{"id":23625,"date":"2025-12-22T16:57:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T21:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openbiblemessage.org\/?p=23625"},"modified":"2026-01-06T13:34:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T18:34:17","slug":"seventy-years-strong-the-past-present-and-promise-of-japan-open-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openbiblemessage.org\/es\/2025\/12\/seventy-years-strong-the-past-present-and-promise-of-japan-open-bible\/","title":{"rendered":"Seventy Years Strong: The Past, Present, and Promise of Japan Open Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On October 31 – November 5, 2025, Japan Open Bible Churches celebrated their seventieth anniversary. Global Missions Director Vince and Lois McCarty, Open Bible President Michael and Julie Nortune and I were honored to join them for this celebratory occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My own connection with Japan goes back to my twenty-third birthday when I boarded a plane to Kobe with two suitcases, only five words in my Japanese vocabulary, and a heart full of missionary zeal. During my six years there, the Japanese church shaped me deeply as both a missionary and a person. When I left Japan thirty-six years ago, I left a piece of my heart. Joining them again to celebrate seventy years brought me real joy! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I left Japan thirty-six years ago, I left a piece of my heart.<\/mark><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Japan Open Bible has become a true partner in ministry with Open Bible Churches globally, a partnership especially visible across Asia. The anniversary celebration honored the legacy of Japan Open Bible missionaries and the heritage of churches they planted while also affirming the importance of today\u2019s smaller, community-based congregations. We visited, preached in, and celebrated with churches and pastors in both eastern and western Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A celebratory dinner in Japan Open Bible West<\/em><\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Japan\u2019s geographical isolation and a 250-year ban on Christian missions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries gave Japan a reputation as \u201cthe missionaries\u2019 graveyard.\u201d  Yet, after World War II some US veterans, having seen the spiritual vacuum in Japan, returned as carriers of the hope of the Gospel. The Jake Collins, Eddie Carnes, and Phil Rounds families were among the first in the 1950s era to be sent by Open Bible Churches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a handful of missionaries and new believers in the early years to a network of Open Bible Churches across Japan today, God\u2019s presence has been a steady flame of hope in the darkness.<\/mark><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From a handful of missionaries and new believers in the early years to a network of Open Bible Churches across Japan today, God\u2019s presence has been a steady flame of hope in the darkness.  Even though fewer than one percent of Japanese identify as Christian, today across Japan we see our churches, large and small, alive with joy and power of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Rounds family, some of the first Open Bible missionaries to Japan.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

One of the early converts, now ninety-year-old Yaeko Yoshinaga, is likely the oldest surviving member of those first Japan Open Bible congregations. As an eighteen-year-old, she lived with the Rounds family helping in the home. She loved their children and learned to love potatoes (more than rice) as they did, but even more, came to faith in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yaeko says, \u201c<\/em>I would not have believed in Jesus if I had not met Mr. Rounds, the missionary.\u201c<\/em>  She and her husband later pastored for 45 years, and today her son and wife pastor the flourishing church. Decades later, the flame of God\u2019s love still burns brightly in Yaeko sensei. Her love, joy, humility, and faith impact every generation in the church. She remains a powerful reminder of how one relationship can change the direction of an entire life.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The first missionaries to begin Open Bible’s work in Japan.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Pastor Yoshio Ishikawa told me the story of how he came to Jesus as a young boy. In the late 1960s, ten-year-old Yoshio\u2019s family lived near an Open Bible Church in the Sumida neighborhood of Tokyo. He recalls, \u201c<\/em>When I was ten, I saw a TV drama about an incurable disease. It scared me, and without really knowing why, I walked into the church in my neighborhood that I had passed by many times. That church was Sumida Open Bible \u2013 the church I now pastor.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Pastor Ishikawa uses his talent as a skilled musician to reach people in new, non-traditional ways. He teaches a group ukulele class as a bridge to the gospel. Students learn to play the ukulele, then hear a teaching from the Bible and join in prayer. Other approaches, like book clubs, English lessons, and choirs, give churches relational ways to connect and open doors for evangelism.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Worship during the JOB (Japan Open Bible) 70th anniversary celebration.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In fact, many \u201cunconventional\u201d forms of evangelism are used to touch lives in churches in Japan. Often, churches and Christians invest years building trust and relationships before someone decides to follow Jesus. In my own experience, I saw that converts under my ministry were often a result of groundwork laid by others before me.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, Japan Open Bible embraces a bold vision: to plant ten new churches throughout the country in the next decade. I, for one, believe it can happen! God has not abandoned Japan. The hope of the Gospel that the missionaries brought with them back in the 1950s continues to burn brightly in our brothers and sisters of Japan Open Bible. May God fan that flame as they carry His hope across the country in ways we have not yet imagined!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Open Bible leaders pose with JOB young people after a youth service at Trinity Square Church in Machida<\/strong><\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I leave Japan once again, I reflect and am grateful to have shared in the celebrations of what God has done, excitedly anticipating what He will do next!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen to Yaeko Yoshinaga’s testimony:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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