I have been gnawing on something that happened to me recently. This past week, I was the missionary in residence at our church’s day camp. One of the kids, who I know came up and was talking with me. I asked him where he had just come from. “Crafts.” he said. “Oh,” I inquired, “did you make some fun stuff?” “No… the thing we made was kind of dumb.” “Oh, don’t say that.” I said. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew I sounded like one of my great aunts, when they used to chide me at his age.

As I thought about it, I pondered why we always tell kids things like that. Kids are born with an innate sense of honesty. They say whatever they think (and often whatever they hear their parents say – often to their chagrin). But over the years, society conditions them to keep their mouths shut. This brain to mouth filter is built up that prevents that brutal honesty. This was one element culture that was even more pronounced in Japan; westerners and crass and blunt by comparison. The question I kept asking myself, was is this healthy? Does our society function smoothly because we can keep our mouths shut, or does a lack of honesty create a lack of authenticity and real relationship skills.

My thoughts went to Ephesians 4. The verses 14-15 address truth, but also fill in another necessary detail.

\\ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.\\

We must always we dedicated to communicating the truth, but that communication will produce no fruit unless we do it in such a way that it is clear to the other person that we care about their interests. The group Acappella has a song which my wife likes. I think the words of the chorus are a great commentary on the subject.

Are we teaching the truth in love
Telling it like it is
Are we holding pure motives,
Showing that we care
Are we teaching the truth in love

This has been an especially important for Theresa and me this week. We are in the process of discussing ministry opportunities in Japan with our church’s leadership. Commitment to be involved in international ministry at this level is a significant one for our small church both in time and resources. As such, these discussions have had significant points of tension. These have been and hopefully will continue to be handled with honesty, love, and grace. But it’s difficult.

Most of us don’t err in the sense that what we say has neither truth nor love, it trying to appropriately have both that can be the problem. Continue pray for Theresa and me as we interact with our partners and potential partners here in the US as well as future teammates. Pray that we would continue to refine our balance between these two important elements.

I sit here adjusting to a new time zone thinking about some of the differences between America and Japan that I noticed upon return to the States. We made it back safely yesterday afternoon and slept well last night. It shouldn’t be long till we’re up and kicking around like normal. One of the first differences I noticed between the two countries was when we were in the Dallas airport waiting for our flight to Baltimore. One of the airline employees was propped up by her elbows on her desk sipping a drink. Normally I wouldn’t think much of it. Having just returned from Japan however, it caught me off guard. When we were at the airport in Japan, the employees stood up straight and scurried around like ants in an ant colony. If they weren’t smiling, they were busily running around getting things done. It didn’t seem like they’d be propping their elbows up anytime soon….

Another difference I noticed was the bathrooms. In Japan, the bathrooms are sort of like a closet – no space between the door and the wall for the hinge, just completely closed up. Not so here! When I used the bathroom in Dallas, I was shocked. “They can see in!” I thought. Yep, they sure could. Ah well, I guess it’s easier to tell if the bathroom is occupied or not.

It was nice to be in a place where I understand all of the signs and messages on the intercom. Although it made me realize that I can’t go saying whatever I want to Colby taking for granted that the people around me won’t understand….hehehe, almost learned that one the hard way

On a more serious note, the Lord gave us a good trip home. None of our luggage was lost or stolen and Colby and I are doing well. We would appreciate your prayers as we and our sending church dialogue about possibilities about our future in ministry.

Moving to Asia – half way across the world – can be a challenge. There are significant differences between the “East” and the “West”. But just as significant are the differences between the “Majority World” (the two-thirds of the world that is economically and politically underdeveloped) and the “Minority World” (economically and politically developed countries). Much of the focus of international ministry today is on countries in the east (specifically Asia) that are part of the majority world. Even though they can be separated by different religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, & Islam) and cultural distinctions, there are many similarities in approach to ministry.

So now that you have had your missiology primer for the day, let me get on to my point… Cross-cultural ministry in Japan is different from many other parts of the world.

Japan is in a category shared by only a few other countries (mainly the Gulf States and the other “Asian Tigers”) in that it is not western, but is in the minority world as far as economics and political stability are concerned. This means that cross-cultural workers here don’t deal with problems of poverty, corruption, lack of infrastructure, and other such issues that many of the workers in the rest of the world would. Missionaries, typically, tend to have a lower standard of living than their peers in America, but those ministering in majority countries usually live better than the average national. Here in Japan, the missionaries live at the same standard (or even sometimes below) the people they are ministering to. The Japanese are self-sufficient and aren’t looking for help from westerners.

Although this should be the case in all settings, it is especially important in Japan that the missionaries work in supporting and mobilizing roles rather than ones of leadership and direct ministry. This past weekend, we were able to spend some time with Pastor Nakamura. He pastors a small church in Shunan. He has a vision to plant cell churches in many of the surrounding cities and eventually expand the fellowship to the place where it can begin sending out cross-cultural workers to other parts of Asia. Some of the missionaries here have been working with Pastor Nakamura to begin a cell church in Yanai by opening their home for meetings and trying to make contacts in the community. Pastor Nakamura leads the meetings and the missionaries help where they can. While small and not always very aggressive, the Japanese church has an extended history and many very capable leaders.

As Theresa and I look toward cross-cultural ministry, this is the type of ministry we want to be involved in. You have heard me talk in the past about a passion for seeing the church in Japan be authentically Japanese. One of the significant factors in that endeavor will be full-fledged Japanese leadership.

Pray for Pastor Nakamura and the Catons as they reach-out to the people of Yanai. Pray that their efforts to build relationships will produce fruit.

We have returned from Friendship English Camp. Some of you may be surprised to be reading this. In the last entry, Colby said that we would be back in communication on August 8th. He meant to say the 3rd – sorry for the confusion!

It’s hard to believe that the camp we’ve been preparing for all month has finally passed. We had about 23 kids come for the camp which is a good turnout. In Japan, even when the kids are out of school, there are still many school activities going on and there is a pressure for them to be involved with them. The fact that 23 kids decided to come to a Bible and English camp was a really neat thing! I helped out with teaching English to the 3 Junior High girls that came. That was certainly a different experience! I had never taught English to anyone at such a beginner stage before and since I can’t speak Japanese, it was a challenge at times to communicate with them. Thankfully one of the other missionaries and a bilingual Japanese helper were with me and they could translate through the tricky parts. It gave me some good experience for the future!

Each night one of the Japanese pastors shared from the Bible with the kids. Even though I couldn’t understand what they said, the kids seemed to be interested in what they were talking about. Hopefully seeds will have been planted and lives will be changed. We were all concerned about the weather – I guess in years past it has gotten quite hot at camp and can tend to be miserable. God really answered our prayers though and sent plenty of clouds and cool weather. The camp was located up in the mountains and gave us a beautiful view everywhere we looked. Although it went well, Colby and I were grateful to come back to Hikari yesterday and rest. We were commenting to each other that we certainly aren’t kids any longer and are more concerned with saving our energy than expending it!

Please pray for the kids that came to the English camp that God would remind them of what they learned about Him and use that to change their lives. It was interesting to note that the kids that were new this year knew absolutely nothing about God or the Bible. In America, even if a child doesn’t go to church, most usually they have heard at least a little bit about God, but not so here. To minister here, you really have to start from scratch with explaining about God and the Bible because otherwise they have no idea what you’re talking about. It was a good thing for Colby and I to see that will affect the way we minister in the future.

Thank you for all of your prayers!