Missions と Japanese; Why Not Focus on the Negative?

A few months ago now, a blog post by Dr. Joseph Kim entitled, 'Why Japan?' made the rounds among those interested in missions among the Japanese. In it, Kim argues that there are many negative issues in Japan that make it a prime mission field. As a response, another missionary to Japan Simon Cozens wrote a thoughtful critique in which he claimed that such emphasis pointed to a colonial 'white-man's-burden' view of missions and was unhelpful in thinking about missions generally, but specifically to the Japanese.

Sazae-san, Japanese and as wholesome as the Amish.

Of course, there is probably a place in the middle--in the past, I would have agreed wholeheartedly with Dr. Kim's blog-post, but after years of serving in missions among both affluent and those in abject poverty my views have changed quite a bit, and I find myself heartily agreeing with Simon's assessment--to a point. Frankly, I feel that Dr. Kim's list is inverted, he begins with the symptoms but not with the disease. However, late in the post he deals with the fact that many Japanese have never heard the Gospel. 

The primary reason that Japan is still a mission field is not because of rates of suicide, sex trafficking, declining birthrates or workaholism--the primary reason Japan is a mission field is because tens of millions of Japanese, in fact the vast majority of Japanese, do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This alone should break the heart of any sincere Christian, and any other social ills are simply a manifestation of this reality.

However, saying this is not enough. I have heard dozens of missionary appeals by men and women headed to Japan in which they emphasize Japan's social ills as a way in which to prompt other Christians to give and pray. I think this is wrong. In fact, in all of the time that I have been serving in missions, I have never met a Japanese young person who was suicidal, nor is it the case that all Japanese are involved in prostitution or are they all hikikomori. 

Doubtless, in a population of 128 million people, there are those that struggle with depression, or sell their bodies, or shun society; but the majority of people that a missionary to Japan will encounter on a daily basis are far less shocking--in fact, they might seem down-right mundane or boring. The fact is, that many Japanese are polite, well-rounded, hard-working, thoughtful and honest. By the world's standard, they are a model people; though still fallen and in need a savior.

The vast majority of Japanese young people are just like the vast majority of young people anywhere in the world--they have dreams, goals, they fall in love, they make mistakes, some of them are even seeking after truth. The Japanese people are a winsome people, with a culture capable of incredible creativity and beauty. Of course their history and culture are also pock-marked with incredible depravity; but so is ours--just ask any Native American or descendent of an African slave.

We should not define any people based on the aberrant actions of a minority of their members--this in some cases is ignorance, but can easily become racism. Especially now that we are living in a quickly globalizing world--where more and more people are able to communicate freely, we should be concerned about how we speak about those that we desire to minister to! I have non-believing Japanese friends that use Facebook and speak and read English at a high level. Have you considered how they would feel if they were to read something I have written to a Christian audience that focused unduly on the negative aspects of Japanese culture? I'll tell you how they would respond--we already have a precedent.

There is a great case study for those who want to see how Japanese young people respond to negative perceptions of Japanese on the internet. For nearly a decade the English Online Edition of the Mainichi Shinbun had a section entitled WaiWai--which translated scandalous articles from Japanese tabloids into English. Mainichi Shinbun is one of the oldest and most respected newspapers in Japan--yet despite this, little oversight was given to what was being posted under the Mainichi name on the English language website. The result was that many of these tabloid articles negatively influenced perceptions of Japanese by English speaking people around the world.

In the summer of 2008, bloggers on the largest Japanese language forum on the internet, 2chan, began translating these articles back into Japanese--to the outrage of those that did not understand English. There were articles about incest, rape, homosexuality, prostitution etc. These articles were written (or translated) for non-Japanese consumption, and in the views of those Japanese on 2chan, did immense damage to Japan's image abroad. I believe their reaction was understandable and justified--especially for those coming from an honor/shame culture who's highest value is harmony.

The outrage over WaiWai (see wikipedia) resulted in suspension and punitive actions against numerous staff members at Mainichi for failing to properly oversee the English language website. 

Recently, Peter B, a long-time friend posted an article on my Facebook newsfeed about the declining birthrates among Japanese, and asked for my thoughts. I took the opportunity to use personification to explain my why I believe focusing on the negative aspects of a culture can significantly damage our witness to people from that culture, as the following excerpt will show:

Peter: "Wanna add anything to this commentary on Japan's social bankruptcy?" 

Ian: "While I have been tempted several times to write on the social ills of the Japanese I have always been restrained. I love the Japanese; as does the Lord. It has never been my experience that fixating on someone's failures and weaknesses is helpful in introducing them to Jesus. I world rather motivate people to prayer for the Japanese by sharing how much God loves them and how beautiful their culture is than by putting they dirty laundry on display. When I meet a new person I would rather hear about the things they are proud of--looking at the family photo albums than going through their medicine cabinet. Plus, if we were to honestly compare our country with Japan, the social ills of the USA are much darker than in Japan--whether it is suicide, pornography, broken marriages and families, psychological problems etc. the USA makes Japan look like a Disney movie... namely with the complete absence of gun violence."

Peter: "So it sounds like there's a LOT you'd like to add to this commentary on Japan's social bankruptcy, all of it positive. What, for instance?"

Ian: "Well, America is far from a Christian nation, but lets use a bit of personification. Imagine that 'Christian' USA were to desire to lead 'heathen' Japan to faith in Jesus. If 'Christian USA' were to lead with judgementalism by pointing out all of the shortcomings in Japan's social fabric, it would be quite hypocritical, especially considering the many shortcomings of modern American life. Sure Japan has a huge pornography industry, but do you know who has the biggest? Sure Japan has problems with broken families and rising levels of divorce--but who is leading the charge in the field? Sure Japan has sexual deviancy; but so does the good old USA. How about declining population? If we didn't have porous borders and steady immigration, population would be stagnant in America as well. Here's the rub, we're measuring the problems in Japan against a perfection that even our own country falls short of. We believe that all Japanese women should enter the workplace, because we have an idol of materialism and constantly growing GDP, we believe that population growth is good because it feeds economic growth, we believe that blurring gender roles is good because it means equality. We think Japan is backwards because it has chosen not to embrace economic growth at any cost. What does that say about our values? Maybe Japan's immigration policies are archaic--or maybe they value their culture and don't feel the need to globalize for globalization's sake. Back to the 'Christian' USA thing--just as if this were a person evangelism encounter, it would be blatantly hypocritical to focus on the negative aspects of Japanese culture without first being humble and honest about the failures of the American Church and the decline of American culture--that is why I don't focus on the negative. The truth is, all of the problems in both America and Japan have the same source, and the same solution. They are all born out of the fallen nature of humanity and the only solution is the blood of Jesus Christ that washes over all sin."

A few closing thoughts. The first is, Japan needs missionaries because it needs Jesus, not because of its social ills. Secondly, assume that whatever you write or say about the Japanese in the context of Christians, especially on the internet, can be heard and misunderstood by those that we are trying to share our faith with. Thirdly, we should not measure Japan's society by measurements we would be uncomfortable admitting our own has significant shortcomings with. Finally, the Gospel is primarily a positive message rather than a negative one; by focusing on the negative, we can be trapped into seeing the Japanese people through uncharitable worldly lenses rather than Gospel lenses--these are people that are created in the image of God and beloved by the Father, let us show them the same level of grace, mercy and unearned generosity which the Lord has shown to us!

Let us take one step past just 'not being negative,' let us aspire for something greater. I hope that if a non-Christian Japanese person were to read my blog posts or hear me speaking about their nation and people, they would hear love, not judgement. I hope that if someone who doesn't know Jesus reads what I write or listens to what I say on the topic of missions, they will not be offended, but instead intrigued. I would hope that when they hear what I have been thinking and praying about, they would want to know the God who has inspired my heart.

Christmas Clothes

Last night as I was driving home from the Christmas Eve services I had attended I happened to be listening to the local classical music station. The station was playing a concert of Christmas scripture readings and carols. The scripture readings were remarkably theologically significant for being on a secular radio station--in fact, the first reading was from Genesis. Here was the passage I heard from Genesis 3:8-15:

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

The climax of the scripture reading was the prophetic promise by God that he would send a man to defeat the serpent through the seed of the woman--recognized by most as the first promise of the Messiah in the bible. That means, that within the context of the first sinful act committed by humanity, God had already pointed to the means by which He would save his creation; sending his own Son!

However, I was a little disappointed that the young woman reading the text did not continue through the passage--because one of the most profoundly significant passages to Christmas is contained just a little farther down the page in Genesis 3:20-21:

The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. 

In the midst of man's disobedience and fall--we are able to see the nature of God as a merciful and gracious Father. His first act after chastising them was to cover over their nakedness, their shame and their guilt. He made the provision; he gave the first Christmas gift. In order to cover over their shame, it was needful that animals give their lives. This points to one of most significant themes of the bible--the cost for forgiveness is the shedding of blood. There is no atonement for sin without blood. However, as we know from the entire biblical narrative, the shedding of blood would never be a perfect or permanent substitute for sin.

This is why just a chapter later we see Cain killing Abel out of jealousy of the Lord's favor--because Abel had given a costly gift, sacrificing the first fruits of his flock, while Cain had given the first fruits of his grain. It is for this reason that Abraham and Isaac were provided with a ram to sacrifice, and the nation of Israel instituted a sacrificial system, where each year a lamb was sacrificed that would take the sins of the whole nation upon its head. But even the writers of the Old Testament understood that God was not pleased with sacrifices, that something more permanent was needed to forgive and cover over sin permanently.

That is why, two millennium ago, God sent his own son, born as a baby to be that sacrifice. As you reflect on the day, consider that Jesus was born in a barn alongside 'ceremonial clean' animals, some of which were no doubt bound to be sacrificed in the Temple. His birthplace in that barn was just as significant as his birthplace in Bethlehem. There was no room at the inn according to God's plan, because his birthplace would point us to his purpose. He was rightly identified by John the Baptist as the 'Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world.'

Much has been made of Jesus' penal substitutionary atonement--and rightfully so. His mission in coming was to take our sins upon himself on the cross, and by becoming sin he bore the wrath of God against our sin upon himself on that cross; all sin, past, present and future! However, understanding justification falls short of the totality of what Jesus did--he came to reconcile us to the Father, but in an incredible turn of events, he went one step farther, inviting us to become adopted members, sons and co-heirs in the family of God!

Jesus told a parable about a great wedding feast in Matthew 22 in which the guests that had originally been invited declined to come, as a response the king in the Parable commanded his servants to go out and invite anyone they could find to the celebration.

And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. 

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” 

Regardless of your theology on whether the atonement was limited or unlimited, this passage points to a truth, that some will reject God's invitation outright, and others will attempt to blend in with the crowd and ultimately will be sifted out.

For the sake of this devotional, I want us to focus on the way that Jesus uses the imagery of clothing in the passage. The dividing line, the demarkation between those guests was what they were wearing. The first gifts given by God in the garden were animal skins to cover over the shame and sin of Adam and Eve. To all those that respond to the wedding invitation of the Lamb, new wedding cloths are given--these cloths are in fact, himself.

In Romans 13 the Apostle Paul uses a figure of speech which I had honestly not until recently put much thought into, but has become the center point of Christmas to me. "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ" or as some other translations put it "Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ."

Jesus has become, in his incarnation, life, death and resurrection our wedding cloths--he was the lamb that was slain to make us permanent garments, spotless and clean, so that when wearing him, and his righteousness we can stand as Sons before the throne of the Father. Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus! And Merry Christmas!

What Goes Unmeasured Gets Ignored

The other night I was out with some men from church at a local BBQ joint for a low-key 'guy's night out.' It just so happened that my friend Matt invited along his father-in-law who was visiting from California and currently works at Quicken, which runs the online website Mint.com.

One of the great things about using Mint is that it gives several different visual ways to look at your spending habits over different lengths of time. If most of your spending is input into Mint correctly it is pretty easy to figure out how much you spend on say Coffee month-to-month.

This functionality actually had a major impact on my tithing/giving a couple years ago when I looked at just what percentage of my spending it actually represented--in my mind I thought I was giving at least 10%, but being able to track it month-to-month for several years I saw that I was giving significantly less than 10%!

My theology was not matching my lifestyle--even though I affirmed that everything I had belonged to God, I was not living that way when it came to my wallet! This was especially challenging since at that time I was just beginning to serve as a support based missionary. How could I ask other people to give generously when I wasn't doing so myself!

Thankfully, God used this realization to help transform my giving habits--I realized that God had given me a lot of resources that I was wasting, and were better used in serving his Kingdom. 10% became the base-line of giving, and the lid was taken off to be more generous than I had ever been before with the resources the Lord had entrusted to me as his steward.

A couple days ago I was walking around a lake in Monroe with Pastor Jan Hettinga who has been mentoring me for the past year--he has challenged me several times to develop healthier habits with regards to my physical health (and spiritual health, because they are intertwined).

On the second lap around the lake he challenged me--"Weight yourself every day!" When we are consistently reminded of reality we are more likely to take seriously the changes we need to make. It is easier to eat that extra cupcake when I haven't looked at a scale in a couple of weeks.

This is true in many areas in life beyond just generosity and losing weight (both things that I am sure I am not alone in struggling with). What goes unmeasured generally gets ignored.

How much time have I been spending in prayer? How many people have I shared my testimony with over the past couple months? Is there any way to measure honoring one's mother and father (when was the last time I gave them a phone call, went out of my way to serve them?)

Recently I have wasted a lot of time playing an addictive video game--the game keeps track of how many hours it has been played. Frankly, I am a bit terrified to look how many hours I have spent on the game when I could have been doing something more productive!

I think deep down I am hoping to hear God say, "Well done, good and faithful servant," while at the same time ignoring ways that I can tangibly measure my spiritual health. Jesus is the only truly good and faithful servant, and it by his merit earned on the cross that we can stand before the throne without sin or shame--at the same time, there is some sense in that the bible teaches that we can do more for His Kingdom if we are intentional in the way we live in obedience to his commandments.

Being too presumptuous of the grace of God may be one of the biggest dangers facing the church today.

Pastors, Thank You. Sincerely, a Missionary

This morning I had the privilege of sitting in on a world I am normally not privy to--the local pastor's breakfast. It was a blessing to see local pastors from different denominations and churches gathered together for prayer and encouragement. There was a spirit of geniality in the room. A visiting pastor shared his testimony and encouraged the others to pray for revival and a greater presence of the Lord. Before closing the meeting, the pastor that had invited me took the opportunity to introduce me and encouraged the other pastors to meet me and invite me to their churches to speak.

As I sat there I couldn't help but feeling like I was seeing something often spoken about, but rarely seen. Like those wildlife photographers that spend years trying to get sight of a rare animal doing something never caught on camera before. I am encouraged to know that this is a monthly gathering of pastors in my community--one of the least reached in the United States; and despite my feeling that I was stealing a glimpse of something rare and beautiful, it was, probably to them, something quite mundane and ordinary.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is
    when brothers dwell in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
    running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
    running down on the collar of his robes!
It is like the dew of Hermon,
    which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
    life forevermore. (Psalm 133)

Since October is 'Pastor's Appreciation Month,' let me take a moment to express my genuine thankfulness for the ministry that you men offer to the body of Christ as under-shepherds. While at the meeting I flipped through my bible to the book of Acts to find the names of a few men, who while often overlooked were some of the most influential in the history of the world. Acts 13 records the meeting of the elders (pastors) of the church of Antioch for prayer and fasting--their names were Simeon, Lucius, Manaen and Barnabas. Many Christians know the name of Barnabas as it is attached to Paul, but few would recognize Simeon, Lucius and Manaen.

These men were the ones that stayed behind when Paul and Barnabas were set apart for their ministry to the gentiles. These were the pastors of the church at Antioch. They were instrumental in the sending of these missionaries who turned the world on its head. Often we consider that the missionaries have the greater honor--but I want to suggest that the sender has a greater glory than the one who is sent. Jesus said, 'As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.' (John 20:21) If the Father received glory in sending his Son, then those leaders at Antioch were recipients of higher honor as they listened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and set apart Paul and Barnabas.

I don't know how often missionaries express their gratitude to local pastors--but as one missionary I would like to express my thanks to those countless pastors who have served, many times without recognition, like these men in Acts 13, and by doing so, freed up others to take the Gospel abroad. Thank you for your service to the Lord in the local church. Thank you for your faithfulness.

Missions and Unity; We are Better Together

Missions has a long history of promoting unity among Christians. The oldest Baptist denominations for example were organized to send missionaries. What was difficult for a single church to do, support and send long-term missionaries, was possible in partnership with other like-minded churches and Christians. Unfortunately, denominations, which I believe are capable of significant good in the cause of advancing the Kingdom through church planting and missions are often seen as divisive rather than unifying in their nature.

As a missionary, I have more than one ministry. I have a ministry that God has called me to among the unreached people of Japan--to plant the Gospel, churches and make disciples among them. In addition to this mission though, God has given me a second, equally urgent missions. That mission is to call Western churches and believers to unity in the cause of Christ among the Nations!

Very few churches are capable of sending missionaries themselves--there are thousands of churches throughout the USA and Canada that have less than 100 members. These churches are no less called to missions than churches of a 1000, that have million dollar budgets and designated missions pastors. In fact, from what I have found, the average person in a smaller church is much more interested in missions than a person in a larger church.

However, without thoughtful cooperation, it wouldn't be possible for a small church to intentionally send missionaries. They may be able to support a few parachurch missionaries that show up at their doors, and send their youth group to Mexico every few years, but that isn't the level of engagement in the advance of the Kingdom that God calls us to.

Denominations exist, and have existed primarily to plant churches and send missionaries. The Baptist General Conference, who I serve with, was formed from like-minded Swedish Baptist Churches with a desire to work together to send missionaries--in fact, it was the call, "53 Missionaries by 1953!" that became the rallying cry that unified the Baptist General Conference, Converge Worldwide as one denomination in the mid 1940's!

I have a ministry to diverse churches, inside and outside of my denomination. I have a message for them: we can do more together than we can do individually!

Even if a church is large and prosperous enough to send missionaries without cooperating with any other churches, is that really edifying to the body? I have been to a half dozen large churches that have a reputation (which is often indicative of reality) of not playing well with others. Rather than sending missionaries through their denomination, or even through parachurch organizations, they send them themselves. In effect, they are re-inventing the wheel in order to maintain control over their missionaries.

More than one of these churches is in decline, and visiting with the missions pastor I have heard that they are having a hard time being faithful to the commitments that they had already made. This to me is a tad ironic--when they were prosperous growing churches they stopped cooperating with others and took the entire burden (and blessing) of sending missionaries on themselves--and when the economy, or changing demorgraphics, or a retiring pastor affected the health of their church, they began to doubt the commitments they had made.

Had these churches instead continued to send their missionaries through a denomination, or a parachurch orgnaization, and insisted that they spread out the burden (and blessing) of their support to other churches and Christian individuals, the health of a single church wouldn't be putting the ministry of these missionaries in jeopardy.

Unity in missions promotes health in both small churches and large. I have the opportunity to cast this vision among the churches that I visit--that we are better together than we are individually.

Celebrating Reaching 33% of my Support Goal!

33% of my support goal is quite an achievement--especially considered that this time last year I was pretty much at 0%! The Lord has blessed me with many old and new friends who have partnered with my financially and in prayer. Hopefully with this momentum continuing in my favor I will have launched out to Japan before this time next year! Please keep me in your prayers!

I also did some fancy math earlier today and found out that in order to reach 100% (an additional 4,400$/month) of my support I will need an additional:

12 individual supporters at 30$/month
9 individual supporters at 60$/month
6 individual supporters or churches at 100$/month
3 individual supporters or churches at 300$/month
2 individual supporters or churches at 500$/month
1 church at 1000$/month (the cost of a single part-time youth pastor)!

You can visit the Converge Worldwide website to give directly (monthly or annually). All donations are tax deductible. Surprisingly, I did all that math without having taken a single math class since High School (I have the minor in the History of Science and Technology from the UW to prove it). Look at the beautiful symmetry!

Please continue to pray for me as I seek to partner together with others hoping to expand God's Kingdom among the Japanese. 

Believing Thomas, Hope for You and Me

Whenever I hear the term 'Doubting Thomas,' I always get a bit frustrated--this term ignores the fact that Thomas moved beyond doubt into a robust faith in Jesus' resurrection and divinity. I don't know about you, but I feel like this is a significant injustice.

We remember Abraham as the 'Father of Faith,' Moses as the 'Most Humble Man That Ever Lived,' and David as a 'Man After God's Own Heart,' despite the fact that Abraham struggled with unbelief, Moses got angry and struck the rock and David committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband Uriah. Why is it that we have so much grace for these Old Testament men, but so little for Thomas.

So I propose that we never use the term 'Doubting Thomas' again, instead replacing it with 'Believing Thomas.' John 20:26-29 it says:

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
 
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Thomas' exclamation here becomes one of the clearest statements of Jesus' divinity in the New Testament, "My Lord and my God!" In a way this statement represents the ultimate realization of Jesus' disciples of his true identity and purpose. 

Thomas did not continue in doubt, but put his faith in Jesus' resurrection and identity as God's only Son. According to tradition, as one of the twelve Apostles, Thomas took the Gospel as far as India--in the end he died a martyr's death, holding firm to his faith in Jesus' resurrection.

Encountering Jesus brings fundamental changes to a person's life and identity--I am no longer Ian the sinner, I am Ian the saint--beloved of the Father. Thomas didn't stay a doubter, he became a believer, and that is hope and good news for all of us today. "Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil 3:13-14)