A new paradigm in Japanese ministry: God at work through Southern Baptists in the Pacific Northwest

Baptist History and Heritage, Summer-Fall, 2004 by Michitsugu Yokoi

Japan is a country roughly the size of California. Yet, it has a population that equals half of all the people living in the United States. It is a technologically and economically advanced country, able to wield much power in the world economy; yet, less than one percent of Japan's citizens are professing Christians, despite the efforts of many missionaries over many years. But God is doing a great work among the Japanese (1) living in the United States, especially in the Pacific Northwest.

Japanese International Baptist Church (JIBC) in Portland, Oregon, was the first Southern Baptist Japanese church organized in the Pacific Northwest, and was also the first Japanese Southern Baptist congregation since World War II to build its own building. (2) Although the Japanese population in Portland numbers only in the thousands, (3) JIBC currently has 180 in attendance, making it one of the largest Japanese churches in the United States. Furthermore, JIBC helped plant more than ten churches in the last ten years, a number that continues to grow. Such growth, especially in a state known for its hostility and/or indifference to religion (Oregon was ranked "the most unchurched state in the U.S. in 2003"), (4) is phenomenal and can only be the work of God. This paper traces JIBC's short history and offers a glimpse into the future of its ministry.

Beginnings

Prior to 1979, "Portland, Oregon, had almost no Japanese ministry except small home Bible study groups. At different homes, women from mixed marriages and students gathered together to study the Word and have fellowship." (5) A Japanese Southern Baptist church in the city was finally begun, (6) when John T. Kamiyama and his family moved in 1979 from Okinawa, Japan, to Portland, to work among the Japanese population there. (7) Kamiyama's work would eventually produce the first Japanese Southern Baptist church in the Northwest, currently known as JIBC.

In the late 1970s, racial prejudice was still strong, and Kamiyama visited several churches without informing them that he was a pastor from Japan. He wanted to see how receptive and friendly each church would be toward ethnics. This plan helped determine which church might be most helpful in partnering to reach the Japanese. Metropolitan Baptist Church, pastored by Wayne McDill, was the only church to send its deacons to visit Kamiyama's family. Because of Metropolitan's stance toward ethnics, Kamiyama decided to work with Southern Baptists in the planting of a church and to partner specifically with Metropolitan.

In August 1979, Kamiyama's ministry to the Japanese living in Portland began with five people, namely, him and his family. During the next eleven months, he attended Japanese business associations, frequented Japanese restaurants and parks, and passed out tracts to anyone who looked Japanese in order to share the gospel with them and invite them to attend church. He and his wife struggled to do the ministry while working bi-vocationally as janitors. They also received $40 a month in support from Metropolitan Baptist Church. (8)

In May 1980, Kamiyama received a calling to start a new Japanese church in Salt Lake City, Utah. By the time of his departure, the Portland fellowship averaged fourteen in attendance at its meetings, six of whom held membership at Metropolitan.

The fellowship's next pastor, Shiro "Jimmy" Sasaki, was a doctoral student at Western Conservative Baptist Seminary. (9) During his pastorate, key people came to Christ through his ministry, people who are still members of JIBC. Despite seeing people attend their meetings and experience conversion, Sasaki noted that his group quickly became a noncommitted gathering of Japanese Christians from different churches. In order to form a more stable ministry, he developed an organizational structure for his ministry and officially organized the group in 1983 as the Japanese Mission of Metropolitan Baptist Church. Many in the group were not willing to commit to Metropolitan, and some left to attend Japanese fellowship groups led by other Japanese seminarians.

Doctoral studies, conflict in the church, and caring for his pregnant wife and two children took its toll on Sasaki. He planned to return to Japan after completing his doctorate and contacted Hiroaki Yokoi, asking him to take over as pastor of the mission, which had grown to twenty-four in attendance and fourteen in membership under Sasaki's leadership.

Yokoy (upon receiving his United States citizenship, Yokoi changed his name to Mike Hiroaki Yokoy) came from Tokyo, Japan, in 1982 to study for his M.Div. at Luther Rice Seminary in Florida. (10) He, his wife, and three young children arrived in Portland in May 1983, and Yokoy became the pastor of the Metropolitan Japanese Mission. Yokoy also transferred to Western Conservative Baptist Seminary and finished his degree there in 1986.

The Birth of JIBC

In 1988, the pastor of Metropolitan approached Yokoy with the suggestion that the Japanese Mission become an independent entity. Yokoy felt the church was still too ill-prepared for such a move. But in a matter of months, by the grace of God, on February 12, 1989, the Japanese Mission of Metropolitan Baptist Church officially became the Japanese International Baptist Church, with forty-four charter members. (11) Thus was born the first Southern Baptist Japanese church in the Pacific Northwest.