ULNE World Missionary Foundation

  Dear friends,

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 March has been characterized by a Spring Break for students, but an abundance of activity for me and my team. Some students jetted away on a trip to Europe hosted by our club, while others headed home to participate in driving school, and others still went to travel the world on their own. Melanie, Wimberleigh and I set about strengthening relationships with those who remained and focused on getting as much language learning done before the upcoming season of recruitment.

 

In this scramble of activity I was presented an opportunity that brought me both tremendous joy and tremendous fear. An old friend who now lives four hours away agreed to meet halfway between us for a day of catching up. The joy and fear came when I felt the Spirit tugging, asking me to engage directly about the Bible. 

 

Joy filled me when I realized that this was an opportunity for my friend to explore and get closer to God.

 

Fear filled me when ideas began circling in my head, ideas that our friendship could end because I had either pressed too hard against his beliefs, or that my friend would close off to the Gospel because of the way I presented it.

 

These two feelings dueled for weeks until finally the day came and I went to meet my friend in Hakone, a town south of Tokyo. At first I felt terse and internally locked up as if I were hiding a lie from my parents. The bus ride to Hakone provided time to unwind as we discussed our friendship over the past four years and the state of Tokyo BEST. At the onsen we discussed his dreams for creating a community in the area he lived in now, modeled on the Tokyo BEST club. He described wanting to quit his job and focus on creating a working space that could both offer a place to educate high schoolers in the community and offer a place where freelance workers could do work and find community.

 

Throughout this experience of sharing life, the torrent of feelings in me began to quiet down, and as we sat down in a tatami room to relax, I finally said, "We've talked a lot about how much you love BEST club, but I've always wondered what do you think about the Bible aspect?"

 

The question seemed to break open a dam and his thoughts began to pour out. He first began to address that he appreciated the Bible as a way to learn, but ultimately disagreed with it as a way to receive purpose. He expressed how BEST had been able to use the Bible to help him learn more about different cultures, teach him how to think deeply, and learn how to think about the future. When I asked him to expand on his comment about purpose, it became a little unclear as to why he did not enjoy the idea of the Bible giving purpose. We diverged into how the Setters and iEdgers have shown him such a strong culture of kindness, and I responded by describing that this culture exists because the Bible has given us that purpose. It seemed to resonate well and provided him the transition to give reasons as to why he, and the Japanese people, do not believe in God.

 

  Barriers to the Japanese knowing the Gospel:

• Culture

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  The barrier with regards to culture has to do with Christianity being seen as a Western tradition. Although the ban on Christianity has been lifted since 1873, the country remains only 1% Christian -- a very stark contrast to the exponential growth of believers that was experienced between the late 16th century into the early 17th century, when it was banned. It seems the Tokugawa Shogunate’s fear when it banned Christianity became ingrained into the culture. My friend did not have many clear reasons as to why the culture was resistant to God, but could only point to the West's and Christianity's history in Japan. 

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• Resistance to the Unknown

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  For his second my point, my friend used this kanji to describe a resistance to the unknown: 抵抗 (Teikou). He described that the feeling was not a negative or a positive feeling, but a tendency to not explore what is not known or does not need to be explored. He likened it to a massage place next to us, stating that he has not experienced that place and therefore has no interest in exploring it or finding out more. He said that the God that I have experienced, he has not and so he does not actively try to know God.

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• Resistance to Religion

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His last point was rooted in the terrorist attack that happened in Japan twenty four years ago. The attack was a sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system perpetrated by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult. The attack changed Japan's view on organized religions and placed them in the same category as the perpetrators. My friend even stated that now after BEST club he knows that Christians are not like the Aum Shinrikyo cult, but even still has apprehensions about Christianity because of the attack.

     

We ran out of time before I could respond in kind to a majority of his feelings and understandings. I felt heavy as I asked, "Can we revisit these sometime when we have more time?" The feeling quickly passed as he responded, "Of course we can, because we are friends."

 I am ecstatic to now know about the resistance here (抵抗 Teikou) and begin learning how to engage with it well. Furthermore I am thankful to know and see the resistance in me (抵抗 Teikou) with regards to spreading the Gospel in this culture, and am happy to have learned how to take those first steps in overcoming it. I am joyful to make way for the Lord in my heart and the hearts of those around me. 

"The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still."- Exodus 14:14 (NIV).
 

Sincerely Yours,
Dean Madera