Three for the World

Three for the World posts are quick updates you can read in a few minutes to learn more about what God is doing around the world. 

Also known as the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan is a global giant in technological innovation, and has one of the world’s largest economies and most educated populaces. Despite the country’s high living standards, Japan faces troubling suicide rates and a declining workforce, as many young people choose to remain single or childless. Nearly 80% of Japan’s 126 million people practice some form of folk Shinto, which features prominently in traditional Japanese culture and festivals. Another 35% practice Buddhism, and although Jesuit missionaries introduced Christianity to the island nation in the mid-1500s, only 1-2% of Japanese are Christians today.

Scholar Leaders works with a number of amazing leaders in Asia, like Kei Hiramatsu. Kei is pursuing a PhD in New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky. His research on “Christian Suffering in Conformity to Christ in 2 Corinthians 11-12” will guide and encourage Japanese believers who often face intense social pressures and ostracism for Jesus’ sake. When Kei graduates, he will become the first Japanese faculty member with a PhD in Biblical Studies at Central Bible College in Tokyo. Following the release of Martin Scorsese’s Silence, Kei reflected on faith and suffering in his poignant 2017 InSights Essay, The Silence of God: Beyond Triumphalism. Kei and his wife Saki have three young daughters: Hanaka (4), Kaho (2), and Rin (infant).

This post is from Scholar Leaders’ prayer community. To register for weekly prayer updates from Christians from the Majority  World, click here.