Hello,

My name is Matt Higby and I'm very interested in long-term, church planting ministry in Japan.

I meet all the "requirements" posted on the go2japan website except for a Bachelor's degree, which I'm in the process of getting. I'll have a degree in a few years, but I thought it would be a good idea to get into contact with a sending organization ahead of time so that I would be able to go to the mission field once I graduate.

Is it too early to apply for one of these teams? I know that I would have to finish my schooling first and learn Japanese (which I've just recently started).
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

In Christ,

Matt Higby

Hello Matt,

Thanks for taking the time to ask a question here in the forum. I would say that it's not too early to start the application process, but more than applying long term, college is a great time to get some short term experience. Have you been to Japan before? What has the journey been like as you have sensed God calling you to long term ministry here in Japan?

Robert

Hey,

I've never been to Japan before but I went on a 3-month internship to Sweden to assist in church planting with Greater Europe Mission.

After I went to Sweden, I felt that God opened my eyes to the rest of the world and knew that I wanted to be a long-term missionary. I started learning about each country through the book Operation World. Feeling that the Lord was pointing me somewhere other than Sweden, I started thinking about certain parts of the world that have great missionary needs. After prayer and research I narrowed it down to Northern India, the Middle East, Indonesia, and Japan.

The process of deciding where to go was long and difficult. I learned that India and Indonesia have large church planting movements happening among nationals and much of the Chinese and Korean church is focused on the Middle East (like the Back to Jerusalem movement). Japan seemed (at least to my understanding) stagnant in comparison. Why was the Gospel doing so much in China and Korea but not Japan?

The next development was that I considered teaching English as mission. I learned that Japan has a wide-open door for this and with religious freedom, the possibilities are endless. After consulting my pastor, he confirmed that Japan would be a good option and since then I've been solely focused on Japan.

I'd love to hear what the next steps would be in getting to know this organization. Thanks for the response!

Matt

Thanks for sharing Matt,

If you are interested in moving forward the next step is to fill out the initial inquiry form which you can find at the link below.

go2japan.org/a2/index.php?option=com_wra...rapper&Itemid=38

Let me know if you need any help,

Robert