Partner Updates

As I travel around Taiwan, and this year around the United States, I have been observing young people. We live in such an uncertain time with so many problems facing the world that I have been interested in how young people are coping.

We know the sobering statistic of the high rate of anxiety among young people. Global warming, the increasing disparity between those who have and those who have not, geopolitical tensions, and an uncertain economy all feed into this anxiety. The use of social media, instead of helping young people feel more connected, often leads to isolation and self-shaming.

Alang, of the Bunun tribe of Taiwan’s indigenous people, grew up in a village in the shadow of Mount Jade, the tallest mountain in Northeast Asia. He was the youngest in a large family and when he was in elementary school, his parents drank a lot. He often relied on older siblings for care. Then there was a spiritual revival in their village Presbyterian church, and his parents stopped drinking cold turkey. His father became an elder in that church, and Alang saw a dramatic change in his family.

Often pastors call to invite me to preach and speak in their churches or in other youth or leadership events with the words, “please come and encourage us.” In these uncertain days, we all need words of encouragement. But as I return home after visiting these churches, I often find that I have been the one who has been encouraged by the way I see God at work in churches around Taiwan.