  • While 62 percent of White evangelicals and 31 percent of Black evangelicals pointed to individual deficiencies of Blacks, the Asian American multiracial churches (MRCs) ministers we interviewed pointed to structural explanations for the gap in jobs, income and housing

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Summary

Introduction

The United States is mythologized as a country built by immigrants and many Americans take great pride in the archetypal immigrant success story. According to Michael Emerson, about two-thirds of U.S-born Asian Protestants currently attend churches where at least 20 percent of attendees are of another race He writes, “Should the pattern continue, it suggests that multiracial congregations will become more common, their growth driven by immigrants and especially by their children and future generations” [2]. “Should the pattern continue, it suggests that multiracial congregations will become more common, their growth driven by immigrants and especially by their children and future generations” [2] As they join, create and lead multiracial churches Asian Americans are helping shape the future of evangelicalism and the changing patterns of race relations in the United States

Asian American Evangelicals
Review of Scholarship
Interview Sample
Asian American-Led Multiracial Congregations
Reasons for Becoming a MRC
Overcoming Barriers to Diversity
Colorblind versus Colorconscious
Racial Attitudes of Asian American Ministers of MRCs
Asian Americans as Bridge Builders
Findings
Asian American Evangelical Leadership
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