"More Western missions groups are looking for ways to work legally in China. There are 51 American Protestant missions agencies working inside China, according to the Evangelism and Missions Information Service." This quote is from this article from the Christianity Today website.
I remember, returning back from home, thinking about why there are so many missions organizations working in China while there are so few working in Japan. A while ago, after World War II, there were quite a few missions organizations working in Japan. What happened? According to the Joshua Project website, the percentage of evangelical Japanese is at 0.3%. Obviously, the work here isn't done... or close to being done. On and on, I wondered, "What's going on?" Why are the agencies pulling out of Japan? Why aren't the agencies looking for ways to work in Japan as they seem to be in China? I look at the congregations I've seen in Japan, and see that indeed the average of pastors in Japan is climbing to senior status. I listen to the congregations and hear that many if not most members have been saved through a missionary or some missionaries some years ago... and so, they themselves are getting to senior status.
The pessimist in me says that the excitement found in the amazing reports of the movement in China is the reason for the drastic shift in resources. But is that all that the Western missions movement is about? Going to where the "action" is? I hope not.