AUGUST PRAYER FOCUS:
1. Prayer for Japan.
2. Global Concert of Prayer – ‘Fires of Revival’
3. Praise Report: Asia Pacific Missions Congress:
Prayer for Japan.
Japan is One of the Largest Un-evangelized Nation in the World.
Yet it is completely open to missionaries, but due to spiritual, socio-cultural, linguistic and financial difficulties, becoming an effective minister of the gospel is a long, hard process of adaptation.
Spiritual powers and principalities in Japan hinder the gospel. The powers associated with idolatry in temples and ancestor worship in homes remain strong.
Many Japanese claim no religion, but actually follow some rituals of Buddhism and Shintoism.
Even the idea of a Creator God is foreign to the Japanese worldview. Many new religions get started in Japan each year, often based on Buddhism, but also on the occult, the worship of extra-terrestrial aliens, and other strange ideas. Ask God to remove the spirit of delusion!
Japanese are the second largest Unreached People Group.
The less-evangelized areas and peoples of Japan:
- There are 22 cities in Japan with no church at all, including Akabira, Utashinai, Obanazawa, Mino, Motosu, Inabe, Akitakata, Matsuura, Kamiamakusa and Kaseda.
Of the 1,020 towns and villages, 546 have no church.
Pray for a church planting movement that will penetrate these unreached areas. - Numerous rural areas are scarcely touched with the gospel. The Japanese Church has little vision for reaching out to the many towns with minimal or no Christian presence.
- The ruling elite have been minimally influenced by the gospel. Pray for the emperor and royal family, cocooned in tradition and committed, by their position, to Shintoism.
- Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Mental health in Japan remains a top concern and suicide among Japanese children is the highest in the world. Japanese people can often consider that sharing their troubles with others, even sometimes with family and friends, is rude or burdensome.
- Please pray that God would work powerfully through his church in Japan to bring hope and light for those who feel hopeless or marginalized
- Pray for politicians and businessmen, those in control of finance and industry who have such global impact.
Specific Challenges facing the Church in Japan
- Christianity is still regarded as an outside, Western religion rather than a universal faith with the capacity to be truly Japanese. This is despite 500 years of Christian presence in Japan. This also allows for confusion between various Western cultural imports and genuinely Christian expressions of the good news.
- The minority complex. Christians are a tiny minority in a society where consensus and conformity are important. Too few families come to faith, and too many individuals feel exposed.
Pray for the Church to reach the size of critical mass and native character that will give it social credence and acceptability. - Unity is lacking in a Church that numbers only 1.5% of the population. Literally hundreds of denominations and groups exist along very fragmented lines. Such organizational and theological divides and lack of nationwide cooperation hamper progress and increase attrition rates.
Pray for Unity and cooperation among churches and ministries. - Need for Young Leaders: Many churches in Japan have either no pastor or are being led by a pastor who would like to retire but there are no successors available.
- Pray for all those involved in training Christian leaders in seminaries and other training organizations in Japan.
- Pray that many candidates will come forward for training, and that God will raise up a vibrant new generation of Christian leaders to guide his people and enable every-member ministry within Japanese churches.
- A new way of doing church needs to be discovered. Too often traditions and forms of worship have authority nearly equal to the Bible itself. Nonessential forms of the Church must be adapted to look less like the introduced Western culture of years past and more like 21st-century Japan.
House churches are another way of reaching Japanese who are uncomfortable with being part of traditional churches. - The strong Confucian tradition in Japan has admirably created a society with high ethical standards; the need for the Church to maintain these standards as a minimum can often lead congregations into legalism.
Christian media are very valuable in technologically astute Japan. Pray for these:
- The Internet has opened many new streams of media. There are many sites for Japanese, from teaching and discipling of believers to apologetics and pre-evangelism. Congregations’ websites are one major way that seekers find local churches.
- Arts, both traditional and modern, are important to this sophisticated culture. Christians in the Arts Network encourages, connects and mobilizes artistic endeavours in the Church.
- Video and film. Redemptive Films is a studio producing much-needed Christian films, and is a part of Christians in the Arts Network. The JESUS film is available in many formats.
Pray for the distribution drive every Christmas.
Sources and More Prayer Resources:
Operation World: Pray for Japan.
Change the Map: Prayer for Japan.
Japan Mission: Pray for Japan
Thank You for Praying for Japan
Global Concert of Prayer – Advance Notice.
The Global Concert of Prayer for Revival is held for the 3rd consecutive year and will be broadcast on Trinity Broadcast TV during August 22-24.
More information is coming about this great event!
