March - 2009: Two Unique Issues for Japanese Christians

"The concerns of Christianity in Asia have been quite different from the problems the churches in the North faced in the past century—secularisation and modernisation. Most Asian countries went through complex and overwhelming encounters with poverty and socio-economic and political injustice, on the one hand, and the experience of being minorities in religiously pluralistic contexts on the other." [Sebastian C. H. Kim, "The Future Shape of Christianity from an Asian Perspective," in Global Christianity: Contested Claims, 72]

Although I am extremely uncomfortable with the idea that there is a unified "Asian Christianity," the fact is that the development of the Christian faith in different countries throughout Asia-Pacific has been influenced by a unique set of complex socio-economic and ideological factors. Two crucial issues that Japanese Christians face may be: 1) "the experience of being minorities in religiously pluralistic context;" and 2) the struggle to deal with westernization over against the development of an indigenous identity.

March - 2009: Spring 2009 Newsletter

Anna has just finished the Spring 2009 Newsletter. It can be downloaded here. If you are interested in earlier Newsletter, they are posted at Ministry Report which is part of my larger website called Hebrew Scriptures and More.

March - 2009: On the Move

Thursday, March 19th, we picked up our passports with are new missionary visas for Japan. We are now awaiting Monday to fly from Sea-Tac Airport to Narita. It seems that are household shipment from Baguio City, Philippines has already arrived in Japan and we are trying to get things together to move it to our new place in Takinogawa, Tokyo. The shipment cannot be released until we arrive in Japan with our new visas and an unaccompanied baggage document. We are praying that we will be settled in by the time Central Bible College, Tokyo begins its new school term in the first week of April.

March - 2009: Start & Stop

We have been visiting in the USA for a little over a month. We have visited some supporting churches, friends and family.

Anna and I have been waylaid in our return to Japan on account of Visa and Passport issues. We will receive our visas for missionary work in Japan on Thursday, March 19th so we have re-booked our flight. We will now be leaving Seattle, WA on Monday, March 23rd, arriving on the 24th. We will be living at Takinogawa, which is just 10 minutes from Central Bible College and even closer to Ikebukuro.

We are still in conversation with some of our friends in Japan about starting a church or taking over an existing one.