The Search for the Best Way to Win Japan

by Gioia Michelotti

When Japanese Christians build cultural bridges to the larger society by attending Buddhist funerals or inviting unsaved families to celebrate traditional Japanese festivals at their church, does that automatically herald the entrance of syncretism into their doctrine?

When Japanese Christians build cultural bridges to the larger society by attending Buddhist funerals or inviting unsaved families to celebrate traditional Japanese festivals at their church, does that automatically herald the entrance of syncretism into their doctrine?

On the other hand, do Western evangelistic methods like street preaching, tent meetings, door-to-door visitation, and tract distribution really work in an Eastern country like Japan?

Exactly where on the evangelistic continuum do God’s blessings start to flow—closer to one of the two extremes, near the “happy medium,” or somewhere in between?

Rollin Reasoner, a recently retired missionary to Japan with SEND International, believes that part of the answer depends on timing. When Reasoner first went to Japan 41 years ago, he used mostly Western evangelistic methods. Given his initial struggle to master the language and the culture, Reasoner was often astounded to see so many Japanese converted to Christ through his faltering early attempts. But post-war disillusionment had temporarily loosened the grip of traditional beliefs, leaving the Japanese people open to Christ’s message of hope, no matter how clumsily it was presented.

Reasoner insisted that “it would be next to impossible to do that kind of street preaching now. First, police permission. Second, where is there a place where you wouldn’t all get killed by the traffic?”

Finding places and participants for tent meetings also became increasingly difficult. “Empty lots were filling up with homes and other buildings as the economy began to take off,” Reasoner said. “And then came TV. For the first time, we had serious competition for the attention of people in the evening.”

TIME TO ADAPT
Reasoner urges Japanese Christians to adapt their evangelistic methods to changing social trends: “Keep trying a little bit of everything and look for the pattern the Holy Spirit is using.”

Today, most of the evangelism done by the Japanese church Reasoner once pastored springs from the natural contacts of members with neighbors. Since Japanese society has become infatuated with television, videotape outreach is especially popular in that congregation.¹

Jonathan Junker, a TEAM missionary pastoring Azumino Family Chapel near Tokyo, spent much of his last furlough studying the evangelistic methods of Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago suburbs.

“It’s just a hunch,” said Junker, “but I think the Willow Creek concept could easily be transferred to Japan. Especially among Japanese young people there is an acceptance of anything Western. Also, since many existing Japanese churches tend to be so authoritarian and formal, the more interactive, informal style would create on attractive environment for most Japanese.”²

But many missiologists today seriously question the tendency of evangelists and church planters to transplant their own Western customs and denominational forms to the mission field. They insist that missionaries should first identify with a new culture, contextualize the gospel for each new audience, and then allow indigenous forms and methods to develop within the new church as directed by the Holy Spirit.

Sherwood Lingenfelter, provost and senior vice president of Biola University, asked many disturbing questions about traditional missionary methods in his 1990 plenary session address to the Japan Evangelical Association. His views were subsequently published in Japan Harvest.

“Are missionaries planting biblically founded indigenous churches,” asked Lingenfelter, “or are they transferring their culture of Christianity to every nation and culture of the world?”

“Is it possible to have the gospel be truly a transforming presence,” he continued, “or are we always to be limited to reproducing our own cultural reflection of Christianity wherever we carry the message?”³

Even non-Christians are asking these questions and offering their own solutions.Shinji Kanai, a professor of modern religion at the University of Tokyo, recently wrote an article for the Japan Times entitled “Christians Must ‘Japanize.’”

In answer to the question “Why do Christians in Japan still comprise only 1 percent of the population?” Kanai replied, “Christianity has failed to spread in Japan because it has been far too closed. The church is frighteningly cut off from Japanese society.”

Because of this isolation from Japanese culture, Kanai observed that most Japanese churches produce Christians who end up “floating about on the surface of Japanese society. They are Japanese, but at the some time they are not Japanese.” To rectify this imbalance, Kanai urged Christians to “build a Christianity for the Japanese.”

Agreeing with Kanai on this important point, Takeshi Shiraishi, a Japanese pastor with TEAM’s Domei Group, believes that Christians must first build cultural bridges into the larger society.

During bridge-building, which Shiraishi calls the first stage of evangelism, the concept of common grace must be appreciated and nurtured. In this stage Christians prove that they are Christians by their love. After warm relationships have been formed, the second stage of seed-planting can occur naturally, because the soil of the heart has been adequately prepared. Finally, after much watering and tending by caring Christians, soul-harvesting will come at the time ordained by the Holy Spirit.

“The direct, confrontational approach used by most Western missionaries is not the best way to win the Japanese heart,” said Shiraishi. “Eastern culture esteems the indirect, relational approach.”⁴

Henry Ayabe, also a retired missionary to Japan with SEND International, reiterates the importance of relationship-building for Japanese evangelism. He points out that there are many expressions in Japanese to describe different relationships.

Every relationship is nanika no goen desu, or “having some significance to life’s destiny.” Even casual relationships should not be minimized, because out of these can be formed en no hashi, or “bridges of relationship.”

Ayabe believes that Christians who recognize the evangelistic potential inherent in the Japanese view of relationships can, through love and patience, eventually “bridge” their unsaved friends to the greatest relationship of all with Jesus Christ.⁵

Shiraishi feels that, unfortunately, most evangelical churches in Japan have withdrawn from Japanese society because of fear of contamination by pagan elements. This attitude has often produced irrational paranoia and pharisaical attitudes in the lives of Japanese Christians, causing them to build walls of self protection rather than bridges of rescue.

“I believe that Christ’s power and authority are superior to that of any pagan influence,” said Shiraishi. “When Christians know who they are in Christ, they don’t need to be afraid to identify with the culture of the people they serve. Decisions about which parts of the culture to adopt and which parts to reject must be made on a case-by-case basis.”

The prevailing religion of modern Japan is already a syncretistic blend of Buddhism, Shinto, ancestor worship, and animism. As an example of the best way to introduce Christianity into this diverse milieu, Professor Kanai referred to the establishment of Buddhism in Japan 800 years ago.

“At that time, unlike the Japanese Christians of today,” said Kanai, “the Buddhists immersed themselves in Japanese society. For example, they taught that until the arrival of the prime religion of Buddhism, Shinto existed in Japan from ancient times as a preparatory stage that included some truths, albeit imperfect. In this way, Buddhism was able to wipe away its foreignness and firmly transplant itself within the context of Japanese culture.

“The problem is that Christianity has not made any such effort toward grafting. As a result, therefore, Christianity has failed to put down any rootsin Japan.”

However, Shiraishi views Kanai’s analogy of grafting Christianity into the existing Japanese religions as syncretism. “Instead of grafting Christianity into Japanese religion, I wish to encourage the incarnation of Christians into Japanese society,” says Shiraishi. “We need to meet confused or hurting people where they actually live, like Jesus did.”

‘“Many Western missionaries take a negative view of Japanese culture,”’ said Shiraishi. “But, following Christ’s example, there are many creative ways for Christians to become incarnated in Japanese culture.”

At Shiraishi’s church, which is also in the Tokyo area, the congregation has recently experimented with contextualizing some of the Japanese rites of passage by transfusing the ancient cultural forms with new Christian meaning.

When a child is born into a Japanese family, it is customary to perform a Shinto “child blessing,” called miya-mairi (shrine-visiting). Con-textualizing this tradition as a means of outreach, Shiraishi offers a Christian alternative by inviting unsaved families to gather for their celebration at his church, where he, the Christian pastor, publicly prays for Christ’s blessing upon the infant and family.

Then, the whole congregation ministers to the guest family, showing them love in practical ways. The event itself becomes a bridge to meaningful relationships between Christians and non-Christians, often leading to conversions in the guest family later.

Shiraishi’s church has also contextualized other rites of passage, such as the shici-go-san (seven-five-three) festivals, where children reaching those ages are given long candies to symbolize long life. On November15 boys who are three and five years old, and girls who are three and seven years old, are dressed in fine clothes and taken by their parents to nearby shrines to thank guardian deities for their healthy growth.

Instead, Shiraishi’s congregation invites unsaved families to celebrate these special days at their church, where they read the story of Jesus’ growth and thank God for the good health of all the children.

“Almost any traditional custom could become an evangelistic bridge,” said Shiraishi.

For instance, on March 3 Japanese girls celebrate the Doll Festival by displaying shelves of dolls in traditional dress. This custom was originally designed to prepare girls for marriage. Shiraishi thinks that the Doll Festival can be celebrated at church, with basic instruction being given to everyone concerning biblical marriage.

Japanese boys celebrate their festival on May 5. On that day, colorful cloth carp with long streamers are hoisted atop tall poles and placed outside houses. The carp symbolizes strength and courage because of its ability to swim against the stream.

Shiraishi suggests that the carp could easily be given a Christian meaning. The fish symbol was first adopted by the early Christians, who used it to secretly represent the name of Christ to one another while hiding from their persecutors. Stories of Christian saints or martyrs might be told at this festival, to demonstrate the biblical qualities of strength and courage.

In some cases, displays of samurai helmets have become a part of the boys’ festival. The story of David and Goliath, or biblical teaching about the Christian’s spiritual armor, would make appropriate presentations at such events.

William Hinchman, an American Baptist missionary to Japan, believes that people everywhere experience an accelerated responsiveness to the gospel during ordinary human experiences, such as birth, marriage, and death. Because of this, Hinchman, like Shiraishi, finds ways to use the Japanese rites of passage as bridges to the gospel. Over and over again, Hinchman has seen Japanese become Christians through this type of outreach.

WEDDINGS AS BRIDGES
“The Christian wedding in non-Christian Japan is the most likely of all the rites of passage to become a bridge to thegospel,” explained Hinchman. “The minister has a blessed opportunity to talk with the young couple about the God in whose presence they are to make their vows, and in whose name they are to be united as husband and wife.”

Excerpts of a letter to Hinchman from one groom who later became a convert express how effective the Christian wedding can be as a cultural bridge: “My family as well as I found that the wedding according to the Christian rite was much more understandable than that of traditional Japanese style….I was so happy to be able to start a new life in such a solemn atmosphere.”

“We give thanks to the Lord of the harvest,” wrote Hinchman, “that he provides us with abundant opportunities to touch the hearts of Japanese people with the love of God in all such moments when they are tender and open.”⁶

Tony Haug, a missionary with Pioneers to Shimonoseki City in southwestern Japan, has recently contextualized parts of the Japanese funeral tradition as an evangelistic outreach. Christians from his church visit the bereaved during the early parts of the three-day ceremony, when no religious rites are being performed. They show compassion, sing hymns, read Scripture, and pray for the family.

On the anniversary of the person’s death, Haug’s congregation follows up initial contacts by holding a memorial service at the church building for the family of the deceased. Haug takes his Bible message for these occasions from Luke 16. Quite a few people have been saved during this outreach.

But reacting against contextualization, some missionaries and pastors continue to warn of the dangers of syncretism when missionaries identify too closely with pagan cultures.

“While it is true that the church in Japan has become isolated,” says Junker, “there is always the danger that, while trying to correct this fault, Japanese Christians may swing too far toward the opposite extreme and become syncretistic.”

But Haug also cautions that “Christians can become stumbling-blocks to the gospel by going too far in either direction.”⁷

Lingenfelter believes there is a way to avoid both extremes. He explains that the gospel should become “a significant powerful force in the continuous restructuring of any culture,” even the missionary’s.

Lingenfelter suggests that missionaries continually ask themselves, How does the gospel contradict what I think, what I believe, and how I live?

“If we ask this question daily, we will certainly change the way we live,” insists Lingenfelter. “If we take the gospel into every culture, and help others ask the same question, they too will change. The result will not be that we all end up wearing the same gray suits. Rather, we will become transformed people, wearing the many colored coats of the world’s diverse cultures, but living transformed lives within them.”

So, which method goes for evangelism in Japan?

“Perhaps one of the traps into which we have fallen is the common Christian belief that God has a system,” said Lingenfelter.

“Watch what God blesses,” Reasoner suggested. “Try that again.”

“Despite the mistakes of some missionaries, pastors, and church members,” said Shiraishi, “God is still redeeming Japanese souls. We Christians should continually examine our ways to be sure we encourage, rather than hinder, what God is doing.”

Endnotes
1. Rollin and Esther Reasoner, “Changing Patterns of Evangelism in Japan,” Japan Harvest, Vol. 41, No. 1, 1991, pp. 8, 9.
2. Jonathan Junker, personal interview, March, 1993.
3. Sherwood Lingenfelter, “Transferring or Transforming Culture,” Japan Harvest, Vol. 40, No. 3, 1990, pp. 4-7.
4. Takeshi Shiraishi, personal interview, April, 1993.
5. Henry Ayabe, Step Inside Japan: Language Culture Mission (Tokyo: JEMA, 1992), pp. 47, 48.
6. William L. Hinchman, “Rites of Passage as a Bridge to the Gospel,” The Gospel Encounters the Japanese Worldview: Bridges or Barriers (Tokyo: Hayama Seminar, 1987), pp. 68-74.
7. Tony Haug, telephone interview, July, 1993.

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