Well, I again find myself with a lot of questions about the church in Japan…and this is mainly because 1. that is where I am 2.the Church has not grown so much these past 500 years. There is no easy answer for that, nor is there just one answer. But it is something that is always on my mind as I go about life. Recently I was thinking about the next generation of believers in the church…and then the previous generation…and then the previous one before them. I wonder if each generation’s experience of the church differs because, by the second generation, things have already gotten up and running, and when we come to the third generation, many things are up and running. And that might not always be beneficial to the spiritual walk of each member. What do I mean?
For the first generation, there is not much of a church. There is a missionary, some elder believers and perhaps some pretty intense evangelistic meetings that are happening. When a person is saved, they are first discipled, generally one on one. And for the first generation after the war in many evangelical churches, this was done through a missionary perhaps. So, while there is a great emphasis on going to church on Sundays, prayer meetings and evangelism…this seems to be all conducted in the context of personal discipleship. What that means, hopefully, is that if the missionary or leader is based, the emphasis of the discipleship will not just be on the doing aspect, but on God Himself.
Now the second generation arrives through births and other evangelistic activities. But this time, they grow up in an environment where things are already moving. There is no need to really teach them to come to church on Sunday or what is expected of them, since the community is already in action. And so, rather than personal one on one discipleship, it is more so about having them join the flow of the community. The Gospel is given to them, but once they believe, they simply need to attend Sunday service, attend prayer meeting, join in the programs and help out in other areas. Now at face value, this is not much different than generation one…except that there was a lessening of personal discipleship. What effect might the that have though on a person? The danger here is then being very apt at living the “Christian life” and doing “Christian things”, but not knowing God in a real personal way. The heart of the matter was lessened because on the surface, everything looked okay. But this leads the church into a subtle shift which isn’t apparent (since everything is still moving). There are many people who are doing church without truly knowing Christ. And no one notices it right away. So things continue.
And then the third generation arrives, and they know the expectations, but because the second generation lacks a fundamental and vibrant joy in the Lord, things are treated as burdens. And things are done not so much for the Lord, but out of fear of others, out of fear of judgment, out of much more passive and negative motivations. And the third generation sees this and feels quite repelled. They might believe in God, but all of this church stuff, all of this sacrifice…there seems to be so little appeal to it all. So they decide to distance themselves from the church…some only a little, others completely. They all might even still believe in God, but it is not so much of a vibrant experienced faith, but something that that they can’t quite deny, but also don’t quite know themselves.
Which means the fourth generation will grow up with very little faith effecting their environment. So, what is needed. That will be the next post, but so I myself don’t forget…1.More intentional and personal discipleship 2.Less programs that often a. take away from discipleship b. get mistaken for discipleship c. gets confused with true faith d. displaces God as the center of worship and in its place has the fear of man and “keeping a system running” as its core.
Quinby 