Awakening in the Land of the Rising Sun

In Japan, statistics show that 99 percent of the population does not have a relationship with Christ. Those statistics represent people—living, breathing image-bearers of God whom Jesus Christ died to save. While the task of reaching them with the gospel seems daunting, God is stirring the church in Japan to reach the nation. Even now, churches and missionaries in Japan are praying and planning for gospel opportunities as the country opens its doors to host the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

What might happen if churches around the world committed to daily prayer for the churches, missionaries and people of Japan between now and the end of the Olympics?

With its complex nature of culture, history and former geographical isolation, Japan has been hard to reach with the gospel. Steeped in ancient traditions of Buddhism and Shintoism, religion in Japan is a cultural identity more than a personal reality. The concept of a collective identity through religious history has made for slow progress in reaching the hearts of Japanese people.

Today in Japan, however, winds of awakening are beginning to blow. Prayer strategy leaders in Japan long to see the nation transformed by the hope of Jesus, and they’ve committed to pray daily for the nation. There is excitement and enthusiasm for what they see God doing. Rather than yielding to the darkness, they are invigorated by the light of the gospel. Read More

The Anglican Church in Japan is the 日本聖公会, which is translated as the "Nippon Sei Ko Kai" in the Wikipedia article on the Anglican Church in Japan and the NSKK website but which also can be translated as "Nihon Seikoukai," literally "Japan + sacred (holy, or pure) + public meeting." The NSKK was among the first Protestant churches established In Japan after Japan was re-opened to the world in 1854. I have been learning the Japanese language at my local university for the past five years. During that time I have had the pleasure of meeting a young Christian woman from Japan. I believe that God has great things in store for the Japanese Church and that Japanese Christians can in powerful ways be 塩, "shio," salt, and 光, "higari," light, to the Japanese people during the twenty-first century.