Recently, the number of young people in churches across Asia has significantly declined. This is likely a global phenomenon. Why has believing in God become a foolish act? Because in this harsh world, what young people need most is money, and to earn money, one must become an “efficient” being.
The younger generation lives with an overwhelming sense of anxiety – the fear of falling behind, the fear of not surviving. They divide everything into categories of efficiency and inefficiency.
Within such a worldview, believing in God is the ultimate inefficiency.
The methods for making money, strategies for maximizing wealth – these have become the new sacred scriptures, spreading like wildfire through YouTube and books. As a result, people have little concern for the misfortunes of their neighbours, for disasters, for war.
Even mourning and grief, in some ways, seem to operate under the rules of efficiency.
Strangely, however, even as they accumulate wealth, young people find no relief from their anxiety.
Instead, they suffer from even more severe depression, and some take their own lives. They struggle to discover the true meaning of life and their own identity. Social media allows us to be constantly connected to everyone at the touch of a finger, yet it has made solitude feel unbearably empty.
In such an environment, connecting with God feels nearly impossible.
If we dream of a world where we live by faith rather than by money, we must become living proof that money is not everything.
Love is everything.
Even if this path brings immense hardship, we must truly believe that this is the joy given by God. In this way, we will become connected to God, and through God, we will also learn to be alone without feeling lost.
The people who are dispossessed, poor, grieving, struggling and those who stand in solidarity – all are children of the Lord.
As Anabaptist people of all ages, may we find the courage to embrace the inefficiency of love: love for our fellow humans, love for all the other created things and love for God.
Valentina Kunze, Kkotip Bae, Felix Perez Diener, Gaëlle Oesch, Ebenezer Mondez (mentor); missing: Isaac Gborbitey
Kkot-Ip Bae is the Asia representative on the YABs (Young AnaBaptists) Committee. She is a member of Mennonite Church Korea.