Fukuoka City

The largest city on the southernmost main Japanese island of Kyushu is Fukuoka. With a population of 1.5 million, Fukuoka is one of the few cities in Japan that is actually growing! With an international airport, harbor, urban expressway, an efficient public transportation system of trains, subways, buses and taxis, and the famous Shinkansen "bullet train," Fukuoka’s influence in the Asian marketplace continues to grow. Fukuoka is also home to many universities, colleges and trade schools, attracting students from all over the world. For a church planter, Fukuoka is significant, not only because of the logistical advantages, but also because a number of prefectures close by continue to languish without evangelical churches, pastors or missions workers.

Fukuoka was the site of two invasions by Mongol ruler Kublai Khan in the late 1200s. Each time, the timely arrival of a typhoon that destroyed the poorly constructed ships of the Mongol fleet became known as Kamikazi, or "the divine wind."

The Team

Our team is small, but diverse. Members come from Canada, Japan and the US. Between us we have experience in English teaching, engineering, financial auditing, raising kids, internet graphic design, flying, farming, nutrition, and corporate management. What we have in common is a desire to see God's glory proclaimed throughout this particular end of the earth, and a willingness to offer our lives to be used for that purpose.

Ministries

Much of what we do is encouraging and helping existing ministries. Some of us are working in a church that was planted in 2010, passing out church flyers, hosting evangelistic events, meeting with visitors who want to know more about Christ, teaching and preaching. One of our members teaches English at a ministry center where the goal is to see a church planted some day. Others are meeting with unsaved friends and neighbors to study the Bible and talk with them about why Christianity isn't just “another religion.”

Opportunities

  • - Conduct an evangelism and discipleship ministry with university students

  • - Team up with an existing Japanese church to help plant another church

  • - Teach English for 6 months to a year.

  • - Learn language, culture and ministry skills as part of this team, and then go start another team

  • - (Future) Manage a ministry center: coordinate English teaching, Pioneers short term ministries, manage guest facilities.

  • - (Future) Join a new Pioneers team to plant a church in another prefecture of Kyushu