Conversation Circle & Talk facilitated by Sulkiro Song

What theological issues were you grappling with when you were first drawn to PAAC? What biblical values did you have that clashed with “traditional” Christian communities when you first sought out PAAC? 

Academic biblical scholarship and church-based Bible studies have often been like oil and water. With the rise of Christofascism, the gap between academia and the church is growing wider. In this “Bible based” session, I’ll talk about the complex collection of ancient, Levantine texts that have brought so much comfort, grief, turmoil, confusion, and violence to many of us. Critical biblical studies can be surprisingly healing and liberating, whether you are an exvangelical, a Christian, or “complicated.”

Sulkiro Song 송슬기로 (she/they) is a queer 1.2 gen Korean American INTP Taurus Sun, Pisces moon, Scorpio rising, only child millennial with prosopagnosia/prosopamnesia (neurological difficulty remembering faces) who identifies as being under the aro/ace (gemini venus) umbrella. Sulkiro went into Union Theological Seminary with the explicit intention of NEVER working for a church or any faith-based organization. They graduated with a degree in biblical studies and are now a pastor at HA:N United Methodist Church, making them a 3rd gen in a lineage of first-born pastors.

Workshop session facilitated by Erika G. Bertling, Chrislyn Choo, and Ken Schoon

What do you hold as sacred, and how can you nourish your relationship with it?

“Holy Hotpot” is an embodied, communal feast welcoming you to sample and create your own rituals to re-member and connect with your sacred. Together, we'll stir up the flavors we've inherited and learn ways to craft sacred practices that actually feel aligned with you — from pilgrimage, to altar-building, to the unexpected places the divine has always met you.

Come with open hands and an open palate, ready to receive and savor the gifts of what you hold holy. Leave with a rich bowl of ingredients seasoned to your life, that you can bring home to nourish your spiritual practice.

Erika G. Bertling (she/her) is an intercultural educator, coach, and facilitator who accompanies individuals and groups in the work of navigating culture, identity, and belonging. Drawing on a lifetime of cross-cultural experience, she guides people through dialogue, coaching, and embodied practices that support deeper awareness, connection, and growth across difference in both personal and collective life.  Her work explores themes such as culturally responsive leadership and communication, multiracial/third culture identity, and racially conscious parenting. A mixed-race East Asian third culture kid (TCK) who grew up in Okinawa, Japan, she's proud to be a Los Angeles immigrant, as she is delighted to get to live with her spouse and child in a city where it feels like every corner of the world is represented. ​​www.erikabertling.com

Chrislyn Choo / 朱琦恩 (she/her) is an Emmy-winning storyweaver, facilitator, and founder of Living Heirlooms Studio — a collaborative practice transforming family stories into artifacts, rituals, and gatherings that weave our roots into the fabric of everyday life. In partnership with heritage keepers like Parents Are Human, the Asian American Christian History Institute, and My China Roots, she crafts intergenerational spaces of remembrance, metabolizing grief and joy into collective resilience. Rooted in the U.S., China, and Malaysia, she feels most alive holding 1:1 space for those navigating the sacred in-between to crystallize 只可意会，不可言传: what's deeply felt, yet beyond words. (IG @chrislynchoo)

Ken Schoon (he/him) is a queer United Methodist minister and PhD candidate at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where he is finishing his dissertation on decolonizing Christian pilgrimage to Palestine. More broadly, Ken endeavors to understand how pilgrimage may serve as a means to build transformative relationships with the Other, confront suppressed histories, reclaim sites of injustice and trauma as places of healing, and commit to the work of reparative justice. These themes have also shaped Ken’s exploration of his Chinese and Korean American roots across five generations of his family in California, primarily in Los Angeles, and their responses to violence and discrimination against Asian Americans since the 1800s. Ken lives in Oakland with his husband, whom he met while playing cello in the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony.

Conversation Circle facilitated by Nicholas Hu & Kye Shi

Liberation theology is a contextual and sociopolitical theological practice that seeks liberation and justice for oppressed peoples, drawing on Marxist, feminist, womanist, decolonial, queer, trans, and BIPOC thought and analysis. In this discussion, we will give a broad overview of its sources and perspectives, and will explore its application to the decolonization of Palestine using the framework of Palestinian liberation theology.

Nicholas Hu (he/him) is a Chinese-Vietnamese organizer, educator, and Ph.D. candidate in Mathematics at UCLA, born and raised in Vancouver on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Nations. He has been an organizer with Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine, Rank and File for a Democratic Union, and Cops off Campus at UCLA. He is also a member of the First Progressive Church of Los Angeles and Westwood United Methodist Church.

Kye Shi (he/they) is a Chinese-American organizer, educator, and Ph.D. candidate in Mathematics at UCLA. He has been an organizer with Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine and Rank and File for a Democratic Union at UCLA, as well as Westwood Mutual Aid. He is also a member of the First Progressive Church of Los Angeles.

Workshop facilitated by Jessica ChenFeng, Linda Yoon, and Soo Jin Lee

The pace and intensity of life — personally and globally — can be astounding, and at times, validly unbearable. Most of us understand how difficult it is to intentionally set aside time for the things that sustain us.

This space is held in community so that we might grieve, be present, bear witness, lament, and carry the weight together. The workshop will offer a mixed-method approach, allowing everyone present to find a pathway that fits their own way of processing — whether through words, art, or silence.

Jessica ChenFeng, PhD, LMFT (she/her) is a second-gen Taiwanese American, a first-born daughter of a first-born daughter — which, if you know, you know. She's partnered with a public school educator, and together they're doing their best to stay present with their kids while she navigates a full-time academic career and the humbling terrain of perimenopause. Her family has been held by many healers along the way — individual therapists, a pet therapist, couples therapists, spiritual directors, life coaches, and somatic coaches. Jessica has been a practicing MFT for 20+ years, with a focus on the social and contextual intersections of race, gender, generation, trauma, and spirituality. She consults with academic, healthcare, and church organizations on community well-being, chairs a DMFT program, directs the Asian American Well-being Collaboratory, and is co-author of Finding Your Voice as a Beginning Marriage and Family Therapist and co-editor/author of Asian American Identities, Relationships, and Post-Migration Legacies — the first academic book of its kind for training therapists. Her small practice in Claremont, CA is home to work with couples, physicians, and queer Christians. When she can carve out the time, she returns to what grounds her: fountain pens and journaling, lifting, painting, sewing, and getting her hands in the garden.

Linda Yoon is the founder, co-director, and licensed psychotherapist at Yellow Chair Collective, specializing in Asian mental health. With over a decade of experience, she has supported Asian, immigrant, refugee, and other BIPOC communities across a variety of mental health settings. Deeply committed to community healing and outreach, Linda offers workshops on culturally responsive care, wellness, ADHD, creativity, and family dynamics. Her expertise has been featured in outlets such as the Los Angeles Times, NPR, and CBS. She is the co-author of Where I Belong: Healing Trauma and Embracing Asian American Identity and is passionate about supporting mental health with compassion, cultural humility, and an intergenerational perspective. Linda is also the co-founder of Entwine Community, a nonprofit focused on Asian and Asian American mental health.

Soo Jin Lee is a licensed mental health therapist, executive director of Yellow Chair Collective, and co-founder of Entwine Community. Her journey as an immigrant shaped her early understanding of identity, belonging, and the unspoken emotional burdens often carried in immigrant families. These experiences inform her work today as a leading advocate for culturally responsive mental health care and community-driven healing. Her work, exemplified by her co-authored book, Where I Belong: Healing Trauma and Embracing Asian American Identity, addresses the unique challenges faced by diverse communities. Soo Jin’s contributions have been featured on NPR, PBS, CBS, and at CUNY, reflecting her commitment to expanding access to mental health care and uplifting community-centered healing practices.