Recently I met with a Japanese Christian leader to catch up on each other’s lives, to discuss the challenges of the spread of the gospel in this nation, and to dream a bit about how to build upon the many partnerships that have been developing between Christian groups in Japan. During our conversation, he surprised me with an unexpected comment:
“The leaders of the church community in Japan need to come from outside the church community!”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Church leaders need to be out in the community,” he answered. Then he explained that the Christian church subculture is so different from the realities of everyday Japanese life that for most Japanese, the church has no connection to the community.
“We can’t keep doing things the way we always have,” he emphasized.
For any leader to truly know how their church can reach the local community, rather than focusing solely on the “maintenance” of the existing church family, they need to be out in the community. Then, from the community they can come into the local church to provide leadership for reaching back out to the community.
Statements like the above from Japanese leaders give me great hope for the evangelization of Japan—a country that has been known as a “missionary graveyard” for decades.
As missionaries, how do we respond to these mind-boggling dreams from our Japanese partners?
What do you think?
Gary Bauman
Strategic Resource Development
Editor, Japan Harvest magazine
Tokorozawa, Japan
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Jeff's column offers a mix of reflections on leadership and fatherhood, as well as news from Asian Access.
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