(From Journal: November 8, 2001 11:03 PM)
In the midst of all the busyness and all the noise surrounding meÖ Iíve forgotten to ask God why Iím here in Kaminoyama. Considering that Iím only here for six months to get ready for the ìlong haulî of 1 Ω years in a completely different locationÖ Iíve been wondering, why didnít God just bring me to Japan six months later? And so, Iíve also been wondering the follow-up question saying, ìWell, in that case He must have something in store for me hereÖ what is it?î Ahhh, but constant busyness can keep you away from asking such questionsÖ and keeps you from staying long enough to hear the answer! Regardless, yesterday, I went to visit the Davisí in Obanazawa with the intent of just having a good time and just getting acquainted. Needless to say, I got much more than that. Of course, they were here in Kaminoyama for some time before Kristy came here. And for a while we went through the small talk and asking the polite questionsÖ etc. etc.. But I was truly blessed by the time we had just ìcomparing notesî talking about our experiences in Kaminoyama and the church here. Just by comparing notesÖ I realized just how far the church has come along since they left the church. I always heard from Kristy about the fact that the church here has changed considerably over the past year, but the talk with the Davisí really confirmed that with real concrete things that Iíve witnessed for myself. But that wasnít it. Midstream, as I was talking to them about the things Iíve seen, I realized how God could possibly use me for this 6 month stint.
Talking with other missionaries here with LIFE, Iíve always heard, weíre not just here for language teaching. And I thought I understood. ìSure,î Iíd think to myself, ìweíre here to evangelize to Japan by reaching out to those who donít know Jesus!î But there were two things that were wrong. First, in terms of action and time spent, it sure looked like I was here in Kaminoyama for the sake of English teaching. Sure, thereíd be a chapel time after the English lessonÖ and in that sense I was really helping the church reach out to otherwise unreached people. But I always came away from that thinkingÖ being very unsatisfied, wondering if the church would continue to be able to reach out to the community without a missionary present. This is one of the foremost goals right? That a church would be able to effectively reach out to its community so that it could effectively church plantÖ thus, making the whole process self-sustaining. And so, Iíd go back to the wonderings of what exactly am I doing here?
After talking to the Davisí I came away with a sense of a personal mission for six months. Which is why there were two things that were wrong. The second being, before I had a sense of being the only member of the evangelistic arm of the church. In essence, I thought I was going to do lone ranger type work. After all, Iím not here with a team. Itís just me in Kaminoyama. Or so I thought. Since Iíve been here, slowly, Iíve noticed that many members of the church here are extremely gifted. Itís just that, I only see glimpses of it because most of the members for some reason or another, simply donít take roles of leadership within the church. But because of my own busyness (or sense of it) I never put two and two together. On the long train ride back to Kaminoyama (about 2 hours), I thought about how I could possibly encourage these members to ìstep up.î And that was it. Itís been said before that if you catch fish for a guy then heíll have enough food for a day, but if you teach a guy how to fish, then heíll have enough food for a lifetime. Similarly, instead of concentrating all my energy towards personally reaching out to the lost in the community, I should spend a considerable portion of it training the already existing church to reach the community. After all, I have some experience in doing such both in college and at church back home. I have the Bible studies, and messages that I can adapt to become Bible studies regarding the subject. Itís just that with personally reaching out to people, Iíve realized that especially here in Japan, you need to build a repoire before anything can happen. Although I donít quite have a strong repoire with the church members yetÖ I can tell that itís growing quickly in comparison to those who are not members of the church. AhhÖ laity leadership empowerment. I get goosebumps thinking about the possibilities. Itíd definitely leave a more permanent impact after I leave. Once again, my job is to work myself out of a job. Can it be done? Well, considering the possible impact, Iíd have to give it a try.