rrprayerupdate

Prayer Requests 3/20/07

Sorry, I didn't get a feature this week and since this is way late I thought I'd just post something about Japan. Please pray for the Japanese people!

JAPAN

Population: 127,463,611; 99% Japanese, 1% other (mostly Korean)
Religion: Shinto - 85.5%
Buddhist: 75.3%
New Religions: 23.43%
Non-religious/other: 4.27%
Christian: 1.56%
It's higher than 100% because many Japanese follow multiple religions. Generally Japanese only attend Buddhist temples for funerals, Shinto Shrines for baby and children's blessings and weddings. Otherwise, religion has little or nothing to do with their day-to-day activities. Despite its economic success and openness to Westernization, Japan remains one of the largest unreached nations in the world. Its success in economics is partially responsible for its closure to accepting the Gospel. Many hard-working Japanese simply do not have the time to care enough to hear the gospel and work/success is a huge idol in the lives of the Japanese. Often housewives have the time to attend classes like English tutoring or cooking at local churches and can be reached, but many barriers exist for them as well. Christians are such a small minority in Japan and few families come to faith. Individuals who accept Christ feel exposed and alone.
Pray that God will open hearts in this lost country and work his power in the believers there now!

posted by sukshin @ 6:30 PM