"Yes, but I'm Japanese."

 

After hearing a powerful gospel presentation, even being moved by God's Spirit in ways never experienced before, most Japanese will respond that they cannot become Christian simply because they are “Japanese.” What does this mean? To the Japanese person they are taught at a very young age that their primary identity is to be “Japanese” above all other things. That Japanese identity consists of elevating the group beliefs above the individual's personal desire or conscience. The personal desires or beliefs of the individual are seen as selfish if they are in opposition to the group norms. The individual has little value compared with the group, so much so that even in the Japanese language “I” or “you” are rarely used. Even if a Japanese person knows that Buddhism and Shintoism are false while Christianity is true, they still will not embrace this truth because their identity is mixed up with the false notion of what it means to be Japanese. They are captive to this domineering mindset. Japanese are taught to forcibly suppress their own desires (and conscience) in order to please the group at any cost. This is the cost of societal cohesion in their understanding. So when the eldest son of a family refuses truth not because he knows that it is true, but because he is expected to do it for the sake of his family and ancestor's dignity, he is seen as valiant by his fellow countrymen. To the Western mind, especially the American, this is a particularly hard concept to grasp or begin to even understand.

As Americans we often take for granted the fact that we can freely choose our beliefs without changing our identities as Americans. However, for most of the world the identity along with beliefs are combined together into one system. This is why when America was founded it was such a radical experiment in so many ways. We can thank the Baptists for this system of understanding that they gleaned from the Bible. Early Baptist Americans understood the necessity for separation of church and state, which allowed the individual to freely choose their beliefs without being compelled by the state as was in the case of Europe. In the European system an infant identified with a church and state combined system was baptized into a certain church thereby establish his loyalty as well as identity for life to that system. Their loyalty was said to be cemented to God and the state where they lived. The concept of freely choosing beliefs derives from the Baptist idea of individual soul liberty, or the ability for each man to choose a belief according to his conscious, which is why the ancient Anabaptist was hated so much for the crime of “re-baptism” or “believer's baptism” as we know it now. To re-baptize was seen as an act of rebellion against the state that you were committed to as an infant through baptism. In most of the world the individual is simply an arm of the state. The state dictated what the individual was to believe whether it be Islam in Saudi Arabia, Catholicism in Italy, or Anglicanism in the U.K. for example; various countries imposed belief systems upon their populace. In Europe loyalty from birth to the state was unquestionably accepted until certain peasants began to read the Bible for themselves in their own language. The rest is history.

So, back to Japan. What is the Bible's response to this mindset? Interestingly, Jesus himself confronted a similar mindset in the scriptures. Matthew 16:21-26 KJV recounts the situation. “From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” In this situation Peter is trying to convince Jesus to suppress Himself in order to maintain the status quo. For the sake of maintaining life as usual in the group Peter essentially tries to get Jesus to deny what He knows to be true about Himself. Jesus response is telling. He rebukes Peter, calling him Satan. Jesus says that Peter values the things of men above the things of God. This is essentially the same temptation that Japanese are faced with in responding to the gospel, which is to value the things of men (in their case group norms) above the things of God (truth of Bible). Jesus then takes it a step further and says to his disciples that any who wish to follow Him must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him. He is saying to them to deny their own comforts in this present world, to embrace the truth with all of the sufferings it will bring, and follow after Him. To follow Christ is to go against the norms of the world system no matter what country is represented. He continues by asking what profit is there from gaining the world at the cost of the soul. Anyone who rejects the truth of Christ may gain comfort or riches in this world, but will ultimately lose His own soul eternally. So, for the Japanese person the cost to be with the ancestors is great, but are they completely aware of the eternal implications? The epic struggle of truth versus harmony lives on in the Japanese soul whenever the gospel is presented.

The Family Unit: East and West

 

What makes a family a family? Recently this question has been causing conflict in Western society as societal norms have increasingly been challenged in the ongoing culture war. The Anglo-Saxon world view in specific constituting the “Anglo-sphere” has at its core foundation the typical Protestant Biblical world view of a family that comes directly from Genesis 2:24 as follows:

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they both shall be one flesh.”

From this solitary verse we can gather the necessity of monogamy, independence, and distinct male headship over the nuclear family. From this worldview we tend to have an individual un-egalitarian nuclear family structure in each household. People tended to move away from their family to start a new family. A new family supported themselves economically by not sharing housing with parents or siblings. Though the father is considered the head of the house, he was not generally authoritarian when it came to the decisions of his adult children. There was no tier system of hierarchy where the oldest son dominated the rest of the family in decisions and inheritance once the father passed on. From this mindset came the great expansive spirit to settle new lands, bold risk-taking, bold creativity, innovation, and adaptation to challenges on a great scale. In “Protestant” Christianity this led to great freedom of choice within interpretation of the Bible through different denominations for better or for worse. In the West in general this also led to freedom of choices with multiple religions and opposing ideas as opposed to one core identity that could not be questioned.

All of these characteristics are what we traditionally in the “Anglo-sphere” understand and accept. Even outside of this within the Western world (Latin America, Catholic Europe, Protestant Europe, Slavic Countries, etc.) there are many similarities and core traits that allow us to understand each other easily. For this reason in the West we also have the tenancy to be able to accept the gospel in a much easier way. However, there were also weaknesses with one being that many became so individualistic as to ignore the group completely by embracing a form of rebellion against the system. (Think counter-culture 1960s era thinking.) No system is without its weakness. Even today in more urban areas people in general in the West are moving away from the traditional nuclear family understanding.

However, what if your core idea of a family is not bound by these Western ideas? What if your idea of family comes from Confucianism rather than the Bible? Take this quote for instance:

“There are three degrees of filial piety. The highest is being a credit to our parents, the second is not disgracing them; the lowest is being able simply to support them.” - Confucius

In Japan, the ancient tradition of filial-piety still strongly influences society. At the head of the family is the father who traditionally makes all of the important decisions including who their children marry and what they will do for work. The eldest son is to inherit this role as family retainer and must take it seriously without personal choice once his father passes away. The father is in turn subservient to the larger group community in his area or greater family if he moves to an urban area. These families were registered with the local Buddhist temple for legitimacy. For the Japanese for hundreds of years group loyalty guaranteed survival on an island with limited resources and the inward thinking mindset that it developed. In this filial-piety system, the young were to serve their parents, often living together in the same house, which became particularly hard for a new daughter-in-law coming into a new group having to obey her mother-in-law in a servant-like capacity. Rather than leave and cleave, children were to stay and obey. Marriage was based upon continuing the family unit (clan), not necessarily choice or love. Arranged marriages were the norm for hundreds of years. Only after World War Two were the introduction of the nuclear family and Western ideas of marriage popularized leading to a weakening of the traditional filial piety system. To this day many Japanese are confused as to what system they should embrace. From these few examples we can see some radical differences in the understanding of the family unit.

Why does all of this matter? In more ways than one when a Japanese person is introduced to the truth of the gospel they have to consider what impact it will have upon their filial-piety oriented family structure, which is especially powerful in rural areas. They are taught to consider the will of the group before the will of the self. If they go home and tell their father that they are now Christian they often times are disowned believing that they bring great shame to their family as well as the community for going against the ancient traditional belief system as well as parents wishes. Shame and loss of group connections is the ultimate source of pain and rejection in this system. Japanese people are taught from a young child that pleasing the group wishes is the ultimate measure of happiness. To go against this system is to cease to be Japanese. It is also a reason why Japanese Christians tend to be secretive, not evangelistic, and often times turn inward when it comes to their churches. Japanese churches tend to become a filial-piety oriented buddy system based upon culture rather than biblical example since they often times are overwhelmingly influenced by their world. If they do live by the biblical model they are often shamed by society at large as well as actively shamed from other church members who still retain the deeply rooted filial-piety system mindset. This mindset hinders the spread of the gospel as well as the planting of new churches, which may be one of the reasons why the growth of the gospel is slow here. If Westerners are hesitant to allow their kids to spread the gospel elsewhere, how do you think those living under the filial-piety system will feel about their children spreading the gospel? Becoming ministers? Often times in general Japanese know that the gospel is true, however they are just afraid to accept it because of the dire consequences that they perceive it will bring them. To many they would rather lose their own soul and gain the only world that they have ever known and were taught to embrace as the key to happiness. However, for those who wish to reject the world and obey God there is always great reward. Often times dedicated Japanese Christian families are some of the most spiritual, sacrificial, and dedicated people out there due to their up-bringing. Their respect as well as obedience to God is great. We in the West could learn from these type of Christians. Pray for Japan and Japanese Christians to fight the power of the world's influence in their lives.

The Impact of Limited Space in Tokyo

 

If you have ever looked up the statistics on the world's largest cities, then you would understand that Tokyo is the largest as well as most populated city in the world by far with close to 38 million people. In land area comparison, Tokyo is about the size of Puerto Rico or the U.S. state of Connecticut. With this huge population comes the issue of finding property for the purpose of meeting with groups of people. Often times housing for living purposes or business purposes though expensive can be used for meeting places. Naturally, the further one moves away from the city the cheaper properties become. Sometimes it is possible to find cheap places to rent or even abandoned places to buy, however these properties have their issues as well. With cheap places comes a lack of space, far distance from public transportation for access, and lack of parking for vehicles. Often times to even have one parking spot is very fortunate. With abandoned places comes extensive regulations for remodeling, various taxes, as well as further regulations for what the property can be used for. All of these various issues become such a nightmare that often times abandoned properties are left alone indefinitely. However, with God's help these obstacles can be overcome.

When it comes to church many times people will meet in their homes, away from the city, or buy an expensive property and building to meet in if allowed by regulations. The Japanese church that we were working with paid one million US dollars to buy a parking lot area (for a patch of dirt about 30 small car spaces), and another million to build a building. Often times Japanese will not allow for foreigners to own property let alone use it for a church, which is where some challenges come in. In Tokyo most community center areas have a lot of space, but will not allow for any religious use for any reason (unless for culturally specific Japanese religious type practices). Because Japan has many cults, they are very skeptical when it comes to anything that they consider an outside religion. In Japanese thinking there is no difference between a cult or a religion that is not “native” to Japan. Even though Christianity has been in Japan over 200 years (some evidences show that it even arrived before Buddhism) it is still considered foreign. Often times, only through established relations with people can trust be gained to rent a property. Many times in Tokyo start-up ministries will come and go taking a high risk approach of renting an expensive building and trying to fill it up with people only to have to abandon the project when people do not come or will become successful enough to continue. In a country with close to 1.2% “Christian” (including all that are considered Christian by broad defintion) population the risk is high since it takes a lot of time for Japanese to consider God. However it is not impossible. With such a low percentage of Christians most of the ministry work here consists of planting and watering spiritual seeds. A lot of “harvest” occurs with Japanese after many years of ministry or with foreigners who are not part of the native culture.

These are some of the perspectives that we have gained from living here for years, and is one of the reasons why we have opted to take the approach of building a core group of believers first before acquiring or renting a property strictly for church use. It may or may not work out as Japan has traditionally been a hardened nation to the gospel. However, God is good and is always working even when we cannot see it. Fortunately, we live in an area where we can meet people in person in public places or over the internet to establish relations with. Please pray for this nation as many like-minded missionaries attempt to reach the people here!

2023 Year in Review

 

Well, it is that time again to reflect upon the last year to see what has happened. It is good to reflect upon the past year to remember our strengths and weaknesses, what we have learned, and what experiences we have had so that we may learn going forward.

Verse for the Year – “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” - Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV

2022 was an intense year for many as the infamous Covid pandemic was wrapping up. At the beginning of the year we returned to Georgia (USA) only to immediately catch Covid for the first time. Our whole family became sick and quickly recovered with the exception of myself who had a strong sickness for a week and a slow recovery for about a month after with gradual lung healing. It was certainly memorable and we were blessed to have the Omicron variant which was said to be weaker than others. We finished up our time in America and returned to Japan in early March. At that time Japan was very strict about entry and it took us 4 hours to get through all of the entry requirements. Fortunately we ordered a van to pick us up and take us to our apartment ahead of time as no public transportation was allowed due to Covid restrictions. Quickly in the next month we moved to secure a new rental home, moving to another city in West Tokyo about 30 minutes away for the purpose of starting a new ministry. During this time we were able to lead one Japanese woman to the Lord of whom we had prior connections with, who is still attending church to this day in our previous city.

After much prayer the previous term we decided upon this new location and moved to settle there to begin a new term and ministry knowing that Japanese people take a long time to form connections. Though my Japanese is still at an intermediate level we believed it was time to get started making connections gradually while still learning. To this day I still study daily and am in the process of gradually increasing my Japanese skills. This will mark year 7 of studying Japanese from 0 and is a good reminder that Asian languages take a lot of hard work to learn! Moving to a new area has taken some time to adjust as well as meet new people. We prayed and are continuing to pray to meet people that we can connect with to lead to the Lord and help grow. We are doing a church plant from 0. We are grateful that one Japanese family has decided to move out and be a part of the new work. It has been a slow start, however we have seen one new man get saved and are working on helping him to grow in his new faith.

Ministry in Japan is very slow, so during this time I started to invest an hour a day doing online ministries including Japanese Twitter targeting suicidal people and world-wide soul-winning live online which has led to 111 new salvation confessions, 87 affirmations of salvation, and 54 people who were very close to salvation. It has been amazing to see God work on so many souls across the globe including Atheists, Muslims, Hindus, a Wiccan, and New Age people. It has been very eye-opening. Also eye-opening was driving in Japan for the first time, which was a huge change from before. During our first term we walked, biked, bused, and used the train to get from place to place. It has also been good to get back on track with putting out gospel tracts around Tokyo. For this year we were able to get 31,540 Japanese gospel tracts out to various houses and apartment complexes. Not to mention various tracts in other languages as well. We pray that many seeds would be planted, watered, and harvested. This year was also one in which I started to teach English again to some Japanese students using the Bible. We pray that they would be open to the gospel as they learn.

Japan has slowly transitioned out of Covid regulations into a less restricted society. However, to this day people wear masks everywhere and buildings require masks to enter, so it has been slow coming. There have been new Covid outbreaks impacting most of the population as well, so the Japanese have been cautious. This has certainly impacted our ability to evangelize since many are afraid of foreigners for this reason. We pray that Japanese people would open up more so that we can share the gospel with them. Thank you for your prayers this last year!