YOUTH IDENTITY vs. CHRISTIAN FAITH

By Wing Tai LEUNG
General Secretary of Breakthrough

Two years ago one morning, as I was about to speak to 200 ethnic Chinese youths at a campsite suburb of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on the subject of bicultural bridging, I pondered on the ethnic and cultural identities of Chinese youths. I talked to myself, "this is not the end of the world, it is not the Sino-Japanese War, what is the importance and urgency of the topic?" Then I recalled the 911 incident of New York and the notion of the clash of civilization of Samuel Huntington. It was an urgent matter for the young people to reflect on ethnic and cultural identities. With this conviction, I spoke on the subject: 'In Search of Daniel Parents,' from the Biblical character in the Old Testament. Today, I think the issue of youth identity and ethnicity is of growing relevance among ethnic Chinese Christian youths.

Identity is important to a person. Identity provides the worth and sense of direction for a young person. Personal identity relates to the past, present and future of a person. The Bible encourages Christians to confess our faith in Christ and as joint-heirs with Him. We become what we confess. David was conscious of his identity after he was secretly anointed King of Israel. Paul was motivated to preach the Gospel when he was appointed by Christ to be an Apostle. In the present days, the media become strong shaping forces of the identity of youths. Christian counter-culture is to sharpen our personal and corporate identities from a Biblical perspective.

Ethnic Chinese Christian Youths do have multiple identities. The Chinese Church must address these diversified and yet related identities, viz. personal, familial, social, cultural, ethnic, national, global, and spiritual identities. To negate one or all of these identities is to negate oneself. To nurture a strong leadership for the future of the Chinese Church, we must cultivate the identity consciousness among our young people.

1. Personal Identity: In 1979 when I was at the Shanghai coastline, all I saw was a throng of people dressed in the same color: blue. Today the young people in Shanghai are all individually dressed in vibrant colors. Each young person is unique, with personal talent, aspiration, and aptitude. God uses different persons for unique missions, compatible to their various temperaments. Eric Liddell in the movie Chariots of Fire once remarked, "God made me fast!" He would like to run in the Olympic to glorify God.
2. Family Identity: Nelson Mandela's father was a king-maker. He coached tribal leaders how to be kings. Mandela had the privilege to watch how these tribal leaders conduct meetings and become servant-leaders. Our family brought ups affect our values and orientations. Each young person has a family heritage. Joseph, though sold to Egypt by his brothers, had to come to term with them as a family. Psychologist would say that our parents influence our characters and affect the way we parent our children. Young people need to come to term with our family heritage, including wounds and memories.
3. Social Identity: After his legal education in Africa, the young Ganhdi returned to India, only to find that social injustice was everywhere, under the British Colonial Government. He ventured to make Salt, a public civic disobedience act, which triggered a series of social changes. Social justice is a strong vein among the Old Testament prophets. Jesus had a special concern for the poor. Social discrimination and injustice need to be rectified.
4. Cultural Identity: Migration uprooted many people from their homeland to a foreign land. Many Chinese migrated to South-East Asia, North America, and around the world. There we create acronyms such as ABC, CBC, OBC and others for the Ethnic Chinese Youths residing outside of China. There are a few orientations adopted by these migrants. A past-orientation inclines to look toward the past and reject new things. A present-orientation takes advantages of the current opportunities and lives for the day. A future-orientation works hard to store up for tomorrow. Young people can learn to nurture simultaneous temporal orientations that can embrace the past, present and the future. Hong Kong, even returned to China sovereignty, is mandated to have One-Country Two-Systems, meaning to have legitimate double cultural identities. This is unprecedented in the history of colonialism. Bicultural orientation provided the Apostle Paul with competence to bridge people from Hellenistic and Judaic cultures to unit in Christ. Ethnic Chinese Christians Youths need to appreciate cultural diversity and their multiple cultural roots.
5. Ethnic Identity: When Russian reformed in the 1990's, she had a hard time of economic recovery. When China reformed after the Cultural Revolution, she progressed quite well during the next two decades. One of the differences between the two nations could be that China had a strong ethnic Chinese overseas network that was eager to contribute to the reconstruction of China. The Chinese people are very ethnic conscious. Many would like to die and be buried in the Motherland. Ethnicity is also a sensitive issue in China mainland, especially in Tibet and other ethnic minority districts. So ethnicity can cause unity or separatism. Nehemiah returned to build the Jerusalem City Wall during the Persian reign. Esther risked her life and position as the queen to save her ethnic kinsmen from ethnic cleansing. Ethnicity needs to be affirmed, especially for people living in a foreign land.
6. National Identity: National identity is important, especially the pledge of allegiance in the time of war. David when hiding among the Philistines, faced the dilemma of at war with his own people--the Jews. Japanese Americans were imprisoned, though illegally, in America after the Pearl Harbor attack. Ethnic Chinese migrants must take national identity seriously. It is more than singing the national anthem and swearing an oath. It implies a pledged commitment. Immigrants from Hong Kong and China sometimes migrate because of a greener pasture, without taking root in the new soil and commit to be loyal to the new country. What if Canada or America is at war with China? Which side should one take: ethnic or national allegiance?
7. Global Identity: Being tribal and only focus on local interests can be dangerous and harmful to the global environment. The world is getting smaller, due to information technology and global travels. One must have a global outlook in a shrinking world. Global literacy is the ability to communicate meaningfully with people from different parts of the world. China is opening up to the World after 500 years of closure. America is dominating the World in terms of military and political might. Globalization can be another cycle of Western imperialism. Christians can be conscious of Mother Earth and accommodate a diversity of cultures. Daniel, the Old Testament prophet, was able to serve across many Empires and Kingdoms. He prayed toward Jerusalem and served a foreign King Nebuchadnezzar. To his countrymen, he was a Traitor. However, his heart was both global and local, ethnic and national.
8. Spiritual Identity: The Apostle Paul encouraged the Philippian Christians that they had double identities, both heavenly and earthly citizenship. Paul was conscious that a historical mystery was unfold by God through him that in Christ, Gentiles and Jews would inherit the Kingdom of God together. In God we are united, disrespect of other differences. Walter Rauschenbusch was conscious that when we prayed "Our Father who art in Heaven..." we would be pronouncing that all human beings on earth are kinsmen with the same parent.

In summary, Ethnic Chinese Christian Youths have multiple identities. In the days of the Acts of the Apostles, Christians spoke in native tongues to glorify God. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in a diversity of mother tongues. In the last days, the Book of Revelation discloses that many people from all the nations of the world shall sing in their native tongues to praise God. Young people need to rethink their identities, affirm their multiple roots and ponder on the affiliation hierarchy. The Spiritual Identity would be the most important and unifying identity because only the spiritual reality is eternal. However, radical religious affiliation can be dangerous too. The tragic history of the Christian Crusade and the Irish civil wars testify to this. The same is true for ethnicity. The tragedy of ethnic cleansing in Serbia and Croatia is a warning. Identities are to be affirmed. Yet embrace differences and appreciate diversity is more important. Hopefully Ethnic Chinese Christian Youths could move away from the uniformity of the Tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues, into unity in diversity.