Acts 13:38-39 “Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.”

Here we have an example of Paul’s preaching to Jews and “God fearers,” those who were actively studying and following Judaism. This statement would have made very little sense to people who weren’t trying to follow the Law of Moses. This is why it is very important to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit at all times, because something that might touch one person deeply could be meaningless to another person with a different background. Cross-cultural evangelism can be very challenging! Preaching to people with at least a cultural understanding of the Gospel is frankly much easier than trying to communicate with those who have no foundation for understanding the idea of a personal Creator who cares about His creation. Even in Islam, which is certainly monotheistic, there is no idea of a loving heavenly Father. I have read or heard multiple testimonies of former Muslims who said that Islam by definition means “submission,” and there was no joy in it. And then there are atheists, who need to be shown that the complexity of the universe, and of life itself, logically requires a Creator, a guiding Intelligence, before going on to explain the love of that Creator. The task can be daunting indeed, but God will give wisdom to those who ask for it, because He “wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4)

As a child of American missionaries in Japan, and a pastor here myself, this is an issue I have been aware of all my life. I went to seminary in the US, and sad to say, the Personal Evangelism course I took has been completely useless here, because Japanese culture has no framework for the techniques I was taught. That’s not to say that Japanese can’t be saved, by any means. Rather, it means that boiler-plate techniques, such as I see being used on YouTube, simply don’t work here. 50 years ago I was with a very well-meaning young American missionary who was “evangelizing” a high school student on the street, and he got him to express agreement with all the tenets of the Gospel. The only problem was, the high school student was just being polite, and his words meant nothing to him. I’ve got to express the Gospel on the basis of relationship, and that can be hard work. One of my major frustrations is that people look at me with admiration, considering me to be very good, but because I’m a Caucasian they see me as “other,” and don’t think they could have the relationship with God that I do, and so don’t reach out to receive. That’s why I desire so earnestly for the believers in this church to wake up to their own responsibilities and opportunities for evangelism, because they are automatically several steps closer to those around them than I could ever be. If I didn’t know that God is capable of anything, I would have given up a long time ago!

Father, thank You for this reminder, and for Your faithfulness over the years. This coming Sunday we are celebrating 40 years of using the name, Shinsei no Sato, and You have indeed touched many people in that interval. Thank You for all the seed that has been plan­ted, and especially for what has come to fruition. I pray that there would be more and more harvest, for the salvation of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!