A challenge to the older generation

The day I arrived in Japan, the little church in Yokohama—made up of a few elderly members, two young couples with children, some students, and single members—gave a nice welcome supper. Because I had no knowledge of the Japanese language we had some puzzling and laughter-filled communication. I was warmly received, and everyone prayed for me to learn Japanese quickly.

Early steps

My first Sunday school lesson was a disaster. I drew some pictures to explain the story and rehearsed it many times. But standing before the group of children with adults in the back made me freeze. No words came out of my mouth! The pastor realized what was happening and told the story much better than I could have done. Many people in other churches also prayed for me daily.

After about a year, I gave my first sermon in Japanese. Soon everyone was asleep, the Bible school student being the first. Only the oldest member listened intently and after the meeting said, “I am so happy I understood a little of what you said. I will continue to pray for you.” Afterwards I realized it was her polite way of saying she didn’t understand most of it! Much later, she heard another sermon of mine and told me, “Today I understood everything. Now I don’t need to pray anymore.” A few months later she moved to her eternal home, and I kept on speaking Japanese, albeit not perfectly!

Regret that we didn’t do more

After a few years, I moved to Toyama Prefecture and lived in Yokata, a place along Toyama Bay. There was no church, so I held meetings, language classes, and cooking classes with Bible studies for children and adults. The first Christmas, two-thirds of the primary school children attended. Over time it dwindled down to around 20. All these students are now mothers and fathers, and sadly most are not connected to churches in spite of the summer camps they attended with local churches when they were younger.

Years later I moved to Tateyama Village at the foot of Mount Tateyama. Again, there was no church in the village, so I began a small Sunday afternoon service. We had whole families attending, some who became Christians. I felt it was more than I could handle as a single and introduced those families to nearby churches. It was a very wonderful time as I was able to connect quite a few in this way.

In all the churches I’ve been involved with, the format has been the same. Sunday school was before the worship service, and then the children were mostly left to play or study by themselves. It felt to me a loss for the children not to be involved at the same time. From junior high school they continued to be left by themselves and eventually drifted away into many school activities. I regret that we did not do more to include children from a very young age.

Seventeen years ago, I was led to be the pastor of Uozu Church in Toyama Prefecture. There were a few little children among the very elderly members. The congregation was small, and the Sunday school had closed years before. Sadly, we were not able to reestablish the Sunday school. Now all those children are adults and live in other areas of Japan. While our church grew slightly in numbers, we lacked a young people’s outreach.

Considering what the Bible teaches about instructing from a very young age, I feel we should have done more. Also, I feel that we did not pay enough attention to the changes happening in our society, especially the ending of pregnancies out of convenience (exception: medical reasons), nor did we fully understand the importance of supporting whole families in and outside the church.

I believe we as a church need to repent (2 Chron. 7:14).

Dear God, loving Father of all who come to you through Jesus Christ, the only way of salvation. I repent that so often I did not see and love the young people as you do. I ask for your forgiveness, cleansing by the blood of Jesus and a fresh anointing by your Holy Spirit to love and pray for them. I believe you have a plan for our young people today. Show us the way and enlarge our hearts to receive them in our midst. Amen.

I believe and trust our Lord Jesus Christ will give us a new generation of very young believers mingled in with believers of all ages, living by the precepts of the Word under the leading of the Holy Spirit.