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June 10, 2006
Good Job!
When you engage in discussions about the Church in Japan, someone eventually starts talking about why the total number of Christians in Japan is so small or why Christians don't seem to be able to exert much influence upon society. It's always important to reflect honestly upon your own situation and there's no denying that those issues have to be addressed. However, if you become overly critical of yourself, that could lead to a spiritually unhealthy state of mind. With that in mind, I'd like to brag on Japanese Christians a bit in my post this week.
Thursday of last week was a very busy day for me. We produced four TV programs during the day and then I had to go to Tōkyō that evening and ended up taking the last bullet train out of Tōkyō Station to get home. It was a tiring but very fulfilling day. Here are the kind of folks I was with all day.
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Rev. Ikuo Nishida, pastor of Tōkyō's Hope Chapel and author of 911 for the Deep-in-Debt. |
- One of our program guests was Rev. Ikuo Nishida. He's pastor of Hope Chapel in Tōkyō's Asakusa area and also has a ministry to people who are saddled down with crushing consumer debt. He recently published a book entitled, 911 for the Deep-in-Debt. "Only about 20% of the problem has to do with business practices," he says. "The remaining 80% is caused by spiritual issues." If it were me, I'd be very reluctant about getting involved with a problem like that, but Pastor Nishida comes to the aid of people whose lives are being destroyed by debt and doesn't charge them anything. Way to go!
- The guest we taped next was Hisashi Shimada, who is a business management consultant and a professor at Kyōto's Bunkyō University. He, too, has written a book and it's entitled Living the NPO Life. In it, he proposes a lifestyle direction for 21st-century Japanese people. Shimada worked for Kuraray Co. (Japan's first domestic producer of synthethic fibers) until he was 50 and then changed his focus to research and consulting work. It was a gutsy move on his part.
Recognizing that a society which focuses excessively on economics is severely handicapped, Shimada argues that a truly revolutionary restructuring of society can only be had by concurrent development of the spheres of politics, the arts and human relationships. He made the comment that he didn't see the current Koizumi administration's much-trumpeted "revolution" making any headway at all in extricating itself from an "economics-only" mindset. When I heard that, I found myself shouting "Amen!" without thinking. I came away from this short time of discussing these issues with a tremendous respect for this man who seems to have such extraordinary insight into Japan's future.
- In the evening, I went as an observer to the general session of the Christian Chaplain's Networking Conference at Tōkyō's Takanawa Catholic Church. I'd heard that there are over 200 Christian chaplains throughout the country. This was their third such conference and a little less than 100 of them were in attendance. It was the best attendance they've had since these meetings started. Among the attendees were Catholics, leaders from the United Church of Christ, evangelicals and independents. A few of these men had been serving as chaplains for 50 years or more.
Japan's current prison system is facing big changes in the near future and, no doubt, the need for the work of Christian chaplains will increase. These folks love prison inmates and faithfully share the love of Christ in places that are hidden from the public eye. You guys are the best!
The people I've talked about above are the servants of God who minister to the people of this age as priests and even prophets. As I rode on the train back to Mishima Station, I looked back upon the blessings of the day. The feeling that welled up in my heart solidified itself into this one thought: "Christians in Japan are doing a great job!" And how thankful I am that they are. May God's richest blessings upon them and you, as well, in Y'shua's precious name.
Kenichi Nakagawa
Posted by HarvestTV at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)