The dream is to see many church planting movements in Japan. For many years, as the church in Japan has been declining in several areas, little vision was seen for new churches in Japan. We are overjoyed that God raised up the “Church Multiplication Vision Festa.” In 2014, 65 leaders from all over the country gathered with a vision for church multiplication. Last year those numbers grew to 180 leaders! Last month many of these key leaders were spearheading a new emphasis for new churches at the Japan 6th Congress on Evangelism. When this congress was last held in 2009, there was very little on church planting. Many leaders prayed and worked hard to change this congress. John was asked to be part of the Church Multiplication Project Team.
The Congress on Evangelism gathered 2,000 leaders from groups all over Japan. This congress had major events focused on church planting.
- Pastor Yoshiya Hari, project team director, presented to the entire congress the vision and need for church multiplication.
- 150 Japanese took part in a seminar on church planting case studies.
- At the same time, 30 English speakers learned about church multiplication through a CPI seminar led by John and three other CPI leaders.
- 100 key Japanese leaders met to consider concrete future steps to change the atmosphere of churches where church multiplication is normal.
As a result of these meetings it was agreed that the next Church Multiplication Vision Festa will be held in Sendai in the Spring of 2017. We anticipate upwards of 200 or 300 to come this time. Also the Global Church Planting Network will gather the East Asia Network in Japan for the first time in September 2017. This will help develop a national initiative for church planting throughout Japan. 2017 will be a busy year with CPI having its national conference in October. We pray, work, network and train.
The numbers of leaders are growing and the momentum is building. Continue to pray that the momentum for new churches would grow among Japanese leaders.
