Racial justice begins with racial understanding. Building allyship begins with building trusting relationships, exploring what racial justice looks like for each marginalized community, listening to what each community needs from allies, then working together.
Rev. Kathryn Choy-Wong (Katie) is a consultant, trainer, and writer in intercultural ministries. Since 2003, Rev. Choy-Wong is a co-founder and senior trainer of the former i-Relate Institute, an Intercultural Leadership Institute, which trains pastors, lay leaders and churches in working interculturally. She has been a consultant for American Baptist Women Ministries, and has provided training for American Baptist Home Mission Societies and local Bay Area churches.
Rev. Choy-Wong, with two colleagues, has just published a book for Judson Press, Building Lasting Bridges: An Updated Handbook For Intercultural Ministries, and an online workbook to accompany the handbook. She has written two manuals for churches in prayer, Covenant Prayer Group Manual (National Ministries, ABCUSA, 1988) and intercultural ministries, Building Bridges: A Handbook for Cross-cultural Ministry (Judson Press, 1998).
Her passion for churches, missions, and social justice is long-standing. She served as Director of the Northern California Food Network, in the area of hunger and homeless ministries. Following her seminary internship and serving as Associate Minister at the Community Baptist Church in San Mateo, Katie then served as Director of Asian Ministries of National Ministries, ABC-USA (now American Baptist Home Mission Societies), Area Minister for the American Baptist Churches of the West (now Growing Healthy Churches), and Admissions Director/Instructor at American Baptist Seminary of the West (now Berkeley School of Theology). Rev. Choy-Wong recently retired from New Life Christian Fellowship, an American Baptist Church, in Castro Valley, California, after serving as staff (2000-2003), co-pastor (2003-2004), and then senior pastor (2004-2019).
In addition to her pastorate, Rev. Choy-Wong is currently on the Board of Trustees for Berkeley School of Theology, formerly American Baptist Seminary of the West. She had served as President of the American Baptist Churches of the Central Pacific Coast Region, President of the Ministers’ Council of the Greater Bay Area, and President of the Association of Northern California American Baptist Churches.
Katie is a graduate of San Francisco State University with a BA in journalism and earned her MDiv from the American Baptist Seminary of the West in Berkeley.
Rev. Choy-Wong was ordained in December 1980 at Community Baptist Church, San Mateo. Rev. Choy-Wong and her husband, Arthur Wong, grew up at First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco. She and Arthur were baptized at FCBC. They have an adult son, Jordan.