Renewed Vision for Mission in Japan
The CLB has 76 years of mission history in Japan… and counting. It all started when the CLB mission field in China was closed due to Communist takeover. On December 1, 1948, P.M. Valder was the last LB missionary to step off China’s shores, ending a long and fruitful chapter of the CLB’s missionary presence in that field. Many wondered… what’s next?
Enter Pastor Morris Werdal, son of former China missionaries Marius and Marie Werdal. Morris longed to return to China, the land of his youth, to continue ministry there. He had heard about the open doors for mission in Japan, but was reluctant. The Japanese had been enemies of China. Their bombs had killed little Phoebe Nyhus, daughter of LB missionary colleagues, Arthur and Ruth Nyhus. But Japan continued to invade Morris’s thoughts. One evening, late in 1948, Morris heard God speaking to him, “Morris, you have prayed, ‘Lord, I’ll go where you want me to go.’ Do you really mean that? If I choose to send you to Japan, will you go?” Morris fell to his knees and prayed, “Yes, Lord. If you want me to go to Japan I’ll go.” 1 He contacted the LB mission board, and while open to the idea, they reported that there were not sufficient funds, but that he should attend the convention scheduled for later that year and express his sense of calling.
Enter Chaplain Harms Gunhus, an LB pastor serving as a chaplain for the US military, stationed in Japan. He penned an article in 1949, published in Faith & Fellowship magazine, making a plea for a missionary presence in Japan.
Enter Anton Peterson, a Minnesota farmer with a heart for mission who felt a compelling desire to support a missionary to Japan. He connected with Rev. R.S. Gjerde, of the Lutheran Brethren Finance Department, the night before the 1949 annual convention, and expressed his desire to support a missionary family in Japan. He was told that the LB had no mission work in Japan, but that they would reach out to him if someone came forward.2
These three stories were shared at the convention, upon which the entire Board fell on their knees for a time of thanksgiving. Morris and Marion were called as LB missionaries.
Thus started the Lutheran Brethren’s mission in Japan. More missionaries were called, and the Church was faithful to send them. The postwar era was incredibly fruitful. By the mid 1950s, the Japan field had 19 men and women serving as missionaries. Hundreds of Japanese had come to faith through their efforts. The Tohoku Bible School was opened. In 1959, a seminary was opened. In 1969, the Japanese Lutheran Brethren Church (JLBC) was founded. By the mid 1980s, the JLBC sent their first missionaries to Indonesia.
As postwar Japan settled into “normalcy,” the cultural hunger for the Christian message, and for the Christian God (in contrast to emperor worship), seemed to diminish. Interest in the Church and her message faded. Missionaries became discouraged; some left the field. LBIM missionaries labored. They planted and pastored churches. They taught in the seminary. They held Bible studies. They witnessed the gospel through English teaching, Tsunami relief, and relationships. By the turn of the century, the JLBC reported 28 churches and an estimated 1,200 members.
For various reasons, LBIM presence in Japan dwindled. The JBLC communicated that they would not likely be able to provide pastors to any new church plants. As church planting was the focus of LBIM in Japan, more missionaries left the field. In 2012, Dean and Linda Bengtson were the only remaining LBIM missionaries in Japan, serving the House of Hope ministry in Ishinomaki, a community that they helped through recovery from the Great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011. The thought was that LBIM’s missionary presence in Japan would end with the retirement of the Bengtsons… unless the Lord led otherwise.
Japan became known in mission circles as the “graveyard of missions.” Factors contributing to this sobering title included the following:
98% of the Japanese population are considered “unreached” (Joshua Project, 2021).
85% of religious adherence in Japan falls under a combination of Shinto (the indigenous religion of Japan) and Buddhism (statistica.com, 2022). Statistically, there is only one missionary serving per 260,000 Buddhists (thetravelingteam.org, 2022). That is equivalent to one missionary for all the city of Madison, WI.
Only 0.3% of the Japanese people are evangelical Christian.
Churches are closing. The Christian population is aging. Annual Evangelical growth rate is –0.4%. The global average is +2.6 (Joshua Project, 2021).
The Church of the Lutheran Brethren, through her international missions department, have always prioritized sending missionaries to serve in unreached places and among unreached peoples. Even considering the discouraging reality of the status of the Church and mission in Japan, it did not seem right that LBIM should shrink back from this mission, but rather should lean into it, and further invest in it. Japan may be considered the graveyard of mission, but God is all about bringing life from the deadest of contexts. Consider Sarah’s barren womb, Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones, Jonah in the belly of the fish, Lazarus’ tomb, or Christ’s work in all of us when we were dead in our sin.
In 2020, a dialogue started between LBIM director Dan Venberg, JLBC President Wakamatsu, and other Japanese national pastors. This dialogue has evolved into a renewed mission partnership and vision in Japan. The partnership is intentional in that it is:
Interdependent―LBIM and the JLBC will serve the mission together, each contributing gifts, resources, time, and relationship, so that together the mission can move forward better than if either partner were attempting it on their own.
Outreach focused―Our missionaries will not pastor churches. They will intentionally partner with already established JLBC congregations, serving alongside them for the purpose of community outreach and evangelism. Church plants will be at the initiative of the local congregations, not LBIM.
Integral―There will be an intentionality that ministry platforms will be developed that are innovative and holistic, meeting felt needs within the communities they serve, both proclaiming and displaying the message of the gospel.
Strategic―Mission strategy will be based on community assessment, missionary giftings, partnership potential, and the efficacy of relevant and contextual gospel proclamation.
Left: Alexa Fraser and Pastor Haruya sharing a map of Sendai city. Right: Pastors praying for the Frasers.
In the Fall of 2023, Paul and Alexa Fraser were sent to Japan as the first LBIM missionaries in this new venture. This has been a great encouragement to our Japanese brothers and sisters. Paul and Alexa have been focusing mostly on language learning the past two years, but we are now intentionally planning a ministry focus that has them serving alongside Minami Yoshinari church in Sendai. The vision is to plant a second campus of that church in a different part of the city. We are excited to see how God will continue to use them in this regard.
Mark and Sarah Undseth are candidates with LBIM, pursuing a sense of call to Japan. As I write this, they are in Japan, visiting our missionaries and JLBC churches and pastors, learning about our mission in Japan. They will then transition to a ministry internship at Rock of Ages LB church in Seattle, WA, where they will engage with both congregational ministry and with Japanese Ministries alongside Roger and Sue Olson, veteran missionaries to Japan. We are praying that, if this is the Lord’s will, they be affirmed in this calling by the Lord and by the Church.
As the Lord continues to raise up new laborers for his harvest fields, and as the Church remains faithful to send, may we, the disciple-making Church that is the CLB, be found faithful to our Lord’s mission. May we not be overly distracted by metrics and trends. May we not be of those that fold their arms on the perimeter of the harvest fields, waiting for something to happen. May we rather be of those who, full of anticipation, roll up their sleeves and wade in, partaking in the sowing and harvesting, resting in God’s promises. May we rejoice in the privilege it is to join him in the work and look forward to the day when we will gather with an uncountable and diverse, yet unified, throng in worship of our Lord.
Dan Venberg is the Director of Lutheran Brethren International Mission in Fergus Falls, MN.
1 Levang, Joseph H. The Church of the Lutheran Brethren 1900-1975 p.361.
2 Levang, Joseph H. The Church of the Lutheran Brethren 1900-1975 p.362.