By ROBERT R. CUSHMAN
"I was led to this church about six months ago," explains Mrs. Etsuko Kato, the wife of a Japanese businessman. "Till then I was not happy in my marriage. I could not love my husband. I tried so hard to love him, but I could not. But now I feel that God has given me a new marriage and a new life together with my husband."
This testimony - along with many others like it - is a result of the ministry of the Princeton (New Jersey) Japanese Church. Close to 40 Japanese men, women and children now worship together at the only C&MA Japanese church in the United States(webmaster's note : Westchester Japanese Church, another Japanese C&MA church in the United States, was founded in the spring of 1996). Four years old in October, the church has been ministering to the 600-700 Japanese people living in the greater Princeton area. They are here primarily for education or short-term business stints.
Getting Started
Rev. Junichi Saigo and his wife, Kaoru, were attending the Princeton Alliance Church while continuing his education as a Ph.D. student in Old Testament Studies. From time to time he would have opportunities to preach at Japanese churches in the New York area. As senior pastor for Princeton Alliance, I invited Rev. Saigo to start a Japanese church at Princeton Alliance.
Since the Japanese population in this area is only about 600, many people questioned if there were enough Japanese to warrant a church. But Rev. Saigo shared with a local newspaper reporter that "even if only one Japanese person lived here, something must be done." With four initial members, including Rev. Saigo and his wife, he still was confident that God would build His Church.
Within one year, weekly attendance averaged 20. The church continued to grow, but 14 members moved back to Japan the following year. After three years, 12 additional members returned to Japan or were transferred to other parts of the United States. Although many would be discouraged by losing 50 percent of the congregation each year, Rev. Saigo sees this transient nature as a great opportunity. "Princeton Japanese Church is truly a sending church. Japanese people meet Christ and are discipled here, and then we send these 'lighthouses' to Japan as witnesses to their own people," responds Rev. Saigo. "The Lord did not say 'make your church bigger' but rather 'go and tell the gospel and make disciples '"
A New Era
Christians make up less than 1 percent of the entire population in Japan. "One of the greatest barriers to the Great Commission in Japan is the high value placed on uniformity in society," says Rev. Saigo. "To be different from others in any way is to be avoided and taboo in the Japanese community. A Japanese proverb says 'the nail that sticks up gets hammered down.' Christians in Japan become the 'nail.' But once Japanese families, especially Japanese business-men, are away from the pressures and demands of their homeland, they are more apt to be open to exploring the Christian faith."
Rev. Saigo continues, "A new era has come for world missions. For centuries missionaries had to go around the world to fulfill the Great Commission, but the world is changing. Now the nations are coming to us, and the burden of reaching those nations is no longer on the shoulders of full-time missionaries in foreign countries. People in the United States also have many opportunities for firsthand involvement in the Great Com-mission."
Approximately 75,000 Japanese live on the East Coast, 50,000 of whom are located in the New York metropolitan area. "We have an incredible opportunity to share the gospel while they are here and then send these new Christians back to evangelize their own people," says Rev. Saigo, who now ministers to more than 5 percent of the Japanese population in the area.
Three years ago the Princeton Japanese Church began a program to teach Japanese women English, crafts and cooking. From the very beginning, women from Princeton Alliance Church have volunteered in this ministry. Now this program is called ECC (English Cultural Center), and more than 10 American women are involved. Comments from many of the American women include, "It is such a pleasure working with these women," and, "We chat about raising our children, and from time to time we also have opportunities to share our faith and let them know what God has been doing in our lives."
In addition to these 10 volunteers, 24 other women from Princeton Alliance Church also are assisting in other ministries of the Princeton Japanese Church, such as general office work, bookkeeping and a monthly newsletter used as a communication tool between the two churches. American Christians can use their gifts of teaching, hospitality, administration and many others to reach and evangelize the Japanese people without crossing the ocean.
A Bridge to the C&MA in Japan
The Princeton Japanese Church strongly believes that it has a special purpose in God's plan for world missions. Mrs. Shinobu Fujiwara had attended a church in Japan but did not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Her husband was transferred to New Jersey for a three-year job assignment. Mrs. Fujiwara says, "God, knowing that I was not a faithful Christian, put PJC right there in Princeton, where my husband was assigned to go."
Mrs. Fujiwara continued to grow as a Christian at Princeton Japanese Church while she was in the United States and found the Lord in a new way. When Mrs. Fujiwara went back to her Tokyo neighborhood, she discovered that a new Alliance church was formed while she was away. She is now part of the core group of the church that averages nine in attendance each Sunday.
Her pastor, C&MA missionary Richard Kropp, shared that "Mrs. Fujiwara has become a faithful member of Machida Alliance Church. When I was on tour in New Jersey a few years ago, I met Mrs. Fujiwara while visiting Rev. Saigo at his home." Both Rev. Saigo and Rev. Kropp agree that a relationship between the Alliance in Japan and the Princeton Japanese Church is crucial to advancing the Kingdom of God in Japan.
Culturally Correct Evangelism
Japanese "white collar" businessmen make up a large part of the Japanese population in the United States. As one of many strategies to reach out to these men, the Princeton Japanese Church held a Businessmen's Dinner at a hotel and invited two successful Christian businessmen to be the guest speakers: Mr. Donald Seibert, former CEO of J. C. Penney, and Mr. Akifumi Goto, CEO of Sanyo Semiconductor. More than 80 American and Japanese men and women gathered together and listened to the testimonies of these men.
Another program offered by the church to the Japanese community is the annual Japanese Cultural Fair, now in its third year. Many Japanese experience a reawakening of the cultural importance of their own heritage, 2md many yearn for their own culture after they have left their own country. The Japanese Cultual Fair addresses these needs of the Japanese people in the Princeton area. Since the program is for charity, it especially creates new opportunities to share our Christian witness as well as increase the visibility of the church.
Furthermore, the Princeton Japanese Church recently has srarted to offer simultaneous translation for English-speaking attenders at the Sunday morning worship service. This creates additional opportunities for cross-cultural interaction, thus extending the "bridge" a bit further especially for Japanese-American couples that wish to worship together.
God's Greater Plan
Future plans are now underway for the Princeton Japanese Church to begin a cooperative ministry with Ridgeway Alliance Church in White Plains, New York. White Plains has more than 20,000 Japanese people in its vicinity. Ridgeway Alliance has a nursery school of 225 children, 60 of whom are Japanese. Ai, a young Japanese Christian woman, is planning to come to the United States to assist this ministry as a nursery school teacher.
As communication continues to grow between Americans and Japanese, so will the bridge to Christ grow as we share our Christian faith with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Rev. Robert R. Cushman is pastor of Princeton (N.J.) Alliance Church.
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, Feburary, 1996
