Christ Above All

The gospel unites Asian Americans across generational lines

Imagine leaving all that’s familiar to you and starting a new life.

In 1992, that's what David Nguyen’s parents did. Nguyen, a current student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS), faithfully served first- and second-generation Asian American populations during his time in seminary. His parents’ journey to the U.S. in 1992 set in motion a series of blessings that God used to solidify his call to ministry. By God’s providence, when Nguyen’s parents left Vietnam, they crossed paths with a missionary couple in the Philippines who encouraged them and financially supported their journey to the U.S. Nguyen was born one month after they had arrived in the states and had settled in Tampa, Florida.

Upon arriving in Florida, the family established themselves in a Vietnamese church. However, as David and his younger brother entered high school, they soon found that the church was theologically deficient and was not a place where they could grow spiritually. So, as they continued to look for churches in the area, they found South Tampa Fellowship, where Pastor Jeff Parish and Missions Pastor Kelly Green were leading at the time. Through this church family, Nguyen saw his faith begin to take root, and it was during his time in this local congregation that he first experienced the mentorship of older Christian men like Green and others.

Nguyen is among many others seeking to make disciples among Asian Americans. In 2019, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) noted 2,107 congregations who worshipped in an Asian context, 4.1 percent of all SBC churches. SBC messengers also established the Asian American Collective in 2018, a group of secondgeneration (millennial) Asian Americans who desire to network, develop friendships, and disciple Gen Z Asian Americans. The group, consisting of over 2,000 churches, held its first meeting at the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Asian American involvement within the SBC has also grown by 20.7 percent between 2010-2020. As these numbers grow, there is also a need for greater representation within leadership in the SBC and for more people to reach Asian Americans in the United States. Nguyen is playing a role in this effort as he ministers to Vietnamese Americans.

At South Tampa Fellowship, Nguyen saw an emphasis on being a congregation of disciple-making disciples. As he was discipled and shaped through the ministries of his local church, leaders noticed his gift to teach and invest in the next generation. As a college student, Nguyen started teaching high school seniors. The more he taught and discipled the next generation, the more he desired to get equipped with further theological training. SEBTS was the first campus he visited. Even though he had considered a few other seminaries around the country, he heard from trusted mentors who had attended SEBTS and felt confident it would be a place where he could learn and grow.

While attending Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, Nguyen also had the opportunity to serve local Vietnamese churches. Pastor Paul Cao, a Vietnamese pastor at Vietnamese Baptist Church of High Point (VBCHP) in Greensboro, loves to connect SEBTS students to preaching opportunities in the area. A SEBTS graduate himself, he understands the importance of hands-on experience while gaining a theological education.

Children and their families gathered for Easter at VBCHP

This posture of learning while leading has helped Nguyen serve Vietnamese brothers and sisters well. Unique challenges exist between first- and second-generation Asian American Christians. The tendency for second-generation believers to elevate self-expression and deviate from their parents’ prescribed life plan is a primary tension Nguyen has noticed. While he doesn’t believe anything is wrong with self-expression, he instead believes the second generation needs to place their primary identity first in Christ. Second generation Asian American believers live in the tension of two cultures, and Nguyen desires for them to root themselves in Christ because only Christ will bring lasting joy and satisfaction.

However, Nguyen also sees the second generation’s creativity in the way they worship each week — a blend of self-expression that points to the beauty of Christ. On the other hand, first-generation believers place a high view on traditional worship, believing that their formality symbolizes the sacredness of the God they worship. When Nguyen preaches to a congregation where first-generation members are present, he will begin with a formal greeting, acknowledging every prominent congregation member to honor them. To not do so would be culturally offensive. It’s cultural tensions like this that Nguyen keeps in his mind as he preaches in Vietnamese churches and seeks to bridge generational gaps. He believes that humility to learn from one another is the key to bridging this gap.

Nguyen feels like SEBTS has prepared him for ministry in the Vietnamese church by realizing it’s not just about ministry itself but about reaching the nations. “Southeastern has equipped me to fulfill the Great Commission and to faithfully preach the gospel,” Nguyen said. “I am so thankful that Southeastern has cultivated a learning environment where seminary students do head work, heart work, and hand work together to fulfill our Master’s final marching orders.”

After graduating with his Master of Arts in Marital, Family, and Individual Counseling in December, he hopes to plant a multicultural church while working as a clinical counselor. He believes being able to bring Asian Americans of all generations and backgrounds together is a beautiful picture of how the gospel unites people under one common theme: Christ above all.

Nguyen, however, is not waiting until he graduates to use his counseling training. He currently counsels families in crisis through the Baptist Children’s Home of North Carolina. For Nguyen, his goal in counseling is to walk alongside those who are suffering, to share the hope of Christ, and to remind them that nothing in this life is meaningless. Every third week of the month, Nguyen also takes the seniors from his church to volunteer at the Baptist Children’s Home, packing and sorting donations of food, toys, and other items. “We meet people where they are,” Nguyen says. “That has always been the heartbeat of the place.”

As Nguyen continues to be faithful to fulfilling the mission to preach the gospel and make disciples among Asian Americans, his deepest desire is to see more congregations that look like the group described in Revelation 7:9: every nation, tribe, people, and tongue worshipping Christ together. After all, that’s what theological education is all meant to point to in the first place.