Spiritual Needs | jensensnjapan

*Missiologists have defined an unreached people group as a people with common language, culture, and heritage who are less than 2% Christian. With such a small percentage of evangelicals in their culture, the native Christians cannot effectively evangelize their own people and need outside help. While South Korea is now 40% Christian and can evangelize their own people, the Japanese are less than 0.5% Christian and benefit greatly from international help in evangelism. With 127 million Japanese, they are by sheer numbers one of the two largest groups currently considered unreached.

Japan is a great nation and carries vast influence in Asia and the world beyond. Wealthy and technologically advanced, it boasts companies like Honda, Toyota, Sony, Nintendo, and Cannon, which have become household names in the West. The Japanese are very educated, highly cultured, polite, and hardworking, causing some to view their society as a model of cooperation and efficiency. There is certainly much to admire about Japan, but sadly, underneath the orderly surface, a broken, hurting people remain one of the most spiritually needy on the planet. An astounding 95% of the Japanese have never had the Gospel explained to them, Protestant church attendance is about 0.22% of the population on any given Sunday, and 70% of the people consider themselves non-religious. The Japanese are one of two largest unreached people groups in the world with less than 1/2 of 1% being evangelical Christian.*

This spiritual void in a culture with little Gospel influence has left many, many people hurting. Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world with 94 every day. Hikikomorri, the "hermit" anxiety disorder unique to Japan, affects up to 1 million young people. The hikikomorri shut down emotionally and completely retreat from society, refusing to go to school or even leave their bedrooms. Sometimes their repressed frustration eventually boils over in violence against family members and even murder.

Both prostitution and pornography are rampant in Japan. One study indicated that over half of Japanese men have paid for sex, but the country also has the highest percent of "sex-less" marriages in the world. Marriages and families are hurting. The Japanese face incredible pressure to achieve and succeed. Karoshi, "death by over-work," is an accepted cause of fatality, affecting even young adults in their 20s and 30s. Truly, only the Gospel of grace can cure a broken world.

And there is renewed hope for this great nation. Our missionaries on the field report a growing openness to the Gospel and more Japanese coming to faith now than in previous decades. In fact, Christianity Today is calling this time Japan's "new encounter with Christianity." Though the soil can be hard, the Holy Spirit is working in ever-greater ways in Japan. Now is the time to invest in church planting there!