Once there, the team will be working arm-and-arm with Kurume Christ Church and Higashi-Kurume's missionary community to put on a VBS-like day camp. BEK camp combines traditional VBS activities such as worship, games, and creative Bible teaching with English lessons. The goal of the trip is to minister to the children of Higashi-Kurume, Christian or otherwise, along with their families. Since Japanese mothers are extremely involved with the lives of their children, they will often accompany their kids to BEK camp (and will subsequently hear the Message as well!). You can read more about past BEK trips from my (sadly unfinished) blogs "Japan!" and "BEK 2012".
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| BEK 2012 |
I know Japan isn't the first country to come to your mind when you think "mission field," but please believe me when I say Japan is in dire need of Christ's love. The amount of Japanese Christians is dangling under 2% of the population. Though the majority claims to be either Shinto or Buddhist, many of them have very little faith and simply "go through the motions" to appease the strict requirements of Japan's conformist society. It is this same idea of conformity that makes it very difficult for a Japanese man or women to switch to and practice a "foreign" religion.
Ever since the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 11th, many Japanese are feeling hopeless, lost, and depressed-but cultural taboos and social pressure makes it extremely difficult to deal with these problems healthily. The end result, sadly, is often suicide.
I believe that knowing that there is a Heavenly Father that loves and cherishes them would make a huge difference in the lives of the Japanese; but the challenge of reaching them through tough barriers of conformity and tradition is ever-present. Please keep Japan in your prayers!
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