Mission Groups Team Up to Plant 1,000 Churches in Japan

An international missions organization and the Asian Access ministry are teaming up with plans to plant 1,000 churches in Japan within the next nine years.

The recent partnership between Serving in Mission (SIM) and Asian Access includes recruiting and sending missionaries to Japan to establish churches through 2020.

Together, the two organizations want to use their strengths to reach areas of Japan that normally do not have much access to the Gospel. The partnership will save both organizations a large amount of funding and help them spread the Gospel to Japan much quicker than if they were working alone, officials from the organizations said.

Joe Handley, president of Asian Access, said the partnership between the two organizations “is truly a new way of doing mission together, each bringing their strengths and committing to a common Kingdom vision.”

“This alliance immediately opens up a whole new country to send SIM missionaries, rather than having to set up a beachhead with a few pioneer missionaries,” said Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA, in a statement.

SIM is an international mission organization with U.S. operations based in Charlotte, N.C. It has more than 1,600 missionaries serving in more than 50 countries throughout the world. In the shared project, SIM will be responsible for recruiting missionaries, as well as for the financial functions of the missionary training and U.S.-based care. To read more, click here.