We Served Side By Side: The Cooperation of the Christian Reformed Japan Mission and the Reformed Church in Japan, 1951-2017 (The Missionary Memoirs Series of the Van Raalte Press)

This bookrecords the history of the cooperation in mission between the Christian Reformed Japan Mission (CRJM) and the Reformed Church in Japan (RCJ) from 1951 to 2017.Chapter 1 summarizes the history of Christianity in Japan leading up to the end of World War II and the founding of the RCJ in 1946. In reaction to the United Church of Christ compromise with Shinto worship during World War II, a small group of churches banded together to form this new denomination that professed adherence to the Westminster Standards. Contacts between RCJ leaders and Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC) personnel serving in the Allied Occupation forces in Japan led to a formal relationship between the RCJ and the CRC. In 1950 these two churches agreed to begin a joint mission effort to spread the gospel and build churches in Japan. Chapter 2 recounts the opening of the CRJM in 1951.Chapters 3 through 8 summarize decade by decade the major developments in the joint ministry of the CRJM and the RCJ. Each chapter begins with an overview of developments in the CRJM and RCJ and notes Japanese national trends of that decade. At the heart of the mission/church cooperation was the close partnership of missionary couples with Japanese pastors and their wives as they served together, side-by-side, in team ministries to begin new churches.The mission and the church grappled with questions about mission principles, policies, strategies, cultural contextualization, disagreements, and organizational models. Two major policy issues stood out: how to apply the indigenous principles of self-support, self-government, and self-propagation to the mission enterprise in Japan and how to balance church planting with other “supporting” ministries such as the education of missionary kids, radio evangelism, disaster relief, and leadership development. During the twentieth century, the priority was starting new churches while also devoting significant resources to radio ministry and the education of missionary children. In the twenty-first century, the focus shifted to leadership development and disaster relief, but the distinguishing mark of the CRJM/RCJ cooperation in mission was the side-by-side model of serving together.The book includes many maps, expertly designed by Mark Cook. Read more