From the monocultural garden to the multicultural city

The opening pages of the Bible depict a monocultural earthly garden (Gen. 2:4–14) and the closing pages a multicultural heavenly city (Rev. 21:9–22:5). This means that God’s people through the ages, both in Old Testament and New Testament times, are journeying toward a multicultural metropolis. We might as well get used to an eternal urban motif, albeit one perfected by God himself.

When we think of cities, we probably imagine crowds of people perhaps much like the ones we jostle through at Shinjuku Station, and that might not thrill us. But the future heavenly city will be very different than our earthly cities. For one thing, its architect is Jesus Christ, who is preparing it for his people (John 14:2–3). For another, the city is his beautiful, pure bride—the church (Rev. 21:9). Furthermore, one of its key features is the river that flows through its center. On both banks of this river is planted the tree of life (Rev. 22:1–2) that miraculously produces twelve different “crops” throughout the year. So this divine city transcends our metropolitan image because it also seems very much like a wonderful garden or park based on our Lord’s master plan. It will be qualitatively different than any city we have experienced.

Multicultural mission

This city is where Jesus Christ dwells with those whose names are written in his—the Lamb’s—book of life (Rev. 21:27). It is inhabited by the redeemed people of God. They are countless in number and reflect the international variety of all peoples (Rev. 5:9; 7:9; 21:3–4, 24–25). They are a multicultural heavenly community, the fulfillment of the earthly mission of God.

The portion of that mission that unfolds between the first and second comings of Jesus Christ includes the proclamation of his gospel. The book of Acts shows that such proclamation results in the founding of new churches that can be understood as interim microcosms of the heavenly city. In their proclamation of the gospel to the world and in their love for the people of the world, these churches become agents of God’s mission. As God’s missional community, they showcase his new redeemed re-creation, pointing toward the future heavenly city wherein lies their ultimate eternal home and true citizenship. Churches reflect the nature of that heavenly city when they intentionally welcome the foreigner, because they are celebrating the heavenly city’s international character.

Missional church planting in places where there are expatriates should value the multiculturality embedded within the logic of the gospel. In heaven we will worship and serve in a diverse environment, so we might as well learn how to do so now. In our church planting, we should celebrate the fact that God has raised up a people for himself from among the nations and is now scattering them as his witnesses at an unprecedented pace among the nations.

From garden to city

Actually, God has been sending out his people since the beginning. In Old Testament times, he sent Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Ruth, and Daniel, etc. But that sending or scattering comes into clear focus in the New Testament. For example, in Acts 1:8, Jesus prophesies, “You will be my witnesses.” Consequently, we see Jesus through his Spirit sending his people to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the Roman Empire. Extrabiblical sources show that apparently all the apostles except one served and died (most by martyrdom) in such places as Italy, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Iran, and India. So God sends his people, even involuntarily, as in Acts 8:1.

It is through this scattering that God is advancing “his story” from the monocultural garden of Genesis to the multicultural garden-like city of Revelation. The breathtaking scope of God’s mission from the time of the ancient garden to the eschatological city should shrink our petty differences such as race, nation, language, church affiliation, and mission organization. It compels us to think together, worship together, do mission together, and educate together across these differences that are ultimately not so significant.

TMC’s mission

Tokyo Multicultural Church (TMC) is an attempt to celebrate the cultural diversity that is so valued within the gospel of Jesus Christ and the mission of God. My wife and I launched TMC in our Sumida Ward apartment complex in April 2013. The church now rents the first floor of a business building between Kinshichō and Oshiage Stations. TMC hopes to demonstrate the value of people from diverse cultures and languages worshiping and serving the Lord together alongside Japanese believers. In the midst of a country known for its cultural conformity, TMC is trying to become a Christ-centered, Bible-based, disciple-making church that celebrates the God-given cultural diversity of the world’s largest megacity. In addition to Japanese people, we are trying to reach expatriates in Tokyo. We believe that God has intentionally scattered some of his people among the foreigners who have come to Tokyo from other cultures, nations, and languages. They may think they have come for work, study, marriage, or even recreation. But we believe Jesus is scattering them to Tokyo so they can learn to be his witnesses.

TMC Sunday worship service attendance fluctuates between 25–50, with people from about a dozen countries. I have tried to establish a church planting team that is as culturally diverse as TMC attenders and members. So our mostly part-time and/or bi-vocational church-planting missionaries/pastors come from five countries (Macau, China, Zambia, the US, and Canada); they include people from five different mission agencies and those with no mission agency affiliation. If required, they receive a stipend. Their ministry profiles focus on English, Japanese, or Chinese ministries, often serving in more than one language.

We prefer English for our leadership language because it tends to be a less hierarchical language than Japanese. In this way, English tends to be more welcoming to foreigners than Japanese. Foreigners in Japan with Asian faces probably feel this difference more than Caucasians. Nevertheless, in our leadership team discussions, we sometimes use Japanese or Chinese alongside English.

TMC currently has ministries in three languages: English, Japanese, and Chinese (mostly Mandarin). We hold joint English/Japanese or Chinese/English worship services through interpretation on the first and third Sundays of the month. On the second Sundays we hold an English worship service. On the fourth Sundays, we have three separate language-specific worship services: Japanese at 9:30 a.m., English at 11 a.m. and Chinese at 2 p.m. The Chinese fellowship meets each Sunday afternoon when there is nothing else scheduled. An English group meets twice a month and a Japanese one once a month. We hope to launch ministries in other languages too.

We had the privilege of launching TMC with a small core of people from the English Department of Musashino Chapel Center (aka MCC, officially the Tokyo Musashino Evangelical Free Church [EFC]), where we were serving as the interim pastoral couple. Although there were naysayers among Japanese MCC leaders at the time, the church has since become TMC’s strongest partner church. We have also recently been encouraged by pastors of other EFC Japan churches, with one giving us a recommendation for a Japanese pastoral candidate. In addition, TMC is now in the early stages of applying to become a member church of EFC Japan. Perhaps multicultural churches in Japan are finding a niche.

Challenges

It is possible that TMC as a multicultural church-planting attempt will fail in monocultural Japan. If so, it will not be the first time the gospel in Japan has been buried as in quicksand. Two major challenges from the beginning have been leadership and finances. TMC’s budget is currently JPY 520,000 per month, with JPY 320,000 of that for the facility. Our church planting fund in Canada subsidizes monthly budget shortfall when required, though in the last two years, we have only accessed that subsidy a few times. However, both English and Japanese pastors might come onboard soon, and we might expand our rental space, resulting in a budget increase possibly to JPY 670,000. Furthermore, we’d like to give away some money and we’d like to launch TMC #2 somewhere else in Tokyo. So challenges and dreams go hand in hand at TMC.

As we do church together at TMC, we have tried to emphasize a leadership style characterized by humility, gentleness, patience, and love, believing that putting effort into developing those attitudes invites spiritual unity within diversity (Eph. 4:2–3). We can testify that the Lord has graciously met our needs. But whether or not TMC is “successful,” we want to somehow faithfully point toward that future multicultural heavenly city. Perhaps we are practicing for Christ’s return and for heaven, where people of all nations, cultures, and languages will confess that he is Lord.

Drawing “The Holy City” from Clarence Larkin’s 1919 book The Book of Revelation: a study of the last prophetic book of Holy Scripture (public domain)
TMC photo submitted by author