JEMS (The Japan Evangelical Missonary Society)

The Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society (JEMS) is an organization committed to sharing Jesus with the Japanese in Japan. We also seek to reach Japanese people in other countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and the United States. Another commitment we have is to help Christ followers in the United States to deepen in their relationship with God. We seek to do so by reaching out to college campuses through Asian American Christian Fellowship (AACF) “retreat-type” experiences like Mount Hermon, and concerts/sporting events geared toward evangelism.

Based upon these two commitments, JEMS has a simple vision statement: Jesus to every Japanese, Jesus every day. Our international ministries, where we seek to share Jesus to the Japanese wherever they might be, are described in the first part of the vision statement. Our domestic ministries are captured in the second part of our vision statement where we provide various ministry opportunities so that Jesus might become an everyday part of a person’s life.

We began back in 1950, when a group of Nisei (second generation Japanese-Americans) pastors and lay leaders gathered at a conference center called Mount Hermon. After an extended time of prayer, God called the group to create JEMS. Since our incorporation in 1951, we have had many ties to Japan through anointed pastors such as Rev. Paul Ariga, Rev. Akira Hatori, Rev. Koji Honda, Rev. Yoshihiro Kishi, Rev. Nobumichi Murakami and others. JEMS continues to send support to many of these pastors due to their influence on the Japanese living in the US. We started sending missionaries to Japan and South America from the 1970’s. Currently we have 11 missionary family units as far south as Amakusa and as far north as Morioka.

Historically, we have always partnered with a Japanese church by providing an English teacher as a means of outreach. However, recently, many of the younger missionaries joining JEMS have a heart for church planting. JEMS also sends summer mission teams to Japan. Some are specialized like our hula or Black Gospel teams. Others include volunteers who help in Tohoku. Through our summer mission program, we seek to introduce churches in the US to ministries in Japan with the hope that a long-term relationship might blossom.

As far as what the future holds for JEMS, we want to send as many missionaries to Japan as possible. In the near future, our desire is to gather all the JEMS missionaries to meet and discuss what God is doing in and through their ministries. Then we will see what God is putting together in terms of a “plan” for Japan as it relates to JEMS. We are grateful for the various working partnerships we have with JEMA, CRASH, JCFN, Genesis College and various other Japanese churches. To find out more about us, please visit www.jems.org.