Asian American college students are more likely to show a Christian commitment than other ethnic groups, says Tim Stafford in an article entitled “The Tiger in the Academy.” The article, in the April issue of Christianity Today, also asserts that the more selective a U.S. college, the higher the percentage of Asian students.
The article also says that the influence of Asian Americans on the American church will continue to grow in the years ahead. It reports large numbers of Asian students are enrolled in seminaries. Fuller Seminary, on the west coast, reports 22 percent enrollment by Asian citizens or Americans of Asian descent. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in the Midwest has an Asian enrollment of almost 9 percent.
InterVarsity has seen the growing impact of Asian Americans in its ministry on many American college campuses. The article quotes several InterVarsity staff members: Paul Tokunaga, National Coordinator for Asian American Ministries; Sabrina Chan, Central Texas Area Director; Greg Jao, New York/New Jersey Regional Director; and Tom Lin, a former Harvard staff worker now in ministry in Asia.
At many U.S. colleges, InterVarsity operates through several ethnic-specific fellowships, including Asian American, African American, and Latino. These groups hold some joint activities, but the ethnic focus allows both a comfortable social environment for each culture, as well as opportunities to address the ethnic issues of society. InterVarsity has 27 Asian American chapters. However the students in those chapters comprise only about one third of our total of Asian American students. Two thirds are in multiethnic-oriented chapters.
“The challenge for Asian Americans in an ethnic fellowship is to use it as a base for evangelism, not just to stick with people they are comfortable with,” said Paul Tokunaga in the article. Another point, not made in the article, is that the challenge for Asian Americans in multiethnic chapters is to find ways to develop their identity as Asian Americans because that rarely happens in a multiethnic context.
“InterVarsity’s multiethnic ministry emphasis has allowed us to embrace the diversity found on the typical college campus,” says InterVarsity president Alec Hill. “Our unity is through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That sends a powerful message to the campus community.”
