2007 – highlights of an exciting inaugural year!

What an exciting year for ISAAC!

2007 was a year for testing ideas and learning how ISAAC can best strengthen the work of individuals and organizations that serve Asian American Christians. We are grateful for all who have given time and resources to ISAAC!

Here are highlights of ten activities from 2007:

1. Appointment of Eastern and Southern California Regional Directors, Andrew Lee and Young Lee Hertig. We are going national!

2. Asian American Christianity Reader (co-sponsored by PAACCE). We are creating a resource for Asian American Christianity courses. Click here for more information. We anticipate publication by early 2008. PAACCE has also contracted ISAAC resource team members Young Lee Hertig and Russell Yee to write resources on Asian American Christian women’s legacy and Asian American worship.

3. Asian American Program Directors Summit at Fuller Seminary, Feb. 17th (co-sponsored with the Korean Institute for Advanced Theological Studies) a gathering of seminary-based Asian American Center directors at Fuller Seminary – see list of participants and purpose of the gathering. It was an important first step towards making theological education more relevant to Asian and Pacific North American Christian communities. This event was covered by Connie Kang of the Los Angeles Times.

4. Summer Immersion Program, Los Angeles, July 25-28: “Wow, wow, wow!! That’s all I can say! I can’t stop talking to everyone about the experience we had last week. It’s like I’ve been reintroduced to the REAL Good News!!” “I really think it was a fantastic experience and would recommend this to any Asian American who wants to grow and is open to learning about our communities…It stimulated my faith!” Find out more! Click here.

5. Bay Area Chinese Churches Project: On Jan. 13, over 40 leaders from Chinese churches in San Francisco’s Chinatown participated in the Bay Area Chinese Churches Project consultation at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco. This event was co-sponsored with the Chinese Christian Union. Oct. 27, over 35 persons participated in the consultation at Sunset Church in San Francisco. These are part of on an on-going follow-up study of Dr. James Chuck’s 1996 study of the Chinese Churches in the Bay Area. The next consultation will be held on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008 at the Bay Area Chinese Bible Church’s Alameda campus. Find out more at http://bapcc.wordpress.com/

6. Asian American Women on Leadership (AAWOL): 30 sisters attended AAWOL’s writers feedback meeting on Oct. 26th. AAWOL will produce a resource tool called “The Ying and Yang of Leadership: Biblical Characters According to Asian American Women” AAWOL is now planning a leadership retreat that will utilize the $2,000 grant from Yong Nak Presbyterian Church’s Community Service program. Visit the AAWOL blogsite at http://aawol.wordpress.com

7. ISAAC-Nagel reception at the American Academy of Religion/Socity of Biblical Literature Annual meetings in San Diego, Nov. 17-20. More than 100 joined us! Find out more – click here.

8. Society of Asian North American Christian Studies (SANACS): More than 50 charter members have joined SANACS since it was launched at the AAR/SBL meetings. Help support better and quality research about Christianity among Asian North American communities! Go to http://sanacs.wordpress.com/

9. Association of Theological Schools Asian and Asian North American Faculty Consultation in Dallas, TX, Dec. 7-9: Fifty faculty gathered to develop a report on effective theological education for Asian and Asian North American seminarians. Find out more! Click here.

10. Growing use of ISAAC’s Bulletin Board and Opportunities blog: Go to ISAAC Opportunities or ISAAC Bulletin Board

We look forward to a new year of exciting possibilities – for ISAAC 2008 activities, go to http://isaacblog.wordpress.com/isaac-events/

ATS Asian/Asian North American seminary faculty consultation (Dec. 7-9, 2007)

Fifty Asian and Asian North American (AANA) seminary faculty gathered in Dallas, Texas on Dec. 7-9, 2007 to discuss how to make Theological Education more effective for AANA seminarians. The findings will be summarized in a report for the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) early in 2008. The ATS credentials seminaries in the United States and Canada, approves their degree programs, and sponsored this consultation. The Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity (ISAAC) facilitated the planning of the consultation and will draft the report. Russell Moy chaired the planning committee, which included Ekron Chen (Logos Evangelical Seminary), Oliver McMahon (Church of God Seminary), Seung Ai Yang (Chicago Theological Semnary), and Timothy Tseng (ISAAC). Daniel Aleshire (Executive Director), Janice Edwards-Armstrong (Director, Leadership Education), and Karen Kuder of the Association of Theological Schools also staffed the consultation. This was the second consultation for AANA faculty organized by the ATS. The first was held in Redondo Beach, California, in 2005.

On Friday, Dan Aleshire started the consultation by providing statistical information about the current status of Asian and Asian North American (AANA) seminarians in ATS seminaries. In 2006, AANAs made up 7.5% of the total ATS student body – which is a higher percentage than their overall population and slightly higher than their percentages in other graduate level programs (6.5%). This is equivalent to the percentage of Visa (or international) students, of whom a large number come from Asian nations. 13% of the total student body are African Americans/Canadians (which is equivalent to their population in North America) and only 3% are Hispanics (compared to their general population of 13%).

Among the AANA seminarians, only 35% are enrolled in M.Div. programs – an indicator that the traditional church ministry route is not as popular as it once was or that churches and ministry organizations are more open to hiring AANA graduates without M.Div. degrees. Approximately 4,000 AANA students attend evangelical seminaries (9% of the student body), 750 attend mainline Protestant seminaries (3.5%), and less than 500 attend Roman Catholic seminaries (6.7%). Interestingly, 6% of the faculty in evangelical seminaries are AANA, 4.7% in mainline Protestant seminaries, and 3% in Roman Catholic seminaries.

Download complete Asian & Asian American Seminarians powerpoint presentation

On Saturday, four seminary educators made brief presentations and facilitated break out groups discussions. Peter Cha (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) gave an overview of the emerging landscape of ministry among Asian Americans. Mai Anh Tran (Pacific School of Religion) engaged the question of inter-generational factors in AANA communities, congregations, and seminarians. Seung Ai Yang (Chicago Theological Seminary) had the group interrogate the complexity of gender and race issues in classroom settings. Tim Tseng (ISAAC) facilitated a conversation around educational assets and stereotypical deficits that AANA students bring to seminaries and encouraged participants to suggest ways that seminaries can more effectively work with these students. On Sunday, the four gave summaries of the break out group discussions. The notes of the discussions will be summarized into a report by ISAAC on behalf of the consultation.

In addition to the opportunities to work together, network and fellowship, the contextualized worship service led by Debbie Gin (Haggard School of Theology at Azusa Pacific University) was another highlight of the consultation. Frank Yamada (Seabury-Western Theological Seminary) accompanied Debbie’s piano with guitar and Diane Chen (Palmer Theological Seminary) gave a thought-provoking homily. A video of the service can be viewed and downloaded at: http://www.4shared.com/file/31926798/dbf0f6a8/ATS_AANA_worship.html?dirPwdVerified=2d3679f6

ISAAC looks forward to developing the consultation report and partnering with ATS and its member schools in the future!

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The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) is a membership organization of more than 250 graduate schools that conduct post-baccalaureate professional and academic degree programs to educate persons for the practice of ministry and for teaching and research in the theological disciplines.

The Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity (ISAAC) is a 501(c)3 non-profit that seeks to advance research in Asian American Christianity and strengthen organizations that serve and minister to Asian American communities.

Report: ISAAC-Nagel Reception at the AAR/SBL Annual Meeting

Over a hundred guests celebrated the work of the Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity and the Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity at Calvin College on Nov. 17th at the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature annual meetings. Prof. Diane Obenchain shared about Nagels’ current projects. Dr. Joel Carpenter is the Director of the Nagel Institute.

In addition to sharing about ISAAC’s programs, it also encouraged the scholars of religion, theology, and biblical scholars who attend the AAR/SBL meetings to join the newly formed Society of Asian North American Christian Studies (SANACS). The new society will promote greatest scholarly attention to Asian Christianity in North America and will publish an Annual journal. Charter membership dues are $45. Contact Dr. Russell Yee for more information.

ISAAC is grateful for this partnership with the Nagel Institute and looks forward to future opportunities to collaborate.

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About the Nagel Institute
http://www.calvin.edu/nagel/

The Nagel Institute was founded in 2006 as a service of Calvin College to those who study the rise of Christianity in the global south and east, and to others who are eager to see Christian thought and cultural engagement flourish in those regions.

The mission of the Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity is to accomplish significant work in the following three areas. We intend to:

• Promote a deeper understanding of world Christianity,

• Partner with study centers to strengthen Christian intellectual movements in the global south and east, and

• Provoke a reorientation of Christian thought in the North Atlantic region toward the concerns arising from world Christianity.