Tokyo Update #1

I have been in Tokyo for almost one week. I flew into Tokyo-Narita International Airport on Saturday night, and I was already speaking at a meeting on Sunday by 10 the next morning.

I spoke about the urgent need for us as a church to reconsider our current state and be willing to change in order to fulfill the function of the church more effectively in the city. I spent a decent amount of time emphasizing the differences between “doing” the church and “being” the church in our city. In other words, when a church simply “does” the church, it is more interested in maintaining the forms it came to love, although those forms may no longer fulfill the functions of the church in today’s culture. I emphasized that if we are married to traditional forms that no longer fulfill the true functions of the church in our surrounding community, all of our effort is wasted.

Jesus emphasized this same mindset when He spoke against the Pharisees, saying, “And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN’” (Matt 15:6-9). The Pharisees thought they were worshipping God and doing Him a favor, but since they were more interested in maintaining the cherished traditions, they were no longer fulfilling the function of true worship.

On the other hand, “being” the church has to do with understanding and living out the values that God demands within the Body of Christ so that His grace can be manifested through it to the unreached. It is this cause that Amy and I are unwaveringly committed to in Tokyo. Thankfully, many older believers responded positively and many younger people showed interest in changing.

This month, one of my main purposes is to work with different people who are influencers in our church and persuade them that we need to be more value-driven, and not form-driven. While this sounds reasonable, and even biblical, many churches sadly fail to make it their core value.

This week I have already met with two potential future part-time helpers, spent some time reassessing the current church condition, enduring – regrettably – hours of sharp and unwarranted criticisms and discouragements from those within the church who are not interested in my leadership. Currently, I’m writing an article for the church publication, trying to recover as much data as possible from my crashed hard-drive, and attending our church board meeting on Saturday (7/18).

Next week, I am going to try to get connected with those who stopped attending our church while we have been gone and encourage them not to give up on what God’s doing and going to do in our church. I am also solidifying our relationships with other capable believers outside of our church who were previously interested in assisting our endeavors. My goal is to hear them reaffirm their commitment to work with us in the near future. This week we also began our plan to develop our church website, which we hope will become one of the most comprehensive and useful Christian resources online in Japanese.

More I commit to developing an authentic community of believers in Tokyo, more I realize how much more financial resources and full time workers we need to do our job with excellence. While we are grateful for all the part-time lay people who are willing to help, we need other committed believers who are willing to work with us and contribute their creativity and expertise to reach souls for Christ in the city.

It is very easy to feel satisfied for the progress God is making through us, and yet be discouraged by various expected, yet still undesirable, challenges the next minute. We definitely need your vocal support through prayer and encouragement as we face realistic challenges of being in ministry overseas.

Please don’t stop praying for us. This month, pray that God will allow me to continually demonstrate His love and patience to everyone as well as show wisdom and humility beyond my age and experience, and unquenchable passion to glorify Him through my service. I also desire to demonstrate a teachable heart that is quick to hear and slow to speak as I deal with many people with distinct opinions. Please pray for Amy also as she is down in Alabama with her family. I will ask her to write an article so that you can also find out what God is doing in her life.

Friends and family, this is our ministry in action – what we need to be doing every week to make a lasting change in Tokyo. However, as you know, we cannot be in Tokyo without your generous help. We have been listing the need for regular giving, but we still need people who love God and us to put their faith into action by partnering with us. Please take some time today and fill out the form to partner with us financially so that we can continue to effectively build up the body of Christ in Tokyo.