Missional church is an ecclesiological concept
which is grounded in the doctrine of the Trinity and finds its identity in the missio Dei—God’s mission. The church
will re-discover its missional identity in God himself. The Missional church
concept is derived from the biblical account and theological tradition of the
church, and will provide a model that the church can use to be deep and total.[1]
Particularly, for evangelical churches that are struggling in the post-modern
situation, this model will be core in the re-evangelization of the West. If the
missional church concept is grounded in the Bible, in theological tradition,
and the doctrine of the Trinity, the concept could apply not only to Western
churches, but also to churches across different cultural backgrounds globally.
My fundamental question of this paper is, “How can the missional church concept
be applied to Japanese churches for the evangelization of Japan?” I will argue that evangelical churches in Japan can
rediscover their missional identity through retrieving and living into
inter-relational participation in the Triune God. In this paper, I will present
an overview of the situation and challenges of evangelical churches in Japan.
This will be followed by some implications and applications of the missional
church within the Japanese context.
The challenges of the
Protestant church in Japan
Japan is known as the
least Christian country in East Asia. Compared to Korea’s high Christian
population ratio through the revival movement or to the massive growth of house
churches in China, Japan seems to be unsuccessful in evangelization despite
Protestant missionaries’ efforts for one hundred fifty years. In 2013, the
number of Japanese Christians (comprised of Protestants, Roman Catholic, and
Greek Orthodox) were reported to be approximately one million—just less than
one percent of the total population. Statistics suggest that Christian
populations of both Catholic and Protestants are decreasing. The Church Information
Service reported that the membership of the Protestant Japanese Church started
to decline from 2008.[2] Evidence
of the downsizing of the Protestant church can be seen most clearly in the largest
Protestant group in Japan, the United Church of Christ, whose members have gone
from 201,468 in 1990 to 178,676 in 2013.[3] But
the notable situation is that evangelical churches also seem to be stagnant or
starting to decrease in membership. Table 1 suggests that six out of ten main
denominations in Japan decreased in membership.
There may be some reasons
for this downward trend. The most remarkable reason would be the decrease of
the number of baptisms. After it had reached its peak (10,507) in 2002, the
number of baptisms have been reducing year by year.[5] In
2012, the number of baptisms was 7,257; it declined about thirty percentage as
of 2002.[6]
Although the dwindling of birth rates may contribute to the decline of baptisms
of Christian children within the last two decades, the rate of decreasing
baptisms seem faster than the decrease in the overall Japanese population.
Japanese Christianity needs a certain number of baptisms to grow just as the
growth of population needs a certain birth rate. The downward trend of baptisms
in the past decade suggests a difficult situation of Japanese churches. Despite
evangelization efforts by the local churches and missionaries, Japanese
churches are dwindling. Why is Japan such a
tough place in the world to evangelize? What stand as obstructions to Christianity
in Japan? We will find some reasons within the socio-cultural dynamics of
Japanese society and people.
Most missionaries may
consider why Japanese people find it difficult to accept the gospel and believe
in Jesus. There are three main features that are serious obstacles to
evangelizing in Japan: Japanese religious philosophy, the dominance of major
religions that bind people by the family system, and the influence of modernity
and post-modernity.
First, Japanese religious
philosophy stands in stark contrast from the Judeo-Christian tradition. For
example, Japanese people think humanity is not created by deities, but is
descended from them.[7] The
descendent of god is directly connected to the Japanese emperor’s family line,
and this thought became a foundation of Shintoism. God cannot be separated from
natural phenomena and human communities because of cosmological monism, and
there is a lack of ethical concern for well-being by salvation.[8] For
Japanese people, a basic teaching of Christianity such as “sin” is also
difficult to understand.[9]
Therefore, for Japanese people, a monotheistic God, the Fall, and salvation
from sin seem hard to accept from the background of their religious philosophy.
Second, dominant
religious systems which bind people in their family system keep people from
Christianity. A Japanese indigenous religion, Shintoism embraced Buddhism and
these religions became syncretic and co-existed in history. Under the advocacy
of politics, especially the Edo period
(1603-1868), Buddhism flourished and bound the Japanese
family by its customs such as ancestor worship. In that period, all families
were required to be a parishioner of a certain Buddhist temple. After World War
II, the trends in nuclear families defused in part those religious
relationships and customs, but the family system remained Japanese, particularly
in rural regions. Dagfinn Solheim explains the pressure from the “family-system” on a Japanese who wants to be a
Christian,
The main locus for the ancestor cult is the household, particularly the extended
household. Usually, it is a family affair with no continuous link to the temple
or shrine. The father has the main responsibility for the duties in regard to
the ancestor altar, still found in most Japanese homes. The eldest son will
eventually take over these duties or, lacking a son, the eldest daughter. When
this son or daughter becomes a Christian, their relationship to the family will
usually cause special difficulties as they are expected to be responsible to maintaining
the ancestor veneration.[10]
For
Japanese people, becoming Christian implies not only individual conversion but
also the cutting off of all religious customs strongly connected to family and
relatives. In recent years, Japanese people seem to be more released from the
pressures of the family system. Nevertheless, “the family-system” is still strong
at work within the Japanese mindset at the moment of one’s decision to become
Christian.[11]
Third, the influence of
modernity and post-modernity discourage many from becoming Christians. Japanese
society is highly westernized, and the people have embraced modernity in their
hearts. A rational mindset and reliance on science make it difficult to believe the existence of an invisible God and the miracles in the biblical
narratives. In addition to modern ways of thinking, the deconstructing
skepticism of post-modernity has penetrated people’s hearts and minds. Thomas
Smail says, “The beginning of the twenty-first century does not have much faith
or hope left in human goodness, political utopianism, or psychiatric salvation
and indeed, in its more sophisticated post-modern expressions, has little faith
that there is any possibility of knowing any universally binding truth about
objective reality.”[12] Living
in a fragmented post-modern society, people tend to keep a balanced plurality
of faith rather than committing to one particular religion.
In addition to this
situation, the massive economic development after World War II strengthened
materialism and consumerism into the Japanese
mindset. Japanese people tend to be absorbed in activities directly benefitting
themselves such as working or leisure. Even though most Japanese people go to
pray in temples or shrines, the purpose of religious activities tend to focus
on happiness—material blessings—and their good health. This religious posture
seems different from evangelical Christian beliefs, personal salvation from the
Fall and service to one God who created heaven and earth. For Japanese people,
becoming Christian and committing to the attendance of weekly Sunday services
looks unprofitable for their lives.[13] In
such a context, Japanese polytheistic culture—embracing any religions
generously—keeps many in favor of a pluralistic religious attitude; New Year
worship in Shintoism, funeral ceremony in Buddhism, and marriage ceremony in
Christianity represents Japanese religious behavior.
In sum, these three
socio-cultural aspects serve as barriers for Japanese people to receive the
gospel and become Christians who commit to the church community. The Post-modern
situation, in particular, makes evangelism difficult. The question may come up
in our mind, “What effort did the Japanese church make in these tough
socio-cultural situations?” Before I start the discussion of the missional
identity for Japanese Christians, I will review the historical aspect of
evangelism in Japan.
Historically,
Japan experienced three major evangelistic movements: 1) Catholic missionaries
in the sixteenth century, 2) Protestant missionaries in the nineteenth century,
and 3) evangelical missionaries post World War II.[14] The
last movements were supported by the International Committee for the Christian
Work in Japan, established by the North American Protestant denominations, which
sent many missionaries into Japan and engaged with evangelism.[15] The
growth of Protestants in Japan from 1948 to 1958 was notable—approximately one
hundred-fifty percent.[16] Many
evangelical churches in Japan received support from this movement and took over
the planted churches those missionaries had founded. The pastors who had converted
through the missionaries inherited characteristics of the Western churches. For
them, evangelism meant inviting people to listen to evangelical preaching which
emerged from the tradition of The Great Awakening. The evangelical programs
were centered on the churches’ ministry. For example, four evangelizing
crusades by Billy Graham in 1956, 1967, 1980, and 1994 were successful
evangelizing events for evangelical churches in Japan. However, this conversion-preaching
style of evangelism did not seem to lead to sustained growth. In the last two
decades, new church movements, such as the cell-church movement or the Purpose-Driven
Church concept, were brought to Japan and many evangelical churches in Japan
tried to apply this kind of evangelism. Of course, some churches achieved
notable growth by these concepts. Mainly, though, the decreasing or stagnant
situation of Protestant churches suggests a limited influence of these
movements upon the evangelical churches in Japan.
Rediscovering the
missional identity of the evangelical churches
Most evangelical
Christians in Japan may equate ‘mission’ to ‘evangelism’. Evangelism means
bringing people into the church through church programs designed for outreach.
However, we need to rediscover that the word of “mission” was from God’s
nature, that is, the concept of the “missio
Dei.” David Bosch says:
Mission was understood as
being derived from the very nature of God. It was thus put in the context of
the doctrine of the Trinity, not of ecclesiology or soteriology. The classical
doctrine on the missio Dei as God the
Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit was
expanded to include yet another “movement”: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
sending the church into the world.[17]
In this context, the doctrine of the Trinity should be the foundation of
Christian mission and therefore, ecclesiology. The proper understanding of God’s
mission will lead us to a hopeful engagement in his mission through our union
with the triune God in Christ by the Spirit.[18]
Bosch also explains the need to distinguish between God’s mission (singular) and our
missions (plural)—our missions are particular forms of participation in the
missio Dei.[19]
The subject of mission is God himself, and we Christians participate in his
mission through our missions. Ross Hastings describes our participation in God’s mission as our identity
rather than an imperative:
Because by participation our being and doing as sent people will
be ensconced and directed and empowered in his
being as the missionary God, in the sent Son by the sent and sending Spirit.
Our being and our practice as the missional church gathered in union with him,
and our being as the sent people of God engaged with him in his mission will
enable us to be Christ to the world
and to do and teach as he did (Acts
1:1).[20]
Thus, the
missional church should be the church that is sent by the triune God and
participates in God’s mission—being and doing as the triune God is and does. Within
this framework, the missional church’s acts cannot be separated from its being—being
and acting will be kept together.[21]
Of course, evangelism is one of the essential dimensions of mission.
Nevertheless, the missional church must prioritize seeking God’s mission into
the world more than implementing evangelism programs of the church. Ross
Hastings explains, “We offer the church hope for carrying out its mission in
the twenty-first century by moving beyond technique and even ecclesiology into
theology proper—the triune God.”[22]
This concept should be a significant paradigm shift for evangelical churches in
Japan because this missional church framework is about identity first, and the
church life that may include programs that are true to this identity.[23]
The doctrine of the
Trinity should be central in the church’s being and its missions including evangelization.
There are three features of the missional church that are grounded in the
Trinity: (1) the church is the inter-relational community of the triune
missional God, (2) the church is the Christocentric community seeking the
mission of the incarnation and resurrection of Christ, and (3) the church is
the pneumatic community invoking the work of the Spirit.
(1) First, the church is
the inter-relational community of the triune missional God. The Christian
gospel is the story of the Trinity, which is open for human relations.[24] The
relationship within the triune God (perichoresis)
–the mutual love of divine persons—will become the identity of the missional
church. Miroslav Volf says, “The relation between the many in the church must
reflect the mutual love of the divine persons.”[25]
Human love without the Spirit cannot
correspond to the mutual love of the divine persons. The Spirit indwells in our
hearts and invites us into the inter-relational community within the triune
God. Volf quotes Moltmann who is a German reformed theologian, saying, “The
Spirit dwelling through faith in the hearts of human beings ‘himself issues
from his fellowship with the Father and the Son, and the fellowship into which
he enters with believers corresponds to his fellowship with the Father and the
Son and is therefore a trinitarian
fellowship’.”[26] The
perichoretic love in the inter-relational community proceeds to the mutual
giving and receiving—we gives ourselves to others and we take up others into
ourselves in a unique way.[27] The
mutual love is not limited in the relationship in a particular church
community, but it will be directed from the church to the world. Darrell
Johnson reflects, “We are co-lovers with God of God; we are co-lovers with God of one another; we are co-lovers with God of the world.[28] The
sentness of Jesus by the Father and founded in love and the sentness of the
church by the Spirit help comprise the indispensable
identity of the church.[29] The
missional church never remains in a self-contained community. Moreover, the
missional church has the dynamism of bidirectional sending and gathering—for sending
and gathering is both incarnational and pneumatic.[30]
Pneumatic gathering means that the missional church draws people to the faith
and into the life of the church through the work
of the Spirit. Through understanding and experiencing the doctrine of the
Trinity, the church can stand on its missional identity and become a community
which represents the mission of the triune God.
(2) Second, the missional
church is the Christocentric community seeking the mission of the incarnation
and resurrection of Christ. ‘Christocentric’ does not mean solely emphasizing
Christ within the Trinity, nor looking only at Jesus’ salvation on the cross. The
doctrine of the Trinity lets us focus on the heart of the Christian gospel that
stands on the sentness of the Son by the Father—Christ’s incarnation and resurrection.
The triune God’s self-revelation in Christ and Christ’s redemptive work for new
creation are the essential parts of God’s mission. Hastings says, “[T]his
incarnation-resurrection dynamic shapes mission to be a participation in God’s
work, which has as its goal the forming of human persons ‘fully alive’.”[31] The
concept of “fully alive” includes the broad perspective of true humanity. Our
relationality, identity, gender, and work are restored in relation with God
through Christ.[32]
Thus, the missional church is a community which seeks the life that will be
reformed into the fullness of the image of God (imago Dei) in Christ.[33]
The Christocentric
community also represents Christ’s crucified presence. Christ’s crucifixion and
his wounds and scars were the revelation of the triune God.[34] The
missional church seeks the worship and communion that reveal Christ’s crucified
presence. Christ’s crucified presence also reflects the biblical koinonia—cruciform self-sacrificing is
the evidence in the church community life.[35] Preaching
within a missional church will lead to proclamation of the truly good news that
the triune God is for humanity and his love to the world is revealed in reconciliation by Christ on the Cross.[36]
(3) Third, the missional
church is the pneumatic community invoking the work of the Spirit. The church
started at the event of Pentecost (Acts 2:1), and through the empowerment and
guidance of the Spirit, this first century church spread across the world. A sole
focus on the evangelization programs and the seeking of
efficiency by management impede the empowerment of the Spirit to the
church in mission. Lesslie Newbigin says:
Mission is not simply the
self-propagation of the church by putting forth of the power that inheres in
its life. To accept that picture would be to sanction an appalling distortion
of mission. On the contrary, the active agent of mission is a power that rules,
guides, and goes before the church: the free, sovereign, living power of the
Spirit of God.[37]
To invoke
the work of the Spirit, the church depends more upon listening to the voice of the Spirit. How can we think about the work of the Spirit in
the context of the missional church? Ross Hastings suggests, “Most critical to
the effectiveness of the church on mission by the Spirit is that it stays true
to its nature as the community of the Spirit, with all of the charismata at
work in every member ministry, in a community that is organism first and
organization second.”[38]
The missional church also seeks to be a polycentric
community in which all persons can express their priesthood, inside and outside of the church, through
the charismata of the Spirit.[39]
Moreover, as the prescription toward the evangelical church which emphasizes
the role of teaching and pastoring for church leaders, seeking the gift of
apostle, prophet, and evangelist should be a space where the Spirit works.[40]
As a practical way to listen for the Spirit, the missional church can allow the
Holy Spirit to work though group processes such
as in ecclesial decisions by open conversation in communal dialogue.[41]
Seeking the guidance of the Spirit and invoking empowering are indispensable
aspects for the living church. When we offer an authentic and powerful
spirituality of the Spirit such as in the church in Acts, the proclamation of
the gospel will become easy because of the erupting power of the Spirit.[42]
The key concepts of re-evangelizing the evangelical church in Japan
There are four key
concepts of the missional church identity for evangelizing Japan: (1)
rediscovering the doctrine of the Trinity, (2) becoming an inter-relational
community of the Triune God that penetrates
Japanese society, (3) penetrating Japanese religious sensibility by the gospel
of the triune God, and
(4) overcoming modern and post-modern worldviews through embodying the Christian
story in better ways.
(1) First, the doctrine
of the Trinity should be rediscovered in the Japanese Church. Historically, the
doctrine of the Trinity has received little emphasis within Japanese
Christianity. Because of its polytheistic religious philosophy, Japanese
Christianity focused on Christology to distinguish it from other indigenous
religions. Tomoaki Fukai says, “In Japan, at any rate, the Christian concept of
God was not that of the triune God, and the experience of worship in Japan was
not worship of the triune God. We can say that the theological efforts in this
period of the young church in Japan were to develop Christology from early
monotheism.”[43]
The style of faith also reflects the non-Trinitarian thought of Japanese
Christianity. “The Common Doxology” by Thomas Ken provides an example of the
involuntary elimination of the Trinity in Japanese Christianity. In the
Japanese translation of the last phrase of this doxology, the Trinitarian idea
of Father, Son, and Spirit is expressed as only “the great God”[44]
Fukai points out that Japanese Christians have deemphasized the Trinity and cites
James Torrance’s three views of worship (the Unitarian model, the
existential-experience model, and the Trinitarian-incarnational model) to say
Japanese Christians have possibly only practiced the first two types of views.[45]
Most evangelical Christians
in Japan would be categorized within the existential-experience model that is
preoccupied with individual religious experience. James Torrance points out the
tendency of this model: “It emphasizes our
faith, our decision, our response in an event theology which
short-circuits the vicarious humanity of Christ and belittles union with
Christ.”[46]
It is surprising that the individual-centered belief model was imported into
Japanese society which is both relational and communal. To retrieving the
doctrine of the Trinity, the Eastern way of thinking about the Trinity—the
social or communion model of the Trinity—will provide a consonant image and
relationship of the Trinity to Japanese Christians rather than the Augustinian
oneness analogy of the Trinity.[47]
Tomoaki Fukai suggests a keen insight, “And now a community produced from the
Trinitarian God (not an exclusive and individualistic community) will (stand in
contrast to and) confront a community based on the Japanese value system.”[48] Rediscovering
the doctrine of Trinity to retrieve the triune God’s mission is required.
However, the missional church community should be a community which penetrates
or coexists with Japanese communities.
(2) Second, to successfully
penetrate Japanese society, the missional church as an inter-relational
community must cultivate a community focused in faith and mutual love. The doctrine of the Trinity
teaches us that Christians participate in the life of a relational God.[49] Ross
Hastings explains the consequence of this participation, “When we learn to love
God and be known deeply by God, we will begin to know and love ourselves
properly. Furthermore, ironically, it is as we give ourselves away to our
fellow humans that we will discover ourselves.”[50]
Miroslav Volf also explains the persons in the community of the Spirit, “The
Spirit present in all Christians ‘opens’ each of them to all others. It starts
them on the way to creative mutual giving and receiving, in which each grows in
his or her own unique way and all have joy in one another.”[51] Relationships
within the Christian community that are living in mutual love—that mutually
give, receive, and grow one other—should be unsurpassed in Japanese society.
This creative mutual giving and receiving can take many shapes in Christians’
lives. For example, sharing meals and breaking bread together once a week will
be a significant way to cultivate God’s community in the Spirit.[52] In
particular, such a mutual community can redeem an isolated nuclear family or
single people who seek genuine community to support their lives.
Second, this
inter-relational community should seek to engage Japanese society and culture
in a proactive way. As Fukai points out, it is possible that a Christian
community which has strong mutual relationship will confront to existing
Japanese communities. Lesslie Newbigin explains the failure and stopping of
growth of a “mission station” strategy that separates converts from their own
culture and thus leads to them no longer having any influence on their non-Christian
relatives and neighbors.[53] Rather,
the cultural mandate is the goal of the Christian mission.[54] The
missional church community must seriously undertake contextualization by
becoming a community which embraces Japanese culture in an in-culturational
way. For example, developing contextualized styles in funeral or memorial of
the deceased rituals will help Christian communities to form an acceptable
explanation within the strong Buddhist background Japanese society is located
in. For the missional church, contextualization will be a more effective tool
than evangelism.[55]
By reinforcing the good in Japanese culture and forming a new culture, the
missional church can show a significant presence in Japanese society rather
than being an isolated countercultural community.
Third, to penetrate
Japanese society, the missional church community must take advantage of various
opportunities to invite people into this triune God’s community. For instance,
the missional church will be open to those who recognize the church as a second
community to support or encourage their daily lives. The community needs to
embrace those who cannot fully commit to participate in church community
because of their family situation or work style. Having openness to these kinds
of people will expand the mission of God and his kingdom. Since Japanese
society is a stressful society, Japanese people seek a place where they can
release their stress and feel relief. Many Japanese people are wanting to receive
the message of Matthew 11:28 more so than John 3:16.[56]
Thus, a community that affords rest is significant in a highly stressful
society.
(3) Third, the missional church can most
successfully penetrate Japanese religious sensibilities by emphasizing the gospel of the triune God that is dependent on the Spirit.
Christian teaching can often seem forceful, manipulative, and even oppressive
to Japanese people. Foundational Christian terminologies of sinning against God
and incurring penalties for crimes against God can feel especially forceful.[57]
The doctrine of double predestination seems to no longer be good news for
non-believers because the majority of Japanese are expected to go to heaven
after death in Buddhist teachings. The gospel—proclaiming the fullness of the
image of God through the Trinity—is much less oppressing. Karl Barth’s theology
of election that is recast in a trinitarian way is understandable.[58]
The awareness of imago Dei will avoid
the coercion or manipulative techniques in evangelism, and the dialogue which
is led by the Spirit should be important.[59]
This Spirit-led dialogue waits for the Spirit to do his work in his own time, affording Christian conversions
more time. The missional church will consider conversion not just a crisis of
belief but a process of belonging.[60]
Evangelism in Japan, based on such a Spirit-led timetable, adequately prepares
the soil rather than attempting to cultivate hearts through a slash and burn
technique.
In successfully penetrating
traditional Japanese religious sensibilities, emphasis on the Trinity reminds
Christians that just as each person of the Trinity is constantly submitting to
one another in humility, Japanese Christians need to approach non-Christians
from a similar position of humility. Christians need to respect Japan’s
traditional high virtue culture that is founded by historical religions. This
culture stresses humble and harmonious cooperation. As Christians dialogue with
non-believers, the aspect of coming humbly from the bottom is important.
Lesslie Newbigin says, “Christians also have to come down to the bottom of
their stairway to meet the adherents of another faith. There has to be a
kenosis, a ‘self-emptying’.”[61]
Japanese theologian Kosuke Koyama’s “Neighbourology” will help Christians to
think about how to see and treat non-believers. He says:
We must discipline
ourselves to see our neighbor immediately and straightforwardly. If we have
some artificial cushions — and one of them can be our own ‘neighbourology’ –– between
us and our neighbor, we fall into a dangerous pit of legalism. We must know the
difference between the legalistic I
and the missionary I. The former is
the I who does not want to accept the real claim which his neighbor makes on
him. The latter is the I who is sent to live in the midst of the reality of his
neighbor, and his Christian existence hangs on the claim his neighbor makes on
him.[62]
Most Japanese non-believers are from a Buddhist
background. From his missionary experience in Thailand, Koyama’s neighbourology
teaches us how we might become a neighbor for those who believe in Buddhism or
other religions. In the dialogue with people who believe in Buddhism or
Shintoism, becoming a neighbor, rather than presenting manipulative technics of
evangelism, is crucial. For example, we build a relationship to neighbors
first, and start to talk the story of gospel where the neighbors are interested
or feel empathy on.
(4) Fourth, the missional church overcomes
modern and post-modern worldviews by better representing the Christian story,
maintaining our openness. We can offer humble
and honest “faith-seeking-understanding” apologetics to non-Christians.[63]
In such apologetics, God’s revelation in the Trinity is the matter of testimony
and a personal reality.[64]
Moreover, it is important to represent Christianity as a non-oppressive
metanarrative.[65]
The preaching of the missional church should be the gospel which seeks the end—our
being “humans fully alive” rather than merely pursuing conversions for eternal
life. We need to present the Christian story in embodied practice as a better
story in the modern and post-modern world.[66]
A model of the missional
church in Japan
The missional church
concept can penetrate Japanese society and culture, and it has the potential
for re-evangelizing Protestant churches in Japan. This missional church concept
will encourage the church to become wide and
deep. I will now present a model of the missional church in Japan as the implications
of this research. The missional church in Japan will be marked by three key features.
First, the missional church need rediscover its identity in the doctrine of the
Trinity, and it will become deep and wide through its inter-relational community.[67] The
community will stand on the love of the triune God and penetrate Japanese
society through embracing people. Second, the missional church in Japan will seek
to be both Christocentric and pneumatic. Both incarnational and pneumatic
dynamics will direct the church as both sent and gathering, which are the bidirectional features of the missional church.[68]
Third, the missional church will present the gospel through its being: the recovery of the person in the
fullness of their personhood.[69] Following
these features of the missional church, the evangelical churches in Japan can
successfully disseminate the missional identity into its practices—worship,
preaching, fellowship, and church structure.
The worship of the
missional church will focus on the presence of the triune God. We need to
remember that Jesus Christ is our great high priest and the church’s primary
worship leader.[70]
James Torrance explains that true worship reposes on and participates in the
self-offering of Jesus Christ who alone can lead us into the “the Holy of
Holies”. False worship, on the other hand, follows our own devices and
traditions, falling back on “our religion.”[71] In
this context, Sunday services are no longer mere preaching sessions, but opportunities
to sense the presence of God through considered worship (such as prolonged
sessions of musical worship which blend contemporary style music with hymns)—which
enables the whole of the congregation to participate as priests.[72] In
this Trinitarian form of worship, we participate through the Spirit in the Son’s
communion with the Father.[73] The
Lord’s Supper has also a significant role in worship. Communion will be held by
the missional context that invites people to receive forgiveness.
The preaching within a
missional church will understand the cross as a
critical piece of the kerygma. Christ’s
suffering on the cross presents the hope for a justified humanity and a
reconciled universe.[74] The
manner of preaching should consider Japanese culture and values. Paul’s
inculturated and contextualized preaching in Acts 17 will be appropriated as a
style of preaching.[75] The
contents of preaching will truly be good news that justifies all humanity in
Christ. Ross Hastings says, “The truly good news, the evangelion, that God has justified all in Christ, is liberating to
preach in that it moves away from the selection model of election and enables
the proclaimer to proclaim the good news to every
human being that God is for them and that he loves them.”[76]
The fellowship of the
missional church consists of diverse communities which invite people to the church
community (“koinonia”) and cultivate
God’s community through mutual giving and receiving. Sharing meals, doing
hobbies together, and exercising for health by sports are a part of God’s
mission to be “fully alive” as humans. Japanese evangelical churches tend to
separate “biblical” things and “unbiblical” things, focusing solely on spiritual
activities such as group bible studies or prayer meetings. However, the
missional church cares for all aspects of our lives, and it retrieves
everything through the inter-relational community within the triune God. This
fellowship never forces members to be involved in activities. Rather, the
church can unite the gospel and Christian interpretations of daily activities—relating
food, health, arts, and work—to seek the model of inculturation within Japanese
society. The missional church is a community that retrieves Christians’
vocations in the New Testament: all are called for the totality of everyday
life.[77]
Since Japanese society places a high emphasis on work, engaging with vocations
and work is important for the church community. The trinitarian perspective of
work shapes distinctiveness to each person—workers are not interchangeable cogs
in human corporations.[78] This
is the gospel for Japanese workers oppressed by high pressure and stress from
overtime working.
The structure of the
missional church should be considered within the Japanese context. Typically,
Japanese churches have a membership system which separates Christians and
non-Christians, for members of evangelical churches are highly committed
congregants. This is evidenced by attendance every Sunday, tithe offerings and volunteer
participation for church activities. However, to embrace less committed people and
non-Christians, the missional church community needs to consider having a
two-track structure. The missional church model may incorporate both the
covenant community as bounded set and the congregation as centered set.[79] Through
this structure, the missional church makes many different types of approaches toward
the congregation and toward the covenant community.
Finally, The missional church
needs to be aware of the needs of its margins, neighborhood, marketplace, and world.[80] Seriously
undertaking a missional identity means that the
church should care for difficulties and injustices in society with great compassion.
In this context, the missional church has a mission for humanity to be “fully
alive” not only for its own congregation but also for the margins and
neighborhood, through caring for the poor and seeking justice for oppressed
people. When the missional church can live in the mission of the triune God,
and reinforce the good in the neighborhood through its community, the church will
surely develop its width in Japanese society.
In conclusion, through
rediscovering their missional identity and retrieving inter-relational
participation in the Triune God, evangelical churches in Japan can penetrate
Japanese culture and society and evangelize Japanese people successfully. The triune
God’s missional community will be a hope for evangelizing in Japan, and it will
disseminate a genuine Gospel in which Japanese people can experience being “fully
alive” in Christ.
Bibliography
Bosch, David Jacobus. Transforming Mission: Paradigm
Shifts in Theology of Mission. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991.
Fukai, Tomoaki “The Doctrine of the Trinity and Modernity in the Japanese
church” Theologische Rundschau no 70 (June 2010), 216-229
Guder, Darrell L., and Lois
Barrett. Missional Church: A
Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. Grand Rapids, Mich:
W.B. Eerdmans Pub, 1998.
Kirisuto Shinbunsha. Kirisutokyo nenkan: 2008. Tokyo: Kirisutoshinbunsha, 2008.
Kirisuto Shinbunsha. Kirisutokyo nenkan: 2013. Tokyo:
Kirisutoshinbunsha, 2013.
Koyama, Kosuke. Waterbuffalo Theology.
Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1974.
Kurokawa, Tomobumi “Nihonniokeru Kirisutokyo Senkyo no Rekishitekikousatsu
I” Aichi Educational University Study Report : Cultural and Social Science
Edition, 53 (March, 2004), 59-68.
Hastings, Ross. Missional God, Missional Church:
Hope for Re-Evangelizing the West. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2012.
Johnson, Darrell W. Experiencing the Trinity.
Vancouver: Regent College Pub, 2002.
Newbigin, Lesslie. The Open Secret: An Introduction to
the Theology of Mission. Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans, 1995.
Noble, Colin. “Endo Shusaku's Jesus : analysis of a Japanese Christology”
Crux 28:6-13 (1992):
6-12.
Smail, Thomas Allan. Like Father, Like Son: The Trinity
Imaged in Our Humanity. Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co, 2006.
Stevens, R. Paul. The Other Six Days: Vocation, Work,
and Ministry in Biblical Perspective. Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans,
1999.
Stevens, R.
Paul. Work Matters: Lessons from
Scripture. Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans
Pub. Co, 2012.
Torrance, James. Worship, Community & the Triune
God of Grace. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1996.
Volf, Miroslav. After Our Likeness: The Church As
the Image of the Trinity. Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans, 1998.
[1] Ross Hastings, Missional God, Missional Church: Hope for Re-Evangelizing the West, (Downers
Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2012), 35.
[2] This estimation is from All Japan Statistics by Year by the Church Information Service. The
Church Information Service was founded in 1980 by an evangelical Christians in
Japan. It provides many researches for the purpose to support evangelism in
Japan. I used the data sheet which I received from Rev. Fukusaku (Vancouver
Japanese Gospel Church) on January 25, 2014. The Church Information Service
sent a short summary of the number of Protestant Christian to many Japanese
churches each year. The website of the Church Information Service: http://www.church-info.org/
[4] Calculated by Michito Kasagawa.
This calculation is from these two books: Kirisutokyo nenkan: 2013 and Kirisutokyo nenkan: 2008.
[7] Colin Noble, “Endo Shusaku's Jesus : analysis of a
Japanese Christology” Crux 28:6-13 (1992): 7.
[8] Dagfinn Solheim, “Japanese Culture and The Christian Church”
Missiology: An International Review, Vol XII, No.2, (April, 1984), 214.
[11] This finding is from the conversation with Rev.
Tetsuya Fukusaku (Senior Pastor of Vancouver Japanese Gospel Church) on
December 27, 2013. He said that many young Japanese people believed in Jesus
during their long or short term stay in Vancouver, but some of them—especially
young single ladies who lived with their parents—could not decide to be
baptized because they were afraid of the negative reactions of their family
members.
[12]
Thomas Allan Smail, Like Father, Like
Son: The Trinity Imaged in Our Humanity (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans
Pub, 2005), 25-26.
[13] Commitment of attending every Sunday service is not
compulsion in Christian doctrine. However, before the baptizing, usually, an
evangelical church in Japan let converts to make an oath to attend every Sunday
service by very best they can.
[14] Tomobumi Kurokawa, “Nihonniokeru Kirisutokyo Senkyo no
Rekishitekikousatsu I” Aichi Educational University Study Report : Cultural and
Social Science Edition, 53 (March, 2004), 59-68, 66.
[17]
David Jacobus Bosch, Transforming
Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis
Books, 1991), 390.
[25]
Miroslav Volf, After Our Likeness: The
Church As the Image of the Trinity (Grand
Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans, 1998), 195.
[37]
Lesslie Newbigin, The Open Secret: An
Introduction to the Theology of Mission (Grand
Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1995), 56.
[41]
Darrell L. Guder, and Lois Barrett, Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending
of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans Pub, 1998), 174-175.
[43]
Tomoaki Fukai, “The Doctrine of
the Trinity and Modernity in the Japanese church”
Theologische Rundschau no 70 (June
2010), 220.
[44] “The Common Doxology” by Thomas Ken mentions each
persons of the Trinity in the last phrase. However, in the Japanese translation
only translates the first two lines and refers to the great God “Ohmi-Kami.”
This must be from the limitation of translating from Japanese to English.
However, the fact that the phrase of the Trinity was eliminated in the process
of the translation is significant.
[46] James
Torrance, Worship, Community
& the Triune God of Grace (Downers Grove, Ill:
InterVarsity Press, 1996), 29.
[56] Japanese churches like to put Matthew 11:28 on their
sign board. In my home church (Ibaraki Bible Church in Osaka), I heard a story
of a single mother who saw the verse on the board of the entrance of the church
in passing. The verse stuck in her heart and was the reason she decided to come
to church.
[57] “Sin” is translated into a Japanese word “tsumi.”
However, a primal meaning of “tsumi” is “crime.” Particularly, non-Christians
who do not know the meaning of sin seem to be offended or confused by this
terminology.
[77] Paul
R. Stevens, The
Other Six Days: Vocation, Work, and Ministry in Biblical Perspective (Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans, 1999), 87-88.
[78] Paul
R. Stevens, Work Matters: Lessons from Scripture (Grand
Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co, 2012), 11.
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