belew william akemi 1990 japan
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8/10/2019 Belew William Akemi 1990 Japan
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ASIA RE-VISITED
5
Bill
& Akemi
Belew
Apoorfarmer
and
a rich man both
died
and went to heaven . Th ey were
met at the gate to heaven by St. Peter.
St .
Peter
did no t notice th e
poor
farmer.
He took the
rich
man into heaven and
locked the gates. Outside the poor
farmer heard the angels playing
instruments
and
singing songs . When
St. Peter came back
ou t
he saw
th e
poor
farmer and took him into heaven. The
angels welcomed him. But there was
no singing and no playing. The poor
farmer asked why he wasn't welcomed
as the
rich man was.
St . Peter
answered, Poor farmers like you come
to heaven every day. However, a r ich
man comes
maybe
only
once
in a
hundred
years. ^
Can Japan
Be
Reached
F o r
J e su s
Oh, how I
want
to
say
Yes to the
above question. But, is
th e
answer
yes?
Japan has
been a traditionally
difficult field. There a re
some
very fo r
midable obstacles
that
e xis t whic h
might prevent me, or
any
worker in
Japan,
from saying, Yes, Japan can
be
reached
for Jesus. But , oh, how I d
like to sa y yes.
One o bs ta cle is
the apparen t
wea lth o f the Japanese . Only in
Japan can people afford to pay
30/gallon for ice cream, 8/pound for
hamburger and over 5/gallon for
milk. The average income for a family
of four in Japan is about 55,000 a year.
In
Tokyo, the most expensive city in
the
world, the average income is
83,000. These averages
are
second
only to America where
the
average is
66,000 a year. (Bridgeport, Con-
(128) necticut 112,000 a
year)2
Trying to
4 win a person whose pockets are full of
iapan
by Bil l Be lew
dollars, in our case yen, is like trying to
get the camel through the
eye
of the
needle.
However, the problem is notjust
th e
wealth ofthe
Japanese.
The
problem is
what it costs to keep a missionary and
his family on the field
and
paid for in
American dollars. Living
and
service
link expenses for a missionary family
of four in th e Tokyo area could amount
to well over 100,000 a year. The
churches in America ei ther can t or
won't put out this kind of money to
support a missionary in
Japan.
We need more
workers
in
Japan
both missionary and
Japanese national. In 1984 there
were 33 missionaries in
Japan.
Of
these, 23weremarried and here with
their families. Ten were single. As of
this writing, there are 25 missionaries
in Japan 20married couples and 5
singles. Of these 25 missionaries. 10
are in their 60s or 70s. More than half
of the 44
paid
Japanese ministers in
Japan areover50as
well.^
Thenumber
of missionaries is dwindling fast. The
Japanese paid ministry is not far
behind.
To my knowledge, there are
NO recruits
preparing
to come to
Japan at this time. They just can't
raise
the
necessary support. Also,
the
only Bible college of the Christ ian
Churches/Churches of Christ in
Japan has
14
students in its entire 4
yea r
program
The
Japanese
church
does
not
appear
to
be
strong. For every 41
churches in America,
there
is on e
church in
Japan.
For every 81 paid
ministers
i n Ame ri ca,
there
is one
Japanese preacher. And, for every 209
Bible college students in America,
there is only one Bible college student
in Japan.'' The severely deficient work
m o
Niigata
Toky
force
that exists in Japan
is
another obstacle to reaching the
million (plus) Japanese.
Even the Japanese cannot affo
buyland in their owncountry. Ap
land
in
Tokyo
the
size
ofthis
maga
would cost more than 36,000 In
country, where welive, an acre of
costs
1.9
million. In the
developing area of our city i t' s a
7.5 million/acre. Churches ca
buy land of sufficient size and p
church
building
onit thatwould h
a suffic ient number of people w
giving
would
support a full
preacher.
Without fulltime
Chris
workers, growth is stymied.
Japanese churches only grow
membership of around 30 peop
thatisall their building will allow
Tacking them
in .
' Thisparable uiaswritten byJunko Oga
a non-Christian student of
mine,
assignment.
It is
used
with
permission.
- Figures (or Japan were taken from t
IM/DAS, a
Japanese-type
ALMANAC
figures forAmerica were
taken from
a
M
edition
ofthe Cincinnati
Enquirer.
3 These figures were taken from th
Anniversary edition ofJAPANMISSIONS
is an excellent overview of the history
Church ofChrist/Christian Church inJap
covers the period 1883-1983 and waswn
Mark Maxcy. a 40-year and still going
missionary
to
Japan.
Thesefigures werebased on figures
tak
the 1987edition of the Directory of the M
-
8/10/2019 Belew William Akemi 1990 Japan
2/4
Final ly, t h e r e
is one
o t h e r
major obstacle to Japan being
reached
fo r
Jesus the
prevailing
attitude
t h a t J a p a n is a res is tant
f ield. This is held by the missionary
and Japanese national alike. Many
worker s here
have
a defeat is t a t t itude
or have
the
feeling somebody
has
to
be here,
i t might
as well be me. No one
expects
g re at th in gs
to
be
accom
plished. And
they
aren't.
The overall history
of
th e church in
Japan
tends
to
support
th e Japan is a
r e s i s t a n t
fie ld
mindse t . F r o m 1973 to
1983 the Christian Church/Church of
[ Christsawan estimated growth rateof
19 6 The
prot st nt churches in
general in Japan saw an
estimated
growth of 22 .5 If a church, any
church,
were
to keep in it s fold only
those people who were born to already
existing
members, that
church ca n
expect to grow by 25 every 10 years.
The Christian Church/Church
of
[Christ in Japan is not w inning or
keeping
families.
It's
no t growing
even
a t a m i n i m a l
r a t e .
C a n J a p a n be
r e a c h e d
fo r
J e s u s ? With the se hard
statistics in
your pockets and a real awareness of
Ihe above obstacles,
what do you think
^
the answer to
that
question?
& I think
the
answer is YES. A
^finite
YES. A
resounding YES
^ is my
opinion
that the present
|fonditions in Japan
offer
a
great
potential for the church to grow and
B^ve. I
may
be
young
and
six
years
K i th e mission field may not have
been
|ng
enough for
my enthusiasm to
Pave waned
away completely. I
may
gffen just have youthful optimism. But,
|KI am
wrong,
I prefer
to be wrong
on
Beside of expecting too much from the
Ipird
of the
Harvest
than from not
Btoecting enough. Following are some
nny reasons for feel ing conditions are
1 ^
I.*
Church growth exper ts say,
In
tightly knit
societies,
where
people
consciousness is high
and
all
marriages
take
place
within
th e
segment of
society
concerned, th e
chain
of rel at ionship
is particularly
s tr ong. Once Christianity has been es
tablished,
once
a couple of
thousand
have become
Christian,
tens of
thousands of b r idges (means
to
reach
others)
become
available . The
potential
for
explosive growth is
high.' ' This is Japan.
T h e m is s i o n a r i e s w h o h a v e
s e r v e d t i l l now c a n be given
a loud
a n d
long
W ELL D ON E They
have done
th e
hard
part.
They have
wedged
Christianity into this tightly
woven society.
The estimated
number
of
members in
t he C h ur ch o f
C h r i s t
in
1983
w a s
s o m e w h e r e
be tween
2- 3
th o u s a n d . T he
f o u n d a t i o n
h a s
b e e n
laid.
Tens
of thousands of
possibilities
exist fo r
growth.
The existing
resources
need only to be tapped
and
great growth
can
be
accomplished
in
J a p a n .
The p re se nt Ch ri st ia n
populace needs to be stimulated fo r
evangelism.
The
current Japanese
work force needs
to be
m o t i v a t e d
to
save the
lost.
Aren't
they
already? No,
they are
not
Can they be
motivated?
YES, they can
Continuing
erosion
o f belief in
religions creates a v ac uum o f faith.
The Japanese ar e becoming less and
less reliant on their religion.
Saying
that
Japan is al l Buddhist or Shinto is
like saying
America
is al l Christian.
The
percentage of
serious,
practicing
Buddhists in J a p a n might
be
comparable to
th e
percentage of
serious,
practicing Christians in
Amer ica . Obviously, no
statistics
exist
to
confirm
this. It is
only
my
personal
guesstimation.
For
th e most part , when a Japanese
calls
a temple priest to conduct a
funeral or a shinto priest to perform a
wedding, it is much more a cultural
requirement, a tradition, a reflex than
i t i s a n a ct o f fa i th. I t is
m u c h
l ike
t h e
wife
of
th e
town d runk c allin g
th e
preacher to bury her husband . Some
body
has to do i t.
There most certainly is a vacuum of
faith here. The J apanese pursui tof
th e
mighty
yen
is
indicativeof their efforts
to
fill
t h a t void. I f
t h e
c h u r c h
c a n
o f f e r
a t imely message, and
it
can,
th e void
can
be fil led. Great growth c an t ak e
place.
The Bible
shows
a
steady
p r e f e r e n c e
fo r t h e
common
man.
The
Bible says, Did
not God
choose
th e poor
of this
world
to be rich in faith
and heirs of th e
k ingdom which
he
promised to t hose who
love
him?
Statis tics are deceiving . As noted
previously,
th e J apaneseappear to be a
very wealthy
nation.
What
those
s t a ti s t ic s d o n t s h o w
a r e
t h e
more
t h a n
65% of
the
Japanese who
are
economically below the national
average. Over 72 million people in
Japan
ca n be
grouped
into
th e lower
middle class and below economicclass.
From the eyes ofaThirdWorld
country
th e
Japanese may be
called
rich. But,
in their own eyes and hearts
they
feel
they have less than
average
they
are
lacking. Nearly
al l
of these have
no
faith and can be called searching for
something to fil l the
void
in
their
lives.
'
Growth
rates were
computed
by me
from figures
taken
f rom the
Japanese
January 1990
edition of
the Christ ian newspaper.
This figure comes from the sy lla bu s o n
Foundations of Church Growth by Dr. C. Peter
Wagner.
' The se q uo te s
are taken
from
Donald
A.
M c G a u r a n s b o o k U N D E R S T A N D I N G
CHURCH GROWTH
1980 edit ion,
reprinted in
1 9 8 8 . t
8 Ib id .
9 Ib id .
i
A
H II I
w n
'-.f
We take
our
students/friends
mountain climbing,
skiing, cycling,
boating and all
ofthese
end
in a
Bible study.
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8/10/2019 Belew William Akemi 1990 Japan
3/4
The Japanese think wealth is what is
lacking in their lives. I know
what
is
lacking the truth oftheWord ofGod.
Conditions couldn't
be
better
fo r
potential growth in the church in
Japan. Or could they?
The
number
of workers
is
still
dwindling.
The churches in America
still
can't
or won't
pay
out $100,000 a
year to
support
a missionary and his
family. And, the present missionary
force is
literally
dying
out.
Two ways to get new workers. Joel
Likins(left) cameas an internwithhiswife.
Debi.
They have decided to stay. Benji
(right),
my
oldest
son,
is 8
years old
and
already bi-lingual. Joel is a great
fellow
worker. Benji, I hope, will be
P erhaps th e
churches
in
America
d o n t
n e e d
to p y o u t
more money.
The churches ofJapan
are enjoying great physical wealth.
This is t he Chu rch o fChrist
in
Japan.
Land purchased by missionaries with
mission monies
in th e immediate post
war period now has appreciated to a
tremendous value. Just today,
one
Church
of Christ reported
they sold
land they
had
worshipped on since the
post war days for $12 million. Read
that again $12million. My mind is
boggled bywhat can bedonewith
that
amount of money for
the
kingdom of
God in Japan. And, this is only one
piece
of land owned by one church.
Let's pray most diligently this church
has
a
vision
for
al l
of Japan.
Many other pieces of land are
owned by missions. Some of these
pieces ofland have small churcheson
them some don't.
The
physical value
ofthese
pieces
ofland willdumbfound
you.
One mission
has
sold
a
piece
of
land and has the
money received from
this
sale available
at
a very low
interes t rate to new missions . Much,
much more of this kind of thing can be
done.
The
physical value of
the
existing land that housesmany of the
(130)
churches
we
have
in
some ofthe larger
6 cities is much, much, much . . . more
than adequate to support all future
missions and their workin Japan. Of
course, the existing churchesmust not
be sacrificed for the sake of reaching
the rest
of
the
country, but some
sacrifice may be necessary. In my
opinion most
allthe
necessary
funding
for futureworkers in
Japan
exists right
here in Japan. Prudent, mind-
stretching, challenging.Godly
wisdom
is
required
in the management of
existing
resources.
Another
means
by which
future
workers
can
come to
Japan
is by
the
self-support
route tent-
making, ifyouwant to call it that. I
teach at a university, college and high
school. Additionally, a fellow worker
and
I
have established our own
English language school. have
one additional family and a single girl
working with us. All of us are here at
noexpenseto the churchesin America.
However,
being
a
tent-maker
missionary
has
its own bag of
problems
that this article cannot
address. But, nevertheless, we
have
seen results for our efforts since we
came. Weare enjoying a
3600%
growth
rate/decade compared to the national
average of 9.6%/decade for
(Dhurches
of
Christ
and
22 /decade for
protestant churches in Japan.
I
have
been invited to teach
English
in Khabarovsk, Siberia, U.S.S.R. and
Harbin, China. These are two places
the
traditional missionary by
traditional
means
could
not
go. I can.
Two Russian friends who are sailo rs
whose ship comes into Niigata several
times
a year.
God has opened the door. Who wants
to
go? Who
wantsto
help?
Iflgo.who
will take my place in Japan? Weneed
more workers . More workers can come
and
at no expense to the churches of
Amer ica .
The self-support route is indeed a
viable alternative to the worker
shortage problem. There are man
problems with the self-support route
but none that are insurmountable.
We still cannot buy land that wi
house a church with enough people t
give enough to
support
a fulltim
worker. Maybewecan't in thecity,bu
we can in the country I realize it ma
not
be realistic to expect
the
resource
tied
up
in land
owned
by
missions
an
church groups
in the
cities to
be
mad
available to future workers wanting t
reach Japan in places outside the bi
ci t ies .
Another
considerat ion, s ince
on
church
of20-30
peoplecannot support
preacher fulltime,
perhaps
3or4 sud
churches placed strategically in
particular land area could. Th
preacher
would
then be a circuit
ride
preacher ministering to the 3 or
congregations. Or a tent-maker typ
preacher/missionary could be give
the responsibility for one
20-30
peop
group. Because of
the
time limitatio
the tent-maker preacher has, this si
church
may
be
just
right.
One f inal
option
would be fr
the church
of
America to dig
real
deep and pu t up th e mone
missionary workers need her
Any combination ofthe above
wou
beacceptable as well. We simplynee
more workers. And there IS a way
provide for them.
Finally, one more area must
addressed. We,
th e missionary con
munity here (at least I will confess
it), may be accused ofhaving tried
winthe Japanese communitysolely
trying to convincethem
theologicall
Christianity is acceptable because it
true. We
have
taught Jesus, risen fro
the dead, and have commanded t
Japanesetocome out
from
among th
people.
Though we certainly
mu
teach Jesus risen from the dead, a
we must
show
the
Japanese
th
Christianity
is
true,
and
we
must
nev
be guilty
of
compromising
theGosp
we
must
also teach
the
Japanese
ho
they
can
be
Christian
without
losi
their
cultural
identity.
I don't thi
this has been done.
The
new
Japane
Christian has either been required
become Americanized or be
required
to
throw away
their en
heritage and cultural
backgroun
Neither of
these
are
necessary. A
This we is not the
we
of
missionarie
general in Japan, but the we
of
theworkers he
Niigata,
Japan.
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8/10/2019 Belew William Akemi 1990 Japan
4/4
ired, theycertainlywill
slow
the progress of the gospel.
My
se Bible
students
don't want to
the point Is Jesus the Son of
They want to know who they
call if their non-Christian
s die.
We,
I, must teach the
ese how they can be Christian
losing their cultural identity.
must
let the
Japanese
discover
urch which is
100%
Biblically
and still Japanese in their
I t DOES exist.
Japan be reached for
(Also Cincinnati, Ohio.)
Training. World Institute
de-
program. Pacific Christian
Bible College
and
nary. August 10-12, 1990.
Cross-Cultural Missions
tentatively scheduled for
6-11, 1990.
more
information, contact
Beck, Ontario Christian
260
High Park Ave. M6P
phone 416-769-7115.
Florida Christian
Con
Oct.
4-5, 1990 at theHighland
Church
of
the Nazarene.
la. ' Lake James
School
of
Lake James
Christian
iriMy
Rt. 2, Box
501,
Angola, IN
-9535. July
29-August
3, 1990.
The Northmen. How To
a
Godly Man. The Northmen,
49646.
August 7-9,
Jesus? Mostcertainlyit can. Perhaps
someday in heaven there
will
be
some
real
singing and
playing
of
instruments. Thepotential ishere
Are
we up to the task?
Pray
the
Lord of
the
Harv e s t . .
PRAYER
REQUESTS:
We absolutely need to have more
workers who are willing to make a
long-term
commitment to Japan,
Russia and China. Support is
NOT
nece s s a ry
19
MISSOURI
Branson. The 15th Annual
Vacation
& Spiritual Encounter, sponsored by
the Christian Television Mission, will
be held on the campus of the School of
the
Ozarks, Branson, MO July
22-26.
Branson
is located on TableRock
Lake,
35 miles south of Springfield, MO.
Tom McGee, Pres. of St. Louis
Christian College will be the featured
speaker at each evening service.
The theme
is
God
Is At Work
In
The
World. Each morning the
seminar theme will be
Important
Issues
of
the
Nineties. Some issues
to
be explored are Child Abuse,
Divorce
and Remarriage
and
Alternative
Lifestyles.
The
Vernon
Brothers will also be speaking.
This Vacation &
Spiritual
Encounter is designed as a retreat for
Christian families and individuals for
physical relaxation,
spiritual
renewal
and family togetherness. Youth acti
vities for all ages are being planned.
Afternoons are left free for families
to have vacation time together.
Morning sessions will begin at 9 a.m.
and
evening sessions at 6:30 p.m.
Registrations are $7.50 per
family.
For more information and to
register for
the
Vacation
&
Spiritual
Encounter, please write to: Christian
Television Mission, Att: B.J. Vernon,
1918
S. Ingram Mill Rd, Springfield,
MO
65804.
The present Japanese Christian
population
needs
tobestirred upandlit
on fire with the desire to evangelize.
Zeal for the kingdom among all the
workers, missionary and Japanese
alike.
The
doors to
Russia and China
stay
open long enough for Christian
workers to go through.
Bill Belew is a self-supporting
missionary who
has
served in
Japan
fo r
s ix yea rs .
OHIO
Hillsboro.
The
20th
Annual
Hillsboro Family Camp will be held
August 13-16, 1990.
For more information write to:
Person to Person, PO Box 39, Hills
boro,
OH 45133 orphone513-393-1631
or
393-6506.
Jeffersonville.
The First Annual
Refreshing Waters Renewal will
take
place at theJeffersonville
Church
ofChrist August 21-23, 1990. This is a
call to spiritual rejuvenation
spiritualawakening intothe things
of God. Our theme will be Justifica-
Speakers include: Don DeWelt,
Victor Knowles, Earl Struckenbruck,
Roy Key,
Burton
Thurston,
Dallas
Burdette,
Fred
Blakely, Given Blakely
and
J.
Ervin
Waters.
Registration on/before July
20,
1990 will cost $5/day per
person, $10
for 3 days per
person,
or $15/family.
For moreinformation and registration
please write
to: Jeffersonville
Church
of Christ, 83 N. Main St., Jefferson
ville, OH 43128.
OKLAHOMA
Tulsa . National Missionary
Convention, And then shall the end
come. October 14-17, 1990.
TENNESSEE
Milligan College. The School of
Mini stry began at Lake
James
Christian Assembly in Angola,
Indiana. It was
moved to
Milligan
College
in
1952
and has been held on
the collegecampus since
that
year.The
dates fo r
1990 are August
6-10.
For registration information, qqi\
contact: Joan
Van
Meter, Milligan _
College, TN
37682. '
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