Learning Our Names

What's your name?

Asian Americans know the pain of being called names that deny our humanity. We may toggle back and forth between different names as a survival strategy. But it's a challenge to discern what names reflect our true identities as Asian Americans and as Christians. In an era when Asians face ongoing discrimination and marginalization, it can be hard to live into God's calling for our lives.

Asian American Christians need to hear and own our diverse stories beyond the cultural expectations of the model minority or perpetual foreigner. A team from East Asian, Southeast Asian, and South Asian backgrounds explores what it means to learn our names and be seen by God. They encourage us to know our history, telling diverse stories of the Asian diaspora in America who have been shaped and misshaped by migration, culture, and faith. As we live in the multiple tensions of being Asian American Christians, we can discover who we are and what God may have in store for us and our communities.

Sabrina S. Chan, a daughter of immigrants from Hong Kong, is national director of Asian American Ministries for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. She is an ordained minister and earned a master's degree in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Linson Daniel is associate pastor at METRO Church, located in both Farmers Branch and Frisco, Texas. He is a senior adviser to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and the South Asian American ministry adviser at Fuller Theological Seminary's Asian American Center. He is a coauthor of Learning Our Names and lives in Dallas with his wife and two children.

E. David de Leon (Pilipino American) is a doctoral student at Fordham University and previously served as national director of InterVarsity's Global Urban Trek.

La Thao (Hmong American) is an InterVarsity campus staff in Wisconsin and previously served as the director of InterVarsity's Hmong Christian Collegiate Conference.