Growing Healthy Asian American Churches
Ch. 9: Households of Mercy and Justice
By Soon-Chan Rah
The final chapter of GHAAC is dedicated to the AA church becoming a church that is actively representing God’s heart for mercy and justice in today’s world with so much pain and systemic injustice. Rah writes, “Our churches need to be places where God’s justice and mercy are proclaimed and demonstrated. If our churches are to become the household of God, then they must have a public witness and not merely exist for the sake of maintaining their own households.” (185)
While evangelism has often been limited to opportunities for “personal salvation” the author writes, “Evangelism is no longer defined simply as individual salvation but can now be seen as the expression of God’s kingdom values into the world as expressed by the households of God.” (191)
The author writes, “Asians are not only seen as the model minority, we are also seen as a silent minority.” (197) This insight has been interesting for me. I’ve heard much about the dynamics of what it means to AA leaders to be seen as the model minority, but have recently begun to hear from such leaders that there is a tendency for Asian Americans to avoid controversial issues or other social justice kind of opportunities. It’s been interesting hearing about some of the perceived causes of this phenomenon, but Rah argues among others that this trend must be reversed – especially in light of the immigrant background of so many Asian American churches. There is a tremendous opportunity for the AA church.
Another quote from the author: “But striving to become the household of God may mean sacrificing these worldly measures of success. A church that seeks to exhibit justice and compassion may experience more failure than success.”(199)