Japan, South Korea & North Korea

Kingdom Harvest Is Worth Everything

Ten months after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan, mission workers gathered in Thailand to hear an astonishing report from the northeast coast.

The region had suffered some of the worst destruction, and had also long been among the least-churched places in Japan. Yet something unexpected was happening.

People were coming to Jesus faster than mature believers could disciple them.

A fisherman who had lost everything experienced a disciple of Jesus coming alongside him and helping him rebuild his life. Moved by this kindness, he finally asked, “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I have a friendship with the God who made you,” the man replied.

A woman living in temporary housing described how Jesus had come to her like a neighbor stopping by. He told her that the things she had lost no longer mattered.

Again and again, stories emerged of people whose lives had been shattered by the disaster and were then discovering hope in Christ.

Dr. Mitsuo Fukuda, a Japanese missiologist, succinctly captured what was happening: “They didn’t have to do evangelism. They only had to gather in the fruit God had brought.”

Where the waves had brought devastation, God was bringing new life. Where the church had struggled to take root, the Kingdom was beginning to flourish.