The Triangle of Cities

By Charlene Rider, writing for Pastors Ohtsuki and Kamasaka, and ABWE missionaries Tom Zentz and Dan Rider

Buildings snaked along the coastline for about 50 miles, crowding to the edge where land meets sea. They filled the flat area that followed the line between sea and mountain and pushed up the sides of the range-fingers of chalk-white buildings clinging to the slopes- before disappearing into the smoggy, grey-green vegetation. Where the mountains broke into plains, the buildings spread inland, displacing agricultural fields and rice paddies with concrete and asphalt. Even from the air I had a sense of claustrophobia. How can people bear to live in that? I thought, gazing down on central Japan. As we flew east, I was glad I didn't have to live in there.

That was 1982. My husband, Dan, and I have been working in that smoggy megalopolis since 1988. The area is called Kansai and is loosely made up of a group of cities in a triangle whose points are Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Nine million people live here. It's as crowded as it looked from the air, and gets more crowded all the time. The funny thing is, I like it. Our megalopolis is fascinating, an amazing feat of ingenuity, creativity, and skill. Skyscrapers abound, along with trains, subways, roads, elevated highways, train lines, and underground walkways that are like little cities in themselves, complete with stores and train stations. Sometimes you feel you've fallen down the rabbit hole with Alice and awakened in Wonderland.

ABWE missionary Vern Chandler began the work in 1963. Since then two churches have become indigenous and we are working in the final stage of a third. Vern led Pastor Ohtsuki to the Lord and trained him many years ago. He pastored ABWE's first church, and has been integral in the other works ABWE started. Pastor Ohtsuki shared his thoughts on megalopolis evangelism

"I see three stages to missionary work in Japan. During stage one, in the early days of missions, there were no existing churches, so the missionary started from zero by himself. There are still places in Japan where that approach is appropriate. But in most cases, the missionary will be more effective working with an existing church and pastor.

"This brings me to stage two, where I believe we are now. At this stage Japan has progressed so that it is possible and best for a missionary to team up with an existing Japanese church and pastor.

"Stage three is my vision for the future. I would like an association of independent Baptist churches cooperating in church planting, teamed together with the missionaries.

"There are advantages to working in a big city. The dense population means it is easier to reach more people with the gospel. My vision is to have enough cooperating churches in our area that they could support Japanese to work with the missionaries in a cooperative enterprise."

Pastor Ohtsuki trained Pastor Kamasaka, who became pastor of the second church ABWE started. He, too, shared his thoughts on working in a megalopolis.

"I believe that people living in a big city are easier to evangelize. Big city life fosters individualism, making it easier for a person to respond to the gospel's call for personal repentance. Rural people are more bound to family and traditions. While there is less need for conformity in a city, life is harsh and demanding, and I see people in big cities have more of a sense of futility and dissatisfaction with life, which makes them spiritually hungry. There is a large new suburb 20 minutes up the train line from us. How I would love to have a missionary working with me to evangelize it!"

ABWE is blessed because pastors and missionaries share the vision of cooperation and teamwork. Dan is finishing up the Katano work and looking at a new place of ministry. Tom and Kari Zentz are beginning a work in Sanda, an old town, over the mountain from downtown Kobe. What was countryside is beginning to fill in with new buildings, an example of how the megalopolis keeps extending, interlocking fingers with older towns and cities. There is hardly a direction you can look that isn't being built up.

Christ's desire is that these multitudes should know Him as their Saviour. That is our desire, also. The population in the megalopolis is overwhelming. Pray that God will help us in His work in Kansai.