Southwestern mission trip team to Japan encouraged by openness to the Gospel

Eleven students and faculty of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Texas Baptist College used their fall reading days to work alongside International Mission Board missionaries in Japan, a first-world country where only about 5 percent of the population have heard the Gospel, and only 1 percent are evangelical Christians.

Dean Sieberhagen, dean of the Roy J. Fish School of Evangelism and Missions, said the team of 10 students and himself was a perfect blend of those that had been to Japan, most more than once, and those who had never been there, including Sieberhagen.

“It is so unique,” Sieberhagen said of his first trip to Japan. Despite his having visited 25 or more other countries, he pointed out that Japan practices a mixture of Buddhism and Shinto religion that he has never seen anywhere else. “… I’d always heard about it and read about it, but never seen it with my own eyes, so I was glad to have been able to be there and see it.”

During the first days of the trip, Sieberhagen said they took time to walk around the area and observe the Japanese people and the practice of their religion at Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines.

“It was hard watching them practice their faith where there was a real sense of just complete lostness and hopelessness, of just no access to the Gospel,” Sieberhagen said. “I think what struck us as we talked to the students was just complete ignorance as to the Gospel. No one had ever told them anything about the Gospel.”

Peter Elliot*, a Master of Divinity student from McKinney, Texas, who went on the trip with his wife Marie*, described visiting the prominent Meiji Jingu Shinto shrine and said when they asked Japanese college students who or what they worshiped when they went to these shrines, almost none of them had an answer.

“It became clear that they have a longing to seek and worship something greater than themselves, but the false gods enshrined at these sites offer no purpose or peace,” Peter said, saying it reminded him of Acts 17 when Paul spoke to people about an altar to an “unknown god.”

Marie, a Master of Divinity student from Van Alstyne, Texas, said she has now visited that shrine a number of times during her various visits to Japan, and each time she is saddened by the clear lostness of the thousands of visitors to the site who pay to write wishes or prayers on plaques that can be left at the shrine.

“It’s like they are searching for hope in a very wrong place,” Marie said.

The Southwestern team spent time prayer walking in the neighborhoods around the church and the missionaries they partnered with, around Buddhist temples, and the imperial grounds. They also visited two college campuses to interact with students there by offering short English lessons and invited them to lunches hosted by the church. On one day, they also ministered to the homeless in the area.

Sieberhagen said they spent much of their time at the Waseda University, one of the top universities in Japan, which has an open policy that allowed the team to hold lengthy Gospel conversations with students.

Jefferson Miller of Greenville, Texas, who is in the 5-year program and interested in Intercultural Studies, said he grew up with a fondness for Japan and aspects of its culture such as anime. But more recently he became aware of the strong hold atheism, Buddhism, and the Shinto religion have on that country.

“As I’ve grown older and read and seen more of Japan, I’ve seen how lost it was,” Miller said. “… Seeing that lostness really tugged on my heart.”

Miller said one of the young people they met was a student who hopes to move to Texas in the future for further studies and a career. Because of that common ground, Miller was able to speak with him again before their departure, sharing the Gospel while sharing a meal.

Ariel Perez from Dallas, a Master of Theological Studies in Spanish student, recalled speaking to one individual who said he had never heard about Jesus, but when team members asked if they could share with him, he decided to walk away. But other times, Perez said the team was able to have very encouraging conversations, especially among the students they met.

“This showed me that there is potential in Japan for a new generation with a heart and desire to hear and share the Gospel,” Perez said, adding that even in an organized and structured culture with a strong foundation in false religion, the youth seem to realize that those traditions may not hold the truth.

Prioritizing a respect for the culture, Sieberhagen said they did not often receive pushback to their sharing the Gospel, especially on the college campus, and frequently had conversations that would last an hour or two.

“We were very encouraged when we spoke to the students, because they were open to talk,” Sieberhagen said. “And we began really with their worldview and their belief system.”

Sieberhagen said he believes their conversations and invitations on behalf of the church will serve as “door openers” for the missionaries they worked with, saying they were able to create interest that they hope will lead them to visit the church and to a point of accepting the Gospel.

“Overall, we were just left with a feeling of a great need—there’s a great need for the Gospel there—but also that God is working in young people,” Sieberhagen said. “These students show that there’s an openness amongst young people, and this is the time to send workers to the harvest field.”

This mission trip, his first time leaving the country, gave Miller a passion to return to Japan, where only about 1 percent are Christians.

“I want to serve in Japan,” Miller said. “I want to go and preach the Gospel to Japan and help the lost find Christ.”

Miller said he encourages every Southwestern and Texas Baptist College student to take advantage of the opportunities the seminary offers through mission trips around the country and the world every year, “even if it makes you uncomfortable.”

*Names changed to protect future mission work.