mission.japan

...we closed the Family Center?

What if we just didn’t have a room at all? What if we totally released ourselves from the burden of money that the English classes are supposedly there to solve?

Immediate disputes, hereby addressed:

1. Q: Sunday morning worship? A: Don’t have one and go with a small group style based in homes. Schedule a regular (monthly) meeting—outside if the weather’s nice, inside a public hall otherwise.
2. Q: English classes? A: Gone, or drastically reduced to just private classes to handle just the basics, like the rent on the pastor’s home.
3. Q: Missionary support? A: With English classes gone, missionaries would have to be completely supported. Or self-employed. Or supported by the local church. Or just not here at all.

This is roundaboutedly connected to the question of whether missionaries need to be here in the first place. But there are other pressing issues. Like whether a permanent building for the church is a good idea or not.

What is the draw? Just because we’ll have a building with seating for twice our normal Sunday attendance does that mean we’ll be able to put bodies in the seats when day one of the week rolls around? If the team isn’t playing well, the arena gets a lot less full. And Christianity doesn’t have a winning record in Japan right now.

Before (or at least while) we think about a new building, we should think about how to bring people in the doors. And how to get them to stick like orange marmalade on the outside of the jar after it’s in the refrigerator for a day. Why isn’t Christianity attractive? Why are there still so many people who don’t know Jesus? I don’t claim to have the answer, but I think that’s what we should be looking at.

Of course it’s true that there are a lot of people to reach. Too many for the workers here. So if we’re going to make a difference we need to have a wide reach. That’s why I think a cafe or something along those lines would be an improvement over English classes. You could get the same exposure to Christianity across a wider audience.

Funny that the ones opposed to the cafe idea (originally conceived by Pastor Goto) are the elders of the Japanese mother church. Japanese carefulness at its utmost, or lack of vision? Hard to say from my perspective—what do I know? I’m just the short-term American missionary.

Want some more ideas? Let’s try brainstorming some. And let’s use the missionaries for something that only missionaries could do (or have the courage or time to do). Like playing Christian music downtown for the hundreds of people on the sidewalk. Maybe a really talented chalk artist could add some color to those very sidewalks and preach the Gospel at the same time (might have to get city permission first, of course). Or sign up for volunteer work around the neighborhood and drop tracts in mailboxes at the same time. “Ninjas for Jesus” has a nice ring to it—sneak around town in black ninja garb and do random good deeds.

I’m going to stop here before this rant gets too long. What’s your proposition for missions work in Japan?