I was asked to contribute an article to a journal on Worship and Music in Japan, describing the English ministry at Tokyo Lutheran Church and making recommendations for congregations in Japan interested in expanding their worship languages. While much in this article is specific to the Japanese situation, much also carries over to other settings, which is why I’m sharing it here.
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As I write this article, I am concluding six and a half years serving as Missionary Pastor at Tokyo Lutheran Church in the Okubo neighborhood. Most people know this area as “Koreatown,” though nowadays it has at least 70% Japanese residents, and the foreign population is very mixed. My duty has been to lead worship and offer spiritual care for people who attend Tokyo Lutheran Church in order to worship in English.
My obvious qualification for this ministry is that I’m an American, a native English speaker, and an ordained Lutheran pastor. But I have also had extended experience of English-language international congregations before coming to Tokyo, including in Bratislava, Slovakia, and Strasbourg, France. Congregations that offer worship in a language different from the national language, and attracting worshippers from resident foreigners, tend to have a certain set of characteristics. Ministry in these circumstances requires a special awareness of the strengths and weaknesses that go with international communities.
Let’s start with the weaknesses and dangers of international congregations. First, the pool of potential members is much smaller, since the worship requires specialized language skills. That of course applies as much to the pastor as to the church members.
Second, because the language is the binding element and not, for example, belief or doctrine, these churches can attract people for the wrong reasons—local people wanting to improve their language skills, or foreigners wanting a familiar taste of home, instead of either group desiring to grow in faith.
Third, if the congregation is composed mostly of foreigners, it is extremely fragile, especially with economic changes or political conditions. Even the strongest of international congregations struggle with being a “revolving door” for people moving in and out of the country. Without congregational continuity, it becomes very hard to maintain a vibrant community life or maintain a focus on the gospel.
Finally, international congregations can be extremely vulnerable to predators, because international members arrive without a reputation. This is, of course, a problem in any church, because the church is on principle open to all people. But larger churches with a culture more similar to the local culture are better able to identify the predators and can move quickly to protect the congregation. Smaller international congregations often don’t have the resources to turn anyone away, either because they lack the in-person support or because can’t afford to refuse any donations. But the inability to protect themselves from predators can ultimately become the undoing of international congregations.
I came to Tokyo Lutheran Church well aware of all of these potential dangers. What I discovered on arrival is that the chief problem of the English worship group was fragility. It had been well over a year since the last American pastor left, which meant the already overburdened Japanese senior pastor had to add on English worship to his other duties. English worship attendance was low, usually only about twenty people on a Sunday. Within my first year, a number of active members moved away, just due to the natural cycle of life and business. Then, just as I was settling in, the pandemic struck!
I am very grateful for the wisdom of the Tokyo Lutheran Church leadership in shutting down in-person worship services for three months only. Although of course there were certain limitations on singing and celebrating holy communion, we resumed in-person worship much more quickly than many other Tokyo churches, and definitely much sooner than other English-language churches in the city. As a result, our core membership did not lose the habit of attending Sunday worship and was very happy to resume in person as soon as possible.
Since then, our English worship group has grown steadily, to the point that we have between forty and fifty worshippers every Sunday, and frequently more than that. I would like to share some of the reasons I believe we’ve had this growth, looking at it from a human point of view. But first it is important for me to say sincerely, not as lip service but out of genuine conviction, that it has truly been the work of God to cause our congregation to grow.
I can say this with certainty, because the truth is that, although my official role has been “missionary,” I have never discovered any strategy to draw people in Tokyo to church. Even now, I wouldn’t know where to begin. Ironically, there are too many people in Tokyo! Where would I even start?
The truth is, most of the people who have joined our congregation who were not already active churchgoers have told me the same story, which goes like this: “I was going along in life. Things were fine, or things were awful. But one day, a voice came to me and said: ‘Go to church.’ So here I am. Tell me what to do now!”
The point is, I still don’t know how to find people and bring them to church. But what I have learned is how to welcome them once they arrive at church and give them reasons to keep coming, eventually leading to baptism or church membership. That is what I will explore in the rest of this article.
Practically speaking, the only reason the English worship group has survived is that we have been supported by Japanese Christians. At Tokyo Lutheran Church, this takes place in two distinct ways. First, the congregation is historically a Japanese-language congregation almost entirely comprised of Japanese Christians. They have maintained and administered all the business related to the building, paying the bills, finding staff, managing taxes and paperwork, etc. The English worship group has never had to worry about any of that, which has been a big relief to such a “revolving door” community.
But also, and just as important, the English worship group has a stable core of Japanese Christians who are committed to it. For a wide variety of reasons, these members prefer to worship in English; some of them attend both English and Japanese services. Since Japan is their home, they are here for the long-term, offering the crucial stability that so many international churches lack. They also have the institutional memory of the church and a strong faith commitment, since being a Christian in Japan is not easy. Probably about one-third of our members fall into this category.
People often assume that the rest of our members must all be native English speakers, probably American, “ex-pats” who are enjoying a few years of adventure in Japan before moving on to the next professional advancement. It is true that many English-language international congregations are like that, and it accurately describes some other congregations right here in Tokyo.
Once again, however, Tokyo Lutheran Church is different. Another third or so of our members are indeed Westerners, usually native English speakers from the U.S., Canada, or Great Britain. But nearly all of these are married to a Japanese spouse. Many have been here for years, some for decades, and nearly all of them will remain in Japan for the rest of their lives. In other words, while they may not be Japanese ethnically or legally, Japan is their home. That means Tokyo Lutheran Church is their church home. They are not “ex-pats” passing through, but just as long-term committed and stable as our Japanese members.
The last third of our membership is comprised of people from all the rest of the world. Most of these are not native English speakers, and also not planning to stay in Japan long-term. They come from other parts of Asia, as well as Africa and Europe. We often have students in their 20s who are in Japan for several years to earn their degrees. While not in Japan permanently, they are serious about their Christian discipleship and attend Sunday services regularly during their stay here. It is always a sorrow when they leave us, but this kind of “revolving door” is actually a blessing, regularly refreshing our community with new faces. They are also an important reminder that the English language is our common medium for communication, but the English language is not the same as English or American culture.
Of course, being in Tokyo, we often have tourists on any given Sunday. We welcome them, but our congregational life does not cater to tourists.
This combination of stable long-term members, both Japanese and foreign, along with the refreshment of short-term residents, is a huge asset in keeping our congregation strong. But in the end, the test and purpose of any congregation is its fidelity to the gospel of Jesus Christ. So I would like to conclude this article reflecting on how we have tried to remain faithful to our Lord.
To begin with, for all the weaknesses and dangers, there is a built-in blessing in being an international community. When your congregation is drawn mostly from members of your own national community, it becomes extremely easy to absorb the assumptions and the arguments of the wider culture. This is the same whether you are a Japanese congregation in Japan or an American congregation in America. Everyone agrees on what’s important and what should be talked about, politically or culturally or morally.
But when your congregation is drawn from all over the world, nobody has the same political, cultural, or moral assumptions. It is simply meaningless to talk about the things that occupy everyone’s attention back home. That makes us free to keep all our focus on the gospel while we are gathered at church. For this reason, I encourage congregations everywhere to connect to the foreigners living nearby. We have, of course, a command to care for sojourners in our midst (Exodus 22:21). But the blessing also returns to the congregation by shifting its focus away from local obsessions.
Another advantage is that we have a strong doctrinal and liturgical tradition in the Lutheran church. Because our pastors take vows of fidelity to the Lutheran Confessions, and our congregations are chartered to uphold these shared beliefs, the core matters of the faith are not up for dispute. For example, Lutherans always have and always will baptize infants. We have clear, biblical, and doctrinal reasons for doing so. We also know that there are churches which will not even recognize infant baptism. If this matter were up for dispute within our congregation, we would certainly have fights and maybe even splits. Clear teaching that this is non-negotiable lets potential members know whether or not they will be comfortable long-term in our church.
At the same time, Lutherans are very clear about what sorts of things are not required. There is no particular style of music, for example, that is mandated. As it turns out, I’ve found that many people, both Japanese and foreign, love the tradition of hymn-singing and actively dislike “contemporary” music in worship, so this works to our benefit. But we are not required to follow any particular music or worship style.
Of course, many people find their way to our church precisely because they were raised in a Lutheran church and wish to continue in this tradition as adults or as they raise their own children. We serve people best not by trying to do or be everything, but by living out our own specific Lutheran commitments as faithfully and joyfully as we can.
Related to this, I have found that the most important aspect of my ministry, besides the Sunday service, is teaching Luther’s Small Catechism. When I arrived at Tokyo Lutheran Church, there had never been discussion as to the status of the English worship group or if they could become members. While working to sort out the technical details, I established that anyone who wanted to join the Tokyo Lutheran Church through English worship would need to attend at least six sessions of Catechism class with me.
I have applied this standard equally to everyone. The person who grew up Lutheran, went through confirmation class, and has attended church every Sunday is in the same position as the brand-new believer preparing for baptism! Long-term Christians have enjoyed revisiting the Catechism after so many years, and new believers have found the Catechism the shortest and simplest framework for beginning their new life in Christ.
Now in my final month at Tokyo Lutheran church, I am wrapping up my thirteenth and fourteenth Catechism class series! On my last Sunday, we will receive new members, have a confirmation, and baptize several new Christians. Catechism instruction is not a heavy burden on people. It helps them grow in their understanding of the gracious work of God across time, among all the peoples of the world, for us and for our salvation. Old Christians need to be reminded just as much as new Christians need to be taught. This also means that everyone in the congregation is on the same page. We have all heard and believed the same gospel as taught in Luther’s Catechism.
With so many false teachings and strange sects, returning to the basics of the faith is essential to a healthy congregational life. A Catechism requirement before membership is also an effective deterrent against anyone “using” the church for free English lessons, nostalgia for the homeland, or easy prey. It’s no guarantee of protection, of course, but it definitely will help.
One last remark on cultivating a flourishing congregation. There are a million interesting and urgent things to do in the world—and a million extra in Tokyo alone. I have always kept to the rule that everything we do in church has to be oriented to the Christian faith. We could do activities together that having nothing to do with our shared faith, but why would we? There are endless opportunities to do non-Christian things. I have even argued against non-Christian “Christmas” and “Easter” songs at our parties, not because I think they are evil or corrupting, but because you can get them elsewhere.
What makes a church a church is gathering around Jesus Christ. If our activity does not gather us around Jesus, then it’s not a church activity. Again, we all have plenty of opportunities for other kinds of activities and other kinds of fellowship. But church must always be defined and shaped by our shared faith in our Savior.
Should you start an English-language worship service at your church—or any other language? Yes! You don’t need to be fluent. In fact, I find Japanese people are much too embarrassed about their language skills. Really, nobody is judging you! Foreigners are just happy to hear their own language, or the familiar sounds of English, especially if they are struggling with Japanese. You will be serving the foreigner in your midst this way. But also, I hope I have convinced you by now that you will also be inviting a blessing into your Japanese congregation.