GospelRest

JAPAN was privileged to have Dr. Dan Maxton pastor of LifeBridge church in San Diego visit us last month. He ministered at Field Council along with Roger Inouye (from Wisconsin). The rest of the time Dan met with Rengo pastors and stayed at the Mehn guest house. Some highlights were meeting with members of the Rengo National Mission Department, where we discussed assessment processes for church planters including a new tool translated into Japanese on church planting risk assessment. Dan also met with our local church planting network where he shared about 3 mistakes in daughtering churches. Already those translated materials and the audio podcast are being distributed beyond that meeting.

IN SPITE of key leadership meetings last month, including the most relaxing Field Council in recent memory, John staying overnight 10 nights, and lots of English and Japanese interpretation, John was able to move ahead on some key projects. They all need your prayers.
1. John is writing a Japanese syllabus and bibliography for a church planting seminary class to be part of our CPI Conference this November. This will be the first seminary course on Church Planting in Japan! Pray for progress on the project and for key seminaries to send students to the fall CPI conference.
2. Along with World Harvest Mission, John is coordinating a curriculum project to develop a 4 lesson curriculum in Japanese and English on spiritual transformation for pastors. We hope to introduce this at the fall CPI Conference and conduct training for future trainers.
3. John is also preparing small group training curriculum employing a model small group to develop small group leadership in Rengo churches.
4. John completed his seventh article on Japanese leaders reproducing churches to be published in the Japan Harvest magazine. Later this year a similar article will be published by the Evangelical Missiological Society.
5. John assisted a Cambridge-trained anthropologist in updating his book on Japanese religious behavior. John’s analysis of Japanese church growth information is citied several times in the book.
6. Elaine’s Lessons for Spiritual Growth needs another round of field testing in a local church. She is working on a similar series on Esther to be used in local churches.

The Seattle area ADELPHIA BIBLE SCHOOL sent 7 students and the academic dean to work in Ishinomaki in the disaster area. The team made John feel young again. Usually our teams are mixed age from 16-73. This team averaged about 20. The team worked between some key community events one with 130 people. The team aided with two different families in helping get their yards cleaned up along with several other projects. In visiting a Temporary Housing Facility they distributed rice to families as part of Converge Worldwide Disaster Relief. The overall goal is share the love of Christ in word and deed in the disaster area leading to planting churches where historically there has never been Christians or a church. Pray for our ministry partners that they may have boldness, sensitivity, and creativity see a church born in this area.

1. Thank God for his strength, wisdom, endurance, faith, and orchestrated surprises during “non-stop” April. Again a full schedule of classes, key meetings, events, and projects. Keep praying!
2. John & Elaine are off to Yamagata prefecture on May 24-29th to spend time with Mr. and Mrs. N in her parent’s home. We have been sharing the gospel with them locally for several years. As we have built this relationship, pray for natural opportunities to share Christ with them.
3. The South Kanto Church Multiplication Network is in the second year of a three year program to see each of the 6 churches daughter its own new church. Crossroad, where John & Elaine attend, is involved. Ask God for wisdom as Crossroad is developing their vision and plan for a new church.
4. John will be developing small group leaders in two churches (Crossroad and Nerima) at the beginning of June. Pray for preparations this month.
5. Former Rengo Chairman & Nerima Baptist Pastor Dr. Akira Izuta is recovering from a mild stroke and partial paralysis in his right hand. Pray for his recovery.

I have suffered significant loss in the last year. One year ago, April 14th, my mother passed away. I am very grateful that she had a great life, died well, and knew Jesus and is now in heaven. She is still missed. My father died in 1991 so much of my time in Japan has been away from my mother. I used to call her every Saturday which I miss very much. She was always supportive and extremely proud of me as well as Elaine and kids. When I was out and about I would often shoot some photos as she always enjoyed receiving photos especially of our home, our park, and any interesting flower or tree. All of that is gone with her passing. All that is left is the memories and the values she passed on.

The cherry blossoms came early this year but I also miss the home which I lived in for about 20 years. Thankfully my parents home sold quickly last year and to a very wonderful family which will continue to enjoy that property as their kids age. When I was growing up we had a cherry tree in the back yard. It dominated the back as it was in the center of the lot. Every spring it had beautiful blossoms which I would see from my bedroom window. Later in the summer it was full of delicious though sour pie cherries. In between the tree would be our favorite to climb. When I was in high school a storm finally toppled the tree over and I respectfully removed the stump. Every cherry tree in Japan reminds me of that tree, that yard and that house.

Life is always changing and nothing is permanent, people or places. But God never changes and is with us as we suffer loss in our lives.

Several months ago a very curious and intelligent young woman wrote to me for her school assignment on missionaries. This was one of her questions and my answer.

Besides the Bible what is your resource?

Great question. The Bible is the greatest resource for spiritual development, the understanding of God, the church and how we go about missions. It is our key to the Biblical worldview which we must know well to make indigenous churches (in my case churches that are truly Japanese). The Bible is our ultimate authority, don’t forget that.

Besides the Bible there are three other answers. 1) One is the work of God in and through our lives. The Holy Spirit’s guidance, empowerment, comfort, which is not just personal but he builds community with other believers (churches). 2) Another is God’s sovereignty. As God is in control he arranges things in a “God way” through miracles, circumstances, and all the promises he has given us. That connects to faith, reliance, trust in God. It is not our mission, it is God’s. The work we do is for His glory, empowered by Him, and for His purposes in discipling the Nations that will worship Him.

3) One final answer is the training and experience that I have received. I have two mission degrees and over 25 years of experience. I am far from knowing everything but I have learned a few things; especially from my mistakes. This applies to the training and experience of others (even people long dead). This is a great resource for wisdom, encouragement, leadership and direction. We have much to learn from over 200 years of missionaries working for God in missions.

A new Japan missionary colleague Ian Smith recently wrote on his blog about indigenous missionaries. I liked his answer (from Dr. Ralph Winter) so I thought I would post it here too. I will add a few points to the end.

Can’t the Japanese Christians evangelize other Japanese better than missionaries?

I asked a question very similar to this to Ralph Winter when he taught a session of the Perspectives class in Seattle a few years before his passing. There has been over the past couple of decades a huge push to support native missionaries because of their cheapness and their understanding of the language and culture. I once supported a well known native missionary organization very generously–and had imbibed this very philosophy. However Ralph Winter’s answer knocked some common sense into me.

Firstly, he said something to the effect that one needed to be faithful to the call that was put on their life–God called us to make disciples, not write checks. Western Christians should support native missions as far as the Lord leads them, but that didn’t let them off the hook to going themselves. It wasn’t a choice between either-or, but of both-and. Until Ralph set me straight, I had never considered God’s call upon my life.

Secondly he called into question whether many ‘native missionaries’ were really doing ‘missions,’ that is, whether they were ministering cross-culturally. He also questioned whether a cultural-insider was automatically an expert on their culture and language. The truth is, there are very many Americans who are not experts on American culture and the English language–their familiarity does not necessarily make them effective in reaching out to other Americans. This is true for someone from India, Africa or Japan–simply being Japanese does not necessarily mean that that person would be more effective at reaching other Japanese with the Gospel. The truth is, that in Japan in particularly, foreigners can be some of the best evangelists because they are not expected to live within some of the stricter social norms. Gaijin can be much more direct than the average Japanese Christian and usually get away with it.

Thirdly, he called into question the book that I had mentioned by name which I had received for free from the organization that I had been supporting–he said that the book was very one-sided and perpetuated many myths about missions and unfairly characterized western missionaries as wasteful and unfruitful.

These three insights revolutionized how I saw world missions. He was correct, and I had never seen native missions in this light before.

We certainly should support indigenous ministries and partnerships when it doesn’t develop unhealthy dependencies.
From http://www.joyfield.org/2013/04/frequently-asked-questions-about-my.html

John’s points
1. There are only 8,000 churches, about 10,000 clergymen, and 270,000 church attenders in Japan to reach 127,000,000 people. There are not enough Japanese Christians. Outside help (missionaries) are still needed until viable multiplying movements of churches are started.

2. The question is not who can do it better but who can do it? Japanese can do several things better, but they even admit that missionaries can do other things better. Both are needed. It is not an either-or answer but both-and.

Items for Prayer April 2013
1. Ask for God’s blessing as Roger Inoye and Dan Maxton come to Japan in March and April to visit Rengo churches and pastors. Pastor Dan Maxton from LifeBridge church in San Diego will stay with us April 5-13.
2. Ask God to bless our April 3-5 Field Council with his presence love and vision.
3. Thanks for praying for John’s ministry of training small group leaders. John will launch a ministry in the Nerima church in May.
4. A disaster response team from the Adelphia School in Seattle arrives April 23rd and stays to May 1. Pray for each of the 7 students and the school dean, Sean Post. God seems to be orchestrating things for this trip.
5. Continue to pray for the developments for the CPI National Conference in November including speakers and promotion. We will also be having a Church Planters’ BootCamp in Nagoya early next year.
6. Pray for our April schedule. Both Elaine and John are non-stop with ministry and key events. Ask God to grant us good health, strength, endurance, peace, joy and faith that God will use us for His Glory.

The Unreached of the Unreached
The Japanese are the second largest unreached people group in the world. Over 1,500 towns and villages (and 36 cities) in Japan still do not have churches. Because of this burden, a rural church planting seminar was held in early March in Sendai City attended by 25 missionaries and Japanese from all over Japan. John represented CPI by presented two seminars on the Heart of the Leader and Effective Models for Church Planting. Continue to pray that more new churches will be started in Japan, especially in these unreached rural areas.

Touching Women’s Lives
On March 25th, Mrs. Yoko Saito, a certified British tea master, came to our home to explain British afternoon tea. There were 12 women who participated. Elaine keeps deepening and broadening her contacts with women almost all are pre-Christians. Pray especially that God would send more women to her Thursday cooking class. Pray too that God’s Spirit may touch their hearts through the Word of God.

Reaching Disaster Victims
For the first time, John stayed in the disaster area being a house guest of Linda and Dean Bengtson one of our ministry partners. John met with Mr. A one afternoon. The cleaning of Mr. A’s was started by our Team Ohio back in November and the work completed by Team Illinois in January. It was a great privilege to tell Mr. A that we had some funds to buy materials for the rebuilding of his home. John also met with Mr. and Mrs. M. and also explained we wanted to help with the rebuilding of their house. Mr. M. said, “It’s a Dream.” Their house should be completely remodeled by the end of March.

Thank you for allowing us to be “your touch” to the unreached people of Japan.

Recently one of our partnering churches asked us to send some comments on the theme for their mission meetings. That theme was The Heart of Missions. We thought many of you would be helped by this. We shared that there are several ways to approach this topic:

1. A Big God has a Big Heart for Missions – God knows the fallen nature and the mess people and the world is. Even though we did not deserve any of it, God sent his Son to be the solution. God loves everyone and has done everything to bring everyone on the planet to Him to worship. (John 3:16)

2. The heart of the church is for Missions. The local church is to be involved in going and sending this marvelous message from God to everyone. As one has said, “sending from everywhere to everywhere.” This is the church of America and the church of Japan.

3. The heart of missions is the sent one’s (missionary’s) love. God sent us to incarnate this love in their language, their customs, and communicate to Japanese heart to heart. Our desire is to love God and share that love with the Japanese. To love the Japanese is to feel their pain, joys, hopes, fears, and struggles and point to them the Jesus of the cross as their answer.

The heart of the missions is sharing the love of Christ with others that they may believe and form their own Christ communities (the church) which worship the one true creator God.

Hope that is helpful. We can write more.

One of the most influential books for John is Born to Reproduce by Dawson Trotman. Trotman, or Daws as he was known, was the founder of the Navigators, instrumental in helping Billy Graham with their evangelistic follow up materials. In printed form Born to Reproduce is a short booklet about being a spiritual reproducer by sharing your faith in Christ with others. For years John listened to the cassette tape often as it was always challenging. You can still find the booklet around or you can listen to Mr. Trotman’s message. All Christians are Born to Reproduce. Download or listen to the talk at http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/712959/born-to-reproduce-by-dawson-trotman-mp3-11-6-meg

Several month ago a very bright 11 year-old wrote us some interesting questions about missionaries. Here are our answers.

1. Overall- What do you do? What is your typical day to day routine or schedule? Does it vary or are you doing one or many specific tasks right now?

Our overall thrust and vision is: Advancing church planting and gospel renewal movements. We are working to help Japanese start, develop, and multiply churches which are gospel-centered and gospel empowered. This leads to live change, community change and national change. That is the big picture and gets me up every day.

Now specifically what I do is:
1. Head leadership for the Japan Church Planting Institute (CPI) which is a leadership development organization to foster vision and equipping for multiplying churches in Japan (and around the world)
2. Field missionary for the Converge Worldwide (used to be Baptist General Conference) Japan Team. This means working with our field staff and our national Japanese partner denomination and leaders.
3. Train, coach and serve various Church planting and pastor leaders inside and outside my denomination (the Rengo). I also preach, teach, train, and coordinate ministry in local churches and regions.
4. Just finished my doctoral research project on Characteristics of Leaders Reproducing Churches in Japan. This was a national research project helping the above three. (You can now call me Dr. John.)

I would wish I had a routine day, week, or month but each day is full of a variety of ministries, administration, planning, researching, coaching, training, preparation and the like. Lately I have been working and completing #4. Now I move on to help plan and prepare to train at a Church Planter’s Bootcamp next month. I try to keep my work week limited to 50-60 hours but often it exceeds that and sometimes 80-100 hours per week.

2. What is the biggest challange you face being a missionary?

There are many challenges. I guess the biggest challenge is only being one person. I could do so much more with more time. The point is not just to keep busy but to do something that invests in people and in the future. We need more people but the “workers are few” and many of us have several jobs. I struggle everyday with priorities. I have so much time and so many ways to invest it in seeing the church in Japan furthered along in their ministries.