pray for japan

::: the other day, when claire and i saw this impressive man in the subway, God reminded us vividly that we are working in a nation that has vibrant religious forms and venerated spiritual traditions...

...in our last prayer guide post (see "at a glance," dated dec 22, 2005), we presented a basic snapshot of the current religious makeup of japan...

• Shintoism - 109 million
• Buddhism - 99 million
• Christianity - 1.5 million
• Other - 10.5 million

[source: operation japan prayer guide third edition 2005 (d. wright, ed.)]

...we also shared that there's more to japan's religious composition than the mere numbers above...there is the religious-cultural matrix that is part of the typical japanese life cycle...the following is a recognized pattern by christian thinkers in japan:

• a baby's birth is typically celebrated in a shinto shrine
• a wedding is routinely conducted in a christian or shinto ceremony
• a funeral is most likely charged to buddhist priests
• and blanketing this mixture is the prevailing mindset of ancestor worship...
  

::: the foregoing sketch underscores the importance of praying for revival and unity in the church, the subjects of our last post...in addition, we ask you to join us in praying for leadership training and discipleship within the church...

::: PRAYER TOPICS :::

Leadership Training. Pastors need a vision for training dedicated disciples, and the skill to do it. Another concern is that even though the church has been growing at a very slow rate, because of low seminary enrollment and retirements there will be a major shortage of pastors by the year 2010 [we hear unofficially that currently there are more pastors over the age of 70 than there are pastors under the age of 30]. In your prayers to God for Japan, ask the Lord to provide such people as described in 2 Timothy 2:2 for the church in Japan. An encouraging trend is that Bible schools targeting laypeople are experiencing a good enrollment.

Discipleship. Application of biblical truth on a daily basis is a great challenge for believers who are continually being pressured to conform to this homogeneous culture. Many baptized Japanese fall away within the first five years. Ask the Lord to impart a grace to His people that will enable them to live out Romans 12:2-20.

[source: operation japan prayer guide third edition 2005 (d. wright, ed.)]