Looking to do some research on Japan? Curious about how many towns and cities are without a local church? Look no further. OC Research is ready to assist you, complete with color-coded maps showing the percentage of towns without churches. Check them out at…
For a more complete picture of the unchurched areas in Japan, it is important to see the data based on town boundaries before the recent rounds of mergers. Overnight, Japan went from 1800 to 600 unchuched towns, but the other 1200 unchurched towns now hidden within other towns or cities still are just as much in need of their first church. Maps showing the unchurched towns (yellow) and unchurched villages (green) based on the pre-merger boundaries–which is missiologically more meaningful for Japan’s need for initial church plants–can be found at http://www.rjcpn.upgjapanmissions.com. Specifically, go to this link (http://rjcpn.upgjapanmissions.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=193&Itemid=231) and click on the prefecture of interest, and the color-coded map for that prefecture will open. Note that 100% of the unchurched areas remaining in Japan are in rural areas, and 2/3 of such areas lack their first church. Further, the vast vast majority of missionaries are not working in these rural areas but primarily only in the cities that have one to tens or hundreds of churches. The need in rural Japan is tremendous. 1800 places are still awaiting their first church. Who will go? To learn more, feel free to email rjcpn@Hotmail.com. Please spread word of the need not only in Japan but especially in rural Japan.