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During my years of teaching Japanese culture at Christian Academy in Japan, we have dealt with the
question of why we do not see growth in the number of Christians here.
Despite Christianity being viewed favorably, only .5 to 1 percent of the population claim to be Christian. Why don’t the Japanese respond to the Gospel, and what
needs to be done to see a mass movement of God’s Spirit across Japan?
Historically, the people of Japan have responded positively to Christianity. For
example, when missionary Francis Xavier came to Japan in the mid-1500s, more
than 300,000 Japanese became Christians. However, the Japanese government began to persecute Christians, forcing them to give up their faith or die. Many Japanese
gave their lives for their faith, but the church was crushed or pushed underground. It
wasn’t until the Meiji Restoration in the 1860s that Christianity was made legal again
in Japan. Many Protestant missionaries then came to Japan, including One Mission
Society cofounders Charles and Lettie Cowman and E.A. and Julia Kilbourne, and
OMS was born. OMS saw great fruit in those early years, but the missionaries later
faced many of the problems we face today.
Many Japanese still see Christianity as a foreign or Western religion, whereas they
view the traditional religions of Japan—Shintoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism—as
a part of Japanese culture and society. Many Japanese have no difficulty blending religious beliefs, but Christianity stands on its belief that salvation only comes through
faith in Christ Jesus.
Additionally, the Japanese consider themselves a moral people, so how they
behave is important. So, as long as no shame is brought upon the family, they
think they are okay. To compound the problem, there is no word in Japanese for
sin. The closest word is crime, which is not an adequate substitute. And since most
Japanese, like most Americans, do not commit crimes, this void in language can be
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