Ministry in Japan

[Heed]

Heh, here is a little topic I hope is informative for some of you. I know when I learned what I was about to write I was kind of suprised but it really opened my eyes to the reality of ministry in Japan.

Japan is a totally different battle ground. There are so many ministry "ideas" that many of us fro other countries have that don't work here.

1. Tracts

This method of ministry tat is usually very popular in AMericana nd some other countries, is very ineffective most of the time. Out of thousands of tracts many of the missionaries I know here have passed out, they may have had 1 or 2 people come to their church and not respond to anything that was said.

2. Public Evangelism

It is hard to get up an preach in a public square. Many people may staop and listen but the hearts of the people here, ESPECIALLY the men are very hard. There is a sever lack of love in this country. You may talk and talk until your blue in the face but it is not always effective.

3. Love

As stated above, there s a sever lack of love here. Many of the people don't know how to open their hearts and accept true love. Many men especially were not loved alot growing up, so in turn, they do not know how to love their children or wife is godly way.

4. Japanese Christians

At the church I am working at now, about 93% if not more of the congregation is women. It is like that all over Japan. Men are very hard hearted. Women are much more open to the love of God than the men are. The women are looking for a father's love that they may have lackd growing up. Many of the Christian women I have met here ran away from home at a young age because of physical abuse by their father and/or brother(s).

5. Culture

Most Japanese people won't talk too much. Especially if they are out to dinner. If you look, just about everyone has a cell phone on which they read books, listen to MP3's, or chat or send mail. On a train it is usually ver quiet because the people keep to themselves alot. It is very rare to be invited into a Japanese home. Many of them are ahamed of their houses and/or are very private people.

6. How can we reach them?

One of the best tools I can see here for reaching many Japanese people, especially young people, is media. I am looking into a job now to teach English in Japan. I am in Japan right now but I will be returning to the States for my last year of college.

When I return I want to try to start a Christian Radio station geared toward young people, a Christian music group, and write/produce/draw Christian anime and Manga in Japanese. Yes this is a large task and it will be difficult. I believe God will make much of this happen though.

Japan is a wonderful country and I love it here. It is a beautiful place but the people here need more of God. There is so much immorality. You can see it through the smut shows that show on public TV and the Smut magazines that are sold in stores everywhere that are easily accessable to children.

I don't want to shove Jesus down their throats. I want to give them a real Jesus. I want to show them by living what being a Chirtian means. I want to integrate into their culture and get on thier level. You cannot force feed the gospel to people, especially here in Japan.

I am not a Mr.-know-it-all. All this information I am gathering from living here this summer and serving under a missionary who has been here over 23 years, who still seeks guidance from his aunt who has been a missionary here over 50 years.

I don't quite know how to classify this thread. If you have any thoughts please post them or mail me. I want to raise awareness to this issue. As Christians, seeing other people saved should be outr top priority.

Thanks

[GhostontheNet]

Heh, here is a little topic I hope is informative for some of you. I know when I learned what I was about to write I was kind of suprised but it really opened my eyes to the reality of ministry in Japan.

Japan is a totally different battle ground. There are so many ministry "ideas" that many of us fro other countries have that don't work here.

1. Tracts

This method of ministry tat is usually very popular in AMericana nd some other countries, is very ineffective most of the time. Out of thousands of tracts many of the missionaries I know here have passed out, they may have had 1 or 2 people come to their church and not respond to anything that was said.

2. Public Evangelism

It is hard to get up an preach in a public square. Many people may staop and listen but the hearts of the people here, ESPECIALLY the men are very hard. There is a sever lack of love in this country. You may talk and talk until your blue in the face but it is not always effective.

3. Love

As stated above, there s a sever lack of love here. Many of the people don't know how to open their hearts and accept true love. Many men especially were not loved alot growing up, so in turn, they do not know how to love their children or wife is godly way.

4. Japanese Christians

At the church I am working at now, about 93% if not more of the congregation is women. It is like that all over Japan. Men are very hard hearted. Women are much more open to the love of God than the men are. The women are looking for a father's love that they may have lackd growing up. Many of the Christian women I have met here ran away from home at a young age because of physical abuse by their father and/or brother(s).

5. Culture

Most Japanese people won't talk too much. Especially if they are out to dinner. If you look, just about everyone has a cell phone on which they read books, listen to MP3's, or chat or send mail. On a train it is usually ver quiet because the people keep to themselves alot. It is very rare to be invited into a Japanese home. Many of them are ahamed of their houses and/or are very private people.

6. How can we reach them?

One of the best tools I can see here for reaching many Japanese people, especially young people, is media. I am looking into a job now to teach English in Japan. I am in Japan right now but I will be returning to the States for my last year of college.

When I return I want to try to start a Christian Radio station geared toward young people, a Christian music group, and write/produce/draw Christian anime and Manga in Japanese. Yes this is a large task and it will be difficult. I believe God will make much of this happen though.

Japan is a wonderful country and I love it here. It is a beautiful place but the people here need more of God. There is so much immorality. You can see it through the smut shows that show on public TV and the Smut magazines that are sold in stores everywhere that are easily accessable to children.

I don't want to shove Jesus down their throats. I want to give them a real Jesus. I want to show them by living what being a Chirtian means. I want to integrate into their culture and get on thier level. You cannot force feed the gospel to people, especially here in Japan.

I am not a Mr.-know-it-all. All this information I am gathering from living here this summer and serving under a missionary who has been here over 23 years, who still seeks guidance from his aunt who has been a missionary here over 50 years.

I don't quite know how to classify this thread. If you have any thoughts please post them or mail me. I want to raise awareness to this issue. As Christians, seeing other people saved should be outr top priority.

Thanks

You have forgotten/not thought of one possibility, as N.T. Wright observes in The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is, our Lord more didn't often teach so much as He did things and then commented upon them when inquired about there meaning. If we are called to be His disciples and emulate Him in everything, surely this is a good method of mission - to act in a way that announces the nature of the kingdom to all. For example, I wonder whether the church would prosper in a greater fashion if they would enact these verses - Luke 14:12-14 ESV He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. (13) But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, (14) and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." This could not simply be done individually, but as a church, or even Church. What if you set a congregation in funding and actively seeking to bring the poor, the lame and blind, i.e. those suffering from disabilities often excluding them from many things so much of the world does, and then invite them to a great agape (love) feast, one that emulates the great eschatological banquet as Christ did in His own feasts. Yes, if you wish sucess, you must embody the message of the kingdom, to go beyond appearing like another gaijin that is the same as any other, but to embody the Christian message in a way like Him that sets you apart from anything they have ever seen before, then some will ask you what on earth you were doing and why you did it, and then there is your opportunity to explain, which is why you're there in the first place. For what its worth, I recommend importing The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is for a good look at what Christ was to His first-century Jewish context as a guide to your actions in 21st century Japan. I agree with the media concept and had some totally unique ideas myself though.

[Heed]

That is an awesome concept as well as method of ministry. Fankly though, inviting people to special events, concerts, doing certain types of ministry to lame and poor don't work as much. People here are under so much bondage from Bhuddism, Shintoism but the biggest being tradition. They are very set in their ways and, even though, they will accpet kind gestures and acts of kindness and might even listen to you preach, there is no certainty that they will come to Chtrist or even accept what you are saying.

one example is, I lived in New York City for a period of time and did and internship there as well in all kinds of ministry. One on particular washomeless ministry. Many people were invited or came but they were only there for the fod afterwards. Even though there was preaching and music and such, it may have only ompacted a few.

I hope I am grasping the concept of what you are saying. Maybe the above example isn't very accurate.

Anyway, I hate to sound pessimistic but it is the way things are here. This spiritual battleground is so different than other fields in the world.

I greatly appreciate your comment though. Maybe some people would be open to it though. But I am going by trends I observe during my stay here as well as what the missionaries tell me. I have asked countless questions about what kinds of ministry work. I was told Billy Grahm came here and thousands of people came. But there were very very few salvations out of the whole event. This country needs a fresh touch of God. Seriously.

[Heed]

Oh, btw, sorry I didn't mention this above, but the facts I postd in the topic starter are not EVERYTHING about Japan. I am merely stating the spiritual state of the country. I am sure Iam not covering every spectrum and possibility but this is what I have observed so far @_@

[bigsleepj]

Have you ever heard a Japanese Catholic novelist called Shusaku Endo? If so what did you think of his work? I've read his "Silence" a few years ago and was rather captivated by the book which I consider one fo the best I've read (I still have to decide if the theology is correct though which is paradoxical - not that I hate paradoxes...my one favourite author is GK Chesterton, the Prince of Paradox). Silence was a study on the nature of Christianity in Japan during the great persecutions of the Christians told from the eyes of a Portugese Jesuit Priest - its easily one of the most disturbing books I've read.

If you know him what is your oppinion on him? I'm not sure I agree with his philosophy and theology but it is food for thought certainly.

Here is an interesting article on Endo found here.

[oro!]

Wow! Japan is such a lost country. My heart goes out to them. I know that right now all I can do is to start praying for Japan, and that God would show Christians the way to reach them.
Example: The Masai in Kenya. All attempts to convert failed until the missionaries put Jesus in the view of a sacrifice with BLOOD for our sins. Then the masai really opened up to the gospel.

[GhostontheNet]

That is an awesome concept as well as method of ministry. Fankly though, inviting people to special events, concerts, doing certain types of ministry to lame and poor don't work as much. People here are under so much bondage from Bhuddism, Shintoism but the biggest being tradition. They are very set in their ways and, even though, they will accpet kind gestures and acts of kindness and might even listen to you preach, there is no certainty that they will come to Chtrist or even accept what you are saying.

That's a half-baked statement of what I'm saying, and perhaps representative of what is causing Christianity to go south (literally rather than figuratively, if Philip Jenkin's thesis holds). To invite people to what does not interest them is perhaps the first mistake. No, what I am talking about is a campaign of symbols, words, deeds, and symbolic deeds. To overturn tables or subvert the gospel of Caesar when necessay, to do outrageous acts of kindness, goodness, and mercy even if it means losing your honor in the sight of others - physician for the sick, not the well, for the sinner, not the righteous. This kind of emulation of Christ is risky, and will probably make you the (to use a Japanese proverb) nail that sticks out that gets smacked back in, but I think the desperation of your actions and thought must show. Why don't they respond? Because they don't take Christianity seriously. Your task in the end is to attempt to think of ways in which they might take it seriously after all. Media is a wonderful tool but it is neglection to be content to not take the gospel of the kingdom with its message of peace, justice, mercy, and judgment out into the real world, and this is your task in the end, not to save as many as you can, but to teach as many as you can this message of salvation and joy or eternal shame, however they respond. I believe what Yeshua Christ Himself was dealing with in many ways similar to that of you missionaries to Japan (which I hope to join when able), I would not neglect the concept of emulating Him in every way possible that was not a unique accomplishment of His own, which would also set you far apart from the typical gaijin.

[Eriana]

Japan is very bad in spiritual materials, some buddhists and a whole bunch of other mixes, it doesn't matter what they look outside but it matters what it's like inside. I know a lot of people in Japan are blinded by the belief of they're being a god of water, power, thunder, etc. But the more people that minister to them the better. And it's not only Japan obviously, but for those of us who having a calling to go to Japan or any other place around the world and minister, I think it's just totally awesome seeing one mind and spirit changed. The more that are set free of sin, obviously the better! I know there are Christians in Japan but they seem very rare, I'm going to always continue praying for them and of course the rest of the world.
(Sorry if this seemed a little bit of the opposite of what you were talking about, I'm just stating what I though was best. ^^;;;)

[mitsuki lover]

The very sad fact is that Japan is so neglected as a mission field.You look
at the religious papers or Christianity Today and other Christian magazines and they're always talking about Third World countries like the Sudan or else
the Arab countries.
Japan is neglected simply because people aren't interested in First World
missions.It isn't top priority.
It was the same way when Hudson Taylor formed the then China Inland Mission which is now OMF,Africa was THE mission field back then but few
people were interested in either China or other parts of the Orient like
Japan.

[Heed]

In my Bible college, Africa and China and Mexico are stressed SO much for missionaries. I have never heard Japan really mentioned. I have heard someone say something about it once or twice but the need has never been stressed. It really breaks you inside when it seems that so many Christians are avpoiding something so important.

As for ministry, I myself really feel I have been getting urges from God to use the Media in Japan to reach the people.

Media is a wonderful tool but it is neglection to be content to not take the gospel of the kingdom with its message of peace, justice, mercy, and judgment out into the real world, and this is your task in the end, not to save as many as you can, but to teach as many as you can this message of salvation and joy or eternal shame, however they respond. I believe what Yeshua Christ Himself was dealing with in many ways similar to that of you missionaries to Japan (which I hope to join when able), I would not neglect the concept of emulating Him in every way possible that was not a unique accomplishment of His own, which would also set you far apart from the typical gaijin.

Yes, acting how Chrost would act, the classic "WWJD" is always a good witness. Emulating a Christ-like lifestyle would have people notice there is something different about you but that is not al that needs to be done.

I am not one who is called to save the masses, what I mean by that is I am not called to a ministry like Billy Grahm or Benny Hinn. I like 1 on 1 winessing or even small home groups.

One of the most effective ways to share gospel here is building strong lasting relationships with people. You must gain their trust if they are to consider what you tell them. People here need more than just a preacher, throwing the Bible in their face. They need Chritian friends, they need to be loved.

[GhostontheNet]

In my Bible college, Africa and China and Mexico are stressed SO much for missionaries. I have never heard Japan really mentioned. I have heard someone say something about it once or twice but the need has never been stressed. It really breaks you inside when it seems that so many Christians are avpoiding something so important.

Of course they are focusing on Africa, China, and Mexico, to quote a Kenyan scholar named John Mbiti cited by Philip Jenkins, "the centers for the church's universality no longer in Geneva, Rome, Athens, Paris, London, New York, but Kinshasa, Buenos Aires, Addis Ababa and Manilla." Indeed, if Mr. Jenkin's thesis (The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity) holds, Christianity will shift from Europe and America to Africa, South America, and China. It is well that we are training our replacements, with YHWH perhaps the new epicenters will offset the mathematical-type mean incompetance of the European and American churches that lose so much ground despite being better equipped than anyone, perhaps like the American public school districts.

Good.

Yes, acting how Chrost would act, the classic "WWJD" is always a good witness. Emulating a Christ-like lifestyle would have people notice there is something different about you but that is not al that needs to be done.

True, though one should avoid overly inhibiting this out of fear of offending people (which is better than ignorance I think).

I am not one who is called to save the masses, what I mean by that is I am not called to a ministry like Billy Grahm or Benny Hinn.

Arggh, Benny Hinn, that foul........[Supresses tongue] Would that YHWH would let Him have what his actions and horrible dishonor of Him deserve.

I like 1 on 1 winessing or even small home groups.

One of the most effective ways to share gospel here is building strong lasting relationships with people. You must gain their trust if they are to consider what you tell them. People here need more than just a preacher, throwing the Bible in their face. They need Chritian friends, they need to be loved.

Suggestion: it seems the trust of Japanese is based on predictability of behavior, among other things. You would do well to read the article at http://www.tektonics.org/af/culturegram.html , itself a full quote of another article since taken offline and only available through http://www.archive.org .

[Eriana]

I totally agree with you GhostontheNet. You have pointed out a lot of helpful and truthful things. Sometimes I really haven't considered these things to well, but Japan does need tons more attention from believers than its getting, IMHO. Japan has been something I have been interested in for a long time now and anyone who goes or somehow helps Japan I'm sure would be very blessed. Though its not only Japan, and rather everyplace in the world that needs Yeshua's guiding hand, I in a way feel a strong calling from God to minister in Japan and help people to come and know the Lord. I'm not sure but I have a strong belief that's what I'm being called to do. I think everyone should listen and find out what they're true callings are, because its so deeply important for us, the world and most of all it is VERY important to God for us, His children, to help as many as we can to come and follow Him.

[Tenshi no Ai]

It's werid... cause in JPOP and even anime, they convey emotions and (in many different ways) love in really nice and fancy words! Yet, I know a guy from my old high school that went there on exchange... and yeah apparently they really don't open up their emotions to others, which was his own culture shocker :/
Sad really... a country where business and money is everything and you're not a good Japanese man unless you're committed to your job... or something. Sure there's some other forms of spirituality over there like Shintoism and Buddhism and probably even Taoism. I know I studyed these in a comparitive civilizations class and well, *lost my train of thought cause my mind's a little blank and don't wanna say something wrong and have mad know-it-alls correct me^^* But I'll just say that Japan shouldn't be ignored. Even if they have such spiritual beliefs, their hearts still seem to be hard...

Good for you for helpign out there, though! Pretty neat-o sounding! (Wish I could go over to do missions, but not sure if it's even my calling^^)

Hopefully ONE day Japan will get a good idea of Christianity, unlike some seen in unmentionable anime and manga :/

[GhostontheNet]

It's werid... cause in JPOP and even anime, they convey emotions and (in many different ways) love in really nice and fancy words! Yet, I know a guy from my old high school that went there on exchange... and yeah apparently they really don't open up their emotions to others, which was his own culture shocker :/

Well, aparrent coldness is something of the antithesis of storytelling and singing if shared by all the characters, although note that if you look more carefully these emotions are typically spread amongst those in a subgroup of some type, and not generally among outsiders. Besides which, to quote the article previously linked to,

Tatemae/Honne (“]

Sad really... a country where business and money is everything and you're not a good Japanese man unless you're committed to your job... or something.

Once more, from the same source for context,

Cultural behavior is based on mutual interdependencies that create both power and weakness. This is a key source of stress in Japanese society, because there is no closure of interpersonal and social obligations. Independence is never attained. The Japanese kaisha ("guy-shah") is held together by networks of hierarchical relationships from which individual employees receive their identity and status. To lose ones standing and legitimacy in the kaisha is to lose one’]

Sure there's some other forms of spirituality over there like Shintoism and Buddhism and probably even Taoism. I know I studyed these in a comparitive civilizations class and well, *lost my train of thought cause my mind's a little blank and don't wanna say something wrong and have mad know-it-alls correct me^^*

I somehow have a hard time believing that Taoism would have much of a footing in Japan where the full force of the pursuit of the effortless path would run antithetical to so much of the predominant culture, that also has such an emphasis on harmony and conformity.

But I'll just say that Japan shouldn't be ignored. Even if they have such spiritual beliefs, their hearts still seem to be hard...

Good for you for helpign out there, though! Pretty neat-o sounding! (Wish I could go over to do missions, but not sure if it's even my calling^^)

Hopefully ONE day Japan will get a good idea of Christianity, unlike some seen in unmentionable anime and manga :/

It's a bad sign when the non-Messianic Jews, who if asked would doubtless adamantly deny being a sect of the Christians, are so often considered to be a sect of the Christians. It is questionable whether most manga-kas doing such even care (with possible exceptions in manga-kas like Tezuka Osama, whose familly apologized for his unintentionally making Jews in one manga end up making a Christian style prayer).

Eriana: Thank you for taking my ideas seriously, and Godspeed.

[Kura Ookami]

Yeah, in Japan Lolicon is legal. Lolicon is underage girls hentai. That's the extent that the japanese need christ. The best media to reach out to people would probably be anime because anime is huge in Japan. Too bad Christianity in anime is not good. You've got as many christian villians in anime as you've got christian heros. Maybe more. How can you deal with that? Sorry that this isnt a very helpful post. I'll be praying for your success. Plant the seeds and hopefully some will find good soil and grow.

[Heed]

Of course they are focusing on Africa, China, and Mexico, to quote a Kenyan scholar named John Mbiti cited by Philip Jenkins, "the centers for the church's universality no longer in Geneva, Rome, Athens, Paris, London, New York, but Kinshasa, Buenos Aires, Addis Ababa and Manilla." Indeed, if Mr. Jenkin's thesis (The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity) holds, Christianity will shift from Europe and America to Africa, South America, and China. It is well that we are training our replacements, with YHWH perhaps the new epicenters will offset the mathematical-type mean incompetance of the European and American churches that lose so much ground despite being better equipped than anyone, perhaps like the American public school districts.

True, though one should avoid overly inhibiting this out of fear of offending people (which is better than ignorance I think).

Arggh, Benny Hinn, that foul........[Supresses tongue] Would that YHWH would let Him have what his actions and horrible dishonor of Him deserve.

Suggestion: it seems the trust of Japanese is based on predictability of behavior, among other things. You would do well to read the article at http://www.tektonics.org/af/culturegram.html , itself a full quote of another article since taken offline and only available through http://www.archive.org .

There are many reason why there is no focus on Japan and other more prosperous countries. One of the main reason is that the church and the gospel flourishes more under persecution but that should not rule out countries in which there is religious freedom.

And please, don't put down the men that God has ordained to spread his word. Benny Hinn may have sins in his life but they are just the same as anyone else's sin in God's eyes. Sin is sin.

Anyway, there are many ways to reach Japanese people, but many are not as conventional as doing American ministry. I say the only way you can know about it is to come here and experience it first hand. I had my own outsiders veiw of Japan before I came here and now I see how it really is. Don't get me wrong though, I love this country and the people here and I want to see God move mightily. I just think the only way that you can truly understand ministry here is to be here or to have been here already and have been involved in active ministry.

[GhostontheNet]

There are many reason why there is no focus on Japan and other more prosperous countries. One of the main reason is that the church and the gospel flourishes more under persecution but that should not rule out countries in which there is religious freedom.

Agreed, it seems peace and security seems to engender complacency and all manner of ill traits among many.

And please, don't put down the men that God has ordained to spread his word. Benny Hinn may have sins in his life but they are just the same as anyone else's sin in God's eyes. Sin is sin.

If by "ordained to spread the word" you mean one of the false prophets of Dueteronomy that YHWH sends as a test of faith, I must disagree (and if you obviously deny this, I will still hold out to this interpretation). The criteria of Yeshua Christ is

"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Hinn fails from this, is shameful to the church, and I will consider him in the same light the Jews considered the tax collectors. Nor, in spite of much contemporary evangelical opinion, is all sin equal in the sight of YHWH, for as Yeshua Christ says in John 19:11, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.", indeed, the Greek is]Anyway, there are many ways to reach Japanese people, but many are not as conventional as doing American ministry. I say the only way you can know about it is to come here and experience it first hand. I had my own outsiders veiw of Japan before I came here and now I see how it really is. Don't get me wrong though, I love this country and the people here and I want to see God move mightily. I just think the only way that you can truly understand ministry here is to be here or to have been here already and have been involved in active ministry.[/QUOTE] Probably.

[Eriana]

I know that I would probably have to go to Japan to understand more about its cultural balances and where they're hearts really lie, but God also gives me more help then I can ever imagine when I am doing something for Him. God moves in mysterious ways, and I do believe in my heart that God has a way of helping me get to Japan if that is my complete and final destination. I know either way God will work something out for me and anyone else who wants to do wonders before the Lord. I love God with all my heart, soul and mind. I want to do anything to help other people see the same light that I feel spiritually towards Yeshua. If I could even help one life get saved I would be thrilled, though it is not me but rather the Lord speaking through me, I would love nothing more for someone, anyone to see the Lord and experience His amazing love for us.
And considering how Japan seems to be lost in a kind of spiritual darkness, I know the Lord can do so mant miracles to help they're country. Everyday I have been praying for a way to help Japan, for God to use me in someway to help others. Sorry if that sounded a little cheesy, I was trying to express my heart but I'm terrible with words.

[Kaorugirl]

Okay,, where do I start?? God has in fact called me to move to Japan and be a missionary there. Reading this post has made me realize WHY God wants me to go there. I'm letting you know that after college (or maybe during) that I'm gonna be there.

[animegirl1]

Heh, here is a little topic I hope is informative for some of you. I know when I learned what I was about to write I was kind of suprised but it really opened my eyes to the reality of ministry in Japan.

Japan is a totally different battle ground. There are so many ministry "ideas" that many of us fro other countries have that don't work here.

1. Tracts

This method of ministry tat is usually very popular in AMericana nd some other countries, is very ineffective most of the time. Out of thousands of tracts many of the missionaries I know here have passed out, they may have had 1 or 2 people come to their church and not respond to anything that was said.

2. Public Evangelism

It is hard to get up an preach in a public square. Many people may staop and listen but the hearts of the people here, ESPECIALLY the men are very hard. There is a sever lack of love in this country. You may talk and talk until your blue in the face but it is not always effective.

3. Love

As stated above, there s a sever lack of love here. Many of the people don't know how to open their hearts and accept true love. Many men especially were not loved alot growing up, so in turn, they do not know how to love their children or wife is godly way.

4. Japanese Christians

At the church I am working at now, about 93% if not more of the congregation is women. It is like that all over Japan. Men are very hard hearted. Women are much more open to the love of God than the men are. The women are looking for a father's love that they may have lackd growing up. Many of the Christian women I have met here ran away from home at a young age because of physical abuse by their father and/or brother(s).

5. Culture

Most Japanese people won't talk too much. Especially if they are out to dinner. If you look, just about everyone has a cell phone on which they read books, listen to MP3's, or chat or send mail. On a train it is usually ver quiet because the people keep to themselves alot. It is very rare to be invited into a Japanese home. Many of them are ahamed of their houses and/or are very private people.

6. How can we reach them?

One of the best tools I can see here for reaching many Japanese people, especially young people, is media. I am looking into a job now to teach English in Japan. I am in Japan right now but I will be returning to the States for my last year of college.

When I return I want to try to start a Christian Radio station geared toward young people, a Christian music group, and write/produce/draw Christian anime and Manga in Japanese. Yes this is a large task and it will be difficult. I believe God will make much of this happen though.

Japan is a wonderful country and I love it here. It is a beautiful place but the people here need more of God. There is so much immorality. You can see it through the smut shows that show on public TV and the Smut magazines that are sold in stores everywhere that are easily accessable to children.

I don't want to shove Jesus down their throats. I want to give them a real Jesus. I want to show them by living what being a Chirtian means. I want to integrate into their culture and get on thier level. You cannot force feed the gospel to people, especially here in Japan.

I am not a Mr.-know-it-all. All this information I am gathering from living here this summer and serving under a missionary who has been here over 23 years, who still seeks guidance from his aunt who has been a missionary here over 50 years.

I don't quite know how to classify this thread. If you have any thoughts please post them or mail me. I want to raise awareness to this issue. As Christians, seeing other people saved should be outr top priority.

Thanks

that is exactly what i want to do when i get older and i will pray for u in your journey and mabye one day i can do the same

[Artist4Jesus89]

God has called me over to Japan and as Kaorugirl said reading your post has helped me know why other than the fact that i love that country!

[Kaorugirl]

lol,, AMEN!

[Heed]

Hmm, It is really cool to see all the zeal that you have. I am noticing that you are all very young too. That's not a bad thing but be sure to spend ALOT of time in prayer about this. Many people have followed what they thought was God's calling and made big mistakes. I am not saying that God isn''t calling you there, just make sure He is.

Also, once you are here in Japan, you will get a whole different view of the country. Even though I did research on the country, I still got a bit of a culture shock when I came. No amount of studying will ever prepare you for here.

Also, I am a huge anime fan and I love manga and drawing and video games. BUT

Japan is not anime land! It is not Maga land! YEs, Manga and anime are popular in some places here, but if you mention anime to certain people, they will have no clue what you are talking about. Also, shield yourself when you come here. I went into a book store esterday tryin to find a book to learn JApanese, I found out it was no ordinary book store. Pornography is so strong here that compared to America, America is a goodie-two-shoes or watever you wanna say. Even the regular book stores and department stores are floded with aisles of hentai and pornographic materials. It is one of the biggest strongholds to overcome.

Be careful and stay in prayer.

[Kaorugirl]

Thanks for telling me,, I'll keep that in mind when I go. I realize that there is MUCH more to Japan than Anime and Manga, but that's just what got me into the Japanese culture. I truly feel the need to tell God to the Japanese. Another thing that got me into the Japanese culture is that I have Japanese neighbors. They can hardly speak any English. I'm learning Japanese so that they might understand what I'm trying to tell them.