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Why You Should Never Despise Your Ethnicity

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“I just wish I could be like everyone else”

“Why do people stare at me when I walk into a store? I wish I could just fit in..”

“I hate my hair…it’s so different…why can’t it look like other kids?”

These are just a few comments I’ve heard from ethnic children growing up. In all honesty, I’ve asked these questions to myself, my parents, and to God many times growing up. My ethnicity for a long time was something that made me different from other people. It wasn’t until college that I realized that my perspective on my ethnicity was hurting me, not helping me. The reality was, my ethnicity was what made me unique. My ethnic story intertwined within an American cultural context made me so incredibly unique and provided an ability to develop a certain skill set that others may never have. Sadly, one of the realities of our society is that there are children today that are asking these questions and not seeing the immense blessing that their ethnicity is. Our perspective change in this particular matter is incredibly important. Not just for ourselves, but also for how we will parent our children. Especially, if you have biracial children like I have. My three handsome half Indian half caucasian boys typically comment on their skin color. The other night my oldest son Liam said, “Daddy, I’m brown like you AND White like mommy!”. I sat there amazed and so proud of my son. I love that he doesn’t despise his ethnicity but takes pride in it and sees how it is a reflection of his parents.

Despising Your Ethnicity Causes Problem

Putting it very simply, wishing you were something or someone else than who God created you to be will only cause problems, hurt, and heart break. The same energy that you put into creating doubt and insecurity in your life could be spent identifying and growing in the skill’s that God has given you. The problems that are associated with despising your ethnicity are not only vast, but can cause serious life altering problem.

  • It can create a low self-esteem

  • It can warp what your reality is

  • It will steal time and effort that can be better utilized in developing the skills God has given you

  • It will distract you from who you are in Christ

Your Ethnicity is A Gift

While we live in a world that is filled with racial tension, it is more important today to see the gift that our ethnicity is. Our ethnicity allows us to reflect Christ as an ambassador of the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). Christ, who was fully divine humbled himself to become human and live alongside us to bring us rescue. I love that Hebrews describes him as our great high priest who can empathize and relate to us because he walked, lived, loved, and died on this very same earth only to conquer sin and death to return to His rightful place next to the Father. In the same way that Christ can relate, our ethnicity provides us a unique opportunity to relate and minister to people around us. Growing up my group of friends were hispanic, asian, african american, and caucasian. We learned very quickly the similarities of our families which served as a bridge for me to relate to their lives. This bridge is a gift that God have us to engage our community with the goodness of the Gospel!

Learn Your Ethnic History

Our ethnic story serves as a means of motivation. As I learned about the British missionaries that came to India to share the gospel with my grandparents I was filled with a mix of emotions. If it wasn’t for this missionary couple, the Slaters, who came to villages surrounding Hyderabad, India to share Jesus to children, I wouldn’t be who I am today. I am amazed that such a huge part of my ethnic story involves a Caucasian missionary couple who not only lived in India but retired and died in the same village that they served the Lord for decades. Our ethnic story is important. For some of us it gives us a clearer picture of our own trajectory and journey. For others, it points to the saving grace of God. Who steps in, intervenes, and rescues us from a path of destruction and places us on a journey to His Kingdom (Col 1:13). Learn your ethnic story, and rejoice in the God who saves.

Bridging Two Worlds: Ethnicity and Church

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Church and Ethnicty

I grew up in a traditional Indian family. 90 percent of our meals were Indian food, curry, naan, white rice, and for some special occasions my mom would make her famous lamb Hyderbadi Biryani. Needless to say, Indian culture was deeply rooted and emphasized in my life. However, I always felt a tension between the culture that I went home to and the culture that I found myself living in outside of my home. While the culture in my school and community emphasized a specific way of living it seemed my home life in some areas simply had a difference of opinion and in other areas out right contradicted each other.

It wasn’t long before I experienced this exact tension in the four corners of the church. I found myself going to an “Indian” church that usually met on Saturdays or Sunday afternoons, while also going to “American” church on Sunday mornings. I found the same tension exists between these two churches. Further, I found myself smack in between. Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to be apart of some great conferences that are tackling the ethnicity and race issue within the church. It has been incredibly encouraging and helpful to sit under, listen to, and read pastors and theologians like Crawford and Bryan Lorrits, Derwin L. Gray, Albert Tate, and Matt Chandler deal with the race and ethnicity issue from a biblical framework. As I’ve listened to these incredible men of God discuss, dialogue, and inform this topic I began to consider my own context and dilemma.

The Dilemma – My parents prefer an Indian Church and I prefer an american church. How do we deal with the segregation of churches based on racial/ethnic identification.

So, there we have it. Some would argue that this is an issue that is isolated to immigrants and will not be an issue for those born in the U.S regardless of ethnicity. I would disagree. What we forget is how this issue impacts the children of those that immigrated to the U.S. Speaking as one of those children, the impact is significant. I believe I began to compartmentalize the Gospel based on ethnicity and culture, rather then seeing the holistic beauty of the body of Christ.

As I consider the reasons for a segregation of church based on ethnicity I believe it comes down to some form of comfort. The comfort of language, understanding jokes and having a common framework to build friendship upon, the similarity of being of the same ethnicity and understanding the challenges of coming to a new place. I can empathize with these reasons. However, I believe the healthiest thing for the church is not a “segregation” but an “inclusion” of all people types. Ultimately, my friend Derwin Gray unpacks the core root of the issue as he states, “The reason the church is segregated is that we don’t believe deeply enough in the power of the cross.”.

Colossians 3:11 answers how we should proceed the best. Simply put, there is not race or ethnicity but Christ is all.

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Therefore, our gatherings should be reflective of the community that we live in. We should celebrate and invite ethnicity into our church building while leaving a sense of “superiority aside.

We should celebrate and invite ethnicity into our church building while leaving a sense of…

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Dr. John Piper describes it this way:

“Where people have died with Christ and been created as a new self in the image of God, this canyon (race/ethnicity)* will not stop love and fellowship.”  – John Piper

Dr. Piper is making an observation that after we have been crucified with Christ and have become new in Christ, there is no distinction, separation, or barrier. This extends into love and fellowship amongst believer.

The issue of comfort can be solved with a church leadership team that is intentionally looking for ways to provide venues to meet such needs. This may be done in the form of a community or small group. Even more important, children see the beauty of ethnicity and culture in how God designed us. Our children grow up with a holistic view of God that includes every ethnicity and culture.

This requires sacrifice. Its a sacrifice to lay what is comfortable aside to do what is best in light of the Word of God and our families, churches, and communities.

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