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Likewise, Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) at UT launched Epic, an Asian American movement. Regional coordinator Dennis Chen says, "Until five or six years ago, we really thought we could effectively reach the broad range of students through large, multiethnic meetings. [But] we realized even if we had 400 really diverse students coming to a meeting, that would not serve our end, which is reaching the whole campus. Some would not set foot in your meetings, no matter how well you do it."

On campuses across America, student movements like IV and CCC have deliberately split into ethnic fellowships. An Asian American group is almost always one of those groups. Most large universities also have Chinese or Korean fellowships rooted in ethnic churches.

When campus fellowships remain united, their greatest challenge may be to hang on to non-Asian students, including Anglos, who feel uncomfortable as a minority. At Stanford, for example, IV had become predominately Asian five years ago. Only a determined effort has drawn in whites and other ethnicities to create a more diverse group.

"If someone were to ask me what religion is practiced by Chinese immigrants, I would say money," says Steven Chin, pastor of a large Chinese church in Boston that ministers to many college students. "This is what they live for and dream about. They want financial security. This is why they want education—not just any kind of education, but an education that will make money. They were taught that if you have enough money, you will be happy, that money will provide the answers for you. As people got money and began to live well in nice homes, young people felt that something was missing. The next generation of Asian Americans is looking for purpose that money cannot fulfill. Many are looking to God. It's not the influence of Christian parents [that leads so many young Asians to Christianity]. These are non-Christians who are searching."

Tom Lin, a former Harvard IV staff worker now serving in Asia, adds: "Before Asian students arrive in elite schools, they've spent almost their whole lifetime for the purpose of getting that acceptance letter. But once they actually arrive and begin, the search for meaning and what's next comes around."

It would be hard to exaggerate the significance of family for Asian American students. American parents raise their children to become independent and free; the Confucian heritage of most Asian families values lifelong subservience. Many Asian parents expect to guide their children's decisions at least until they marry. Immigrant parents who came out of poverty advise, "Work hard, study hard, get a good job." One pastor says that he felt deep shame going to Tufts University; his parents had hoped for Harvard.

Consequently, says Rebecca Kim, a sociology professor at Pepperdine, "The picture of Jesus, who offers unconditional love, forgiveness, and strength, [is] especially inviting to many Asian American college students."

In the book Following Jesus Without Dishonoring Your Parents, Greg Jao describes a friend pulled between her parents' culture and that of her new, non-Asian friends. "My non-Asian friends tell me I need to do what is right for me. And they tell me that I need to love Jesus more than I love my family. But the youth pastor at my home church says that the Bible tells me to honor and obey my parents." Jao explains that doing something "because I should" or "because it is expected" signals maturity in Asian cultures, while doing something "because it feels right or honest to me" suggests maturity in modern Western cultures.

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April 2006, Vol. 50, No. 4