There are 3 difficulties in evangelism. Please pray that we can overcome these difficulties.

The difficulties of evangelism in Japan

There are several obstacles which are interfering with evangelism in Japan. Here we think of three things.

1. In Japan, ancestor worship or the worship of the dead is still very strong. About 400 years ago every Japanese home were registered to the local temples. So especially when our relatives die, we are forced to go to the temple for the funeral, and we need a strong courage to refuse the ancestor worship in the ceremony.

2. The other element is Shintoism or the emperor-worship. Since the old time, the emperor has been said as a descendent of god of Shinto. And especially from Meiji era (1868), the emperor had been used for the political purpose. During the world War II, the people and the churches were forced to worship emperor as god. After the war, the emperor has no longer been regarded as god, but there is an atomosphere of revival of Shintoism these days.

3. For the Japanese, it is a virtue to deny himself and serve the country or the company. The teaching of Confucianism which taught the importance of the loyalty to our upper person is still strong.　So once a Japanese businessman once enters a company, it is said that they would sell their souls to the company and work hard for the company. That is one of the reasons why active businessmen are just few in the churches.