Kawasaki Church, Japan

Pastor Lee JinHwan

When I applied for PMM with fear and anticipation, my friends and acquaintances were against it because they were worried about me.  Of course, I fully understood the reason for their concern and knew I was not the best person to do the work of a missionary.  They thought it was impossible for me to accomplish a new task, especially something nobody had ever done; moreover, I was so passive that I merely followed what others did because I lacked confidence.

If all that is true, then why did I become a missionary?  I didn’t even learn Japanese properly.  I didn’t care for Japan or know much about it.  The real reason is probably that I hated my irresolute and weak character.

Three years have passed since then, and I’m so pleased with my decision to be a missionary.  I’m sure this is the most blessed work in the world.  I have begun to think this way mainly because I experienced the love of God, who answered my prayers all the time.

The financial problems of my family didn’t really matter to me. God helped me out whenever there was a need.  He taught me how to cut down on expenses, so I couldn’t live like Japanese people whose salary is two to three times higher than that of Koreans.  He granted me many chances to pray so that I could get help from people around me.  He also blessed me with an opportunity to witness a raven, which brought vegetables and rice.

When I moved to my new post after a year in a Japanese language course, I tearfully prayed as I held onto the white wall of the empty office that was being used as a church building.  It was a very precious experience for me.  This 36-square-meter office was located in the inner part of the building and could barely be seen from the outside.  The only way to discover my church was through a window at the back of the building facing the trackside.  God turned that empty office into a place of worship while I prayed about it for a month, and I couldn’t help shedding tears of thanksgiving when a person that had not gone to Gamenokoyama Church for around 10 years attended the first worship service of my church.  I also burst into tears when a Filipino housewife that was married to a Japanese man changed subways several times to check the phone number of my church from the banner that I had prayerfully put up and was led to the worship service.  I thanked God once again for His profound guidance when my daughter, a second-year high school student, became the second person to get baptized at my church.

As many other people that had not been to my church for a while came back, I had to rent an office twice as big the next year because the old one didn’t have enough space.  Despite my poor Japanese, I was able to get a new church and a new house by going around real estate offices for three months.  I guess I gained more confidence from living in Japan.  I am grateful just to think about how God has met my needs when I prayed that His will would determine the right place.

I had to pray for a much bigger miracle as I experienced God’s continuous answers to my prayers.  Because Japan is a country almost destitute of Christians, I was able to realize a dream that would have been much more difficult in Korea, which is my great dream to be a missionary.  I am praying that over the next five years, God will send one percent of the 1.3 million people in Kawasaki to my church, and that He will get us a building lot for it.

 The second anniversary service of Kawasaski Church