My Cultural Journey (Part 1)

It took all of 3 seconds for me realize that I didn't belong. Yes, the faces were friendly and the "Welcome Committee" did a fine job of making my entrance less awkward, but the reality was that I felt like a stranger crashing someone else's family reunion.

That was my initial experience and impression of Cru as a student. It was such an uncomfortable experience that, despite liking the teaching and almost everything that Cru stood for at the University of Texas, I vowed to never go back.

I did, however, go back to Cru. But not immediately. It was almost a full school semester later before I dared to show my face there again. And it definitely wasn't because I went willingly. I had befriended another student in my Chinese class and, as the Lord would have it, he was a student leader involved with Cru and kept inviting me to go again.

I ended up going and staying, then leading, then going on Summer Project, then on STINT to East Asia. I stayed, despite always having the feeling that I didn't truly belong there. At some point, another Chinese-American student told me of how she wanted a different experience by attending a predominantly all Caucasian church. I wanted that. I already did high school and that meant going to a Chinese church, going to a Chinese Christian Youth Camp and hanging out with Chinese friends. I really enjoyed that but I wanted something new too. So I stayed.

By my Senior year, I had become a very prominent student leader on my campus. At that time, several Epic Movement staff had made their way onto the University of Texas. I very much wondered what the Cru and Epic staff were going to do with me. Would they ask me to go help launch Epic because of my ethnic background? Would they ask me to stay?

I am thankful that a staff member of each team sat down with me and we discussed together where I would be a good fit. I should note that one was an Asian American on staff with Epic and the other was also an Asian American on staff with Cru. I appreciated that I wasn't put in a contextualized ministry (Epic) based solely on my ethnic background.

Which makes me wonder, "How many times (as someone on staff) have I automatically assumed someone should be a part of a certain ministry based solely on the way they look? Or only on their interests? Or their academic or athletic pursuits? How many times have I assumed to know someone's story or where they belonged because of my first impressions and following assumptions?"

In being a part of a ministry that was mostly majority-culture, the 18 year old me wanted to be somewhere else. The 19 year old me wanted to learn more. The 22 year old me felt that he belonged. No one would have known any of that unless they had asked me about it and entered my story.

As our ministries within the Cru umbrella continue to expand and grow, I pray that we carefully understand and hear the stories of our audience before we assume we know where they fit.