What can the Church of Togo offer to young people?

The Church of Togo is young. Togo’s population is young: 60% are under 25 years old. Young people still fill the churches. Although in my parish I can see that children and women outnumber them.

What can the Church of Togo offer to young people? The Church is losing its young people. Why? Because young people are searching, they are restless. Young people want to be rich and not to have to worry about what they will eat tomorrow. And it is understandable. But they also want to get closer to God, to truly find Him.

They are rebellious and ignore a moral code of laws and conventions that they do not understand or feel unable to live by. On social networks they are presented with other values, an apparent “freedom” which comes from seeking pleasure at all costs, which they easily allow themselves to be attracted by.

But I think that their most authentic need lies deeper than all this: They have existential questions which they seek answers to: “Who am I? Why am I in the world? Who loves me? Does love exist? Is there anything that lasts in this life? Does God exist, does he have anything to do with me or with my life? Does this country, Togo, have a future?”

What can the Church of Togo offer to young people? No magic prayers that make it rain money, no recipes to end suffering and injustice once and for all. But they can offer a way to get rich in what remains forever. A PERSON who loves you unconditionally. And this person is capable of giving meaning to suffering and giving true joy.

My dream

I dream that in the Church they will find someone who truly listens to them, who does not judge them, who does not belittle their sometimes frustrated and frustrating searches. May they find a place to be themselves, where they can heal their wounds and rediscover that Love exists and that it is possible to live in love among us human beings! May they learn to address God with their own words and express their feelings! There they will find God’s heart full of pain and love, forgiveness and mercy for them! Someone who believes in them.

The Church of Togo is young. Whoever is capable of listening to young people, welcoming them and paying attention to them can build a bridge between their existential questions and the existential answers written in Jesus Christ: “You, young Togolese of 2024, are infinitely loved by God. You are not an orphan, you have a family. You have a future. Love exists and has the power to transform our lives, our relationships and our society. I’m counting on you! Will you sign up?”

Christa SEMD Lomé (Togo)