Below are pages 100 to 106 of, 'Fifteen Eventful Years, A Survey of the Baptist General Conference, 1945-1960.' These pages are devoted to the birth and growth of the early Converge missionary work among the Japanese people. I plan to write something of a reflection on them in the future, but here they are for posterity without additional comment:
Japan
The third mission field opened under the Advance was Japan. The first Conference missionaries arrived in July, 1948, though under a cooperative appointment with another mission. The Conference's own work was really begun in 1949.
The Conference work was centered on Honshu Island, the largest of the islands of Japan. The area of Honshu Island is 88,031 square miles. The islands are composed largely of high and rugged mountains. An exceptionally long shore line makes fishing an important industry. One of the most densely populated regions on earth, Japan has a population estimated at around 92,000,000 in 1959.
Conference missionaries began their work in the Tokyo area, but in the early nineteen fifties they moved their sphere of operation to the rural areas of Wakayama and Mie prefectures in the southern part of Honshu Island, about 450 miles south of Tokyo. By the prefecture (or ken) system, which was adopted in 1871, Japan is divided into forty-six local political units, each of which has considerable autonomy. Since 1948, governors of the prefectures have had to stand popular election. Wakayama Prefecture, whose capital is Wakayama City, had an area of 1822 square mile and a population of 982,113 in 1950. Mie Prefecture, whose capital is Tsu, had an area of 2,226 square miles and a population of 1,461,197 in 1950. The two prefectures are the coastal sections of a large, mountainous peninsula. The great bulk of the population is found in towns and villages along the sea coast and in the valleys extending back into the mountains. The economy is dependent mainly on fishing and agriculture.
The culture of Japan is complicated and confusing to a westerner. There are many external signs of conformity to western culture, but Japanese customs and patterns of thought, to say nothing of the language, are almost incomprehensible to the foreign visitor.
The basic kinship group is the family, which includes man and wife, the eldest son and any of his children, and any unmarried children of the master. At retirement the father surrenders the headship of the house to the eldest son. Family loyalty is very high. The head of the house has great social honor and is personally responsible for the welfare of the entire family.
The American occupation following the Second World War had a remarkable impact upon Japanese society.
A "Bill of Rights" was issued in early October, 1945, which abolished the Religious Bodies Control Law ang gave all religious freedom of organization and belief. Shintoism was disestablished, and attendance at the shrines was made voluntary. Freedom of opinion, speech, and assembly were guaranteed. A more extraordinary social revolution can scarcely be imagined than the one executed by the army of occupation.
The prestige and power of the army of occupation and the confusion created by the revolutionary disturbances which were seizing Japanese society made most Japanese people warmly receptive to anything American. American military chaplains often found themselves in close contact with the Japanese community, rendering many social services and conducting Christian worship services and Bible classes. It was in this "era of good feeling" towards Americans that wave after wave of American missionaries arrived in Japan in the period between 1949 and 1953. Many were returning GI's, who had caught the missionary challenge during their earlier visits to Japan. Some came to reinforce pre-war missions of both large and small denominations, but hundreds came to establish new work. The excitement generated by the new opportunity in Japan was reflected in early reports issued by the board of foreign missions. Albert Bergfalk wrote in The Standard,
That Japan today is wonderfully receptive to the Gospel is attested by the most reliable first hand information. The Francis Sorleys, who do not tend to overstatement, tell in the most glowing terms of what they themselves have seen. We are not thinking so much of the report of 800 decisions in eight Sundays of street meetings. The soul-hunger evident on the faces of the hearers, the eager rush when the invitation is given, and the radiant witness of the converted, is rather what we have in mind. "They just hold the crowds spellbound. I never saw anything like it in America." writes Mrs. Sorley.
And Walfred Danielson reported, after his visit to the field in 1950, "We had heard and read much about the eagerness with which the Japanese people were responding to the Gospel message but the half had not been told."
After the peace treaty and the restoration of a more normal social and political situation, however, it became apparent that the opportunity presented for Christian missions in Japan was not as great as had been anticipated. Shinto shrines, though still voluntary, resumed their central place in neighborhood life. Buddhist groups also recovered much of their lost ground. The Japanese people again began to regard Shintoism and Buddhism as the natural form of religion for Japan. Francis Sorley reported the new situation in early 1952.
Japan is an open door. But the door does not stand as wide open now as it did before... We are very much concerned for the work in Japan as we face new conditions under the Peace Treaty. We can already sense a gradual change in attitude towards us on the part of strangers. There is not that eagerness with which the Christian message used to be received in evangelistic efforts. In the Tokyo area perhaps this change is most evident because of the great number of foreigners, both civilian and military, located there... The favored position and advantages which we had under SCAP are rapidly disappearing.
Bergfalk, who made a tour of Conference mission fields in 1954, returned with a changed view of the missionary opportunity in Japan. "Instead of now holding the opinion, as I once did, that Japan offers one of the greatest missionary opportunities with the greatest immediate results, I have come to the conclusion, after seeing all our fields, that Japan is probably the most difficult of all." The avid interest shown by Japanese in the early days of Conference evangelistic efforts had proved to be superficial. "Rather than a spiritual hunger, as was thought at that time, it was an interest in what made their conquerors great." Bergfalk was dismayed to discover that, whereas he expected the Nerima Church in Tokyo to have a membership of fifty or sixty, there were only eight to ten Japanese Christians in attendance at a communion service, and scarcely any heads of families. By contrast he observed a resurgence of the hereditary religious systems. "The main religious currents in Japan seem to be going in the direction of the established religions." In ten years of vigorous missionary activity, no more than 22,000 Japanese Christians have been added to the Protestant churches of Japan, and of this number by far the greatest accession has been in a Pentecostal group, which has blossomed out without the help of a single foreign missionary.
The first Conference missionaries to reach Japan were the Francis Sorleys. Sorley's concern for the Japan field was stimulated by his experience as a military chaplain there in the early years of the occupation. When he asked for appointment as a Conference missionary, the Conference had no work in Japan to which he could be sent. An agreement was made with the Far Eastern Gospel Crusade to provide Sorley with work during a period of adjustment until he could found a Conference field. He spent a year and a half, living in a trailer on the compound of the Far Eastern Gospel Crusade and teaching in the Japan Bible Institute in Tokyo, a union school sponsored jointly by the Crusade and several other conservative missions. In 1949 Sorley secured for the new Conference mission a church building in the downtown district of Nihonbashi, a section of Tokyo, and in March began to conduct a Sunday school and preaching services. In addition to the Nihonbashi property, the Conference obtained a large home in Nerima, a Tokyo suburb of about 120,000, the downstairs of which was converted into a church auditorium. The Nerima property, which had a very modest apartment on the second floor, was first occupied by the Harris Youngquists, who reached the field in early 1950.
The earliest evangelistic efforts were carried out in the English language, with the aid of Japanese interpreters, in order to take the fullest advantage of the immediate opportunity presented by the occupation. The response was enthusiastic at first. On one of the first Sundays in the Nerima church an attendance of 512 in Sunday school was reported. Secretary Danielson, who was on the field to assist in setting up the Japan field council in May, 1950, reported on his return that "the combined average attendance at Sunday meetings and Sunday schools at Nerima and Nihonbashi during our stay was about 500. Decisions which in our homeland would usually be counted as converts numbered five to twenty at the average service."
The work at Nihonbashi began to falter in late 1950. For a time the Conference sought to dispose of the property, but without success. At the annual field council meetings in early 1952, the missionaries asked the home board for permission to retain the property, since there were some indications that a new effort to reach the community might prove successful. In late 1954 the Nihonbashi group united with Kyobashi Baptist Church, "a church with certain fraternal ties with several missionaries of the CBFMS," to form the Tokyo Chuo (Central) Baptist Church. The church building was sold to the new congregation, which called its own pastor and became self-supporting. In 1960 the membership was reported as sixty-five.
On the Nerima field two new bungalows were erected in 1952 to provide housing for new missionaries stationed in Tokyo for language study. Thus a considerable staff of missionaries has been available to assist in the work of the church. At the same time the Nerima work has often provided new missionaries with their first experience in carrying on Christian work in the Japanese language. IN 1957 the church moved to an attractive, remodeled chapel , which was subsequently enlarged, and engaged a Japanese pastor. Thus both of the outposts established in the Tokyo area became self-supporting churches within seven or eight years. IN other parts of Tokyo and the suburbs, where evangelistic work has been carried on, small nuclei of believers have been assembled.
With the addition of new missionaries to the Japan staff, the field council began an extensive study to discover a needy field where missionary agencies were not active. The missionaries undertook specific explorations of possible fields in the prefectures of Aichi, Mie, Nara, and Wakayama in mid-year 1951. Glen Swanson and Sten Lindberg (the former China missionary), both of whom had just recently arrived on the field, made a survey in Wakayama and Mie, and entrance into these fields was authorized by the field council and the board in the fall. The first village to be opened was Katsuura, to which the Youngquists moved in November, 1951. Sten Lindberg began work in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, in 1952, and Glen Swanson opened a work at Mifune, Mie Prefecture, in the same year. Elsie Funk's labors at Gobo were reinforced when the Sorleys moved there upon returning from their furlough in 1953. In each case the missionaries sought not only to establish work in the towns to which they were assigned, but also to locate strategic preaching centers in nearby towns. In 1957 it could be reported that there were fourteen congregations and preaching centers in the Wakayama peninsula.
Progress in these fields was slow. In this rural area, the traditional Japanese indifference to Christianity was deeply entrenched. Furloughs for two missionary families in 1955-56 made it necessary for the other two missionary families to carry on the work of all four stations. An acceleration in appointments to Japan in 1956 made possible further expansion in 1957, when Owase, in Mie Prefecture, and Wakayama City were occupied. Work was begun in Hashimoto City in 1958. Another was organized in 1957, and three in 1958 bringing the total number of Conference Baptist churches in Japan to seven. Baptisms have ranged from twenty-one in 1956-57 to 42 in 1959-60. The typical audiences in the church meetings have been composed largely of women and children.
House-to-house visitations, literature distribution, tent meetings, and weekly preaching services and Bible classes are the main methods which have been employed by the missionaries in Wakayama and Mie. The tent meetings have been an effective means of introducing the nationals to the Gospel. About a dozen campaigns a year, varying in length from one to three weeks, have been held in various locations, with a Japanese evangelist usually doing the preaching.
Conference missionary work in Japan has been almost entirely evangelistic. Two missionary nurses were sent out in 1950, but one returned to the United States after one term. The other has served since 1957 on the staff of the Japanese Baptist Hospital of Kyoto, an institution operated by the Southern Baptist Convention. Special efforts in the field of literature-evangelism have been made by several of the missionaries. The literature committee of the field council, with special leadership by Elaine Nordstrom, has cooperated in an organization established by the Conservative Baptist missionaries for the purpose of publishing scholarly evangelical literature in Japanese translation. Beginning in April, 1957, Lucius Butler worked on the staff of the Japan Sunday School Union, assisting in preparation of literature for Christian education. Some interest has been expressed in educational work. In 1954 a number of evangelical missionaries were discussing the possibility of a new Christian college for Japan, and the field council expressed "deep interest" in the project. Since 1959 there has been some discussion of the possibility of a Conference-supported theological institution. But throughout the period under study, the Japan mission has had no institutions devoted to educational, medical, or literary work. Indeed, the field council has on principle rejected suggestions that missionaries might be designated for specialized ministries in these fields.
