God is calling us to minister to Japan’s elderly

Mrs. Fujiwara wanted to sing. Not everyone on her floor in the three-floor nursing home wanted to sing, but, to the surprise of the Christian chaplain, Sanada Osamu, the singing group grew. As time went on, some in the group moved up to the third floor into the dementia section, and some were moved downstairs where residents spent all day in bed and needed greater support. A new group formed on the second floor, and Sanada realised that God was spreading the group. He said, “They might not have a confession of faith, but nonetheless they praise God and touch others with their singing.”

This story is from Shalom Higashikurume, a Christian nursing home run by the Seventh-day Adventists in our local area. Our pastor, Morimoto Taizo, introduced me to the chaplain and Gaja Satoru, the chairman and general manager of the nursing home.

Ministry in a local church

Before I talked to the two men at the nursing home, I interviewed our pastor and his wife, Kimiko, who works in an elderly day care centre. They have ministered at Kurume Christ Church (KCC) since 2003. The church has around 160 members, and the average age of attendees is late 40s. But Pastor Morimoto (67) estimates around 30% of the church is older than he is.

Though the church has focused on younger people, they have also ministered to older people. For example, for many years, they’ve run Grace Café—a Monday-morning coffee, cake, and chat time at the church. Younger retirees have been active by organising events such as blossom viewings, driving tours, and outings to do peach picking. Trips outside the church have been great opportunities to invite people from outside the church to join. Organising events such as these has been difficult during the pandemic, but the Morimotos are encouraged that things are starting to open up again now.

In the past, the church has also taken groups or individuals to care homes to do performances and give testimonies. At Christmas especially, these homes have been open to people performing, singing Christmas carols, and sharing the Christmas story with a short DVD presentation.

Practical ways that Japan’s aging society impacts the local church

These days, five or six of the elderly members of KCC need help getting to church. One seeker who is 98 comes to worship services, but he’s hard to communicate with due to his hearing loss. He comes because he needs the community.

During the pandemic, the church didn’t meet in person for many months. These days, the church continues to record one of its three morning services and broadcasts that on a private YouTube channel. Pastor Morimoto said that people in their 60s and 70s are able to access this recording, but those older than that struggle to operate a smartphone, so they usually don’t see the online version of the service.

Pastor Morimoto said it’s very difficult when a church member has to move into a nursing home; then they can no longer come to church. Pastors can visit them, or used to be able to before the pandemic. In the last three years, his contact with them has been almost solely via letters.

When talking about how the local church can make an impact in Japan’s aging society, Morimoto gave an example of a church in Iwaki, Fukushima (Fukushima First Baptist church), that is caring for elderly in their congregation in very practical ways: providing a care facility as well as an apartment for elderly to live in.

A Christian nursing home

Shalom Higashikurume has 90 residents and around 300 people on the waiting list. The vision of Seventh-day Adventists is to reach people from babies to seniors. Their philosophy: showing God’s love by respecting life, loving life, and serving life.

Pastor Sanada runs worship services for some of the more able residents, but most of his time is spent one-on-one with people. He listens to their stories; talks with them about things they’re interested in such as faith, singing, reading the Bible; and, when needed, offers practical assistance. He said that there are many lonely people. They don’t often express their loneliness when he first meets them but only later, after he’s built a relationship with them.

He talked quite a bit about singing. By singing, the residents are praising God, even if we don’t know what their true heart believes. Christmas songs are popular as they are the most common Christian songs heard in Japanese society.

The nursing home offered Christian funerals prior to the pandemic, and during those events, staff had the opportunity to give testimony to their faith. Even during pandemic times, when someone died, there has sometimes been opportunity to talk to family members about faith.

Why should we prioritise ministering to older people?

I asked if ministry to older people was strategic. Because the life expectancy of Japanese people is so long, Pastor Morimoto and his wife think that it is important to reach out to people in their 60s and 70s because people in their early retirement years still have plenty of energy. They are still responsive, probably have many years yet to live, and are able to reach out to their peers. There are lots of opportunities to minister to this age group because they have lots of free time and low-cost activities are very popular.

Pastors can tend to think about ministry to elderly people as conducting funerals and visiting the sick. But Pastor Morimoto said, “To get to that point, you need to provide certain care, so people can live well, spiritually and physically.”

Pastor Sanada said, “People in their 80s and 90s remember post-war times when there was a Christian boom.” They respond more easily to the gospel because some heard Bible stories as children.

Why is ministry to older people hard?

Ministry in Japan in general is hard, and that’s not much different when ministering to elderly people. Even Japanese people can find working with elderly people difficult—a lot of time needs to be invested in listening and building relationships.

Poor hearing and pronunciation can make communication difficult. And you rarely see people coming to the Lord. In 30 years of ministry, the nursing home has only seen two or three baptisms. Sanada said that residents of their nursing home “are often reluctant to be baptised because they feel they need permission from their family members.”

Mrs. Morimoto said, “It’s very tough. You need patience and love. With young people, or children, it’s very easy.” She noted that ministry to the elderly is similar to working with little kids, except it’s sad. The elderly are declining, not gaining or growing. How do you help them find joy and satisfaction?

What would you like to say to missionaries?

I asked this question of all four people. Pastor Morimoto said, “We have to think about it seriously. We have to serve senior people more. It’s a serious ministry that God is calling us to do. Jesus commands us to take care of the needy. These minorities are becoming majorities. This kind of ministry is not attractive; it may seem like a waste of time. It can be disappointing and no fun. But you will see God’s blessing if you do this.” He encourages missionaries to change their strategy and start focussing on people in their 60s and 70s.

Sanada and Gaja told me that foreign caregivers are quite popular at the nursing home. People like to talk to them and are interested because they are foreigners. They listen and ask good questions. This seems to be a potential ministry opportunity for Christian foreigners.

The men at the nursing home also want to encourage missionaries to stay in Japan longer. They told a story about some Korean missionaries who came to serve in Japan, but many of them stayed only five years. Their conclusion is that five years isn’t long enough to make an impact in Japan; 20 or 30 years is more effective.

They note that people might not profess Christ publicly. Gaja said, “Missionaries and pastors like to see tangible evidence, results, fruit of our ministry. But in elderly care, it doesn’t necessarily look like people being baptised, becoming members of a church, or building churches.” He encourages us to “keep on planting the gospel seed. We never know how the seed will grow.” We might never know who has believed on this side of death.

Talking about their own ministry, he said they will never get tired of doing elderly care because they don’t expect those tangible results; their goal is to come alongside lonely people. Sometimes they see in the end that a family is glad that they sent their mother or father to the home because they had peaceful terminal care.

Sanada’s own father was baptized only three years ago at age 76. The decision came as he considered where to have his ashes interred—in the church gravesite or the traditional family gravesite at a Buddhist temple. His decision took into consideration that his older son (Sanada) would look after his gravesite and his family would visit his gravesite after he was buried. Sanada’s father wanted to prepare matters for after his death while he was still able to make decisions.

Sanada points to Jesus feeding the 5,000. Jesus did not tell his disciples to gather that many people. He served people one by one and ended up with a great multitude. Sanada thinks that missionaries should take time to meet individual needs, and then at the end, they might be surprised at how many people gather.

Photo submitted by author
People in photo: (back) Pastor and Mrs. Morimoto, (front L-R) Mr. Gaja and Chaplain Sanada