When the first OMF missionaries came to Japan in the 1950’s, they chose to follow the standard mission practice of going to the places where there was the least Christian witness. That meant northern Japan, with major foci in Aomori and Hokkaido.
However, during the 70’s we realized that despite the large number of mission agencies and missionaries in the greater Tokyo area, there was still a huge need to evangelize and plant new churches, and the decision was made to begin work there as well.
Nearly a dozen churches have since been started in Chiba, Saitama, Tokyo and Kanagawa prefectures, and some of those are now under Japanese leadership. Like the churches in Hokkaido, we aim for these churches to become members of the Japan Evangelical Church Association once they reach the stage of calling their own pastor.
Several of the churches in greater Tokyo are located in fast-growing new suburbs, but the geographical make-up of the four prefectures mentioned above is such that there aren’t many rural areas, so even the most ‘remote’ church plant we are involved in is in the middle of a city on the Chiba peninsula!