NEED • So Many, So Few

advanced

An advanced nation can still be a spiritually impoverished people.

Where Is The Need Greatest?

When you think of a country that is in great need of the gospel, what comes into your mind? For most of us, it would be some developing nation with tribal groups and "backward" ways. Too often we equate spiritual need with material need.

But great spiritual need can and does exist in developed countries. No where is this clearer than in Japan. The home of Sony and Toyota is a well-educated, prosperous, talented society...that is in desperate spiritual need.

Japan has just under 128 million people squeezed into an area smaller than California. Greater Tokyo is the largest city in the world with well over 36 million citizens and an average population density of around 7000 people per square mile.

An impressive mass of concentrated humanity. But why should this draw the attention of any Christian that takes fulfilling Christ's command to "GO and TELL" seriously? Because Japan is the

largest unreached people group on the planet.

"Contrary to popular belief, Japan is far from being a 'reached' country with a growing, vibrant church. In fact, Japan has fewer baptized believers in Jesus Christ than some Muslim countries." (Christian World News Report)

Consider the following statistics on Christianity in Japan.

Evangelical Christians	Evangelical Churches	Evangelical Missionaries
266,970	7835	2362
1 per 478 people	1 per 16,064 people	1 per 53,285 people

I have a hard time relating these figures to 127+ million people, so let's downsize a little and play "If these places were in Japan." Since a lot of our friends are from Texas and Alabama, we'll use...

Place	Population	But if this were Japan, there would be only...	Christians	Churches	Missionaries
Collin County, TX (McKinney, Plano, Allen, Frisco, Richardson, Wylie, North Dallas)	698,851		1462	43	13
Frisco	100,000		209	6	1.8

Greater Birmingham (Jefferson, Shelby, Walker, Cullman, Blount, St. Clair, Bibb & Chilton Counties)	1,180,206		2469	73	22
Birmingham (city limits)	250,000		523	15	4.6
Homewood, Vestavia, Hoover	113,875		238	7	2
Note: Average church size in Japan is 35 members.

See these numbers and you realize what a great task lies ahead of us to reach the Japanese people for Christ. We must see them as God sees them:

"remember that you were at that time separate from Christ...having no hope and without God in the world." (Ephesians 2:12)

Separated. No hope. Without God. Over 127 million precious souls, the vast number of which have never even met a Christian, much less heard the gospel.

So many, yet so few.

Our hearts are broken as we see Japan through God's eyes. And for all their material wealth and comfort, the Japanese people are empty, hungry, and naked. Great problems are facing the once "perfect" society, and the hearts of the Japanese people are opening to the gospel.

NEXT: The challenges facing Japan today.