Patriarchy is deadly.

And is not just violent for women, but also for men. However, men stand to benefit more as purveyors and enactors of patriarchal systems. Often this blinds men to the destructive costs and strange fruit of their allegiance to patriarchy. And even when men are aware of the need to heal from and confront patriarchy, there is a lack of community from which we can imagine a new future. We need communities where we can pursue our liberation from patriarchy while owning our participation in patriarchal systems of violence and destruction. This cohort aims to create that space for Asian American men, making a space for men who recognize their need for resourcing, practice, and community.

In this cohort, we will:

1. recognize and interrogate patriarchy’s theological and structural frameworks

2. examine and heal from the costs, name and resist its rewards, and confront patterns of allegiance to patriarchy on ourselves and others

3. practice habits of courage and hospitality as key to healing and change. Practices that will include deep listening, asking for help, taking ownership, and imagining/improvising new ways

This cohort will prioritize knowledge that arises from the body. A good portion of the curriculum of this cohort will be accessing the knowledge each participant already brings with them. Thus, in addition to engagement with conceptual frameworks, this cohort will require rigorous emotional work. Those applying should be ready to co-create space that welcomes and shares the wisdom of one another’s bodies, particularly of queer men, and the difficult emotions of the inner life. 

Erna Kim Hackett

Erna Kim Hackett is a preacher, trainer, public theologian, and founder of Liberated Together. She is passionate about building radical solidarity between women of color communities and helping WOC pursue justice in sustainable and joy-filled ways. The vision of Liberated together is to create spaces for BIWoC and Queer BIWoC, traumatized by Christianity to heal and feel freedom to be fully themselves.

Erna grew up in the Korean Immigrant church and then worked with Black Campus ministries for 15 years with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Young Nak Celebration Church was her sending church during her years in Los Angeles. In 2018 she moved to the Bay Area to be Executive Pastor at The Way Christian Center. She graduated with her Masters in Intercultural Studies from the Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies.

As someone who has done racial justice work for over 20 years, she loves journeying with Asian American women and queer Asian folks as they find their authentic voice in racial justice work. Over the course of leading hundred of Asian American women and non-binary through cohorts, she because curious to explore ways to increase solidarity towards liberation between Asian American women. men, and non-binary folks.

Barnabas Lin

With over a decade developing and empowering Asian American ministers, Barnabas now serves as the Theologian in Residence at Bethel Community Presbyterian Church while he works on a PhD in Theological Ethics. In opposition to the ways that religious authorities and structures have suppressed and distorted agency, conscripting humans to enact violence on one another and the earth, Barnabas works to heal and restore the creative powers of people, hoping that we might together participate in the flourishing of all creation. 

In addition to having led cohorts of Asian American leaders, Barnabas brings his experience as a third-culture person, having grown up in Singapore and Hong Kong, and experience leading groups through re-understanding Christianity through the Hebrew Bible (through a post-colonial and post-supersessionist lens). 

For fun, Barnabas bakes sourdough, loves musical theater (Come From Away, The Color Purple, and Sunday in the Park with George are some favorites), dreams about going back to farm life, and has begun to learn how to surf.