Over the course of ten days, I met with over fifty missionaries and pastors laboring along the east coast of the Japanese mainland. In a country that is merely an estimated 0.5% evangelical Christian (according to the Joshua Project¹), serving as a pastor or missionary is certainly not a position of wealth or acclaim. In fact, many of the Japanese pastors I encountered have been discouraged, ridiculed, or even disowned by their families for pursuing such a purpose, find it incredibly difficult to provide for their families with their salaries especially in the metropolitan areas they live in, and endure significant hostility from their neighbors for their departure from the Buddhism, Shintoism and spiritualism accepted as Japanese religion or spirituality. Further, a general ignorance of Christian beliefs fuels a misguided conflation of Christianity with harmful cults, like the ones associated with the assassination of the former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022 and the Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995. As a result, general suspicion and enmity prevail against Christianity, poignantly illustrated by the fact that Christian college groups are not even allowed to meet on campus while other religious groups are lauded and celebrated. Despite the difficult circumstances, the missionaries and pastors readily and joyously persevere because of their resolute belief in what they have committed themselves to doing.

It was remarkable to witness the great scope of the missionaries’ impact. I was blown away by the diversity of their labors: some serve as full-time church-planting missionaries, pastors or campus ministers, others are employed as professors or teachers at universities, language schools, seminaries or other institutions, a few are artists and owners of a gallery, some are involved in widespread efforts to translate Christian resources into Japanese, and still others are family physicians. Whatever they are involved in, they employ their gifts and talents to serve the Japanese believers in their congregations and evangelize to the broader communities. Moreover, precisely because of the Christian orientation of their beliefs, the missionaries and pastors could not overlook the major societal issues that continue to plague the nation. Their congregants and even strangers often approach them with tremendous physical, emotional, mental and spiritual strain caused by the pressures of a culture that glorifies productivity and usefulness in the workplace, fractures the household in favor of longer work weeks, and resolutely discredits and disgraces Christians for their beliefs, in addition to all the pressures of everyday life. Especially in view of Amy Borovoy’s work, the work of the pastors is especially important for the women who attend church, more often than not without their husbands and suffering from drastic loneliness and purposelessness.

In the midst of these theological and pastoral concerns, the huge emphasis placed on education by the missionaries expresses itself most fully. A common theme throughout all the missionary work has been the prominence of education. As one Japanese pastor assessed the situation:

"Imagine trying to teach men and women to live the life of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 2, when just last year they were living completely idolatrous and pagan lives. It takes years to “detox” all the sinful habits, to commit to heavenly priorities, and to give all to pursue the righteousness of the kingdom of God. Not only that, you have to teach them both the right and healthy doctrine, but also a life filled with the fruit of the Spirit."

Especially in such a Biblically illiterate context, the missionaries have committed themselves to teaching and educating the people they serve in a variety of ways including Biblical education in their churches and college and graduate level education in the universities and institutions. From leading Biblical counseling sessions for their suffering congregants to providing free English classes to students and business people to making and distributing resources to critically under-resourced Japanese pastors, counselors and lay people, education remains at the forefront of their efforts. By equipping and educating Japanese pastors, counselors and lay people, the various missionaries hope to multiply their efforts and their fruit. The model of the pastors' ministry, thus, is not one of continued dependence on the missionaries, but one that would lead to self-sustaining Japanese churches led by fully equipped Japanese ministers ready to tackle unbelief and the manifold societal issues.

It is in these ways that the missionaries’ approach bears similarity to the Milken Family Family Foundation and the Milken Institute. Both groups operate under similar principles: first, education – albeit of different contexts and quality– is considered the means most conducive for creating a self-perpetuating cycle of positive impact and second, a holistic approach is seen as the singularly best way to address the manifold issues that have confronted, are confronting and will confront humanity. By focusing their efforts on education, the missionaries to Japan are poised to make a profound impact on the confluence of physical, emotional and spiritual health of the Japanese people.

To conclude, Japan continues to hold a special place in my heart. It was the greatest honor to see how the Christian leaders were laboring for God and their neighbors, and how the Christians were persevering in spite of the difficult circumstances and mistreatment that attended them.

¹ https://joshuaproject.net/countries/JA