Regnocentric Youth Ministry: A Pastoral-Pedagogical Urgency in the Asian Milieu

A multi-faith and multi-cultural Asian milieu, where Christians are still a minority, requires that all young people, irrespective of their faith, be considered part of the Christian Youth Ministry. Such a perspective necessitates that Youth Ministry be solidly founded on Christian faith and yet has the ability to strive for the fullness of life of all youth, including those of other faiths, without infringing on their right to choose and evolve their own way of life, defining for themselves the vital principles that govern their life. Notwithstanding the ongoing theological reflection and progress made in Pastoral Theology in the centuries gone by, Christian Youth Ministry in the Asian milieu seems to still be holding on to an overly Ecclesiocentric perspective. Heeding the invitation of Pope Francis that “all the young, without exception, are in God's heart and thus in the Church's heart” (Christus Vivit n. 235), this paper invites the reader to refocus on the central theme of Jesus' public ministry: the proclamation of the Reign of God to all. The challenge outlined here is for the Church to transcend an institutional auto-referentiality and to embody Jesus' proclamation of the Reign of God and thus nurture a Youth Ministry that is above all, missionary, pastoral, and a witness to the world - one that can be rightfully called, Regnocentric Youth Ministry.