The church as defined by the bible is a group of the people or assembly. These are people with immense faith in Christ and a mission to follow his commands. As the bible states in Ephesians 5:23-25 “For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.”. Jesus Christ is the head of the church and thus dictates how the church should behave and perform to hasten his second coming. The church plays a pivotal role in the second coming of Jesus Christ by aggressively spreading the gospel.
The church has a responsibility to expand the kingdom of Christ on earth, this expansion can be realized only when the gospel can reach all the corners of the earth. The church has the mission to foster the preaching of the gospel either through evangelical outreaches, discipleship, or church planting ( Moreau, Corwin & McGee , 2004). Therefore, concerning the unreached group of people of Japan. Japanese Christianity is merely at 1.2% of the entire 123 million people. Japan has 36 groups with 23 of those groups remaining unreached to date. Their popular religion Buddhism is widely practiced, also with ancient Shintoism. The church sets herself up for a demanding task of enhancing evangelical growth in this nation through evangelism, discipleship, and church planting.
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Evangelism
For the church to reach and transform the unreached people groups in Japan, there is a need to intensify the efforts of evangelism. Evangelism entails the preaching or spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel puts a responsibility on those who believe in Christ, that they not only understand the good news but purpose to share it to those unfamiliar with it. Evangelism is the priority of the church, sharing of the good news to every nation and tribe (Adeney, 2010). The church has a critical role in bringing hope to the hopeless, through the proclamation of Jesus, Christ as the Savior. Teaching the unreached people of Japan what Christ did, what he is doing now, and what is expected of him in the future. “After this, I looked and there before I was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands” Revelation 7:9. John from his vision, states that people from every nation, tribe, and language were gathered and worshipping in heaven. This verse signifies that in matters of the gospel and salvation, no one should be left out. It is the church’s responsibility to ensure that the gospel reaches all corners of the earth and thus the second coming of Jesus will come
The second coming of Jesus Christ is pegged upon the spreading of the gospel to all nations. Jesus requires the church to hasten the proclamation of the gospel “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” Matthew 24:14. Evangelism has a greater role in enhancing the second coming of Christ and ushering in heaven’s kingdom. However, this is only dependent on the church’s efforts being intensified to spread the good news to all nations, including the unreached people group of Japan.
Discipleship
The church should not only spread the gospel to the unreached group but purpose to make and recruit new disciples to the kingdom of the Lord. Recruitment of new followers in the kingdom will help foster the harvesting that Jesus spoke about “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field.” The church is tasked with not only spreading the gospel to the unreached group of people in Japan but to oversee the addition of new workers into the kingdom. The addition of followers of Christ into the ministry will help foster the harvesting and hasten the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Church Planting
The mission of the church of spreading the good news of Christ will not be complete without the establishment of a worship place for the new disciples recruited into the ministry. The churches planted will be a fountain of knowledge and growth for the new believers. The church will dispense the gospel further, meet the needs of the people, and help them grow in Christ (Moreau et al., 2004). Considering that there is a limited number of churches in Japan, this is a wakeup call for the church to not only find strategical ways to spread the gospel to the unreached group of Japanese but to have plans of planting churches in the region. The building of churches will help solidify Christianity in Japan.
References
Adeney, F. (2010). Graceful Evangelism: Christian Witness in a Complex World (pp. 10-128). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic.
Moreau, S., Corwin, G., & McGee, G. (2004). Introducing World Missions: A Biblical, Historical and Practical Survey (pp. 93-136). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic.
Part Three
Contextualization of the Gospel
The concept of contextualization has created a lot of discussions in the past decades. The proclamation of the gospel is believed to be effective when delivered in such a way that it meets the personal needs of the culture in question. Contextualization involves delivering the gospel in a manner best understood by the unreached group of people in Japan. However, there are different approaches to contextualization as outlined by (Hiebert,1987). No contextualization disregards the culture and focuses on spreading the gospel, minimal contextualization appreciates the differences between the gospel and culture but gives the gospel more emphasis. Uncritical contextualization on the other hand prioritizes culture over the gospel and this kind of adaptation loses the main focus of the mission at hand (Hiebert,1987). Therefore, critical contextualization is the appropriate option in any missionary work. This form of adaptation aims at a balanced approach to the culture and gospel while placing the bible at the center of it all.
Therefore, it is critical to utilize critical contextualization to spread the gospel and foster the growth of Christianity in Japan. This approach translates the gospel in ways best understood and relatable with the Japanese. This type of contextualization prevents cultural enslavement of the gospel but recognizes the importance of the culture at the same time (Prince, 2017). Critical contextualization also uses the bible as a revelation, to establish the weak links in the culture. This critical approach helps people to realize the need for the gospel in their lives, without the scripture sounding too judgmental to them. About the unreached people of Japan, this model will touch every aspect of their culture to enhance an exhaustive approach to the spread of good news in Japan. To achieve this, contextualization will focus on the translation of the bible to the Japanese language and embracing Japanese practices in the deliverance of the message.
Contextualization to Fit Japanese Culture
The famous Japanese new year holiday and other holidays like Matsuri ceremonies are celebrated using Buddhism traditions. Therefore, ignoring such a deeply rooted culturalism in the spread of the gospel to the unreached group of people in Japan will fail the growth of Christianity in the country. Therefore, in full acknowledgment of treasured cultural practices like new year celebration, matsuri ceremonies among other rituals, the gospel should be aligned in such a path to enhance the success of the missionary works. Translation of the English bible to Japanese is another step towards the growth of evangelical missions in the country. The translation of the bible makes the reading of the gospel easy for the Japanese people, who mostly speak the Japanese language. The translation of the scriptures is essential to setting the missionary work toward a full critical contextualization.
The translation is not enough to contribute to the success of evangelism in Japan and ensure that the unreached group gets to know Jesus. The use of vernacular media especially radio stations is prudent. The use of vernacular stations in spreading the gospel is strategical because a good percentage of the unreached group can gain access to the radio station chosen. This is so because the economic development of Japan is advanced and owning a radio is within reach for every household. Besides, to the translation of the bible, use of vernacular radio station, and adoption of Japanese holidays, the missionary work should also consider understanding the sushi meal that is widely eaten across Japan, family values, and challenges affecting the society. This approach will help foster the intentions of critical contextualization and help the unreached group of Japanese people realizes the importance of Jesus in their lives.
There has been a lot of discussion regarding the implementation of contextualization without compromising the gospel and its intended meaning. However, Jesus’s life can be used as a good illustration, Jesus had to study the human nature, by being one, to tailor-make the gospel to their specific needs and it is why he had a lot of success in his missions (Hesselgrave & Rommen, 2013). Paul used the same approach as Jesus when he was confronted by the issue of contextualization “Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”. The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe” Act 15:5-7. Peter illustrated that the gospel is for everyone regardless of differences in culture. The gospel should acknowledge the demands of the culture and position itself in such a way that the unreached group of people in Japan will get to experience God in their cultural foundations.
The translation of the bible, the use of vernacular radio stations, and the acknowledgment of Japanese famous holidays and meals tailor the message to the specific needs of the unreached group. The critical contextualization approach used, will allow the Japanese to experience Jesus through the gospel while recognizing the compromises present in their culture. The recognition of the good and evil of their cultures will come from a point of interaction with the bible that is readily available in their language. This strategy will reduce the chances of hostility and enhance the spread of the gospel and recruitment of new disciplines in Japan to join the Kingdom of the Lord.
References
Hiebert, P., 1987. Critical Contextualization. International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 11(3), pp.104-112.
Hesselgrave, D., & Rommen, E. (2013). Contextualization: Meanings, Methods, and Models . Pasadena, California: William carey Library.
Prince, A. (2017). Contextualization of the Gospel: Towards an Evangelical Approach in the Light of Scripture and the Church Fathers .Oregon: Wipf and stock publishers.
