Young missionaries among young people: from Penang to Seoul

The recent congress held by the Churches of Asia in Malaysia was also an opportunity for many young people from the continent to exchange their experiences. Some have recently discovered Jesus, others grew up in Christian families but are now called to give reason for their faith, and others are young Christian migrants. From Taiwan to India, a snapshot of the generation looking forward to the return of WYD to Asia in 2027.

Penang (AsiaNews) - Among the delegates of the Churches of Asia who gathered in Penang from November 27 to 30 for the “Great Pilgrimage of Hope”, the missionary congress of the Churches of Asia, lay people were in the clear majority.

The presence of young people was very significant. Coming together from very different contexts was for them a preview of what WYD in Seoul will represent for this continent. In 2027, it will bring back to Asia the great gathering of young Catholics from around the world with the Pope, more than thirty years after the only previous one in Manila in 1995.

This is one of the reasons why one of the most interesting moments of the recent event in Malaysia was listening to the stories of these young men and women.

For example, Malin, a young Cambodian woman, now married and the mother of a child, grew up in a Buddhist family. “I studied at a Salesian school,” she says, "and that's where I first got to know Christians. Little by little, I began to attend church activities until, at the end of university, I decided that I wanted to be baptized. At first, my parents didn't want me to, they said, ‘We are a Buddhist family’. But when I explained to them what I was experiencing in church, they understood. And they began to say, ‘After all, they are like us...’."

Jeremiah, on the other hand, comes from Arunachal Pradesh, one of the states in northeast India. “I come from the Mishmi tribe, one of the most radical in maintaining animism and rejecting Christianity,” he explains. "Some of my ancestors killed two missionaries in 1850... I studied in Bangalore, where I began to build my career: going to the office, earning money, being with friends, shopping—that was my life." Until physical suffering changed everything. Seeking every possible way to overcome her excruciating pain, a friend took her to a retreat house in Kerala. “There I received something much greater than healing: I discovered Jesus Christ and felt liberated in knowing the truth,” she recalls.

So Jeremiah also asked to be baptized: she chose to take the name of that prophet, thinking of her people. “I responded to God's call: I left Bangalore to return to Arunachal Pradesh to do what He wanted me to do,” she comments. “I returned to rural life and full-time apostolate, to pray for those who suffer like me and to help them. Jesus has given meaning to my life.”

Chang, on the other hand, grew up in Taiwan in a Catholic family but experienced the difficulty of being Christian in a society where many people do not even know what your religion is. “I no longer went to church; I preferred to go out with my friends,” he says. "It was my sister who insisted that I join her in worship. I said yes, thinking I would only go once: I wasn't interested. But that evening, praying and singing together, I felt that Jesus was calling me. I felt the need to go before the Eucharist. And that's how I started attending the youth group again."

Communal prayer before the Eucharist is also a cornerstone of the experience of Loc Nguyen, a young Vietnamese man. "In my country, there are more than 7 million Catholics, and the Church has a long history. But even among us, there are many young people who today look elsewhere: they say they have too many things to do or that they are not interested. Getting them involved again is a responsibility entrusted to us. How? First of all, with joy: it is the first gift we have to offer. But also the experience of silence: it is there that you really look inside your life and can discover what God wants from you."

Sadhana, finally, is Filipino but has been living in Japan with her family for ten years now. At the Penang Congress, she brought the story of the faith of young migrants, who are many in a continent like Asia. And in the Church, they often find a starting point in a new context that is in many ways full of difficulties. Today, she looks at the other young people she meets in Japan: “Many build their identity based on what is trending on social media and see themselves as the only measure of success. But the Church can help us discover that there is something deeper.” Young missionaries among young people in today's Asia.

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