letter from Japan
Recent survey results from the Japanese Government, combined with an estimate of the Japanese population who are Bible believing Christians suggests that the number has fallen from around 500,000 in 2019 to less than 350,000 in 2024 or from 0.4% to 0.28% of the population. Amongst university students, just 0.01% (one in 10,000) are thought to be Christians.
What does this mean for the future of the gospel in Japan? Research predicts that if present trends continue, half of Japan’s Protestant churches will close by 2030. Some of these are churches which have drifted from the Bible, others have not been evangelising; still others have been damaged by splits. But many of them are faithful, prayerful, gospel-preaching churches, who are simply not seeing people converted. Though numbers of missionaries coming to Japan are going up, there is a dire shortage of Japanese full-time gospel workers. Pastors are retiring or dying with no-one coming to replace them. Some Bible Colleges have closed recently due to a shortage of students.
Our church here is perhaps typical in that of our 15 members, only two are under 60. We are, however, peculiarly blessed in attracting relatively large numbers of people, including young families, to our evangelistic events. But, oh Lord, why do we not see them come to faith? Oh, Lord, in your wrath remember mercy.
We recently welcomed the current interns from The Samurai Project (www. samuraiprojects.com/en), whose vision is to train ‘Bible-teaching servant leaders’, to run an evangelistic curry party for us. We were grateful for their faith, their zeal, their witness, and for their youth! A number of our church members commented how wonderful it was to have 14 (including staff) eager young Christians in the church. The spiritual situation in Japan seems bleak, but the Lord has not stopped His work here.
What is the Lord saying to the Japanese church and the Japanese nation through the decline in the church and through the barrenness of the ground? What is He calling us to? Could it be that this is a time of refining the church, and a time of sowing before the harvest? Please call out to the Lord with us for revival in Japan.
Article correction [added 16 December 2025]: This article incorrectly connected a broadly defined Japanese Government statistic (that between 2019 and 2024, the number of Christians in Japan fell by 660,000) with an estimate that there were 0.4% of the population who are true Christian believers. The situation is more accurately estimated by the author of the article to be that the number of true Christian believers has fallen from 0.4% to 0.28% of the population in that five-year period, or from around 506,000 to 347,000.
Please pray for Japan. By way of context, it’s interesting to note that Japan has one of the world’s oldest populations, with a significant and growing percentage of people aged 65 or over. This is due to both a long life expectancy and a low birth rate. Total population has been shrinking for years. This is part – but by no means all – of the overall gospel challenge there. -Ed.
