
2024年1月1日の16時過ぎに能登半島を中心におきた地震では道路の陥没、崩落、土砂屑れや建物の倒壊により、甚大な被害が出ました。
Sushi, geisha, ninjas and samurai... hot springs, green tea and cherry blossoms: welcome to the fascinating Land of the Rising Sun!
“Sushi, geisha, ninjas and samurai... hot springs, green tea and cherry blossoms: welcome to the fascinating Land of the Rising Sun!”
After decades of evangelisation by foreign missionaries, the church in Japan is still very small, with an average attendance of about 30 people at Sunday services. Many cities and towns in Japan still have only one church or no church at all. Many of the existing churches are struggling to survive; this is especially true in the countryside where you will often find churches with only four to ten believers.
Another major challenge for the church today is ageing pastors, with few or no successors. It is said that the average age of all Japanese pastors is between 60 and 70 years old. Since many of them are now retiring, the number of churches without pastors is increasing, and there are fewer young people willing to take the challenge of becoming pastors. Bible schools are closing due to lack of students. There is a great need to encourage and mobilise young Christians to be involved in ministry.
OM’s ministry in Japan started in the 1970s when a few Japanese Christians joined the OM Ships. Then, in 1992, OM opened an office in Japan with the goal of sending more Japanese into world missions. In recent years the OM Japan team has been growing. We have started to see more and more foreign workers come to Japan and help us in the enormous task of reaching out to the Japanese people.
OM Japan wants to help strengthen the generally weak churches in Japan. We would like to see them growing and establishing fruitful ministries. Sending out Japanese to the mission field in an encouragement for the churches across Japan to be involved in the Great Commission. After returning from the mission field, these potential future church leaders have matured in faith, gained cross-cultural experience and received training for their service in the Japanese church.
We're also committed to work within and alongside existing churches. Our ministry focus are churches in the Hokuriku area in Western Japan, but we also have a team in Miyagi prefecture that ministers to communities which have been affected by the tsunami cause by the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake.
PRAY: Pray for the country of Japan
Only 0.22% of the population attends church. The churches, and the country as a whole, are facing huge challenges. Pray that the Japanese will turn to God in their despair. Pray that God will intervene and redeem their land.
www.omjapan.org/pray
GIVE: Support a growing ministry
Many churches in Japan have financial difficulties and some even struggle to support their own pastor. Your gift allows OM Japan to serve the churches without being an additional financial burden to them.
GO: Come and join us!
If God has put a desire in your heart for the people of Japan, then please prayerfully consider how you can make yourself available to serve Him in Japan. The growing team needs help and is looking forward to seeing more people join them.
Contact info: www.omjapan.org/contact
Japan today is known as one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, and yet its spiritual poverty is staggering. Although some figures say that 90% of Japanese are Shintoist and 85% are (also!) Buddhist, most Japanese would claim no personal religion at all. Evangelical Christians account for less than 0.5% of the population.
Although the suicide rate fell below 30,000 every year–it remains among the highest in the world–because people have no hope beyond this present life. It’s estimated that around 1 Mio. people or 1% of the population are isolating themselves from society, which is called Hikikomori. It is feared that another 1.5 Mio. are on the verge of becoming Hikikomori. Low birthrates, lack of immigration and increasing life expectancy lead to an ageing population that is now slowly declining. This will result in depopulated rural areas and explosion of cost to keep caring for the elderly.
Church Statistics
Source: Operation Japan Prayer Guide CD, Fourth Edition, 2013