Seven modern-day spiritual Samurai warriors have gathered near Tokyo station to begin their ministry training.
It marked the relaunch of a major training initiative, known as the Samurai Projects, which seeks to raise up the next generation of Bible-teaching servant leaders for the land of the rising sun.
Most people in the West only encounter the Samurai in Hollywood films, but those medieval warriors are still renowned for their righteous character, heroic courage, and extreme loyalty to their master. Director James Ballinger said: ‘Such virtues are essential for all those who seek to follow the greatest master of all: the Lord Jesus Christ’.
The need for more Christian workers in Japan is immense. Fewer than 0.5% of its 126 million people profess to be evangelical Christians, making the Japanese one of the largest unreached people groups in the world. One in eight churches has no pastor, the average age of a pastor is 68, and nearly half of all pastors are over 70. Japanese theological colleges in Japan have tiny numbers of students enrolled, and those numbers are falling rapidly. There is a looming crisis, and few are suggesting what the answers are. Furthermore, assistant minister roles are rare, the pipeline for new workers is running dry, and hands-on training for those who do appear is often hard to come by.
The Samurai Projects is aiming to address this imbalance by supporting experienced pastors, who are already at capacity with the existing demands of pastoral ministry, in raising up the next generation of leaders – in part by creating apprenticeships in their churches.
The Samurai Projects seeks to change this by creating apprentice Samurai, who will be taught faithfully to understand and teach the Scriptures, and to grow in godly character and convictions. They will then have opportunities to put this training into practice in various ministries around Tokyo.
Ballinger said: ‘It may feel like the day of small things, but one small band of disciples devoted to their master did overturn the world, and the modern-day Samurai hope to do something similar’.
