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About

In this powerful episode of the Resilient Pastor podcast, host Glenn Pacquiao sits down with Pastor Raymond Chang, President of the Asian American Christian Collaborative (AACC). They explore the unique challenges facing Asian American Christians, the rise of anti-Asian violence during COVID-19, and the often-overlooked history of Asian American marginalization in the United States. Chang shares how the AACC advances whole-life discipleship through advocacy, education, and community building while offering valuable insights on racial unity, listening across cultures, and what the Asian American church can contribute to the broader evangelical landscape.

This conversation is essential for church leaders seeking to understand Asian American experiences, build bridges across ethnic lines, and engage the next generation with authentic, holistic discipleship.

Key Takeaways

• Asian American Christians face rising discrimination, violence, and historical erasure that many majority-culture Christians are unaware of.
• The AACC was founded in March 2020 in response to anti-Asian rhetoric like “China virus” and “Kung flu,” which fueled real-world harm.
• Advocacy, education, and community building are essential to equipping Asian American believers for whole-life discipleship.
• White Christians consistently underestimate the unfair treatment faced by people of color, highlighting the urgent need for listening and learning.
• The Asian American church offers powerful gifts to the wider church: collectivist values, respect for elders, commitment to harmony, and a deep sense of family and reciprocity.
• Defensive postures around cultural commitments often masquerade as theological convictions, creating major barriers to racial unity in the church.
• Over one million church-raised young people leave the faith each year — largely due to hypocrisy, defensiveness, and failure to address pressing cultural questions.
• Whole-church discipleship and humble, open postures are critical for reaching the next generation and rebuilding a resilient church.

Highlights

• “Just going along to get along… is not going to be enough for us to not experience discrimination, hate, and even violence.”
• “Jesus was always moving towards the margins… Where Jesus’s focus consistently was in his own life and ministry.”
• “When Asians cross into the United States, we are treated similarly” — even across vastly different ethnic and national backgrounds.
• “We bring generations and centuries of knowing, being, relating, and doing… When I go to an Indian church or Chinese church, I am automatically someone’s uncle.”
• “One of the ways you know you’re getting close to an idol is how defensive people get when you poke at the idol.”
• “The pandemic has been a gift because it exposed a lot of the areas in which Christianity has been weak.”
• Chang’s closing benediction: “May God give you the grace to love well and to lead faithfully… not by might, not by power, but by the Spirit of God.”

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