Deficiency of Inclusion

In my understanding, Christian Education pursues to expand the mind and empower people, by integrating study of the Word, church, world, and personal pilgrimage. Negative tensions, conflict and ineffectiveness arise when the perspectives of the Word, church, and world are predominately unilateral. This reality diminishes the personal pilgrimage of an individual or group of individuals and falls short of empowering people. The lack of awareness of one’s personal pilgrimage reduces the fullness of the Christian Education to simply an intellectual experience, and however rich this journey may be, I believe it is insufficient in fulfilling the latter goal of a Christian Education, which is to empower people, or rather the current and future leaders of the kingdom of God.

Our souls cry out, ‘I need to own my destiny!’ I believe that an individual’s destiny cannot be borrowed; rather it needs to be intimately personal! I believe ownership of one’s pilgrimage empowers ministers and consequently the kingdom of God. My destiny is unique, I am an Asian American male and my world is different from that of others within the Christian community. In many ways, my world overlaps with Whites, African Americans, Latino Americans, but at the same time it is uniquely different. There are also shades of differences within the umbrella of being an Asian American, which comprises of approximately 20 possible places of origin throughout the world. Never the less my world, and hence my journey is different from others and the various cultural nuances of my world desperately need to be acknowledged in order for my voice to be ‘real!’ Or better yet, a colleague of mine once said that as ministers, 'we shouldn't be so quick to preach pass the differences.'

I feel that there is a deficiency in trying to empower leaders with generalized inclusive values and principles, but I do wholeheartedly believe that as leaders in the kingdom of God, one of our primary missions is to usher in Revelations 7:9, ‘After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb…’ However, I have come to realize through my own painful experiences that genuine empowerment of ministers or training the men and women for the manifold ministries of the kingdom of God must allow for the ‘origin’ or beginnings of the leader(s). As Christians, we are all focused in the same direction, which is the manifestation of Revelations 7:9, but a vital part of our journey, must be in increasing the awareness of our various beginnings. Where do we come from? What is our history? What are our values? What is our culture? Understanding our origins through a theological perspective is necessary to navigate through our own personal journey, while developing an affective ministry.

Is contextualization a current part of Christian Education? I believe it is, but there is significant room for growth, even if it is for example development of more contextual curriculum to be used in various churches that focuses on integrating Christian Education with your context. I think Christian Education should allow for its people to struggle more in discovering, refining and cultivating a deep passion for our God given voice! A voice that resonates from the depths of our soul and that is more than us, a voice that incorporates our heritage, culture, and future transformation. A voice that is mandated by God to proclaim to all who would hear, a voice that we would endure suffering for, a voice that God willing, we would die for!