By Millie L. Kim

What is the acceptance criteria for Harvard or any Ivy League schools? You can google it and find answers such as an SAT score of 1580+, a GPA of 4.18+ and/or a list of accomplishments and extracurricular activities. Those are outward and visible criteria, but there are also inward and invisible criteria such as your race, status, family, wealth, etc.  If they were to adhere solely and strictly to the outward and visible criteria, there would be many more Asian and brown students at these schools.  

Acceptance in a sense of belonging to a group or an organization has similar criteria everywhere. Countries like Korea, Japan, China, etc. which have their roots deep in shame and honor culture and Confucianism have more pronounced criteria and rigid practices. If you are biologically or socially connected with Eastern culture, you have experienced both its privileges or restrictions of acceptance.  It makes me sad to say that I have experienced rejection more from my own Korean culture. I have a doctorate, master’s, and bachelor’s degree from respectable institutes in the US and have a long CV, but they are not from Harvard or any Ivy League schools. Plus, I was orphaned when I was 13, so I am a motherless and fatherless child even though I am 52. Then comes the last straw; I am female. The worst thing is not that I am Harvard-less, motherless, and fatherless, but that I am penis-less!  The most heart-breaking part is that I have accepted it as an indictment on me instead of on society and culture. Most of my life, I lived with shame thinking that I was not good enough. 

 The Church too has inward and invisible criteria for acceptance. In my denomination, we have always had an outward and visible sign, “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors,” but the inward and invisible criteria have barred many people from entering and being truly accepted as members. If we were to adhere to what Jesus taught on accepting others, we would have more people and more diversity in the church, not just racial and ethnic diversity but economic, social, age, gender, sexual orientation, etc.  The church has been influenced by the world and failed to influence the world in regards to true acceptance.

 Although I am conflicted and outraged by the church’s practices of acceptance, I have chosen to be a clergy in the church. It is very difficult and almost impossible to change a culture from outside. And because I believe in the transformative and redemptive power of Jesus, I have made a decision to stay in the church and bring about changes within. Not to pontificate but to set an example just like Jesus did. After all, it takes just one to mobilize a community and inspire change in a culture. No clergy sets out to be rich and famous; we make a vow to follow Jesus and inspire others to do the same.  We are tasked with breaking down outward and visible cultures of evil, injustice, and oppression, and we are equally tasked to break down inward and invisible cultures of evil, injustice, and oppression.  If each clergy* could inspire one person to resist and break down evil, injustice, and oppression, we would be able to change the culture of acceptance in the church. 

*There are over 444,000 clergy in the United States alone according to the DATAUSA. https://datausa.io/profile/soc/clergy.

Millie L. Kim is an elder in the United Methodist church and pastors a church in Rome, Georgia. She has been in ministry over 25 years and has worked tirelessly to bring equity and inclusion in the church. 

[Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our blog writers may not necessarily be representative of AAWOL.]