On March 26-April 23, every Thursday evening from 7-9pm, the Asian American Ministry Program (AAMP) of Seattle Pacific Seminary (SPS) hosted a Church Partnership Course at Lighthouse Christian Fellowship. The course welcomed over thirty church leaders from various churches in Bellevue and Seattle. It provided an important opportunity for Asian American Christian leaders to understand the historical and contemporary reality of systemic racism and the biblical call to racial reconciliation.
Taught by Dr. David Leong, Dr. David Nienhuis, and Billy Vo (Director of the AAMP and SPS), this course explored race and ethnicity from a variety of perspectives (e.g., Social Sciences, Theology, Biblical Studies). Its purpose was to introduce participants to the following: the pervasive influence of racialization upon our sense of personal identity; the ways race has influenced the systems and institutions of American society; a biblical theology of racial reconciliation in the Church; and discuss some practical ways churches can participate in the ministry of racial reconciliation in the communities where they live. Participants also read select chapters from Michael Emerson and Christian Smith’s “Divided By Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America” (2000) and Krister Stendahl’s “The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West” (1976) for the course.
Central to mission of the AAMP is to form Christian leaders to be witnesses to the gospel in the Seminary, as well as in the local Church. To this end, the AAMP hopes to offer another iteration of this course in the community during the 2015-2016 academic year.
Posted: Thursday, April 30, 2015