Reaching children is a lifestyle
If faith is a natural part of daily life, it will reach kids
The youngest Japanese member of our church is 49 years old.
It is an evangelical church situated in Kitami, a city in eastern Hokkaido. Although on the church member list one can find some younger people, they are the grown children of current members and now live far away.
Thus our church community is missing four generations: kids, teens, and people in their twenties and thirties. While Kitami is the biggest city in the Okhotsk region, it has lost over 10% of its population in the past decade. The small engineering university and available jobs here simply cannot compete with the opportunities of the big cities. However, that is not the real problem.
Even when the now grown children were younger, they rarely took part in church life. From middle school on, kids in Japan are extremely busy with school and social activities. In addition, church activities are often not oriented towards children. My husband and I observed the weekly program for children in several churches and were surprised to see they were copies of the adult service, including a sermon and even a money offering. The sermon was hard to follow with lots of unexplained “Christianese” words. No pictures, no engaging material. Last year, we witnessed a Christmas celebration for kids at a church in a neighboring city. The Christmas story was the low point of the event; the kids’ attention was lost within one minute. Those same kids had just intently followed a Japanese folklore story from a gorgeous picture book presented before, accompanied by all the atmosphere-creating Japanese onomatopoeia.
The same people who can tell a story in an exciting way often seem to forget all the rules of engaging children when it comes to the Bible. For me, it is a sign that the reality of the Bible message has not fully reached their hearts yet. It has not penetrated their daily reality so they can share it in a natural way.
From what I’ve observed, the Bible and God belong to the “church bubble” but barely reach the daily life of many Japanese Christians. This becomes painfully evident in how both are handled within the family. In our ministry, we engage with university students and have attended two KGK (Kirisutosha Gakusei Kai, i.e., Fellowship of Christian Students) student retreats so far. Students who come from Christian homes tell a very similar story; they attended church until the beginning of primary school, then got busy and barely went to church for six to ten years. However, what truly shocked me was that they also had never read the Bible for themselves.
My dad, formerly an atheist, became a believer when he was forty. When he turned to God, he understood that God is life, knowing God is life, and the Bible teaches true wisdom. He acted on this conviction by studying the Bible, excitedly sharing with his children what he had learned, getting us age-appropriate study materials, and helping us grow in our walk with God. When there were difficult decisions to be made or life’s questions to be tackled, he would pray and consult the Bible and, by his example, taught us to do the same. It was important to him, so it was important to teach this to his children.
Hearing that many students from Christian homes had opened the Bible for the first time at a KGK event made me think: “How do their parents view God and the Bible?” I am sure that loving Christian Japanese parents strive to teach their children how to grow up well and become responsible adults. They do not leave that to the education system or teachers outside the family. In the same way, a relationship with God and the Bible should be taught first and foremost at home. It simply needs to be the foundation of daily family life. It is not about theoretical teaching or knowledge about God. It is knowing God personally and living with him.
It all boils down to this question: How can a relationship with God and his Word become a reality for the Japanese? How can Japanese children be reached in a way that they understand that knowing God is life itself? It is only possible through the Holy Spirit and people who live with God and share their life with the Japanese as Jesus did with his disciples. It is vital that missionaries or pastors not only teach about God, but help the Japanese to personally connect with God and walk with him, trusting him in all the situations of their lives. Through their personal, daily walk with God, such Japanese believers will be real-life examples who naturally pass their faith on to their children and fellow countrymen as exactly that—life!