March 2006
Newsbrief
Greetings in Jesus’ name from Japan. A couple of weeks
ago, I (Tim) attended the official unveiling of the results of
a major poll in Japan on religious and worldview attitudes among
the Japanese. The poll was conducted by the Japan branch of the
Gallup Poll, and George Gallup Jr. made a home video presentation
to be presented to the missionary community in Japan. After his
opening greetings, he began the presentation by saying, “In
my 50 years of polling, there has been no study that I would consider
as important as this one, because it not only provides you with
new insight into a fascinating culture (and one that is mysterious
to outsiders in some ways), but also because the survey findings
point to ways that evangelistic strategies can be put in place.
As a survey researcher, I am of course dedicated to total objectivity
in question wording, and other aspects of survey research. As
a Christian, I am keenly interested in the prospects of spreading
the gospel of Jesus Christ in Japan. I believe that the most important
discovery one can make in life is the discovery that one can have
a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and it is my constant
hope and prayer that every person in the world will come not only
to know about Jesus Christ, but to know him as his or her Lord
and Savior.”
There were several aspects of the results of this survey of 3,500
Japanese from various backgrounds and ages that are particularly
significant to our calling as missionaries in this country. Something
that certainly comes as no surprise to us is that a large majority
of Japanese say they have no particular religion, even though
the vast majority of these still go through the cultural rituals
of going to Shinto shrines for “blessings” and Buddhist
temples for funerals. Only 30 percent of adults claimed to have
any formal religious beliefs, but of these about 12 percent said
they were “Christians,” which comes out to almost
4 percent of the total population. With youth, the number claiming
to having any religion dropped to only 20 percent, but a surprising
one-third of these described themselves as “Christians!”
This works out to about 7 percent of teenagers, with girls being
particularly high in numbers. Of course, since less than 1 percent
of the population are actually members of churches, and young
people on average are underrepresented among those who usually
attend church services, the obvious question is, “Where
is everybody?”
What these figures tell us is that Jesus is rather popular in
Japan, even though his church (in the sense of organized, formal
churches) is not. There are numerous historical and cultural reasons
for this, and so while these statistics are disturbing in one
sense (our relative lack of success in “church growth”),
they are very encouraging in a different sense. It means there
is quite a bit of openness to the gospel message of Jesus Christ,
and so this should motivate us to find ways of encouraging more
than just an “intellectual acceptance” of Jesus, but
a life commitment as well.
Another set of statistics of great interest (and concern) that
came out of this study is the prevailing sense of lack of purpose
found in many Japanese youth today. There has been quite a bit
in the Japanese news about the huge number of “NEET”
(Not in Employment, Education or Training—an acronym that
has been imported into Japanese to describe this phenomenon),
a designation for young people who aren’t going anywhere
in life. It is a phenomenon that really has the Japanese public
worried, and several statistics from this Gallup Poll bear this
out. In his video presentation, George Gallup Jr. said, “Young
people in Japan are desperately in need of the healing hand of
Jesus. Compared to their U.S. counterparts, Japanese teens are
extremely bleak in their outlook on life. 22 percent of U.S. teens,
but 85 percent of Japanese teens say they often wonder why they
exist. 76 percent of teens in the United States say they always
see a reason for their being on Earth, but only 13 percent of
Japanese teens say this. 76 percent of U.S. teens say they would
choose their life the way it is right now, but only half (48 percent)
of their Japanese counterparts give this response. 12 percent
of U.S. teens wish they were someone else, but three times this
percentage of Japanese youth respond this way. And finally, 3
percent of U.S. teens go so far as to say they wish they had never
been born. But more than three times as many Japanese teens (11
percent) give this startling response.”
Japanese society is rapidly changing, and clearly the “answers”
people used to have to the “big questions” such as
purpose in life are quickly evaporating. This opens the way for
new approaches that particularly focus on the feelings of hopelessness
so prevalent among Japanese youth. We couldn’t agree more
with Mr. Gallup’s closing comments:
“Today could well be a historic moment of opportunity to
‘seize the day’ and bring the people of Japan to an
ever-growing awareness of the life-changing and life-saving message
of Jesus Christ.”
As always, we deeply appreciate your continued support of our
work through you prayers and offerings.
Grace and Peace,
Tim and Juji Boyle
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
252 |
