Kansas Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists (KNCSB)

Plans gear up for second trip to Tokyo

Tokyo, Japan, is the largest city in the world with 33 million people. Evangelical believers comprise only one half of one percent of the population. A team of Kansas-Nebraska students served there in June 2008. A second team will serve there in June 2009. (Photo by Terry McIlvain)

At the busiest intersection in downtown Tokyo, Japan, a group of Kansas-Nebraska students led “5-minute English practice.”

The ultimate purpose of these lessons was to engage Japanese people in spiritual conversations.

Such ministry was part of a typical day for 37 Kansas-Nebraska students and adults during the June 2008 mission trip to Tokyo. A second team will serve there in June 2009.

The Tokyo project grew out of a desire to develop a “missional mindset” in students, says Terry McIlvain. He is KNCSB director of youth ministries. It is a partnership with I Go Global ministries in cooperation with local International Mission Board workers.

Tokyo is the largest city in the world with 33 million people. Evangelical believers comprise only one half of one percent of the population, McIlvain says.

Prayer walking and 5-minute English lessons were among the organized activities for the Kansas-Nebraska group. But they found opportunities to share throughout the crowded city. Americans are a novelty in Tokyo, and the Kansas-Nebraska group used that to their advantage to strike up conversations.

McIlvain asks Kansas-Nebraska Southern Baptists to support the 2009 Tokyo team by:

• “Prayer before, during and after.” The team will be at Webster Conference Center, Salina, Kan., for training June 7-8. They will fly out of Wichita on June 9 and return on June 17.
 
• Give money to the churches of students will be going to Tokyo. These students need to raise $3,200 each.

As he looks back on the 2008 Tokyo trip, McIlvain sees how it changed team members’ lives. “The missional mindset really did catch on.”