Testimonies > Kobe, Japan

“My heart is overflowing with a good theme;

I recite my composition concerning the King;

My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.”

-Psalm 45:1

Under what is here said of Solomon as a type, “the holy and divine union of Christ and His Church is described and set forth” (John Calvin on Psalm 45).  King Jesus and His Bride are the topic of my composition especially I want to show how God is working in the Japan Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA). On July 18, 2005, four RP young people headed to Kobe, Japan, for a month-long mission trip; here is what we saw and did.

At the end of an interesting day of travel, Whitney Gamble (North Hills [Pittsburgh, Pa.] RPC) and I arrived at the Covenanter Center Building (CCB) in Kobe, Japan. There Carrie Leach (Coldenham-Newburgh, N.Y., RPC) and team leader Violet Wright (Cambridge, Mass., RPC) were waiting. After months of preparation, fundraising, and prayer, the 2005 short term mission team finally met!

That night at our first orientation meeting Pastor Takiura encouraged us to notice the differences and similarities among Japanese Christians and American Christians. As for differences, the language barrier was quite obvious. However, we did have several helpful translators, as well as some knowledge of the Japanese language among team members. Culturally, one difference is that American Christians greet with a warm handshake or a hug, whereas Japanese Christians express that joy with a respectful bow and a beaming smile.

Even in all these differences, the things we have in common with Japanese Christians as sinners saved by grace was evident. Although our social rules and language differ, our life and ministry are, at the root, very much the same. In this sense, we hold everything in common, for we have Christ and stand on the Word of God. They truly are our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ.

We were there to serve them, serve Christ with them, and proclaim the gospel.  Rather than coming in with our own program, we helped with whatever they asked us to do.  Inevitably, as we sought to serve them, they also served us. As we hoped to build them up, they also built us up. We stretched ourselves and were also stretched.

One of the most challenging tasks we were given was to develop a tract that invited people to attend Short Term Mission Team Night, where the gospel would be presented. Pastor Takiura asked us to include a gospel presentation on the tract itself in seven lines. It’s one thing to think you know the gospel pretty well, but laying it down in seven lines of translatable words is something else. We had seven and a half.

I had yet another gospel opportunity. At one of four vacation Bible schools we helped with, I gave a message on Daniel 6:26-27, which talks about fearing and trembling before God. I asked the children, “Why should we tremble before God?”  When we recognize who He is and who we are, we tremble, we see that we deserve to die!  Nevertheless, there is good news:  God sent His Son to take the penalty that we deserve, that we may be saved from His wrath and live our lives for Him. How wonderful it was to lay out these truths and share them with children and youth!

Much of what we did was simply being involved in the life of the Japanese churches.  We worshipped with at least four churches, regularly attended Wednesday night prayer meetings at Okamoto Keiyaku, helped with their Kid’s English program and Friday morning nursery school, went to Hiruzen Camp, ate with church members of various congregations, helped organize the library books on the third floor of the CCB, and attended the Presbytery Youth Conference.

I highly recommend this youth conference!  The lectures were convicting, the fellowship was so sweet, and I truly learned a lot. We each shared our testimonies at the conference as we had done in many of the churches previously.

If you are considering going to Japan, I ought to warn you right now that you will fall in love with the people. It is inescapable when you see these Christians fighting against so many pressures, relatives who demand Buddhist funeral traditions, a school system set against Christ, shrines on every block, temples and idols in prominent cities, high pressure to work and study on the Sabbath, strong temptation to marry a non-Christian, and other kinds of antagonism.  Yet they stand on the Word of the King!

I want to exhort you to pray for these precious brothers and sisters and for this dear branch of Christ’s Church.  Although these churches are very young, from my observation they hold to their heritage as Covenanters more closely than most of the American RP churches I’ve attended.  They have no other choice!  If Jesus Christ is not King over the nations and over His Church, what hope do they have?  What hope do we have?  Please, study your roots in the Scottish Covenanters, study the mediatorial Kingship of Christ!  We need to know that Jesus is our victorious, mediatorial King.

Agonize in prayer with Mukonoso, Kita-Suzurandai, Higashi-Suma, Hontamon Mission Site, Okamoto-Keiyaku, and Kasumigaoka for grace as these churches raise their children in the admonition of the Lord, and “pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”  Prayerfully consider how God may use you in the building of His Kingdom in the Japan Presbytery.  Let us give glory to our great King Jesus, the Head of the Church, as He rules His Bride and this branch of the Japan Presbytery of the RPCNA.

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