by Linda Epeards
This is part of a series on how Team Expansion is partnering with an ambitious church to impact the 30 largest cities in the world with the Gospel.
A 3rd Grade Teacher in Indiana
What was it I learned when I was teaching a unit on Japan to my third graders in Indiana many years ago?
A few months ago, I sat in my little cubicle in Team Expansion headquarters researching Tokyo and Osaka Japan. I had been tasked with helping a church in California have an impact on the 30 largest cities in the world.
And I was starting with the Japanese cities.
What was it I learned when I was teaching a unit on Japan to my third graders in Indiana many years ago? In Japan there is great pressure to conform and be like everyone else. Japanese children need to do well in school and they even had to go to school on Saturday.
I remember putting 10 chairs in a row in the front of the classroom. I had 4 students sit on the chair to represent population density in America. Then I had 15 children squish into the chairs to show how much more crowded it is in Japan.
And, of course, we ate with chopsticks, made origami swans, and wrote haiku poetry.
Thanks to the power of the Internet I was able to quickly update my “archived” information about Japan with current facts and statistics.
Japan Today
Tokyo is the richest and safest city in the world, but also has one of the highest suicide rates.
Tokyo is the largest city in the world, with a population of 38,305,000. In addition, approximately 2,400,000 people commute into Tokyo every day.
It is the richest and safest city in the world, but also has one of the highest suicide rates. The high rates are most often attributed to unemployment, stress from work and social pressures that come from the culture of Japan.
Osaka is the eighth largest city in the world and is called the food capital of Japan. It’s known for its excellent and varied cuisine. It is a popular tourist destination where visitors enjoy more than 100 Michelin star rated restaurants.
Phil Kornegay, who served in Japan as a missionary with Team Expansion, told me that, “elaborate Buddhist temples and quiet Shinto shrines sit on every city corner, but most Japanese don’t see themselves as religious and only visit once or twice a year. Family loyalty, cultural pressures, conformity, materialism and busy life-styles are all challenges for followers of Jesus in Japan.”
According to Joshua Project, 0.58 percent of people living in Japan are evangelical Christians. Even North Korea has a greater percentage of evangelicals, at just over 1 percent.
Millions of people are not really interested in religion, are trained from birth to conform to traditional thoughts and beliefs, and will likely live their whole lives never meeting a Jesus follower. What could one American church partnering with one small missions agency do to impact these huge cities?
DMM
I know that the best hope for Tokyo and Osaka is to equip the believers there to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples.
One thing I have learned in my short time at Team Expansion is the power of disciple making movements. I know that the best hope for Tokyo and Osaka is to equip the believers there to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples.
But how could I possible make DMM training happen in cities half way around the world where I did not know anyone?
The answer was simple for God. He moved and brought all the right people together, including hosts in each cities and trainers who spoke Japanese.
The church in California is paying the expenses for DMM training in Tokyo and Osaka where Japanese believers will be trained to make disciples who make disciples.
The church is also paying for the Japanese translation of Zume. It’s an online tool these believers can use to rapidly spread the Gospel throughout their cities. Japanese Zume can also be used to reach Japanese people in cities all over the world.
What a wonderful God we serve! He allows a third grade teacher in a tiny town in Indiana to be a part of training and equipping believers to plant churches and multiply disciples in cities on the other side of the world.
Read the other posts in these series on impacting the 30 largest cities in the world with the Gospel: Overview | China| Brazil
