Unintentionally multicultural
A Bible reading in Korean, greetings in English, and a sermon in Japanese, all in our Japanese church
On a typical Sunday morning, there are around 35 people at the Shion Christ Church worship service in Murayama, Yamagata. Seven of them are not Japanese. Though this is not the vision of the church that was established in 1993, it is a wonderful reality.
Around 35 to 40 years ago, a significant number of women from South Korea moved to Yamagata Prefecture to marry Japanese men, many of whom were farmers. The harsh winters, hot summers, and hard physical labor of farm life were still attractive to the Korean women at the time as it was an economic step up for them. Over time, a few Korean churches were established in the prefecture. But some of the Christian women wanted to invite their Japanese husbands to church, so they chose to attend Japanese churches. This offered them the dual opportunity to grow in their Japanese ability and to introduce their husbands to the Japanese Christian community as most of them married non-Christian men.
Koreans are just a few of our international attendees at Shion Christ Church. A Filipino woman married to a Japanese man often attends our worship service. Currently, my wife, our coworker Andrew, and I attend the church as cooperating missionaries. We are all from the US. Six months out of the year, we are joined by our D House interns, who come from countries such as the US, Canada, and Hong Kong.
Personal connections
The church facilitates this multicultural makeup by inviting participation. Once a month, when I preach (in Japanese), the Scripture is read in English by another missionary or intern. Scripture is also read once a month from the Hangul (Korean) Bible. The pastor then always gives everyone time to read the passage in their own language.
Once a month, the church has an after-worship fellowship time with sandwiches or onigiri. When present, the interns share their testimonies. The Japanese members of the church in particular are encouraged to meet and hear from those whom God has called to Japan. When there are no interns, the people gather in small groups for free conversation, which often includes sharing about cultural differences and experiences.
Recently, a couple and an older woman originally from Okinawa have been attending. The couple are Christians; the older woman is not yet. They immediately connected because of their common heritage. We hear them talk about food, family, celebrations, dance, and language, among other things.
Like many churches, Shion Christ Church is made up people from local areas, other regions, and other nations. While statistically less than 4% of Japan’s residents are non-Japanese,1 they are a key group, as possibly a high percentage are thought to be Christians. That is certainly the case at our church. All of the foreigners who attend regularly were Christians before coming to Japan.
One of the Korean women runs a Korean restaurant with her husband. They have a Christian message on their signage, and she often invites her customers to church. One time we took a Japanese friend to the restaurant, and as she served us, she told him all about the church where we all met and invited him to come.
A church of all nations
While Korean women came into Yamagata decades ago, currently we are meeting more people from Vietnam and Myanmar. Our church continues to grow in its ability to welcome Japanese guests and guests from other nations. Last Christmas, a church member met two young women from Myanmar at a local nursing home, and she invited them to our Christmas service. We had interns with us at the time, so we all gathered about these guests to hear them share their experiences in Japan, what brought them, and what might be their future here. We all offered to help these young women who had been in Japan for only a few months.
A Japanese couple in our church served in Myanmar for many years as missionaries. Whenever we introduce them to workers from Myanmar whom we’ve met in our town, we see them share an instant affinity.
When I travel to Sendai or to Tokyo especially, I am almost overwhelmed by the number of foreigners I see. However, I have learned that there is also a significant number of foreign residents in rural areas. Inviting these residents into our churches has been a wonderful way to show the international makeup of the Kingdom of God and to practice loving our neighbor who is different from us. Some of these foreign residents are believers in Jesus Christ, making them wonderful partners in evangelism and discipleship as we mutually encourage one another. Shion Christ Church doesn’t have a strategy to be multicultural, but simply being a welcoming, loving family of Christ followers has made us a wonderful blend of believers from several tribes and nations.
1. “Number of foreign residents as of the end of 2024,” Immigration Services Agency, https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/publications/press/13_00052.html (March 14, 2025).