Christianity and Ministry in Japan

Less than one percent of Japanese call themselves Christian.

The introduction of Christianity began with the Roman Catholics in the mid 16th century. The first protestant missionary to Japan was a physician named James Curtis Hepburn in 1859, about ten years before the Meiji Restoration. After Hepburn established a school and a medical clinic close to modern-day Tokyo, he was respected by the Japanese people, so much so that he became the second foreigner to ever receive the Order of the Rising Sun, third class. Even so, ministry to the Japanese still proved difficult.

Living in Midori, Chiba in 2011, there are two churches, Honda and Oyumino, which are only a short bike ride away, and several others that are only a couple train stations away. Honda Chapel hosts a Japanese service on Sundays, so I usually attend Oyumino Chapel which hosts a bilingual service (English and Japanese).



Evangelism here is usually done by teaching English. My roommate Brent runs a conversational speaking class at Kaihin-makuhari Chapel for Japanese people in which the first hour is spent on learning English grammar and fluency, and the last half-hour is spent on reading through the gospel in English. Daniel Pitz, a "tent-maker" missionary no longer affiliated with MTW, makes his money by teaching tennis lessons and does ministry by administering Christian-style weddings (becoming popular in Japan) to couples who are typically not Christians. Both the English lessons and Weddings cost the Japanese money, but they are about half the price of comparable non-Christian services.

Several weeks ago, there was a large annual Christian gathering at Oyumino Chapel of all the affiliated reformed churches in the area. With about eighty people in attendance, it was one of the largest christian gatherings in a while.

Just yesterday, I registered for the biannual Church Planting Institute conference this coming November near Mt. Fuji. As far as I understand, there will be many American church planters there, and I will be helping with something or another.

Though it is very slow, Christian progress is being made in Japan. English lessons and other ministries have brought in many throughout the years, and we pray that it will continue to do so.