Transcript OMF Japan PowerPoint

Japan
OMF International (UK)
Geography
Hokkaido
Sapporo
Aomori
Sendai
Honshu
Osaka

233,600 sq. km
OMF International (UK)
JA 2
Tokyo
Population
 Population:
126,549,976
– (UK: 59,511,464)
Japan
UK
 Density:
340/sq. km
– (UK: 243/sq. km)
Japan
UK
OMF International (UK)
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Religion




Buddhist & Shinto
84%
New religions/other
13%
Christian 1%
Evangelical 0.32%
- Christian
- Evangelical
Christian
Buddhist
& Shinto
Most follow
mixture of Shinto
and Buddhist
customs
OMF International (UK)
New
religions/
Other -
JA 4
History
Ancient civilisation
 Closed to outsiders
 Late-1800s: Expansion
 Defeated at end of World War II
 Occupied by UN/US
 Post-war economic growth
 1990s: Economic slow-down

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History of Christianity
1549: Francis Xavier
 1612: Persecution; country closed
 Late-1800s: Doors re-opened
 Pre-war: Little growth
 Post-war: US/Korean activity
 1990s: Some larger churches
 100 sects/new religions per year

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What is OMF doing?
Church planting and evangelism
 Unreached: rural and urban
 Student work
 Japanese missions and missionaries:
– Training, developing and equipping


OMF 120 adults, 90 children
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OMF Opportunities
Church planters and evangelists
 Student evangelists
 Teaching English
 Teaching missionaries’ children
 Short-term [4 weeks-3 years]
 Support ministries

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Pray: Country
People are too busy
 Little concept of personal sin
 Corruption/scandals in business
and government
 Cultural pressures to conform
 Shinto resurgence
 New religions sprouting

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Pray: Church

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Tiny minority
–
–
–
–
Society values consensus
Too few families
Lack of men in the church
70% churches with fewer than 30 people
Young people leaving for cities
Training of leaders
Many cities/towns with no church
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Pray: Evangelism

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Pray for breakthrough
Japanese unresponsive
Recession gives opportunities
Student witness strategic
Media evangelism effective
– Literature
– Radio/TV
OMF International (UK)
JA 11
The Thomases

Church Planting
– Pastor of Sendai Evangelical Church
30 adults, 10 children
growth of church


Came to Japan in 1987
Church work in Hachinohe, Izumi
and Tokyo
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Thomases - Future

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
Return to Japan 12 Aug
Esther and Christine go to Hebron
Support
– Prayer
– Finance , about £50K (last year 53%)
OMF International (UK)
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