Hey friends, I wanted to share a few pictures of a trip I went on recently. My church (Escondido URC) has been working establishing connections with the Presbyterian Churches of Japan to help them in their work over there (this being the first official mission trip). Japan is a country with a very low percentage of Christians. The 2 most prevalent religions being Buddhism and Shintoism, which are totally different than Christianity. So there are so many reasons why Japan is a difficult mission field but of course a country that really needs the love of the Lord. We are looking to host trips at least once a year in future. If you’re curious to find out more or possibly join on a future trip, send me a message and we can chat or I can get you connected to the people behind the planning :).
Has anyone in this group been to Japan? Any highlights from your trips?
My brother, a member of church and I went to Chiba City in June. It was a work mission to renovate a few spaces in the area including an office space, an intern/missionary house and a house to be used for the university ministry. We enjoyed our time with Matt Chase (MTW) and meeting his in laws and learning the story of how 30 years ago 3 Japanese pastors called 3 former marines to help church plant with the goal of building a presbytery for the area.
Things that stood out to me. Like Marianne understanding just how small Christianity is there and the need. On a prayer walk we visited a Shinto temple and Matt explained to us as we watched people dropping coins and clapping in front of shrines that they were praying to different idols for different things. We watched a lady do a circle praying at each of the idols clapping which we learned was so that they hoped the god would hear them. There was also boards of prayers cards that people bought from the temple and had written prayers on. It was pretty heartbreaking. They didn’t know that there is only one God and one mediator in Christ for our prayers. Kinda like when Paul is in Athens and they have an alter to an unknown God and also kinda like the indulgences Martin Luther encountered. We also walked through the red light district which was pretty sobering. We took the train up to Tokyo for an afternoon and when we came back we were asked if we saw any signs of Christianity. I thought for a second and honestly couldn’t say that I did.
From what I learned, Japan can be a grinder for missionaries. We met a sweet retired couple from Norfolk that visits missionaries and train and encourage them. I always thought that there were 2 categories: Goers and Senders. But it was cool to learn that there are also Encouragers.
The Japanese population is aging and declining which is a challenge to the church. There is a huge need to reach disciple and train the young people to be the next leaders of the church and to fill the shoes of an aging generation.
The Japanese culture is very different from the U.S. They make decisions thinking how it affects others, while often we make decisions thinking about how it affects us. The people are very considerate and respectful. We spent most of our time working, but I wish I worked on learning more Japanese to talk to people. Also Japanese 7-11 is amazing!!