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Why Japan?

Helen and Yarran Johnston both completed a Master of Divinity at BST. Yarran is currently undertaking his PhD at BST and Helen was our librarian for a time.

As Helen and I began to seriously think about getting married, we were considering and praying about what kind of ministry we might be able to do and where we could serve together. We both studied Japanese so Japan became an obvious point of common connection to explore.
Since that time, the more we have been exposed to mission in Japan and the spiritual condition of the Japanese, the more we’ve been impacted by the great need for the gospel. We’ve realised how much the Japanese church needs support, partnership, encouragement and prayer from Christians around the world – like us.
The Japanese are the second-largest unreached people group in the world, with perhaps only half a million Japanese knowing Jesus, out of a national population of around 127 million. Many Japanese will go from cradle to grave without hearing anything meaningful about Jesus and the way to receive salvation. To make it even more shocking, Japan’s population is declining every year – but statistics suggest that the number of evangelicals is declining at an even faster rate! This means that now is the time to take the gospel to the Japanese and equip their Christians. Otherwise, the situation for Christianity in Japan will be more dire tomorow than it is today.
Our desire is to be involved in university student ministry in Japan with OMF international. University is one of the only times in Japanese life where people have enough time and freedom to ask the serious questions about life. By reaching and equipping Japanese students in the gospel of Jesus, our prayer is to see those students reach out to the aging generation, and the younger generations below them in the years to come.
Here are some practical ways to support Christian mission to Japan:

  • Find out more about Japan’s spiritual need japanneedsjesus.wordpress.com.
  • Pray for the people of Japan, that their hearts may be open to hearing the gospel.
  • If your Bible study or church would like to hear more about the needs in Japan, we’d love the opportunity to guest speak or preach on the topic of mission, and the different ways christians can be involved in God’s mission to Japan.
  • For our ministry, we’d appreciate prayer support, which you can sign up for regular updates: goo.gl/forms/PBdcnRiWGM
  • We’d also love your financial support so we that can go to Japan. You can nominate your support by registering online: omf.org/australia/support/, and state in the form provided that you want to support workers, namely Yarran and Helen Johnston.

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