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Today, there is an NAR movement among different sectors of modern churches, and many are being deceived, following man-made teachings away from the authentic Biblical teachings of its authors. Takuma-san is a great shepherd for Christians in Japan during this messy church era, using modern media platforms.

Thanks! Noah’s dedication to learning the language is inspiring. Lots of good ideas to enhance traditional study. And thanks for all the resources. 👍🏼

He is clearly a prodigy type Japanese learner. There are a few like that that really excel with the language. I think desire is the key.

Curious question: Are churches counted as companies in Japan and thus missionaries connected to a specific church organization can apply for a working visa?, or is it a mix of foreign christians who have normal jobs that do the missionary in their spare time?, or lastly are people rotated on a 90 day visa?. Thanks for a interesting niche youtubepodcast channel.

Not sure why the algorithm recommended this. But stopped by to ask you to stop trying to convert the Japanese. The Portuguese failed before you and surely after centuries it should be safe to say, that the Japanese aren't in need of Jesus. Kind regards

It’s the first time for me to hear that Pastor Kobayashi actually speaks English.It is interesting to know how he defines “Nihon kyo” with a little hint of the Teaching from Dr. Kanzo Uchimura. It seems to me he is reinterpreting Kanzo’smukyoukai philosophy through the internet. Hope it works for the ordinal Japanese.

Thank you, Pastor Kobayashi. I’m praying for the Holy Spirit to work through you and your church. Thanks, Jon for bringing on Japanese pastors. I love hearing how God is working and reaching the Japanese people for Christ through local pastors. And yes, relationships are key. Jesus first loved us! Good job!

8:00 I meant "interactive" not "intellectual". Thank you for the great opportunity!

He is right Japan is a cult with spiritual power that worships it's own image. Japanese people are always constantly affirming Japan. Many foreigners are caught up into this idea as well as they have an image or perception of Japan that has been created for them as a perfect place to emulate. Japanese in this cult and foreigners moved by this force are blind to this which keeps them away from God.

We have one lady who has come to church a number of times, non Christian, who comes in part because she likes singing Western hymns.

Interesting. Japan requires its people to be conformed to "the world" (in the form of Japanese culture) so to say whereas Christianity requires followers to be 'conformed to Christ'. The two are always at odds. To attempt to bring them together as a compromise will always be problematic.

This was incredibly in depth and is spectacular for missionaries understanding the Japanese mindset and how to PROPERLY introduce the Gospel in a Fruitful and Skillful way.

The point you made about about 17:10 about church being around number 4 in terms of support groups is very important. I think that church planters especially need to keep this in mind as they try and formulate their part of the DNA of a new community. Looking forward to hearing about the October think-tank when you have a decision.

I read Pagan Christianity back when it came out. I think it made some good points, particularly in regards to critiques of the what has become the standard pattern for the modern church. But I had strong reservations about it's conclusions regarding the place of sermons, pastors and church worship services, and the underlying Biblical arguments put forth to reach those conclusions. I would need to go back and read it again to refresh my memory, but I recall the book being far more critical of what it termed the "institutional church," than Pastor Kentaro. I really appreciate Pastor Kentaro's perspective that different styles of church organization may be better for different people, and that one style is not necessarily more Biblical than another. I wish this were the tone that the book itself took. I also appreciate the wisdom he showed in not publishing it on Amazon and seeking to limit the audience to more discerning believers, as I fear that it does have the potential to cause division within churches. The title itself is an intentionally inflammatory title meant to grab people's attention, but I don't think it's a helpful way to frame this important discussion.

It seems like some are cultural objections and misunderstandings and some are just objections due to our fallen and sinful thinking.

Explaining the Prodigal Son well would be powerful for Japanese evangelism.

Christian thinking: God loves mankind. Mankind's sin shames God and breaks relationship with God. God as source of love offers self as a gift at great cost to restore relationship with mankind. Mankind will either accept or reject gift to restore relationship after owning up to shaming God. However, if mankind denies the sin and the gift no relationship exists. Japanese thinking: A loves B. B shames A. #1) B feels bad. B offers gift to A. A accepts B's gift, relationship restored. or A refuses B's gift and is sad. Relationship between A and B is broken. A then suffers, apologizes, and offers B gift to restore relationship, or A does not suffer and ends relationship. Options: A out of pride rejects B. A out of obligation accepts B. #2) B does not feel bad. No gift offered. No responsibility taken for shaming A. Relationship broken. Christian option: A loves B. B shames A. Relationship between A and B is broken. C offers to restore relationship between A and B. C takes B's shame upon himself and self-sacrifices so that A will accept B. After that out of obligation A accepts B. (A is actually C)

NPC meaning that Critical-thinking is frowned upon. It is better to make others happy and not ask questions or be too deep.

The strong-hard definition in Japan is that there should be no strong-hard definitions. Very non-sensical and illogical.

In a nutshell: Just preach the gospel to them.

Japanese people threaten their children with demons in real life and in certain festivals, they also consider themselves to be highly spiritual with the kamis, they worship ancestors especially on Obon-season, and are obsessed with death as in the popularity of horror genre and haunted house theme parks. I think they are most afraid of the possibility that reincarnation is wrong and don't want to talk about it.

Perhaps Japanese cultural norms make them shame people that do not go to church, and the pastors do not do much "pastoring", whereas the opposite should happen -- mature believers should reach out and help those who left church to grow.

The 10 year thing would probably be good for going to a completely new area with no churches.

Thank you so much. I wasn't able to attend this event, but it's great to be able to watch it.

They still operate on shame along with that sense of obligation, which doesn't require an Abrahamic god. Regardless this is nonsense when looked at too closely when you consider they successfully built advanced infrastructure that runs with almost no problems, which for that there's a required, different responsibilities between many people. Shame keeps everyone in line, where as guilt is just waiting to be told your mistakes are tolerable and will be absolved. This isn't a slavery either, but simply how a society is better run.

I find the parallels between these Shinto beliefs and Christianity really interesting. Thanks for sharing.

What you said about the idea of "whose fault is it" and "lack of responsibility around 51:25 reminds me of a paper I wrote in grad school on the Japanese concept of "Shoganai" now I want to see if I can find it. Thanks for the videos.

Definitely upped your thumbnail game!

I'll have to go check out those videos, those are some pretty good insights. I like using the term "uninteresting," to refer to concepts that don't naturally connect with Japanese heart. The question I'm wrestling through now, especially in the context of doing an expository sermon series through a book of the Bible, is what is the best way to handle these "uninteresting," topics when they come up in the text? I totally agree that in an evangelistic context it's thoroughly Biblical to explain the gospel beginning with the themes that are most "interesting" to Japanese, themes that most readily connect with their heart, stir their emotions and which they are already primed to accept as desirable and good. But I think a faithful reading of the Bible is going to challenge you to reconsider your values, and some of the most profound insights into God's character come when you realize that your preconceived notions of what is desirable and good may have been lacking or shallow in light of the depth of God's character. That's something that Westerners need to learn as well as Japanese. I totally agree that western missionaries are inclined to gloss over many aspects of the text that we find "uninteresting," to the detriment of both ourselves and our Japanese brothers. But while striving to see the text through Japanese eyes to bring out that which God has included to delight the Japanese hearts, I think we also need to lovingly push them deeper to value and accept truths that God reveals about Himself that may be uninteresting, or even come across as offensive. Both of these are extraordinarily difficult for Western missionaries to do in a productive and proper way.

Encouraging to hear this topic being addressed. I read about Nihonkyo over two decades ago while studying modern Japanese history as an undergraduate. The way the author described it was as a Christmas tree that is decorated with other religious artifacts as ornaments, but the tree underneath is the real substance--that is, Shinto, Buddhism, Confucianism and even to some extent the receptiveness of Japanese towards Christian holidays and weddings are artifacts can be placed or discarded, the ornaments, but the real religious views of the Japanese are the superstructure underneath. That superstructure underneath is harder to define, but is more important to understanding the Japanese than the ornaments on top. I may have forgotten the substance of what I read a few decades ago, but I believe the author argued that Nihonkyo could best be understood as a religion of pragmatism--that is, it was primarily interested in 'what works,' and by 'what works,' it means what works towards preserving the harmony--because at the heart of Nihonkyo is the highest cultural value of preserving Wa. Dr. Kenneth Pyle once said that if you want to understand the Japanese, you need to understand that they live on an archipelago. People living on an island chain together need to learn how to co-exist; so rather than develop a religious ideology around truth or virtue, the Japanese have developed one around preserving the status quo and not rocking the boat. Nitobe Inazo discusses this somewhat in his book Bushido, where he postulates that the Japanese prior to the Tokugawa period were fundamentally a different people than those after the Tokugawa period--that the isolation of the Tokugawa period and deterioration of bushido into a shadow of its former self made the timid, navel-gazing, pragmatic Japanese of the modern period. With harmony and pragmatism as the primary values of Nihonkyo, truth and logic are almost its antithesis. Paul in the New Testament heavily utilizes Greek logic in arguing for the truthfulness of the Gospel and Christianity. Truth is personified in Christianity in the person of Jesus. It is no wonder, that Christianity is the ornament that refuses to be hung on the tree of Nihonkyo, because it is the only one that demands that the whole tree be replaced. I have been thinking a lot recently about the fact that many of the early converts to Christianity came from Judaism; that is, they already had extensive knowledge of the Old Testament and an anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. It is of little doubt that God providentially ordained that there would be a people ready to take the Gospel out into the world who didn't need to be instructed on the content of the OT. If you look at Timothy for example, he was already a third generation Christian within the lifetime of Paul. One of the problems hamstringing the Japanese church is that it has largely failed to be a multi-generational enterprise. While pursuing people through evangelism, we have tended to lose our young people out of the back door (to bukatsu). We should be praying for a generation of young Japanese Christians who are steeped in Biblical thought and teaching, who are able to point out the contradictions in Japanese culture, and offer an alternative worldview to that of Nihonkyo.

I really appreciate the conversation. Its very helpful

This clears up some of my misunderstandings. My granddaughters were very amused by your comment about the penn name.

Helpful in many ways. Thank you!

We're doing an evangelistic worship service this Sunday, going to try to incorporate some of this into the sermon!

What kinds of rituals for the church do you find the most intriguing and worth trying? i was interested in that part.

As someone who does Gospel outreach here in Japan, I couldn't agree more! Japanese are very sensitive to knowing if someone is a fraud or not. Don't come at them with a mission mindset of converting them to our religion. That's actually a kind of selfish mindset. Come to them with genuine love and compassion. Don't just show them love, but actually be love. Most Japanese really don't have a concept of what genuine 'Love' looks like. They don't even use the word 'Love' or "Ai" except in very rare occasions. They say 'Like very much' or "dai suki". Love conveys relationship, not obligation and religion, and after all, that's what we want to help them find; a relationship with the Heavenly Father. Loneliness is a huge issue in Japan and they are hungry for genuine love and a loving relationship. This is how to approach Japanese.

A cultural barrier is undoubtedly there, but there are also traumatic memories in society against religion. With the downfall of fundamental ethics and citizenship in the Japanese education system, most people in Japan feel ‘unsafe’ to talk about religion or philosophical beliefs. Getting into a religion or religious activities is almost taboo - except for casual ‘religious’ activities like going to the Shinto Shrine in the New Year ceremony or visiting the local temple to ‘pray’ for something better to happen to them. Spiritually speaking, those activities have become handy shelter to the majority, and most people don’t even try to learn about Shinto itself. However, such shelters often lack the capacity or depth to accept when real hardship hits some people. The wisdom of Japanese pastors is indeed profound, but the true test of faith lies not in waiting for a decade. It lies in the ability to stand with a person and to walk alongside them when life's hardships strike. Keep demonstrating who you are as a faithful Christian -- day in and day out. People may become defensive by hearing the word ‘Bible’ or trying to disciple them. However, don’t be afraid to share your favorite scripture - in English or Japanese, whichever language resonates with you for your friends. As you stay faithful, you may discover your friends are becoming brothers and sisters, reflecting your faithful Christianity. Don’t try being a Christian for them. Let them see Christ in you. Be a steadfast Christian with Christ in your heart. The Holy Spirit will extend God’s hand to those in need - perhaps through your faithful presence.

Thank you for sharing! This is really helpful. 👍🏼 I’m keeping these notes close in my heart when we interact with Japanese students who came to Canada even only for a short period.

Hello, I just found your channel from an acquaintance on Facebook sharing this video! I am going to go through the rest of your content, but I wanted to suggest that the one issue that was brought up about how Japanese "say one thing, and often do another" sounds like their culture of 本前 and 建前, where they don't usually share their real feelings. This likely connects with the point he made that you "have to stay in Japan for 10 years" for their trust to be built to let this deeply ingrained psychological wall falter. Agree absolutely that we should lead with love and not withhold the possibility of a relationship just because they won't convert right away. I apologize if this is something that's already been brought up and considered on a past episode, but that's my two cents to share. 😊 God bless you in the work you're doing.

I honor his 50+ years of ministry. But I am struggling with the emphasis on 'God is love' and the de-emphasis of repentance. The book of Acts--which is full of missionary activity--there is not one mention of God's love. And there's much emphasis on repentance. Maybe the message should be adjusted for each culture it's brought into, but what he said is a hard pill to swallow. I guess I need convincing. (I'm pondering these things not for myself, but because we will send a missionary to Japan in July.)

I totally agree with Christ's genuine love. Age tends to soften zealous Christians in this regard. "It's your kindness that leads us to repentance, O Lord."

Thank you JCATS for your podcasts & thank you for this one especially, with the introduction of Intercultural Theology. I pay my respect to guest lady & I applause her for her work. I'm so craving for Intercultural Theology & with the hope to get it as a bridge to my world & the world outside.

auto-caption has mythologist for missiologist

If you haven't read it, Kazoh Kitamori's theology of the Pain of God is so good.

We have a Japanese friend living in Kensannuma who does Christian Enka music and shares her testimony of writing her songs. We also have an American friend living in Japan who plays (makes and teaches) Shakuhatchi (traditional bamboo flute) who shares his testimony during his concerts. Let me know if your church is interested in connecting with them to host!

As you were talking about a linear presentation of, like, the trajectory of Creation (heading toward New Heaven/New Earth), something that came to mind was about all the now-but-not-yet qualities there are to that which we see throughout the Bible, and how cyclical/echoing that can be. I can see that reflect that upward spiral you were talking about 🤔 Like, I was reflecting on 1 Corinthians 11 earlier in the week, and one commentator mentioned how Paul is connecting Israel's experience in the wilderness with Christians' experience now: The Israelites may have been established as a nation at Mt. Sinai, but to what extent could they fully be a nation before they finally entered Canaan? They both were, but weren't yet. In the same way, Christians are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven--and thus, the Kingdom has come--but the Kingdom is still on its way, in full.

Nice video. I like Koyama a lot. However I think that when we as foreigners ("gaijin") talk about the Gospel in Japan it will always appear foreign to Japanese people. Yoroshiku Stephan Johanus

Where can I contact you on Facebook? I couild not find you. Greetings Stephan J.

A great program. Congrats. Yoroshiku S. Johanus

Hi! Could you please put the machine translate which can choose Japanese sub titles?