RJC Training

There is a great opportunity within the Reaching Japanese for Christ movement to help train people to better communicate the love of Christ to Japanese. The following is a brief summary of where we are. If you are interested in being included int the internet discussion and planning for this, please email me (Don Wright) at don_wright@mac.com .

The Problem and Opportunity:
1. The vision of RJC is “To glorify God by partnering together, to give the approximately half million Japanese who (temporarily) reside in North America an opportunity to hear the gospel and become disciples of Jesus Christ!“
2. So the key words here are 1) glorify God; 2) partnering together; 3) Japanese in North America; 4) hear the gospel and become disciples of Jesus Christ.
3. We have rightly so emphasized that our RJC primary thrust is to connect people around a common desire to share Jesus with Japanese.
4. God has graciously blessed our feeble efforts. A number of networks have been developing that has resulted in partnering activities.
5. However, I think we have not been as effective as we should be in preparing and helping people to do this ministry.
6. People have come to conferences, been encouraged and learned a little. But we have not in any systematic way helped them to learn about Japanese culture, religion, evangelism, etc.
7. JCFN and other groups are working on training Japanese in these areas, but there probably isn’t any place in North America where there is an adequate course to prepare English-speaking people to effectively share Jesus with Japanese.

The Possibility:
1. The RJC movement and related conferences, website, etc. probably is connecting with more people concerning Japanese ministries than any other body.
2. It seems logical then to say that we have a responsibility and opportunity to better prepare English-speaking people. Perhaps we also have the opportunity to help train Japanese also.

Ways We Might Respond to These Possibilities:
1. Do a few band-aid types of improvements on the things we offer at the conferences.
2. Personally I would like to see us develop a plan that would include providing an educational/training program to prepare people to carry on effective evangelistic and discipleship ministries with Japanese.

A Few Thoughts about such an Education Program:
1. These are just thoughts that are in my head, and not a road-map for where we are going.
2. As much as possible, the program should meet the needs of the Japanese and English-speaker who is concerned about Japanese.
3. It would provide for several levels of training for people with different motivations, from the mildly interested to the one preparing to be a career missionary in Japan.
4. It would be helpful to bring a fairly comprehensive program that would include spiritual development, Bible knowledge, general leadership, missiology, Japanese culture, religion, church, etc.
5. There should be some way that one could enroll, make progress, and have a sense of finishing these levels. This could be by some kind of recognition, diploma, formal recognition by a Bible school or college.

Resources Available:
1. There are some on-line Bible courses that are available.
2. We have a number of audio files at our rjcnetwork.org website.
3. There are some schools that might be interested in partnering with us.
4. Some great people who have participated in the conference teaching.
5. The RJC conferences taking place at multiple locations.

Possible Course Work:
1. Participation in RJC Conferences and workshops
2. Reading assignments, papers and some kind of testing
3. Mentoring experiences
4. Leadership development experiences
5. Weekly or monthly classes at certain locations

Next Steps:
I hope you are still reading because here is finally the invitation. As you read over the points above, did the Holy Spirit make you excited about this (in spite of pre-Christmas overload)?
In order to move to the next level in this training, we need a group of people who first of all are willing to discuss this and help develop a plan. Perhaps several of you will say that the Lord has prepared you for such a time, that you have a burden for Japanese ministry, you have educational experience, and other gifts that would indicate that you should be helping in this.

Anyway, right now I am asking if you are interested in participating in an Email discussion concerning how RJC can improve our training of people to minister to Japanese. You don’t need to be in the Seattle are to participate.
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Just you who are interested in participating should fill in the below (And please don’t use bogus names:))
Name:
General Location:
Interest and experience that might be of help:
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Thanks,
Don Wright