This was the most encouraging Japan National Pastors’ Conference I remember in my 14 years with Asian Access.

The theme as set by Pastor Yoshiya Hari, Asian Access/Japan National Director, was “From 2020 to 2030” and Pastor Shinji Takita’s words captured it best:

The 2020 Vision:

The Christian subculture challenge

A few years ago when I met with a Japanese Christian leader to catch up on each other’s lives, we discussed the challenges of the spread of the gospel in this nation and dreamed a bit about how to build upon the many partnerships that have been developing between Christian groups here in Japan. During our conversation, he surprised me with an unexpected comment:

For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants.
— Isaiah 44:3

Vision Festa Church Multiplication Conference

The Church in Japan faces a crisis. And Japan’s pastors and church leaders are stepping up to face it head-on. 

One of the principles in Asian Access is that healthy churches grow. It’s why we spend so much time investing in key leaders’ personal walk with God and their growth in him. Because, when we are deeply embedded with Christ, we are naturally very fruitful. Many of those leaders were on display in Tohoku (Northeast Japan) for a few days at Vision Festa, a gathering of pastors, missionaries and NGO leaders coming together to share God’s vision for Japan. I was deeply touched by them and many pictured in these photos are key partners of Asian Access/Japan. They shared about Strawberry Patch Evangelism. That even small little strawberry plants are quick to reproduce because they shoot stems into the soil nearby and next thing you know you have an entire patch. And, they shared about Pomegranate church planting where a single fruit has hundreds of seeds to spread around and start new fellowships...

“For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” — Matthew 17:20

Asian Access is passing some significant milestones in 2017. We are celebrating 50 years of ministry this year and are major celebratory event is happening at the end of April: Jubilee in Jakarta! Also this month, on April 1, Asian Access/Japan passes another significant milestone: passing the torch from one national director to another. Takeshi Takazawa, whom many of you have been praying for has been planning for this moment for... 

A Japanese Pastor's View

Rev. Jiro Chida, leader of the Church Multiplication project Asian Access initiated in Yamagata, Japan was in a network with four other Japanese pastors. Each pastor intended to multiply his own congregation. Midway through the three-year project, he pronounced to his fellow colleagues:

"Mitsu no kyokai ga areba, kantan ni dekiru!

In English...

by Rev. Hiroshi Kawasaki
Former Director of JCGI Network

The Lord desires that Japan be evangelized. We are called to witness and to plant as many churches as possible. A healthy church is one that establishes itself while starting other churches.

Church planting is not an easy task...

Many churches in Japan have been involved in church planting, but the results have not always been encouraging. There is, of course, no one method for planting churches, but we must strive to develop the most effective strategy possible.

Let me introduce a strategy that we have been using in cooperation with Asian Access' Japan Church Growth Institute, testing it in Yamagata Prefecture since 1996. It is called "Church Planting by Networking."