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:

Christianity is about the power of the Gospel to transform our lives.

I want to share with you a real-life story of two sworn enemies – Fuchida, a Japanese commander and DeShazer, an American pilot. The setting is in World War II.

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:

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” — Matthew 13:31-32

I was so inspired a few weeks ago visiting my colleague Pastor Hideo Ohashi. He has served faithfully with Asian Access over several decades and his church is a remarkable testament to God’s faithfulness to Japan.

You’ll see him pictured here with his son and grandson: three generations of pastors! What a powerful image of God’s work from one generation to the next.

As Silk and I are saying farewell to our home of the last 4.5 years, we have visited our friends and colleagues in several places. We wish we’d have time to see everyone but the coronavirus has limited our options.

One of the places we were able to visit was the sites of the “Hidden Christians” in Japan.

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...

I’ve been inspired by pastors in Japan when 70 or more gathered in Northern Japan for a movement called Vision Festa. It’s a movement of people with a passion for church planting and I’m eager to share their stories… Those will come later though. For now, why is church planting so important? When so many people are down on the local church these days, why would I believe church planting is so important and why are these leaders coalescing around this fresh vision? Missiologist Peter Wagner once said, “Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven.” Pastor Tim Keller picked up on this theme as well. Check out his post on the same subject, Why Church Planting? Everywhere I have gone, I’ve seen these truths displayed...

“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... 

Reasons to be Hopeful in Japan

I’m so happy to be living in Asia, and most specifically here in Tokyo. Japan is known as the “Land of the Rising Sun” and it is this light that I find myself most hopeful these days.

You see, I’ve been bombarded with messages of inspiration ever since moving here in August! It’s such a...

Japan (MNN) — If you’re going to dream, dream big. That’s what Asian Access is doing with their 2020 Vision campaign: a million new believers, a thousand new churches and missionaries in Japan in five years. Impossible? Not in God’s economy. In fact, President Joe Handley says God is moving, and it’s possible they could EXCEED the goal. A partner...

Asian Access never starts its own churches in Japan. We always work in partnership with a Japanese pastor and an existing local church. Asian Access is absolutely committed to national leadership. From day one, there is a Japanese pastor or lay person in charge of the church planting team. The missionary, who is never the primary pastor, is there to support the Japanese-led church planting effort.

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."

It's About Life

The objective of the Great Commission is to share the life of Christ. But in Japan, 99% of the population is unreached by the Life of Jesus Christ. The best way to do this is by multiplying churches, which can reach more Japanese.

More Churches

So how do you begin to bring new churches into being?...

You begin with the churches that already exist. Small and few as they are, these churches have the will, the faith and the determination to reach their own people with the living message of Jesus Christ.

Asian Access' church multiplication strategy is built on over 55 years of relational evangelism and leadership training in partnership with Japanese Churches and the leaders who are making them strong.

Partnership That Works

Asian Access has established a strategic network of Japanese churches that are prepared to grow and multiply. Right now these churches and their leaders are teaming with Asian Access and with missionary co-workers like you to get the job done.

Instead of starting churches from scratch, Asian Access believes God has given existing Japanese churches the means to multiply. Asian Access is partnering with these churches to develop in these strategic areas. The result: the Japanese church is ready to grow in new explosive ways.

Multiply Together

As a member of one of Asian Access' Missional Partners program, you become part of a Japanese church. You live among the Japanese. You learn to speak Japanese. You embrace the church and the Japanese culture. Out of this unity your mission begins.

You — along with your Japanese teammates — begin to intentionally multiply opportunities for sharing the gospel by developing relationships with unbelievers. You make and cultivate friends in every aspect of your daily life. What could be more natural?

90% of Japanese who become Christians do so because they heard the Gospel through a trusted friend or relative. Everything in the process of multiplying churches begins and ends with relationships that show forth the love and truth of Jesus Christ.

When churches multiply, the Gospel will penetrate the Japanese culture with multiplied power in countless lives. 

Gather Together

Your friendships will mature and grow. You'll have the chance to work through tough questions about God and morality, life and death. In time, many of your new friends will become believers. Wherever the Gospel is proclaimed it will bear fruit. The Word of God never returns void. It always accomplishes its purpose.

Together with your Japanese teammates, you help gather new friends into small groups. In small groups the ministry of God's Word, prayer and spiritual training is multiplied. In your small group the message of Jesus Christ is freely shared. Unbelievers see and hear the Gospel lived out. New believers are taught in God's word, nurtured in their faith and built up into the stature of Christ.

Build Together

A church begins to multiply when new Christians within the church are raised up to become leaders through strong Biblical instruction and encouragement provided in small groups. You will guide each member of your group to grow in their spiritual life as you develop many long-term discipling relationships.

Your challenge is to build new believers into students of God's word; they in turn grow into leaders capable of teaming with you in the broader vision of the church. With new leaders stepping forward, the strength and ability of the Church to reproduce itself multiplies.

Send Together

At last, the leaders you helped equip are sent out to join in the work — ready and capable of carrying out the challenge of church multiplication. They become a new generation of messengers who will go on to multiply opportunities for the gospel by developing relationships with unbelievers. They will gather their harvest into small groups, and then build new believers into new leaders.

A harvest of believers leads to
a harvest of leaders which leads to
a harvest of new churches.

The mission of the church is multiplied again and again as the Life-giving cycle repeats through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Church Multiplies

As new believers become new leaders actively sharing the message and gathering their harvest, the number of small groups will multiply to become a new church teeming with Life.

Because one church had the courage to multiply, a new church is started, rooted in the multiplication of trained leaders. This new church will one day multiply in the same way.

God willing, one hundred Church Multiplication Teams during the next twenty years will bring into existence one thousand new Japanese churches which will reach one million Japanese for Christ. The Japanese church, empowered by the Spirit of God, in partnership with Asian Access and teaming with you, will start to see its nation reached for Jesus Christ.

Want More Information?

Feel free to review the additional information provided about the Missional Partner program and philosophy below. If you're still interested after reading, fill out a Next Steps survey and someone will contact you.