RJC World

Reaching Japanese for Christ (RJC) is a network of loving Christians, primarily in Norh America, who are helping Japanese who are here temporarily.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Another Note on the Gallup Survey

Steve Clark shared this:

Japan Campus Crusade has provided a Highlights of the Gallup Survey document.Gallup Survey 2001 Highlights

It is amazing that 7 percent of teenagers reported following Christianity, but there is obviously a lot of confusion out there as well, and a great need to get the word out to more Japanese revealed here as well.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

RJC Is Networking

What power there is in helping one another! Today I am reminded of how important the Reaching Japanese for Christ ministry of networking is. There are so many good things happening around the world as people reach out in love to Japanese who are living abroad. However, often these ministries are not well connected. Good Japanese pastors and churches are ministering to Japanese in the same city where English speaking churches and interdenominational programs are doing ESL ministries, homestays, campus ministries. However, the ministries carried on by the English speakers often are not connected, neither are they networked well with the Japanese ministries.

Dave Hackett shared this quote in an early comment. "When spiders unite, they can tie up a lion."
-- Quoted by Robert Ficken, The History of Washington (State), UW Press, 1989.

Back in March, 2006 Dave H. wrote up a short article about the personal benefits he had experienced because of the RJC Conference the month before.

How Networking Flows
by Dave Hackett

A participant at a recent computer conference described his excitement about the conference, saying, "I always meet someone here who I didn't know I should know. We make a lot of connections that might take a lot of time if we didn't have this."

That is my experience attending the 2006 Reaching Japanese for Christ conference and its networking pre-conference in Bothell, Washington. Yes, I figured I would meet some new people. But I didn't figure I would meet people I didn't even know I should know! It speaks well of the serendipitious connections and connectional efficiency that happen through networks.

I'd like to paint a little picture of the web of relationships that, for me, has flowed out of my attendance at the RJC conference. Several stories illustrate how this network has been spreading ideas virally since the conference.

At the RJC networking pre-conference I shared briefly about the potential of using Internet evangelism to reach Japanese, and I passed around a flyer on that potential. Several people asked me to email copies of the flyer.
Andy Game, director of Japan ALPHA, wrote to say he was encouraged about that vision for using the Internet and other new media for evangelism with Japanese. He'll explore ways to use it in his ministry. Meanwhile, he forwarded details about it to co-workers in Japan as well as to ALPHA's Asia Pacific publishing director, Joy Yeo, in Singapore. Joy is developing new youth ALPHA resources for the Asia Pacific region. From Bothell to Tokyo to Singapore.

Judith Becker of Highland Park Presbyterian Church, Dallas, is taking this information on to her team, which might get involved in new ways because of our contact at the conference. From Bothell to Dallas and beyond.

John Mehn (Leadership Team Chair of the JEMA Church Planting Institute) and I had a chance to talk at the RJC conference. He forwarded my Internet evangelism flyer to the JEMA Church Planting Institute email group. One of those who got that group email is Wolfgang Langhans, OMF field director for Japan. From Bothell to JEMA to OMF.

Wolfgang Langhans, who got the flyer from John Mehn's post on the email group, wrote to say that the flyer on Internet evangelism "has been stimulating and encouraging." He brought the topic of Internet evangelism to his Field Council and the Council "decided to take this topic up seriously and see how we can get more involved in it." He now wants to network as much as he can to use this tool and wants to know of any Internet evangelism network in Japan. And he's looking for others with whom he can meet to discuss and learn from them about this approach. From Bothell to JEMA to a new focus for OMF Japan.

Several of the above people may attend the June 2006 conference of the Global Christian Internet Alliance in Seoul through the ongoing discussions we've been having following the RJC conference. From Bothell to Tokyo to Seoul.

These are all examples of what I like to call the "ever-expanding webs of relationships" that characterize lively and healthy networks. We call this kind of expansion and sharing of ideas and information "viral," because it is passes from one to another and often from one to many all in one fell swoop.

This is how the Gospel has spread globally for 2,000 years. And it makes a great case for maximizing the networking capacities of the RJC network. May the Lord make more connections through and between us all for His glory and so that we might reach more Japanese for Christ!

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Praise God for networks! And see you at the February 16-18th RJC Conference at Bothell, WA. Email me at don_wright@comcast.net for more information.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Many Opportunities and Needs

I guess I call the cup half empty half the time and half full the other half.
The great opportunities for Japanese to hear about Jesus while here in North America has a reverse side that says there is a great need for many to tell about Jesus.

On Friday my wife and I attended a discussion in Los Angeles with leaders who are working to tell Japanese about Jesus in the Southern California area. Here are some things that stand out in my mind three days later.
1. We decided to plan for a one-day RJC (Reaching Japanese for Christ) conference in the LA area on January 27th. We pray that it will help to bring many people together to learn from one another.

2. At the meeting we met Akiko from Pasadena. She is heading up a fantastic outreach there, called Rice of Life. It is the only program that is seeking to target the Japanese international students there. She shares that 18 came to Christ this last year!

3. I was given a study workbook in English called "A Study of the Four Gospels." It has a unique format in that there are 300 multiple-choice questions. It looks like a good tool for Japanese who like to study. If you are interested, please e-mail me and I will tell you who to contact. don_wright@mac.com.

4. Now back in Seattle, today we got an email from Gordon Kaneda about an exciting meeting they have planned.
Ms. Haruko Morimoto is coming to town for a special meeting on September 23rd. She is an amazing woman who has pastored the homeless in Tokyo for 34 years. Her brave, fearless preaching smothered with love has brought countless Japanese to Christ. Now she will be in Seattle to help reach people here. Interested? Let me know at don_wright@mac.com.

Whether the RJC ministry is half-full or half-empty it certainly is exciting to share the Living Water!

Don Wright

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Four Great Prayer Resources

There are many resources to guide you in praying for Japan and Japanese.

Here are four:
1. Operation Japan (I shared this in an earlier note)
The new Operation Japan, 3rd Edition, contains up-to-date information on each prefecture, key prayer targets, and a system for praying through the nation in a year. 
 This prayer guide is an invaluable resource. You can contact me at don_wright@mac.com concerning how to purchase this book.

2. "Free Japan" is a daily prayer guide. http://www.thejapannet.com/free_japan_daily_prayer_guide.htm .

3. The Japan Prayer Strategy E Mail notes that Donn and Daisy Townsend sends out are also excellent prayer resources. They send out regulary notes that have been taking one prefecture at a time with detailed information for prayer. You can receive these notes by requesting them from the Townsends. doda@certainty.net

4. God has given Tatsuo Akamine a vision for a "Japanese Strategic Intercessory Prayer Network." You may request more information at tatsuo_a@sbcglobal.net.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

RJC Website

This is a special invitation to check out the newly revamped RJC Network web site. It is still under construction, but one of the best resources available on the internet is the set of audio recordings of most of the workshops at the last two Reaching Japanese for Christ conferences. Take a look. The link is on the right side, "Audio files."

www.rjcnetwork.org