No longer on the fringes

By 2065, in less than 40 years, the proportion of Japan’s 65+ population is projected to reach 40%.¹ When the church meets needs unique to the graying communities, hearts of all ages can open. This group also comprises the bulk of the church’s potential labor force. Japan has entered an unprecedented era where ministry to and by older adults is essential in evangelizing Japan. This can be optimized by reaching out to and mobilizing the elderly in ways that factor in needs, stamina, and limitations at each phase of aging. Much is possible when we recognize the strategic opportunities an aging society presents.

Why are older Japanese a key group for the church?

Older still-working adults and young retirees are more available for relationship and activities. This group is the most strategic to reach in order to plant and sustain a rural church. Most youth move to cities, then decades later, a subset return as older adults (often the eldest son, and seldom Christians). One rural church I know of has led 150 mainly children and teens to Christ over its 60 year history, yet only 15 people now attend that local church. It’s not that the rest no longer follow Jesus; rather, they faithfully attend churches in the urban areas they have been living in since early adulthood. This pattern has become typical in rural areas. Because of this, no matter how many youth are saved before they move away, a rural church cannot sustain its presence into the next generation if it is only reaching out to young people. Rather, to maintain local gospel access for many generations via a local church or believers in rural towns, those moving back to rural areas (known as U-turners,² often aged 50 to 70) especially need to be won to Christ. They are a rural church’s backbone and are the “new young.”

The oldest subset (75+) needs to be reached as well. They are closer to eternity, and while they are unsaved may be stumbling blocks for their children. They’re more likely than their children’s generation to have attended a Christian event or preschool, or “mission school,” so they would be more open to the gospel than their adult children. But time to water and harvest those seeds is short!

Jesus wants all people to know him, yet without intentionality many elderly won’t, since a high proportion live in rural towns with no church (currently more than 1,600 towns).³ The elderly in urban settings are less visible so are also easily overlooked. Mobilizing older Christians to more active involvement can help avert a kingdom worker shortage and reach more older adults.

How can we reach and mobilize older adults?

Adjusting our ministry to each life stage of older adults is key. Let’s take a look at strategies for outreach and mobilization for full-time working adults, homemakers, caregivers, and young and old retirees.

Full-time workers (aged 50 to 70)

Outreach: Though those in their 50s have limited time for Christians to get to know them outside the workplace, if reached, their potential kingdom impact is large. So, seek to get to know them during slower work seasons, lunch breaks, and join activities they are already involved in such as evening sports, weekend hikes, park golf, community meetings, or weeding days. Working adults over age 60 work less overtime, so may be more open to invitations to outreach events.

Mobilization: As their careers wind down, if proactively encouraged, Christians in their 60s often find new purpose through outreach/ministry. Because of the pressures they’ll face as Christians, many avoid their rural hometowns, yet there is great potential if more older Christians in urban areas are discipled with a missional mindset to instead return to their rural hometowns to live or visit and sensitively reach out. By retiring early, those between 50 to 60 years old could help solve the pastor shortage by being retrained to serve as pastors for up to three decades or to lead a church plant in an unchurched area while young enough to see it to completion. If a group of young retirees with missional intent move to a rural area together, they could form the starting core of a church plant, shortening the process by years.

Women with empty nests (age 50 to 65 with grown kids)

Women whose children are grown may have part-time jobs or be farming, but still often have more free time and schedule flexibility than men who are not yet retired or young moms, so they are a key target group/resource.

Outreach: Typical forms of outreach are effective as long as it’s during hours that do not interfere with cooking responsibilities (e.g., weekdays 9:30—11:30 a.m. and 1:00—4:00 p.m.).

Mobilization: Homemakers, often the first in a family to be saved, can reach extended family. Encouragement can release their latent potential to do more than clean the church and make fellowship meals.

Caregivers (aged 50 to 80) of a shut-in spouse, parent, or in-law

Outreach: Caregiving isolates and is emotionally and physically taxing; it leaves many overwhelmed, under-stimulated, trapped, and without respite or outlet for their own needs. Some feel a loss of purpose or personal identity outside the caregiver role. The church can make an impact by “seeing,” affirming, and being there for them. Outreach must be brought to their home for them to encounter Christians and the gospel, since they cannot leave the home regularly. Visiting them in their home, genkan, or garden is possible. One caregiver commented that the church, by visiting, is starting to fill the gap created as Buddhist priests increasingly withdraw from rural areas. Providing Christian literature (in large print) can also be a tool.

Mobilization: Churches can mobilize believing caregivers by identifying ministry roles that could be done from home, e.g., phone calls, letters, church accounting, and cooking meals at home for use in a church-run cafeteria (shokudō) or disaster relief. Some can open their home for a home or cell group, depending on the condition of the one they take care of.

Younger retirees (age 60 to 78, good health, ambulatory)

This group has more time than any other adult group. They are the “new young” in rural Japan, and are a key target group for evangelism and mobilizing.

Outreach: Christian literature and event flyers are most effective in large print, (it is commonly reported that most literature given in Tohoku after the tsunami went unread due to small print). Events are a means of outreach to older women who are social and easier to gather. It helps to remind older ones on the day of an event, provide chairs, and use a nearby, ground-level venue with easy access (and, in winter, well heated). Venues that elderly women can walk to are best, as they typically don’t drive. Offered rides may be declined, because the person is unsure whether they’ll feel up to coming on the event day or they don’t want anyone to go out of their way on their account. English interest varies in rural areas, but it can scare away more elderly than it draws. Crafts and cooking can be attractive to women in this age group. Music, karaoke, eating, coffee, and age-appropriate exercises appeal to both genders.

Events are best held during the day on weekdays because retirees are in bed early and rarely go out at night; many also spend weekends with families,

In outlying sections of rural towns and villages, neighborhood bonds are strong. For various reasons combining events across neighborhoods seldom works. It could be because there is discomfort about unknown expectations in an “outside group” or there may be rivalries between neighborhoods. Separate events in two adjacent areas may each have good turnouts, yet those same people will not attend a joint event for both neighborhoods.

This age group lacks experience forming new relationships. Those longing for connection may lack the courage to seek and make new social connections. It often takes a trusted external source to help lonely elderly connect with each other via putting on events like monthly salons in a neighborhood. This is a role some churches fulfill already and far more could.

Older men prefer activity-based interaction, for example, clubs for hiking, exercise, park golf. Both genders join walking groups. Missionaries can meet elderly people by joining secular clubs.

Rural towns also often have informal places where older men can drop by to chat in small groups at the business/home of a particularly hospitable man. These are low-key, unscheduled, unadvertised, and simple (e.g., green tea and folding chairs in a store or shed). Finding informal men’s hangouts can take time, but they are great places to connect with older men.

Elderly are often lonely. Many of both genders are open to visitors, as they either live alone and may have little contact with their families or they live with family but lack quality time with them. I heard in a television documentary that retired men who live alone often only interact with someone else a couple of times a month. They may not join a gathering, but outreach possibilities include home visitation, meal delivery, and basic cooking classes.

Mobilization: Young retirees, with more time and in good health, can do almost any outreach or church role. Yet most won’t unless encouraged by the church or pastor. This large pool of human resources in Japan’s church has tremendous potential.

Older retirees (Age 78 to 100+)

Outreach: Many in this age group are in good mental and physical shape, yet functionally are nearly homebound because they experience pain while walking, poor eyesight, or hearing issues. Others are truly shut-ins. Both are lonely and welcome visitors. Some need to be coaxed gently to “come out.” Churches can provide sermon tapes, communion, and a few members to visit Christian shut-ins, or mobilize them as prayer warriors. Teaching them how to view the online service could help.

Many in this group only went to elementary or middle school and use a limited range of kanji in daily life, so take care if asking them to read aloud.

Those in elderly day care have limited mobility and energy, yet many can use transportation and restrooms unaided. The majority are in the last life stage, but their mind is clear enough to reach. Elderly day care centers often allow churches to hold activities, and follow-up is possible in homes or events off-site.

Most in nursing homes aren’t mentally clear. Churches can still show God’s love by treating those near life’s end with dignity (e.g., mini-concerts, caroling). Visitation access is limited, but missional Christians living in a nursing home can reach fellow residents.

Mobilization: As retirees reach their 80s, they are often considered no longer able to contribute. However, as long as they begin to share their church responsibilities, many can continue to contribute even as their stamina declines. Similarly, they can transition to a role as a helper and not as the sole person in case their health declines. For example, we had an 80-year-old lady assisting at a kids event, which allowed attendance to increase several-fold. She loved it, even crawling under a table during hide and seek. Later her health prevented her continuing but the event goes on.

New ministry opportunities

Even as ministry to and by older adults is becoming more important in Japan, the graying of society itself opens new doors. Many rural communities lack younger people for physical tasks. Volunteers from urban settings can help the elderly via the local church by performing physical chores (e.g., snow shoveling, weeding, clutter disposal, basic repairs) to show God’s love—this opens hearts.

Business as mission is another opportunity. The labor shortage in rural Japan caused by Japan’s aging society provides tremendous potential for foreign and home missionaries to go to Japan’s unchurched towns and villages to simultaneously plant a church while working a paid job. New visa platforms (e.g., in fishing and agriculture), growing needs in home health fields, as well as rural towns offering incentives for urban Japanese to relocate all make this option more favorable in rural Japan. This is especially true for tentmakers from developing nations. If missional Christians take up these opportunities in large numbers, the impact on Japan’s unchurched rural towns/villages and rural Japan in general could be tremendous. Some Japanese Christians have started home elder-care businesses. If done on a broad scale, its potential can be realized as a “bivocational” ministry platform that builds relationships while meeting felt needs in unchurched areas.

Helping elderly adapt to technology is a ministry opportunity too. The pandemic accelerated the pace where basic technology literacy is essential. This is a dilemma for those who have smart phones they use only for calls and lack experience with the internet/computers. Christians can help them learn, and build relationships in the process.

As Japan grays, ministry to and by older adults is not a sideline but a core essential. An aging society creates new opportunities to show God’s love in tangible ways. Adjusting the pace can optimize the latent potential of aging church members to serve.

1. “Population Projections for Japan (2016–2065): Summary,” from the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, https://www.ipss.go.jp/pp-zenkoku/e/zenkoku_e2017/pp_zenkoku2017e_gaiyou.html (accessed January 23, 2023).
2. U-turner is a common term in Japanese for people returning to rural areas. https://kimi.wiki/work/u-turn-i-turn
3. Source: Rural Japan Church Planting Network. Current figure = 1,640