Table of Contents
Introduction
Part One - English Teaching ExperienceEnglish Is a Good ToolPart Two - Fuller Student Survey
Weaknesses of English in Communicating Christianity
Weaknesses of Japanese LanguageStrengths of English TeachingPart III - Christianity a Foreign Religion - Contextualize!
Weaknesses of and Warnings Regarding English Teaching
Christian Concepts in Japanese
Conclusion
Notes
References Cited
Appendix A - Survey DiscussionSurvey MethodologyAppendix B - The Survey
Results
Critique of the Survey
Appendix C - Survey Responses
Appendix D - Survey Response Analysis
Appendix E - For Further Study
This paper developed from two sources. The first source was from Darryl Wong's experience as an English teacher in Japan, discussed in Part One. The second source was from a survey of Japanese students at Fuller conducted by Matthew Ropp, summarized and analyzed in Part Two. Part One appears more as a narrative, while Part Two is more academic. Both parts of the paper have developed the thesis in parallel. At times, the same concepts are presented in detail in both sections. Part Three is an integrated discussion of the perception of Christianity being foreign and the need for contextualization.
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The majority of the church membership became Christian through contact with Christians (both missionaries and Japanese Christians) involved with the English school.
One example of the effectiveness of the English program as a tool for evangelism was the conversion of several students in one of my classes. I taught a step 1 beginning level class that had five students. One student, Shinichiro, was a Christian and a church member. Shinichiro, or Shin, was a young welder's apprentice in his twenties. Another student, Jun, was a junior high school student. Mari and Yukie were first and second year high school students. Yasuko was a nurse in her twenties. In this class, Mari, Yukie, and Yasuko became Christians. Jun quit the English school to study for high school entrance examinations, then came back to ELI after he passed his examinations.
ELI also had an indirect influence on others becoming Christians. For instance, in connection with Yasuko, she had a co-worker at her hospital named Tomoe. Yasuko brought Tomoe to the social events at ELI. Tomoe was not interested in the English school, since she was already attending another English program, but she became interested in Christianity. She had been reading the Bible on her own, but it did not make any sense to her. Through the friends that she made at ELI who were connected with the church, Tomoe came to accept Christ.
God also used the new Christians to help new students to become believers. In this case, Mari from my step 1 class became friends with a new student, Miho. Miho was extremely shy when she came to the English school. Miho knew very little English and seemed afraid of me. However, Miho became friends with Mari and soon some of the other members of the church. Miho also accepted Christ at an English Bible study at Dawn's apartment.
In another example, Masako had been attending ELI for a while. She was a high school student, preparing to go to college. Now, part of the ELI program was to have a fifteen minute chapel time in the middle of an hour and a half class. Masako heard all of the chapel times, but did not accept Christ through contact with the Christians at ELI. Another student, Yuko, attended ELI for one quarter only. Yuko was the daughter of one of the Christian housewives that attended ELI. Yuko became friends with Masako and invited Masako to her church camp during the summer. At the church camp, Masako accepted Christ. Masako began to attend a different church than the one associated with ELI, but the effects of attending a Christian English school had influence on her.
Finally, the reason English is an effective tool for evangelism is that the English conversation school meets the felt needs of the people. It is similar to any other mission program that is not direct evangelism. In some parts of the world, people are hungry, so Christians go there to bring them food. In other places, people do not have homes, so Christians build homes for them. In Japan, the people do not have enough native English speakers to practice English with. Therefore, Christians provide them the opportunity to practice their English. Once the felt need is met, then the opportunity to share the Gospel may occur.
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However, the Bible study turned out to be a little different for them. Dawn started out with a story from the Bible. The story was written in English, with the key words translated into Japanese. The standard format for English Bible class is to practice the story, then answer the comprehension questions, and finally try to answer the thought questions.
Dawn also had some church members who were bilingual come over to translate. The translator was the church secretary, Akane. The content questions were simple questions that the students could answer in English. The thought questions were more difficult. The thought questions required the students to think about the meaning of the Bible story. The secretary translated the thought questions and the students could answer in English or Japanese, depending on their ability.
It was during the thought question period that English was no longer the mode to communicate about Jesus to the girls. Dawn had been leading the Bible study, with Akane helping out. However, upon going into the thought questions, Akane took over the Bible study. She talked to Mari and Yukie. The girls began to nod their heads in response to Akane's questions. Afterwards, Akane told Dawn that the girls had accepted Christ as their Savior.
Another problem with English language is the use of symbolism. We had one situation where we had difficulty explaining the gospel of John. Most of our students could not understand the imagery of light and darkness, Jesus as the bread of life, and the concept of eternal life. These words have high contextual meaning to Christians, but to the Japanese people the words are confusing. Even when explained in a low contextual form, that is, trying to explain the symbolism, there is still misunderstanding.
This misunderstanding led to many problems. Part of the problem has to do with cultural differences in behavior. In one particular instance, we taught this chapel time on the gospel of John to a group of housewives. They became very upset when we asked if they wanted salvation. Until we asked the salvation question, we thought that they had understood all of the symbolism. Perhaps as receptors, the housewives "heard" the information, but they did not understand the imagery. They were being polite in nodding "yes" when we were explaining the symbolism of light and darkness, the bread of life. We were misinterpreting the feedback. We thought that their affirmative answers meant that they knew what "light" and "darkness" meant.
This situation so upset some of the housewives that some of them quit the English school. Dawn and I learned that our cultural differences may have caused the problem. For example, we wanted to give the housewives the option of agreeing or disagreeing with the need for salvation. In American culture, we can openly disagree about a subject and still be friends. The housewives disagreed about the need of Jesus for salvation, but they did not want to tell us. They were afraid of disrupting the harmony that they had with us. They liked and respected us as teachers, and they knew that we believed in Jesus. They did not want to lose our friendship or make us feel bad if they disagreed with us.
When we tried to get them to tell us their problem, some of the housewives complained that they did not understand the symbolism. When the pastor and the secretary talked to them more, we learned about their difficulty with disrupting their harmony with us. Upon reflecting on this incident with the housewives, my partner and I realized that some of our other students probably felt the same way as the housewives.
As a result, we changed the format of our chapel time. We went back to describing stories about Jesus in the gospel of Mark. To the students, this book was much easier to understand. Our approach was different also. Instead of trying to get the students to interact in English, we allowed them to be passive and hear the stories. The stories we chose were less metaphorical and more action oriented, such as Jesus calling Levi the tax collector and eating with him, or the healing of the paralytic man.
Another example of English failing to be an effective medium to completely convey the message of Christ is the conversion of the father of a church member at Urawa chapel. The church member, Atsushi, said that his dad understands English well, even though he speaks with a strong accent. However, his father was not converted until the pastor translated the missionary's message.
Another point about the limitation of the English in communicating the Gospel to the Japanese is the fact that many Japanese people have bought the Bible in their own language, thinking they could comprehend it. My thinking is that they approached it as a literary work. One of my friends, Tomoe, had bought the Bible before she was a Christian, and she tried to read it. However, she could not understand it. Another one of my students, Shingo, was also trying to read the Bible in English and could not understand it. I tried to be his interpreter for all of the stories.
Obviously, there seem to be serious limitations if the ELI teacher cannot speak Japanese when trying to interpret the Bible with the Japanese non-Christian. However, because the missionary only signs up to perform this ministry for a year, and in most instances this is the missionary's first cross-cultural assignment, it is not practical for the ELI teacher to learn Japanese to a proficient level. That is why it seems necessary for a Japanese Christian to be present when interpreting the Bible.1
The key point to the situation above, that Japanese non-believers cannot understand the Bible by themselves, is that the life and ministry of Jesus has to be seen through the incarnational lives of the Christians. It is incorrect to believe that you can hand someone a copy of the Bible, whether in English or Japanese, and expect them to believe in Jesus.
Although I have mentioned instances where English does not convey Christianity well, there are exceptions to every rule. In one case, the English language was sufficient for a Japanese speaker to make a decision for Christ. The person who accepted Christ was Yasuko, my step 1 student. She went alone to a Bible study at Dawn's apartment. More people were supposed to show up, including Japanese Christians, but for some reason it was only Dawn and Yasuko. Yasuko knew very little English, but Dawn asked her to receive Christ, and she did. We were sure that Yasuko understood her acceptance of Christ as she talked about what had happened with the other Japanese Christians.
Another high school girl who became a Christian is Haruka. She came to ELI to learn English so that she could go overseas to continue her schooling. After about nine months with her contact with Christians at ELI, she became a believer. Haruka waited until she got to New Zealand before she accepted Christ. The key person in Haruka's conversion was a ten year old New Zealand girl. The seeds to Haruka's faith had been planted through ELI. It is important to note that Haruka learned about Christianity in her native tongue, even though her conversion took place in an English speaking place. All of the chapel messages and Bible studies, as much as possible, are translated into Japanese. Her actual point of conversion came in an English context.
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Another word that I had trouble explaining in Japan was sin. In Japanese, the word is tsumi. Most Japanese people understand this word to mean "crime." Therefore, if a person does not commit a crime, they do not sin, so they do not need Jesus to forgive them for their sins.
Because of the examples mentioned above, I will reiterate the point that many Japanese people who have bought the Bible in the Japanese language have a hard time understanding it. Therefore, they need a Japanese Christian to interpret and model the Christian witness for them.
One way to consider that the Japanese words do not have the correct meaning is to consider the translation of English phrases using Christian words. My friend Tomoe was trying to understand the phrase "Oh my God," an exclamation that she had heard in the movies. A direct translation has no meaning since contextually the word kamisama can mean any of the thousands of Japanese gods. Another phrase she has heard is "I will pray to God." The Japanese people say "I will pray," which is common to them, since they pray to the many Shinto gods. However, contextually, they do not understand the reason to pray to "God," because we use the word "God" to mean the one creator God. Christians see God as a person, as a father. The same word, god, to the Japanese, has the feeling of an impersonal being, and can be one of the many gods that they worship.
One point to consider is that once a person believes in Christ, the understanding of the Christian terms become clear, regardless of language. When I was teaching in Japan, I never directly asked my students what they thought about the words "God" and "sin." However, I asked some of my Japanese Christian friends if they understood the Japanese words for "sin" and "God", and they had the same contextual meaning that I understood for "sin" and "God." Therefore, when one believes in Christ, the Japanese words for Christian terms do not have a different meaning as the English terms.
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Four out of five of those converted partially because
of English teaching have had a foreign study experience (prior to Fuller).
Two of them became Christians while living in the United States as a student,
mainly to learn English. Others were first drawn to the church or opened
up to the faith because of the presence of an English speaking missionary
or teaching they received in English. One participant stated: "[English]
made it easier for me to read the Bible. I felt closer to the Lord. In
Japanese He seems miles away."3 While only
two people were initially attracted to a church or missionary because of
English classes, these are two people that may not have been reached otherwise!
The final question in the survey asked the participants
to describe what they think about the role of English and English teaching
in Christian mission in Japan, including both strengths and weaknesses.
In the author's opinion the answers to this question are extremely valuable.
Summarized below are the positive responses. One quote powerfully conveys
a few of the main strengths:
…, learning English is still an attraction to many people including older housewives and businessmen. I think English classes are [an] entrance doorway into Christianity as a religion, building relationship with Christian people, seeing God alive at work in Christians. Relationship building is crucial in witnessing in Japan. English class[es] enhance good relationships in ways that church services and other events can't do.First of all, English teaching is seen as a possible bridge to Christianity. As stated in Part I, it meets the felt needs of many Japanese people - their desire to learn English. "More than the half of Japanese people want to be able to speak English, so attracting people to the English classes is a useful method." "Many young people especially would like to know English conversation. They understand that most of the English-speaking countries are based on Christianity. Therefore, teaching English or having English Bible study is effective to share the gospel." English teaching (which can be done by Christians) is described as "a door," "a very useful vehicle," and "very attractive." One response points out that English is especially interesting to the majority of young people, who are important for the future of the church in Japan.
The respondents feel that English teaching is these positive things because it is able to provide "opportunity for teachers to share their belief (faith) with students" and occasion for "more people to hear the gospel. It is exactly this that English teaching by missionaries and Christians in Japan always has at least the potential to do, by meeting the students' surface-level felt needs. "Felt needs are … the touchstones from which life change can be recommended and accomplished" (Kraft 1991:69). Another reason English teaching can be a powerful tool for the gospel is that "those who are interested in 'learning English' seem to be open to new way of understanding life." They are open to learning something new (Christianity) while they are learning something else new (English).
Also of crucial importance in witnessing in Japan is the building of relationships. This is true in any context. To effectively communicate on a deep level, the messenger must become the message, just as God Himself became the message by becoming a man through the Son, Jesus Christ (Kraft 1991:17,43). This is incarnational communication and entails building of relationship. As demonstrated in the quote above, English classes can accomplish this in a unique way. Another quote emphasizes the point: "[T]eaching English can be a good starting point to build (personal) relationship through which Jesus' message can be transmitted." One participant said that English can remove obstacles between missionaries and the people. Someone else responded that English teaching can be a good way for the teachers to discover their students' worldview.
But does English teaching actually "get the job done?" In some cases English teaching has lead to a large number of conversions. "I have a lot of stories I can share with you about my teaching (English) experience at prep. schools and its consequent conversion of the students." "My ex-roommate from Canada played a significant role to double the number of my church membership (in Tokyo)." In short papers, Hajime Nakazawa and Ken Shigematsu analyze the success and potential of teaching English in juku and yobikou4 and developing relationship with students who are very much in need of relationship (Nakazawa 1995; Shigematsu n.d.).
Another advantage of English for one student was that "studying the Bible and Christianity in English made the distance feel smaller between [himself] and God and [his] curiosity in the Bible increased." Someone else relates how, after conversion, contact with an English teacher enhanced her Christian walk: "After I converted I was always thinking about "how Christians should live" instead of rejoicing. When I met the ELI teacher, I found out that she had something that I didn't have. She was a good model for me." In these ways as well, over and above introduction to Christians and opportunities for evangelism, English teaching has been helpful to some Japanese Christians.
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One example of a negative aspect considered in more detail is that the teaching of English, a foreign language, often by foreigners, will contribute to or result in a view that the teachers' religion, Christianity, is also foreign. An attempt was made to explore this issue in more depth and to explore the relationship between English teaching and the view of Christianity as foreign in survey question six, but the question itself seems to have been problematic.5 Various written comments do make a case, however: "English classes in churches do, to some extent, reinforce the view that Christianity is a western religion. I've never heard of Buddhist temples teaching English;" "It is obvious that you can use English, as a result, it makes a foreign religion;" "The message (the Gospel) may become foreign when receptor[s] understand the Gospel through foreign language."6
The following quote describes a serious problem.
When the students become Christians, it is important to make sure that they will not connect English (teacher) and faith together. Because what happens a lot of time is that some people become a Christian through a[n] English teacher, grow in the spirit for a while, then when the teacher returns to the US or his/her home country, the person stop[s] coming to the Church.At the root of this may be the fact that, according to one response, "teacher-student relationship[s] tend to be temporal and 'one-way' rather than mutual." Conversion success was noted above by a teacher from Canada. Unfortunately, "those who came to church through him … left as soon as he left Japan. This gave me an impression that those who come to church through English speaking missionaries tend to be attracted to the persons or English rather than Christianity itself."
Communication of Christianity to the Japanese is communication of an innovation. Everett Rogers' model of innovation-decision process, developed in Dodd's Dynamics of Intercultural Communication, may help to understand the above pattern of "converts" rejecting the faith when the original communicator is no longer present. The model identifies a knowledge stage and a persuasion stage where the personal influence of the communicator (here English teacher) is high while the receptor is evaluating the message. When a decision is made in the next stage, the potential adopter must integrate the innovation (Christianity in this case) into the existing system (Japanese context), either accepting it or rejecting it. This is called the implementation stage. After implementation comes confirmation (Dodd 1995:278).
Kraft has observed that instead of confirmation, sometimes the adopter returns to the decision stage and reverses the original decision (Kraft 1996). This is often prompted by the absence of the original communicator. It is the dynamic described above. The problem therefore is that the Japanese student may not fully understand the true nature of Christianity. The student identifies only with the teacher, never successfully "implementing" himself/herself into the church at large and never implementing Christian faith into his or her true context outside of the English speaking environment. Churches associated with English teaching ministries must strive to integrate these converts into the church body in order to solve this problem on a personal level, one student at a time!
Other problems identified in the survey results are structural:
"I know some friends … who had opportunities to work in Japan as English teachers. Most of them had to wrestle with their identity as teachers and Christians. The program in which they worked was set up in such a way that they needed to take a role … as English teachers first, their identity as Christians not being appreciated."Organizations, churches, and individuals involved in these problems must rise to meet and solve these challenges."There is … fierce competition from private English conversational schools for the students. It is possible to have localized English evangelical programs, but to establish an organized chain of English evangelical program is quite difficult at this time."
"I'm afraid it's hard for teachers to work with Japanese pastors (probably issues inherent in communication) to invite students to local churches."
Perhaps most important of the criticisms against using English and English teaching for evangelism is that as a foreign language, English is not able to communicate to the average Japanese person on a deep level, the level necessary for the change of allegiance which conversion to Christianity requires. "There will be a sense of not getting through to the deepest part of the people's hearts. It is probably wise to be prepared to make a transition in the course of time from English to Japanese."
"…, unless the core of the Christianity [is] being explained in Japanese, regular folks in Japan would not understand truly what it means. Remember, you CAN NOT go to Japan and start speaking English to regular folks in Japan [on] this level of deep matters. You should not underestimate the power of the language and culture barriers."English teaching ministries may also ignore or underestimate other cultural factors, such as "the importance of family relations in [the] decision process, so the decision may not survive through [the] family's rejection." The role of family is key as is the need to understand religious sensitivities in the Japanese culture.
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From the above examples of possible "inadequate" words, however, "God" and "sin" are good illustrations of words which, in the author's opinion, at least on a surface level communicate the intended Christian meaning to English speaking Americans (even to non-believers). Kami and tsumi in Japan, on the other hand, can refer to one of millions of gods and criminal wrongdoing, respectively, and may communicate something very different from the intended Christian meaning. The receptor chooses how to interpret the message after all!
This difference in general understanding of Christian terms is mostly due to the difference between a culture with "Christian" roots and consciousness (the U.S.12) versus a culture where Christianity has come from the outside (Japan). English has developed parallel to Christianity and will thus implicitly include words for Christian concepts which developed concurrently. This is corroborated by the fact that at least some respondents thought that ideas such as these appeared "'Western' or 'non-Japanese'" regardless of the language used to communicate them. Again, a monotheistic view of deity is a good example of a belief that is initially very mysterious to the Japanese mind regardless of origin!
It must be noted at this point that English has developed with Western theological thought. This is not necessarily, and in many cases not in actuality, Biblical thought. If Christianity is appropriately contextualized in Japan, certainly God has not left the Japanese without linguistic forms to express anything that He would want them to understand as part of His relationship to the Japanese people!
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In addition, in a brief survey of Darryl's friends from Japan, before they became Christians, they thought of Christianity to be a foreign religion. They rarely if ever had contact with Japanese Christians. After conversion, these friends, as well as twelve of the fifteen participants in the Fuller survey said that they do not see Christianity as a foreign religion. It is apparent that Japanese Christians do not see Christianity as an outside religion. God has lifted the veil that causes the misperception of Christianity being foreign.
In our experience, Japan is a country with a high national consciousness, ethnically and culturally very proud of being Japanese. The Japanese people have a definite ethnocentric view of the world. This is reinforced by the fact that most people have lived autonomously on the Japanese islands without threat of invasion from foreign countries. Even when foreign forces such as the U.S. in World War II conquered Japan, the native people remained and were not replaced or mixed with the conquering peoples.
The Japanese people have also taken things from other cultures and synthesized them to make them their own. For example, their brand of Buddhism is distinctly Japanese. Even Western-style Christian weddings have been accepted into the culture because the weddings appear romantic and beautiful. However, Christianity itself is still seen as foreign. What a tragedy! If it is seen as foreign, how then will Christianity ever be effectively communicated in Japan, giving the receptors true freedom to accept or reject the message on the basis of the Gospel itself? It will not.
The roots of this problem are no doubt many. Since Christianity has been primarily brought to Japan by outsiders and not assimilated by the Japanese themselves, it is automatically assumed to be foreign. The very presence of Western missionaries reinforces this. Certainly English teaching plays a factor and examples of this were given in Part Two above. Christianity in Japan has largely developed in Western forms, according to the way the missionaries practice their religion in their home countries.13
One possible solution for
this problem is contextualization. The communicators of the gospel must
enter the receptor's frame of reference (Kraft 1991:15-16). They must stop
drawing so much attention to the vehicles used: New England style church
buildings, Western liturgy, English services (Kraft 1991:109ff) and be
willing to critically evaluate Japanese religious forms to determine their
appropriateness in a Japanese Christian setting (Hiebert 1984:287ff).
Perhaps English can continue
to be used as a tool to lead people into relationship with Christians without
directly associating it with the church? Hajime Nakizawa's experience teaching
in a secular preparatory school but working to better his students' lives
is an excellent example. Perhaps it can play a greater role, with the caution
of the above warnings applied.
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A key point to the effectiveness of English as a tool for evangelism in Japan is the fact that English conversation teaching meets the felt needs of the Japanese people. Conceptually, the English school is the equivalent of providing food or building homes for the homeless, or providing a safe place for people to interact socially. Through meeting this felt need, a bridge is built between Christians and the non-Christian students. Directly and indirectly, English schools bring students into contact with Christians whom they might never have met otherwise.
Based on our observations, nevertheless, Christianity has to overcome the barrier of appearing as non-Japanese. Christianity needs to be contextualized so that Japanese people will not perceive it to be a foreign religion. Most Japanese Christians no longer identify their faith in God as foreign, but unfortunately their non-Christian friends cannot do that. Contextualization theory put into practice can help bridge this gap.
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Hiebert, Paul G.
1984 "Critical Contextualization." Missiology:
An International Review. XII(3):287-296.
Kraft, Charles H.
1991 Communication Theory for Christian
Witness. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books.
1996 "Intercultural Communication", MB540,
class lecture. Pasadena, California: Fuller Theological Seminary, School
of World Mission.
Nakazawa, Hajime
1995 Ronin: Assessing and Evangelizing
a Sub-Culture. EV525, Modern Culture and Evangelism, term paper (unpublished).
Pasadena, California: Fuller Theological Seminary, School of World Mission.
Shigematsu, Ken
n.d. No title. Term paper (unpublished).
Boston, Massachusetts: Gordon Conwell Seminary.
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Certain difficulties are acknowledged in the premise of the survey. First of all, the sample size is very small. The sample is also a very distinct group - students (or their spouses) who have come to study Christian theology or mission in the United States. Those surveyed cannot, therefore, be considered representative of the Japanese Christian population as a whole. They are a special sub-group of that population. The very fact that they have come to study at a theological seminary in an English speaking country denotes both their high commitment to their faith and their competence and comfort in using English. Even if the group was representative of the population, however, the size is too small to be statistically significant. They are however, personally significant, being Japanese, and their experiences can be learned from. Through their answers and comments the participants have provided some exciting insights.
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Please allow me to take a few moments of your time to make a request of you! I am currently taking Intercultural Communication with Dr. Kraft in the School of World Mission. Because I would one day like to go to Japan as a missionary, I wanted to relate my final project/paper for this class to Japan. I have decided to explore the relationship between English and English teaching and the spread of the Gospel in Japan. My major goal is to find out whether English is a hindrance to or if it furthers the cause of Christ.
To do this I have created the attached survey, in conjunction with Darryl Wong, with whom I will compose the final paper based upon the results. Please take a few minutes out of your busy schedule to complete the survey, and if possible please return the survey to Fuller Box 1007 by this Friday, May 23.
よろしくお願いします！
I would be happy to make available a copy of the results and final paper
if you are interested. Please let me know. Also, if you have any questions,
please contact me at (818) 352-7581 (home) or (818) 246-4400 ext. 2953
(work). Also, please give me any comments on the survey you may have.
Thank you for your help and cooperation!
Matthew Ropp
Survey: Relation of English to Christianity in Japan
Name ___________________________________________________________________
May I call you (briefly) if necessary to discuss your responses to the
questions? Yes / No
Please write in your answers or circle one underlined answer for each
question. Continue on the back of the sheets if more space is needed. Thank
you!
interested
genuinely
Phone Number ____________________________________________________________
Fuller Box Number and/or Home Address_______________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
If "Yes",
minor
medium
major
______________________________________________________
1
2
3
4
5
If "Yes",
If "Yes",
If "Yes", What effect did this have on you decision in taking that
class?
If "Yes",
only in teaching
interested in
Christianity
students
______________________________________________________
1
2
3
4
5
In your opinion, do Japanese people in general see Christianity as
foreign? Yes / No
If "Yes" for either,
Yes / No
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in my Junior High school | no |
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Other than Jr. High school and High School, I had a weekly group conversation class while in High School. I was in English speaking club while at a university. Studied in the states as an exchange student while at college | When I studied for a year in U.S. my best friend was a Christian, through whom I became a Christian. |
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MA level Ph.D. level |
None. |
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middle school classes
high school classes group conversation classes |
ELI. I attended the ELI class after I converted. |
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3. [U.S. university] - I met some genuine Christians. I was invited to a Bible Study Fellowship. A Christian heavy-metal band Stryper was a big influence on me. |
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[circled] school classes, personal study, foreign experience
[written] lived in US when young missionary friends |
missionaries |
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Regular classes at my junior/senior high schools. Became fluent by being here for a long time. | English conversational classes at the church. Many of my church members found Jesus through the English Classes and its extraneous activities. In my case, I attended the church only. |
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-junior high (3 yrs.)
-1 yr. in the US on a high school exchange program -college in Tokyo (4 yrs., Jesuit College where instruction was all in English) -Mormon Eng. conversation class (2 yr.) -private non-Christian Eng. Conv. School (1 yr.) -I've been teaching English at yobikou (prep schools) for college entrance exams. |
Mormon English Conversation classes eventually led me to Christ, although I wouldn't regard it as the only and one factor for me to get to know TRUE Christ. |
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public school education, ESL in USA | No. |
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Public school education from junior high to university. And I listened NHK English program since I was a high school student. | Not at all. |
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I went to Sony Language school. | I was saved at Osaka International Church. |
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From 1st Grade in elementary school:
English Conv. Class once a week.
Jr./Sr. High school: English grammar, conv. class, 5-8 classes / week. Sr. High: juku, once a week (group). Univ.: English class 2 classes / week. 1 mos. home stay in UK |
Not necessarily connected. I became a Christian after I started working. |
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At Junior High and Senior High (Nothing special). Therefore reading and writing English only. (No opportunity of speaking training.) | Nothing! |
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school classes, juku, group conversation classes, personal study, foreign experience | juku, foreign experience |
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school classes, juku, group conversation classes, personal study, foreign experience | missionary was doing conversation class |
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| 2 | The main reason I wanted to go abroad was to learn English. I ended up becoming a Christian while abroad. |
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| 3 | ["No" answer] I was Christian before that. | |
| 5 | The English language is my second language. It was still fresh and the freshness helped me to explore Christianity (which we Japanese think as a Western religion) with less fear. |
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| 7 | I would say yes. One of the reason I went to the church was that I can talk to a missionary about the life in America, I was back then, being ready to leave to the U.S. for the exchange program. |
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| 8 | yes - in the sense that Mormon missionaries opened my eyes
to monotheistic idea
no - conversion was as a result of the enlightenment by the TRUTH rather than English |
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It made it easier for me to read the Bible. I felt closer to the Lord.
In Japanese He seems miles away.
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| God (capital "God") | 神 kami | no | ||
| service | 奉仕 houshi | no | ||
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surrender | 明け渡し放棄 akewatashi houki | no | |
| commitment | 献身 kenshin | no | ||
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My question here is: Is English term adequate? | |||
| Sin | 罪 tsumi | no | These are very Christian terms. In Buddhism, we would say
"ばちがあたる (bachi ga ataru)." |
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Repentance | 悔い改め kuiaratame | no | |
| God | 神 kami | Somewhat, but needs explanation. | ||
| Fellowship | フェローシップ feroushippu | We usually translate the word as 外来語 (gairaigo). | ||
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I think that it's not the Eng. "Word" [sic] that communicates Christian concepts but how the words are explained. | |||
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If you ask me, the concept is very foreign at the beginning in either languages. Almost like studying Economics. However, unless the core of the Christianity [is] being explained in Japanese, regular folks in Japan would not understand truly what it means. Remember, you CAN NOT go to Japan and start speaking English to regular folks in Japan [on] this level of deep matters. You should not underestimate the power of the language and culture barriers. | |||
| Sin | 罪 tsumi | No - the word is used to mean both crime and "moral wrongdoings" and "sin." | ||
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repentance | 悔い改め kuiaratame | Yes, but not in a Christian sense. A Japanese word used for "repentance" is 悔い改め kuiaratame (noun) and 悔い改める kuiaratameru (verb). The 改める(to correct, emend, improve, better, change) part was pretty new to me because we have a word 懺悔 zange which means "to feel bad/confess something bad you have done," however, I do not think this word has any connotation of "changing the direction from now on." In that sense, kuiaratame which, I believe, is a translation from English when English speaking missionaries came into Japan... (though I am not certain about this) | |
| God | 神 kami a divine figure (polytheistic) | No God/divine standard is present in Japanese language associated to this word. | ||
| God | 神 kami | no | ||
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sin | 罪 tsumi | No - tsumi is more like criminal, but sin is spiritual. | |
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I understand that English has no superiority of theological concept or notion to other languages, let alone Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and German. | |||
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Many young people especially would like to know English conversation. They understand that most of the English-speaking countries are based on Christianity. Therefore, teaching English or having English Bible study is effective to share the gospel. However, English teachers and instructors need to understand religious sensitivity in Japanese culture. |
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As long as it gives an opportunity to more people to hear the gospel, it is a good tool for the mission. Effectiveness is an different question. |
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positive aspects
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After I converted I was always thinking about "how Christians should live" instead of rejoicing. When I met the ELI teacher, I found out that she had something that I didn't have. She was a good model for me. |
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It is a powerful way/avenue to bring in the gospel. People tend to be more open when learning something new. However, the level of English can be a hindrance to some. Not all people are able to pick up a new language easily and quickly. There will be a sense of not getting through to the deepest part of the people's hearts. It is probably wise to be prepared to make a transition in the course of time from English to Japanese. |
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English classes in churches do, to some extent, reinforce the view that Christianity is a western religion. I've never heard of Buddhist temples teaching English. However, learning English is still an attraction to many people including older housewives and businessmen. I think English classes are [an] entrance doorway into Christianity as a religion, building relationship with Christian people, seeing God alive at work in Christians. Relationship building is crucial in witnessing in Japan. English class[es] enhance good relationships in ways that church services and other events can't do. |
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English is a very useful vehicle of having people become
interested in Christianity. More than the half of Japanese people want
to be able to speak English, so attracting people to the English classes
is a useful method. When the students become Christians, it is important
to make sure that they will not connect English (teacher) and faith together.
Because what happens a lot of time is that some people become a Christian
through a[n] English teacher, grow in the spirit for a while, then when
the teacher returns to the US or his/her home country, the person stop[s]
coming to the Church.
Another issue I would like to address is that the missionary organization our church had contract with became financially troubled. There is a fierce competition from private English conversational schools for the students. It is possible to have localized English evangelical programs, but to establish an organized chain of English evangelical program is quite difficult at this time. |
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My ex-roommate from Canada played a significant role to
double the number of my church membership (in Tokyo). However, those who
came to church through him (even those who were "converted") left as soon
as he left Japan. This gave me an impression that those who come to church
through English speaking missionaries tend to be attracted to the persons
or English rather than Christianity itself.
Paradoxically, however, I do admit English can be a "door" to Christianity. I have a lot of stories I can share with you about my teaching (English) experience at prep. schools and its consequent conversion of the students. |
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In my case, my conversion does not relate to English teaching. But, Japanese people still like to learn English conversation today, so that missionary should use their gifts, English teaching. It is a bait. Go for it!! However, you need to know that people see Christianity as a foreign religion at the same time. It is obvious that you can use English, as a result, it makes a foreign religion. Of course you need contextualization, however. Japanese people like American culture or foreign culture and its language. Why don't you use it [to] save Japanese? Please try whatever you can do for Japanese. God Bless You!! |
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[paraphrase of telephone response to question]
Studying the Bible and Christianity in English made the distance feel smaller between myself and God and my curiosity in the Bible increased. When using the Japanese Bible, the language is very old. Reading the Japanese Bible, it feels like it would to read the King James version in English -- all old language, similar to the times when samurai warriors were around. I know there are some updated versions of the Bible in Japanese, but even they must be revised to use a more contextualized form for young Japanese people. I use the Good News Bible (English translation) because I can understand it well. Foreign missionaries going to Japan should teach English. This will remove an obstacle between missionaries and the people. Japanese people set up a wall or barrier between themselves and outsiders. English is a good tool for contact with people. |
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I am afraid that my conclusion might disappoint you a bit. But I think my case is rare in Japan, to say the least. So, I hope you get and expected good result! [Conclusion is actually not given here, but it seemed to be mostly against English teaching (or maybe just against the idea that English might be superior to Japan.] |
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There seems to be no direct connection between teaching
English and evangelism. Learning English seems to be a matter of skill,
which is not a relational matter. However, teaching English can be a good
starting point to build (personal) relationship through which Jesus' message
can be transmitted.
Possible weaknesses:
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| 1 | 6 (general) - Yes - most of Japanese people |
| 2 | 6 (personal) - Yes - in a sense that it never has been domesticated. |
| 5 | 4a - before - But it became clearer as I began to read the Bible and study theology! |
| 6 | 5 - No - but many of my friends were. |
| 7 | 4 - No - I had the spiritual drill down in Japan.
5b - Yes - I know this because of my tie with the church and the English school. 6a - In our church yes, because our church utilize English as the main out-reaching vehicle. 6b - Good question. I have to say no. The concept of "one-God" is very foreign to Japanese people, therefore, English teachers teaching Christianity does not directly influence such a thought process. |
| 8 | 4 - Yes - a little
4c - It all depends how the terms are explained. Unless you have a very good command of English, it is difficult to understand the subtlety of these terms in English anyway. 4d - Yes/No - There is an overlapping part.  5a if "Yes" - As long as I was not forced to believe in their religion, I thought it was okay. 6 - I did before I became a Christian; Not now 6a - Yes - and the presence of Western missionaries. |
| 11 | 5a - Since the distance between me and God was closer, it was easy for me to see the images of God. |
| 13 | 6a - No - Because English is minor language in Japanese
Christianity. 1) Forty percent of Japanese Christians are Roman Catholics
as you know. 2) Mainline Protestant teacher are educated in Germany.
6b - Maybe for some, but others not. |
| 14 | 6b - both - depends on situation |
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