The history of the Episcopal Church in the American West is tied intimately to the history of Asian Americans, particularly Chinese Americans. In the late 19th century, a Chinese Christian named Ah Foo began to preach the Gospel to railroad workers in the Diocese of Nevada. According to the Sheng Kung Post (the newsletter of the Episcopal Chinese Convocation), Ah Foo built a small chapel for 80 congregants in 1874 in Carson City.
In 1905, the first evangelical foundation for the Chinese in San Francisco was established. The True Sunshine Mission, which celebrated its centennial in Chinatown last year, ordained Father Daniel Wu, the first Chinese priest of the Episcopal Diocese of California.
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake forced Wu and the church to move to Oakland. After San Francisco’s reconstruction, half of True Sunshine’s congregation remained in Oakland to form the Church of Our Savior. The congregants who returned to San Francisco established the church under the official name of True Sunshine Church. Wu continued as the vicar of both churches.
Wu’s successors included Father Lau, who organized the committee that translated and published in California the Book of Common Prayer into Chinese, and Father Kwan, who developed new Chinese ministries throughout the state.
Asian American Movement Goes to Church
In 1973, the Episcopal Church’s general convention established the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry to serve the growing numbers of immigrants from Asian countries.
Today, the Ministry has 120 missions, congregations or ministries that are served by more than 100 Asian or EAM-related clergy, including two bishops. The Asian church members, including 18 Chinese congregations, comprise approximately 1.8 percent of the 2.5 million Episcopalians.
“I see the rise of Asian American leadership in the Episcopal Church, the increasing level of their involvement in all aspects of the Church’s life and at all levels of its activities,” the Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara says. Based at The Episcopal Church Center of New York, Vergara has served as the current missioner for the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry since 2004.
Vergara also predicts a “golden age” and the “flowering of Asian American ministry” in the Episcopal Church. At its 158th convention, the Diocese of California adopted a five-year plan to develop multiethnic and multicultural ministries. The diocesan convention also called on Bishop Marc Andrus to install a multicultural commissioner by June 2008. California clergy and lay leaders were asked to complete two sessions of anti-racism training over the next two years.
In 2006, True Sunshine produced a female priest of its own, when Bishop William Swing ordained the Rev. Connie Lam deacon. If the secessionists in San Joaquin represent the march back to the past, Lam and her new ministry at St. James in San Francisco represents the future.
In an age of uncertainty, America’s traditional denominations and their Asian clergy seek to attract new Americans with newer and progressive ministries that proclaim what the California Diocese calls “the good news of God’s unconditional love to all humankind.” In the words of Sheng Kung Post editor the Rev. Canon Thomas Pang, spreading the Gospel has “developed into the multidirectional and multimodal evangelical and pastoral work of today.”
More information about Asian American Episcopalians may be found at www.episcopalchurch.org/asian.htm.
This is a great article and being an Asian American(Filipino American) in the Episcopal Church its really great to see an article like this published because the Episcopalian Church, although it has a great theology, is still largely an “Anglo” church. I belong to a little church in Daly City called Holy Child St. Martin, a Filipino American Ministry(which is not limited to Filipinos because we have different ethnicities in our church who found a home with us) in the Diocese of California that was started up in the 80′s during Bishop Swing’s time in the excelsior district of SF. We also have a dynamic history as well and are proud to also have someone from our congregation become ordained. In fact, my brother The Rev. Jay S. Watan , a cradle Episcopalian, was also ordained in June by Bishop Swing. Fr. Jay is the only 2nd generation Fil-Am cradle Episcopalian(meaning raised in the church from birth) to be ordained in the USA(there are two other 2nd generation Fil-Am’s I know of but they were orginally Roman Catholic who later converted and decided to become ordained Episcopalian in other Diocese). It shows you how much many of the Diocese who support ethnic ministry’s still need to get their hands dirty if ethnic ministry’s are to thrive and if people of color in the church will even become ordained or even be allowed as leaders in there own community’s. If you want to learn more about Filipino Episcopalian Ministry’s Fr. Fred, my brother Fr. Jay, or I would love to share our stories along with many others.
Hello again, I needed to make a correction on the comment I made concerning The Rev. Jay’s ordination he was actually ordained by Bishop Marc Andrus in June of 2007. Thanks again for an excellent article.
May I congratulate Asian Week not only for featuring my good friend and classmate, Dr. Fred Vergara in the front page but also the timely and relevant articles during this difficult but equally challenging times in the history of the Anglican Communion particularly The Episcopal Church. May the local churches continue to be enlivened, enriched and encouraged in building an ethnic, multi-ethnic and/or multi-cultural congregations like the one envisioned by the Diocese of California. God bless.