interviewing American Born Chinese

Pastor Steven MacDonald of Chinese Bible Church of Greater Lowell wants to hear faith stories from a broad spectrum of American Born Chinese (ABC), British Born Chinese (BBC), and Canadian Born Chinese (CBC). Take a look at the interview questions (Word .DOC format), fill it out, and send it in. Here’s how he’ll use those stories, in his own words:

Why do I want to do this interview? I have watched children grow into young adults. What I have seen is that many of our America-Born Chinese (ABC) young adults struggle with guilt, shame, a sense of unworthiness, and great pressure from high expectations and other issues, including identity. I want to address these needs first through a series of sermons (talks on Sunday morning) to help deal with these issues. Then I want to explore other means of meeting their needs. So, I need to understand the issues on a deeper level and to be ready to illustrate what I am talking about with real life, anonymous, stories. I want to speak to a broad audience so I am interviewing people of diverse backgrounds (Indians, Egyptian, Iranian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Cambodian…) but of a similar, “Asian” culture. More, I hope to get feedback and understanding not only from those in America but, also, in Canada and England.

You are helping others like yourself by doing this interview. Out of deep respect for you, allow me to assure you that any material I use will be strictly anonymous. Your identity will be seen by my eyes only. I will guard your anonymity as I would that of my children. I will be using this information to better inform my understanding of the issues involved. And I will be using the information to illustrate what I talk about in my sermons. I will keep it anonymous.

This is not a scientific survey. I am simply trying to understand better and I am looking for stories that others can relate to. Finally, allow me to say that I have deep respect for our first generation parents who, mostly, have only done as they knew best. I will not be attempting to bash the previous generation. I suspect that as we grow older our children will have their own lists of our short-comings. I only wish to find a better way for our generation and, perhaps, bring some understanding and reconciliation between the two generations.

Questions? Contact Pastor MacDonald via email to steve_hsiaofang[at]hotmail.com