Frequently Asked Questions about My Future Ministry in Japan

I am well aware that most people rarely read 'frequently asked questions'--but I considering the frequency with which I get asked most of these questions I thought it might be helpful to write a blog post addressing them. But don't let this discourage you from asking me any of these questions yourself!

Why Japan? Does Japan need Missionaries? 

Less than one percent of Japanese people know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Despite over a century of mission work in Japan, there is still much pioneering mission work to do!  Japan is within the 10/40 Window and the Japanese are one of the largest Unreached People Groups in the world. An Unreached People Group is a people group with less than 2% following Jesus--this means that the indigenous church is insufficient to the task of evangelizing the entire population. There are still over six thousand UPGs in the world, and the Japanese represent one of the most resistant to the Gospel--so yes, pioneering missionaries are still needed!

When are you going to Japan? Are you in Japan yet?
 
Unfortunately I am not in Japan yet--I get this question more often than you might think. I will be deploying to Japan as soon as I have raised 100% of my monthly support goal (at the time of writing this I am at about 14% of my goal).

I am hoping to have all of my support by the end of 2014! But if I were to be at full support within the next couple of months it would be possible launch out to Japan before the end of 2013! I am trusting in God's sovereignty and provision to dictate when I will be headed to Japan. If you have not already, please consider partnering with me to reach the Japanese.

How much support do you need?
 
My support goal has been set by my organization and is currently set at about 6600$ a month (updated 7/25/13). This amount covers my base salary, ministry funds, cost of living adjustment, housing, organizational overhead, taxes, medical insurance, retirement etc.

This may seem expensive, but consider that Japan is one of the most expensive places to live in the world. There are 'coffin apartments' in Tokyo that can cost as much as 600$ a month. There is an unfavorable conversion rate between the dollar and yen. There are also many of the hidden costs that most people take for granted because their employers pay for their benefits and half of their social security and medicare. In addition to this, there are one-time start-up costs that include language school and transportation within Japan.

How can I support you? Would you prefer to receive monthly/annual commitments?

Unfortunately I don't get these question as much as I would like. Please pray for me and consider partnering financially with me  to help me get to Japan and keep me there. Converge Worldwide has a policy of only sending missionaries that have reached 100% of their support goals. These support goals rely on monthly and annual financial commitments. That means that I will need to have 100% of my 6600$/month support goal actually coming in before they will send me out!

I have been very fortunate to have some supporters give generous one-time gifts, but I need supporters to make monthly and annual commitments to actually get me to Japan and keep me there! I am fortunate to already have some churches and individuals supporting me at amounts of 25, 30, 40, 50, 100 and 200$ a month. Currently I am at about 25%, which means I have only about 1,650$ (updated 7/25/13) a month in monthly and annual contributions coming in. You can set up a monthly or annual commitment online!

How do you pay for your expenses now? Do you have a job in Olympia?

I am currently living out of my savings account. I am reimbursed for expenses related to support raising out of my account with converge--which means that I am living off of the support that is already coming in. Once I get to a more significant amount of support (around 25%) I should be able to start drawing a small stipend on my support. It takes money to make money--and in the case of support raising, I have had to spend a lot of money on traveling, printing and training. Once a month or so I submit a reimbursement form for my gas and expenses and replenish my savings account (however the general trend has been a decline).

To be honest, I am wary of seeking a part-time job in Olympia for two reasons. The first is flexibility, I am currently able to devote myself to support raising full time, and spontaneously meet with potential supporters and be involved in local ministry. In a week I will be going to Minnesota for a training, and if I had a job, even a part-time one, it would be much less likely that I could have found time to go to this training for a week.

The second reason is that while I was in Chicago serving with Trinity International Baptist Mission, I took a part-time job because there was a lull in my support. I believe that taking the job at the library sent mixed signals to my supporters--some of them may have felt that I was not serious about my ministry among the refugees. The result was that the part-time job I took to make up for short-falls in my support actually led to a much steeper decline in giving. So much so, that it was eventually untenable to stay in Chicago, because I could no longer afford to live there even with the job at the library (I ended up having to take many additional odd jobs, like doing landscaping). The truth was that I didn't take a break on my ministry obligations, and was on the verge of burning out mentally, emotionally and physically because I was giving 100% to ministry while working more than twenty hours a week just to pay the bills.

How long will you be in Japan?

I have been appointed with Converge Worldwide as a career missionary to Japan. This means that my first term in Japan will be for four years. This first four year term will be followed by a furlough of one year and then hopefully a lifetime of fruitful ministry among the Japanese. The Billy Graham Center Scholarship which I received from Wheaton College stipulates that I need to serve at least four years overseas as a missionary--this is really the minimum amount of time I will be ministering overseas unless the Lord calls me home or to a different field.

Why not somewhere less expensive/more needy?

 Many people associate missions with starving children and developing nations--but missions is about extending the Kingdom of God to where it has not yet gone. There certainly are many places in the world that one could go cheaply as a missionary, but in truth, many of the places that we continuously send missionaries have already been reached with the Gospel and have churches of sufficient size to reach their own peoples. A focus on Unreached People Groups shifts our thinking away from merely thinking about under developed countries to unevangelized peoples.

Consider that the Apostle Paul grew up in Palestine, one of the poorest and most backward regions of the Roman Empire--despite his education in Greek and Jewish thinking, he would have been considered by many to be a country-bumpkin. Yet he had his eyes set on taking the Gospel to Rome, the most powerful and culturally significant city in the Western world. There was even a famine in Jerusalem at the time of his ministry, and he ministered to people who were economically, intellectually and culturally his superior. A view of missions that is paternalistic and only focused on reaching those 'below' us is not only unbiblical, but also historically naive.

We have been commissioned to make disciples of all nations--I believe that if the Apostle Paul were alive today he would still want to work where he was not 'building on someone elses foundation' and Japan is such a place where there is so much work to be done in making disciples.

Aren't missionaries supported by the church? Why do you need my money?

Unfortunately and fortunately the mission funding paradigm has changed. It started with men like Hudson Taylor in the 19th century who created para-church missions agencies and began seeking support from individuals as well as like-minded congregations. Many deoniminational missions agencies continues supporting there missionaries directly from the church budget until after WW2 when there was a surge of mission sending--today very few organizations have this structure, the Southern Baptists and the Christian and Missionary Alliance being notable exceptions.

For the most part missionaries are expected to raise their own support from churches and individuals. Thirty years ago a missionary could expect to get a lion's share of his support from churches and to a smaller extent directly from individuals--but now that has completely flipped. Most new missionaries get 70% or more of their support from individuals, and if they are lucky the rest from churches.

Unfortunately, many churches have maxed out their missionary budgets--and unless a missionary retires or dies they are unwilling to consider adding anyone new. Churches also have committees and budgets--and it takes a lot of time and effort (and phone calls and appointments) to even be considered. I have gotten many doors shut in my face by churches. The truth is, that Evangelical Christians on average only give about 4% of their income in tithes to the church, and of that only about 2% goes to international missions, out of that, less than 2% goes to unreached/underreached peoples. The majority of money raised for missions in the church now goes to short-term missions and Christian tourism.

These are some of the factors that have contributed to missionaries seeking more support from individuals rather than churches. But it has also discouraged some people from perusing missions as they would rather not 'beg' for money from their friends and family.

Why not get a job in Japan? Can't you serve bi-vocationally?

The truth is that jobs for expats are not only rare in Japan--but getting a job in Japan would most likely keep me from being fruitful in the ministry that God has called me to. 

Most foreigners who live and work in Japan either work with mutlti-national firms or teach English. Most Japanese companies do not hire international employees except as translators. So in order to work in Japan I would need to be hired by a multi-national company (Boeing, GE, Barclays etc.) and hope to be sent to Japan (odds are slim), teach English or learn Japanese to a sufficient level that I could work as a translator. So basically the only option available for me with my extensive humanities background and Masters degree in Intercultural Studies is teaching English.

While some missionaries go this route as a platform to be in Japan and be bi-vocational, I have already seen how difficult it is to minister bi-vocationally. My desire is to learn the Japanese language and minister in the heart language of the people God is sending me to serve among. Working as an english teacher would not only limit my time to master the Japanese language, but it would also discourage me from fully understanding the Japanese culture and making friends with those who are not studying Japanese. Put simply, it would be extremely limiting.

In my view, many people take this short-cut to get to Japan, without thinking about the long-term ramifications on their ministry. There are unfortunately many missionaries in Japan who have never mastered the language or culture--who live isolated from their neighbors because they have been stuck in an English-speaking bubble.

There are of course people that are called to this ministry, and God knows that we need as many Christians in Japan as possible, extending the presence of the Holy Spirit in Japan by a ministry of presence--but that is not the call that God has put on my life. I don't only intend to be present, I hope to be fruitful.

Can't the Japanese Christians evangelize other Japanese better than missionaries?

I asked a question very similar to this to Ralph Winter when he taught a session of the Perspectives class in Seattle a few years before his passing. There has been over the past couple of decades a huge push to support native missionaries because of their cheapness and their understanding of the language and culture. I once supported a well known native missionary organization very generously--and had imbibed this very philosophy. However Ralph Winter's answer knocked some common sense into me.

Firstly, he said something to the effect that one needed to be faithful to the call that was put on their life--God called us to make disciples, not write checks. Western Christians should support native missions as far as the Lord leads them, but that didn't let them off the hook to going themselves. It wasn't a choice between either-or, but of both-and. Until Ralph set me straight, I had never considered God's call upon my life.

Secondly he called into question whether many 'native missionaries' were really doing 'missions,' that is, whether they were ministering cross-culturally. He also questioned whether a cultural-insider was automatically an expert on their culture and language. The truth is, there are very many Americans who are not experts on American culture and the English language--their familiarity does not necessarily make them effective in reaching out to other Americans. This is true for someone from India, Africa or Japan--simply being Japanese does not necessarily mean that that person would be more effective at reaching other Japanese with the Gospel. The truth is, that in Japan in particularly, foreigners can be some of the best evangelists because they are not expected to live within some of the stricter social norms. Gaijin can be much more direct than the average Japanese Christian and usually get away with it.

Thirdly, he called into question the book that I had mentioned by name which I had received for free from the organization that I had been supporting--he said that the book was very one-sided and perpetuated many myths about missions and unfairly characterized western missionaries as wasteful and unfruitful. These three insights revolutionized how I saw world missions. He was correct, and I had never seen native missions in this light before.

We certainly should support indigenous ministries and partnerships when it doesn't develop unhealthy dependencies.

Do you speak Japanese? Will you be studying the language?

I don't yet know Japanese. My first two years in Japan will be spent in intensive language and cultural study. I have lived and ministered in both Korea and Japan in English and have found how limiting it can be not being able to speak a person's heart-language. I feel that it is critically important that I take seriously the task of learning the Japanese language. Some missionaries desire to jump into ministry immediately and don't take time to properly understand the language--but this makes them less effective in the long-run.

In Japan, the language and culture are so tightly intertwined that understanding the Japanese worldview absolutely requires understanding the language--it is therefore of first importance that I gain a working knowledge of the Japanese language.

Where in Japan are you going to be serving?

Most likely I will be serving in central Japan. Converge Worldwide has been ministering in Japan since 1948, and in that time has concentrated its church planting efforts from in the Kansai, Kanto and Chubu prefectures, along the Shinkansen train route and South to the coast. In that time more than sixty churches have been planted as part of the Japanese Baptist Church Association--with whom I will be partnering. This area of Japan is where more than 40% of the Japanese population lives.

Unfortunately at this time I cannot be more specific--my first two years will be spent in language training, after that I hope to partner with either a Japanese pastor or another missionary to help plant new churches.

What will you be doing in Japan? Will you be working with anyone there?
What is your vision for your future ministry in Japan?

My desire is to be used by the Holy Spirit to help catalyze a church planting movement among Japanese young people. I am hoping to work with like-minded people--pastors, missionaries, Japanese and international Christians to establish new churches that have multiplication and transformation in their DNA. 

In order for every Japanese person to have an opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel, we will need to plant tens of thousands of new churches. This can only happen if we move beyond addition to multiplication. But if anyone has been following my blog, they will know that I am quite per-occupied with the biblical study of multiplication. It is not only possible, but it is the desire of the Holy Spirit to multiply our work--some thirty fold, sixty fold, one hundred fold. (Matt 13:23)

Converge Worldwide's main partner in Japan is the Japanese Baptist Church Association (the Rengo)--currently there are about sixty churches as part of the Rengo--can you imagine what could happen if we would take the Lord at his word and believe that he could multiply these sixty churches one-hundred times over! 

Why are the Japanese so difficult to reach with the Gospel?

This post is getting pretty long--and I believe that I have written a little on this elsewhere--but this is a question deserving of its own blog post, one that I should probably write sooner than later.  To Be Continued!

Pray for Japan! Reaching the Unreached.

In 1974 missiologist Ralph Winter presented a paper at the first Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization that revolutionized missions. Rather than looking at the world with geo-political boundaries, Winter encouraged missionaries to gain an awareness People Groups. Theologically and practically speaking, it was a huge oversight.

Source: Flickr

There are over 10,000 people groups in the world. What was so revolutionary about what Ralph presented at Lausanne was that he made the bold suggestion that we should be investing our resources in reaching those who had the least access to the Gospel--that is, "unreached people groups."Since 1974, entire missions organizations have been founded with this pursuit in mind--other existing organizations and denominational mission boards have refocused their efforts on reaching the least evangelized peoples.

Japan, while being a geo-political nation-state is also the home of over 128 million Japanese--of whom less than 1% know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Japan is not entirely homogenous--it is the home of substantial minorities of Korean, Brazilian and Chinese diaspora. There are also indigenous minorities like the Ainu, Ryukyuans and Burakumin (similar to the untouchable caste in India). Often there are more Christians among these minorities per-capita than among the Japanese.

Around the world more and more of these unreached people groups are being reached with the Gospel. Amazing work is being done to translate the bible into languages that have never been put in writing before. God is doing astounding things in places that many people thought impossible to do ministry.

With all that being said, Japan continues to be a difficult and demanding mission field. In spite of over one-hundred years of Protestant mission work in Japan, less than one-percent of the Japanese have responded to the Gospel. There are many reasons for this--both spiritual and social reasons. However, something very few people are aware of is that the church is actually losing ground in Japan.

This year more churches closed than opened, less people attended a church or a sunday school--statistics across the board show a decline in the Japanese church. Pastors are retiring, churches are closing, older Christians are entering eternity. One of the most difficult realities to face is that less and less missionaries are going to Japan--even if they are called, often the financial and cultural hurdles of serving in Japan are just too high. Pray for Japan! Pray for a revival among Japanese Christians. Pray for more Christians to answer the call to missions among the Japanese. Pray for more churches and individuals to see the need and support missionaries with prayer and finances.

Considering Vocational Ministry in Japan?

A few days ago I received an e-mail from a Christian college student from the United States who had read a post I had written on Christianity in Japan--he shared his burden for the Japanese and asked what steps he might take to prepare for future ministry in Japan. It took me a couple of days to respond as I thought about his question (most of these things I have done myself), but here is more-or-less what I wrote to him with edits made to conceal personal information (I also added bible verses for emphasis and combined some things): [many of these will be applicable to other mission fields than Japan!]

'Church' by Shohei Hanzaki (flickr) 

The Japanese are the largest "unreached people group" (youtube) in the world, a missiological term to designate those groups with less than 2% Christian population. Japan is one of the most resistant countries to the Gospel in spite of it being a country open to missionaries.

Many missionaries have spent their entire careers (30+ years) in Japan and only seen a hand full of fruit; and we some of the church's best and brightest to Japan--there are numerous reasons for this; historical, cultural, linguistic and spiritual--but it is enough to say that there is a great need for prayer for the Japanese.

Japan is worth investing your entire life in for the sake of the Gospel--but it also has one of the highest missionary attrition rates of any missionary field (possibly the highest) because of the cultural, spiritual and financial issues involved in being a missionary in Japan--missionaries to Japan experience burnout at a much higher rate than in other fields. This is probably due to the amount of labor put in versus the yield of fruit and the difficulty of living in Japan cross-culturally long-term.

I say this so that you are prepared--it isn't going to be easy. It isn't going to be easy raising support for Japan (although I have heard some amazing stories of people getting over in as little as 3 months) and it isn't going to be easy staying (the exchange rate right now is a monster).

Since you are in college now, here are a few steps you may consider taking:

• “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever." -John Piper, 'Let the Nations Be Glad.' The most important thing you can do to prepare yourself for missions is to cultivate a life of worship. Develop a strong personal devotional and prayer life--as a missionary in Japan you will often feel lonely and isolated and you must be able to feed yourself spiritually. Worship is the most important preparation for missions and is the fuel for missions. 

• "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ -Luke 10:27. After love for God, we must love our neighbor--pray for the Japanese people. Pray for Japan--find out if there are any retire/furloughing missionaries to Japan in your area and see if they have a prayer meeting for Japan. If you can't find one, consider starting one of your own! Find out if there are any Japanese students at your school--make friends with them, if they are Christian learn about their experiences as a minority in Japan and pray together with them. Encourage them as they most likely will be returning to Japan as missionaries even if you never do. If they are not Christian, learn about their experiences and share your faith with them.

• "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." -Matthew 18:20. Attend a Japanese church in the States if possible--see if they have a service time you can attend or they may have a bible study you can join. Most likely you will be partnering together with the Japanese church in the future, so it is best to learn as much about the Japanese church culture as possible.

• "Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?" -Acts 2:8. Study the Japanese language--language and culture are interwoven, and it will be a good step in understanding Japanese culture. Take a class at your college if possible--if not, see if there is someone you can meet with for lessons. There are also a lot of free Japanese language resources online. 

• "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight." -Philippians 1:9. Take the Perspectives course--this is one of the most valuable educational experiences you could possibly get, definitely take it even if the Lord doesn't lead you to Japan. Start reading missions and theological books--consider Lingenfelter and Mayer's 'Ministering Cross Culturally,' David Hesselgrave's (former missionary to Japan) 'Communicating Christ Cross-Culturally,' Paul Hiebert's 'Anthropological Insights for Missionaries,' books and articles by Harold Netland (former missionary to Japan, professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) on Japanese Buddhism... read your Bible too. If the Lord so leads you, consider an MA in Missions as preparation for service in Japan. Check out JEMA and the Hayama Mission Seminar Reports for more information--study history as well, understanding the history of Japan is invaluable as a potential missionary to Japan. Also read up on missions at the Lausanne Global Conversation and Mission Frontiers. Missionary biographies are also very good devotional reading.

• "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." -Philemon 8. If you are in a Christian college, take some missions courses, if not, join a group like Navigators, IVF or CRU and get experience doing discipleship and evangelism. If you are at a Christian college find out if there is a missions interest group or prayer meeting; if not, consider starting one!

• "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off." -Acts 13:2-3. Share your burden for Japan with your church leaders. If your church has a passion for missions, make sure they know you are praying about vocational ministry--its never too early to start; they will help you be accountable and get the training and support you need. If your church isn't responsive, join a church with a passion for missions. 

• "The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." -Genesis 2:8. "Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas?" -1 Corinthians 9:5. If you are in a relationship, pray about taking steps towards marriage--being a single male missionary in Japan is super tough. Loneliness and the sexual saturated culture are a bad combination. If you have any issues with singleness, start praying for God to provide you with a mission minded wife.

• "Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord." -Acts 15:39-40. Begin the application process with a missions agency--its not too early even though you are in college. Pray about the best agency to serve in Japan with, whether you will go short term (2-3 years) or long term (3+ years). Consider your theological preferences, strategy and location within Japan. If you are a Southern Baptist, EV Free or part of a CMA church, consider going with your denomination. Also consider how much support you will have to raise--you'll find groups like YWAM and Operation Mobilization on the low end (with a short term emphasis), Pioneers, OMF, MUPS and World Venture in the middle; Asian Access, SEND, TEAM and Converge Worldwide (who I am with) tend to be on the higher end; I know because I asked most of them. ASK QUESTIONS to missions agencies. Some of the reasons I chose Converge Worldwide were its theology, long history working in Japan (60 years), strong partnerships with Japanese Churches (The Japanese Baptist Church Association), and their strong relationship with the Converge Churches here in the USA. Find out about the member-care options of each missions agency you are interested in--are they going to take care of you if something goes wrong? What about health insurance and retirement? Is there pastoral/spiritual counseling and leadership available? What does the team situation look like on the ground? Do you agree with their theology/strategy? Do you like the people you are going to be working with?

• "While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols." -Acts 17:16. Consider taking a extended vision trip to Japan if you haven't already. Living in Japan for six months as a short-term missionary really helped me to fall in love with the Japanese people even more--and I went through culture shock and saw the ugly side of Japan, and got through culture shock and past the honeymoon phase. If your school has a study abroad option and you have time left, consider a semester in Japan. You may also begin preparing for next summer--I have a friend named Dan Basco who spent his entire summer in Japan shadowing missionaries with a couple of different organizations (TEAM and SEND) in order to find out where his best fit may be. 

• "Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days... But when our time was up, we left and continued on our way. All the disciples and their wives and children accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray." -Acts 21:4-5. Connect with RJC: Reaching Japanese for Christ--and attend a regional conference--network with others burdened for the Japanese. There is a lot of great work being done among the Japanese diaspora here in the states! 

• "I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest." -John 4:35. I highly encourage you to look into the topic of Church Planting Movements (pdf by David Garrison)--these days I have been exploring a program called Training for Trainers and have been considering how it might be implemented in Japan--there are 128 million Japanese, and only about 10,000 churches in Japan; there is a huge need for a multiplication of church planting. There are a lot of different kinds of missionaries--but church planting missionaries are urgently needed in Japan. 

• "'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’" -Acts 17:28. Study Japanese arts and culture! Watch Japanese movies--Akira Kurosawa (Ikiru), Yasujiro Ozu (Tokyo Story), Hirokazu Kore-eda (Still Walking, Nobody Knows, I wish), Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke). You can learn a lot about the Japanese from media--but it is passive, and it is just one voice; it can supplement your interactions with Japanese people as you prepare for ministry in japan, but it cannot replace them.

• "Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure." -2 Peter 10. Pray some more--ask the Lord to confirm your calling to vocational ministry. Because of the difficulties of serving in Japan it is very important that you make your calling sure. If God wants you there, you will get there, but if God hasn't called you there, you won't be fruitful there.

• "Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."-1 Peter 5:5. Be in relationships of accountability--if you have any patterns of sin in your life that you need to deal with, deal with them now, don't bring them to the mission field. Also, if you have any family problems, abuse, anger issues, identity issues, consider visiting a Christian counselor before going overseas--many missions agencies are now making this part of their recruiting/training/orientation process. 

• "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?" -Hebrews 12:7. Finally, prepare for suffering. I want to re-emphasize an earlier point: fall in love with the Japanese people. After worship and prayer this cannot be over emphasized. Love for God and love for the people he has called you to serve is going to help you to persevere in the midst of suffering. This is what is going to get you through some of those really tough times on the field dealing with culture shock--that and the sovereignty of God--knowing that he is going to be glorified among the Japanese! 

I also should mention that going to Japan with a missions agency is not the only way to get there--you can also go as an ESL teacher (possibly with JET) or work directly with a larger Japanese church if you can make the connection. If you can get your Japanese language skills up high enough you may even consider seminary or graduate studies in Japan (Christ Bible Institute in Nagoya would be a good option--it is strongly evangelical and has an international faculty).

This is not an exhaustive list, but it is a good start and should give you plenty of things to look into as you prayerfully consider serving the Lord Jesus in Japan!

Delegation and leadership.

Sharing apple pie is hard too.

"Why is delegation one of the hardest tasks in leadership?" This was a question asked by Dr. Howard Hendricks to his Dynamics of Leadership class at Dallas Theological Seminary while discussing the book of Nehemiah. I found Dr. Hendricks' lectures on leadership available for free on iTunes U and I highly recommend them to anyone involved in Christian ministry!

Dr. Hendricks further emphasized his original question by asking "Why is it so hard to give it away to somebody else?" 

Well what do you think? Why is delegation such a sticky area for so many people involved in ministry? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section!

IT'S A TRAP! Discipleship and consumer Christianity.

Sunday morning many of us attended churches filled with multitudes people and listened to one person talk for about an hour. Many probably also visited a movie theater this past weekend for three hours watching the premier of the Dark Knight Rises. As I was sitting in a church here in South Korea yesterday I couldn't help but think that there was something lacking in this model of Christianity. It has become a production--even I recognized how I have fallen into the trap of becoming a consumer of Christianity.

Being equipped to make disciples?

Unfortunately it becomes easy to start treating church as just another form of entertainment--watching the Dark Knight Rises doesn't make any demands on one's life--and for too many Christians neither does attending church. I started to think--what if we had all gathered together to worship the Triune God, be mutually encouraged, held accountable and then to be challenged and equipped to go back out into the world as disciples of Christ--what would it look like?

I believe it would look a lot more like a team-meeting than a lecture. Near the end of the first (real) Star Wars film, a leader directs a group of pilot's attention to a projection screen and points out the weakness in the defenses of the Death Star. These pilots have the leadership, training and team-work necessary to carry out their mission, they're given strategic information, and they are encouraged and sent out to save the galaxy from the evil Empire--ultimately though, it will be dependence on a higher power that gives them victory. This I believe is a more biblical picture of how we are called to gather together as believers. 

Fiction: no technical difficulties with the projector.

We need to avoid the trap of falling into consumer Christianity! For the first time a few days ago I realized that the Great Commission given in Matthew 28:18-20 was cyclical. "And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”" (ESV)

Jesus begins by saying, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Simply put, "I am your King!" The Great Commission isn't a suggestion, it is a command. As a disciple of Jesus, being obedient to the Great Commission is not optional--the Great Commission isn't just for a hand full of select 'called' Christians who are gifted in evangelism and have apostolic gifts--it is a commission given to every disciple of Jesus!

What is the commission? Go! Go and make disciples. Get out of your comfort zone. Don't expect people to come to you and want to talk about Jesus. Intentionally follow the Holy Spirit to the people He wants you to meet! Ask God to show you the people He wants you to witness to. Make disciples! Don't simply ask people to give mental assent to a list of truths about God, extol God's glory and invite people to repent of their sins, worship Jesus and become obedient to Him! Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit--observe the ordinances (sacraments) and instruct them in good theology!

Here is the icing on the cake, "Teach them to obey all that I have commanded you." We're not called to fill up churches with passive observers, consumers of Christianity--we are called to reproduce disciples. The key word here is observe (obey). We, along with those we call to Christ are not simply called to be hearers of the word, but doers of the word. (James 1:22) This is where it becomes cyclical and starts to develop into multiplication! 

When we obey the Great Commission to make disciples, we teach those disciples to obey the Great Commission to make disciples, who then teach their disciples to obey the Great Commission to make disciples and so on--this is the true picture of biblical discipleship and multiplication. 

I recently started to read a book entitled Training for Trainers: A Discipleship Re-Revolution. This book actually makes the case that we need to move beyond the word disciple--because in the English language it has the connotation of passive learner. Instead the missionaries in this book advocate the use of the word trainer instead of disciple--because the original understanding of discipleship in Jesus' time had the goal of reproducing the teacher, not just the teaching. I am only three chapters into the book--and it is having to share my attention with the other book I just started on Global Church Planting and a few other things I'm reading--but it is already having a profound influence on the way I am seeing the church. 

The Great Commission finishes with Jesus saying, "I am with you always." We are not in this alone--it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that this mission is going to be accomplished. May the Spirit of God be with you!

Students, Missions and Church Planting Movements

I still have several posts on fruitfulness in the works--but I thought I would take a short discursion into another topic that I have been thinking a lot about lately which is vitally linked with fruitfulness.

Earlier this week I purchased a book entitled Global Church Planting--this book makes the case that church planting is the most effective way to reach people with the Gospel. It seems like the Lord is really keeping my attention focused on church planting as I have already been reading through Garrison's Church Planting Movements (free pdf) booklet--and this month's issue of Mission Frontiers is completely devoted to church planting.

Two of the most common elements in the rapid multiplication of churches are (1) raising up leaders and (2) employing reproducible methods.

Frankly, we are not developing enough leaders to get the job of world evangelism done, and this is in part due to the church structures and models that we choose to employ. The key to the leadership issue is a radical-rethinking of the priesthood of all believers. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)

The 'priesthood of all believers' is not simply a quaint notion, or a polemic against Rome, it means that every believer is called to be a leader and a disciple-maker in the area to which God has placed them--and few churches are intentional about training their disciples to become disciple-makers. 

Church planting is also too often associated with buildings and paid-full-time ministers--this kind of church planting is not reproducible without extensive funding and theological training. In these churches the vast majority of people are expected to financially contribute towards the church, but not directly participate in the mission of the church to make disciples. The paradigm needs to change: the key is in turning passive spectators into active participants.

Last night I was sitting outside of a convenience store in front of Kangwon National University reading about church planting on my Kindle while waiting for a couple of friends to pick me up for a bible study with some KNU students--and as I watched students streaming out of the front gate of the campus a convergence of sorts happened.

Intervarsity at NYU; beautiful picture!

I had studied in the past about how many Student Movements had lead to mission sending and church planting--but I had never done much thinking upon why that was the case. Then it struck me like a bolt of lightening and I wrote down this sentence: "Student movements bear fruit because they release gifts and talents for the Kingdom by equipping and training Saints." 

I remember when I was a brand new Christian in high school--there was a bible study being led on campus by one of the seniors. The group was started by students, led by students, taught by students--in fact it was even doing a good job of reaching out to students. But what it was also doing effectively was equipping these high school students to do ministry; it gave them a place to develop their different gifts for ministry and then release them for the Kingdom.

This pattern is similar among many university and college student groups--they often create a safe environment in which people can develop and exercise gifts of leadership, ministry and evangelism. It is no wonder that many of the best leaders in Evangelical circles come from campus ministry backgrounds.

Student groups are reproducible, especially if they are student led and student propagated--they generally do not require salaries for staff members (although there are some incredible missionaries who work among students with organizations like CRU, Intervarsity and Navigators), they don't need to spend money on buildings or maintenance, they tend not to be encumbered by strict traditions, liturgies, leadership structures, committees, etc.--this frees them up to do the work of making disciples, which they quickly equip and empower to make even more disciples.

It is no wonder that oftentimes student groups become ineffective when they lose this flexibility. Student groups then are a model for effective church planting. Pastors and church leaders could stand to learn a lot from fruitful student movements. If we want to see church planting movements and people movements begin in the developed world, we need to learn from and partner with successful student movements. This brings to mind a story from history that I will most likely give a full blog-post treatment to in the future:

Student movements are effective incubators for missions.

In the late nineteenth century a hand full of Japanese students were led to faith in Christ at a newly founded college in Hokkaido by a short-term missionary. The missionary returned to the States after eight months but left the young men with a charge, "Boys, be ambitious for Christ!" These young men, led the rest of their student body to the Lord and then went on to become some of the greatest leaders in the fields of education, politics, medicine, economics and religion in the Meiji period.

Sometimes the best thing a missionary can do is get out of the way--and student movements are effective incubators for missions and church planting because they provide an environment in which leaders can be developed without the encumbrance of stifling structures or dependencies. 

Multiply! Meditations on the theme of fruitfulness.

Recently I was appointed as a missionary to Japan with Converge Worldwide. The motto of Converge Worldwide is Multiplying Transformational Churches. I wholeheartedly agree with this motto, and I pray that God will use me to catalyze a healthy church planting movement in Japan.

Multiplication is actually a theme that is very common in the scripture. And it is a theme I will explore in my blog posts for the foreseeable future. Another word that is synonymous with multiplication in the scriptures is fruitfulness. While studying missions at Wheaton College I did a lot of thinking about fruitfulness; I hope to share some of the insights the Lord has given me into fruitfulness as part of these blog posts.

flickr user plumandjello

The first foundational verse in understanding the theme of fruitfulness and multiplication in the bible is in Genesis 1:27-28, "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. ”" (emphasis mine). 


God's first commission to mankind was to be fruitful and increase in number (multiply). However, this passage is in context of them being image-bearers--mankind was commissioned to fill the earth with image-bearers of God. Dr. Gregory Beale in his book, The Temple and the of Church's Mission, makes a compelling case that the command to fill the earth and subdue it is actually a command to expand the boundaries of the garden and fill it with image bearers (the garden being a prototype of the temple).

the Duggars, being faithful to Genesis 1 fruitfulness

Now for the mind blowing part! The great commission in Matthew 28:18-20 is a restatement of the original commission given to Adam and Eve in the garden. "Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”" (emphasis mine) Greg Beale does a much better job at drawing out the similarities in the biblical languages, but the themes alone should make the case for their parallelism.

The original commission was given to pre-fall Adam and Eve--they were to fill the earth with image-bearers and expand the boundaries of the garden, taming the wilderness and expanding the proto-temple. As Christians, we bear the image of Christ, the Son of God, who is the last-and-perfect-Adam, the perfect image-bearer of the Father. The great commission to go and make disciples of all nations mirrors the original commission in its emphasis on going (filling) and making disciples (being fruitful) by making image-bearers for Christ among all the nations of the world.

Subduing, or taming, is what we pray for whenever we pray the prayer that the Lord taught us, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Matt 6:9-10) Worldwide the disciples of Christ are being built together into a temple, the true kingdom of God--it isn't an earthly kingdom, or a temporal theocracy.

Fruitfulness in the New Testament context means disciple-making--it is unequivocally linked to mission. In order to be faithful to the command given to Adam in Genesis and given to the church by Jesus, we must reproduce image-bearers for God among all nations. In doing this we are expanding the boundaries of the garden/temple (or the borders of the Kingdom of God). Thankfully the Father has sent the Holy Spirit to do this work through us--because apart from the Holy Spirit it would be an impossible task. The fruits of the Spirit will have to wait for a future blog post on fruitfulness.