“Let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill” Isaiah 5:1, NASB.
“Fukuoka” (foo-koo-oh-kah) means “Hill of Blessing.” Fukuoka prefecture is on Japan’s southernmost island of Kyushu. Fukuoka City, with 1.4 million people, and Kitakyushu City, with almost 1 million people are the two main population centers. Kitakyushu was the center of the steel industry for many years, and remains a city of blue collar workers. Fukuoka is the cultural center of the area. The combined area has the fourth largest university student population in Japan. The people are very friendly, warm, and easy-going. They have their own dialects, humor, and traditional crafts. Although it is a major metropolitan area, each part of these cities has its own flavor, and people try to maintain neighborhood relationships.
Two well-known crafts in Fukuoka are the Hakata obi pattern—special weaving that is used for the wide sash that is tied around the traditional Japanese kimono. The other is the Hakata doll made from clay from the area. The painting of the dolls is a very delicate art. Fewer and fewer young people are taking up these traditional crafts.
Southern Baptist missionaries began work in Fukuoka and Kitakyushu more than 100 years ago, establishing churches and educational institutions. Other Protestants also came, but in spite of this long-term witness, only 1% of the population is evangelical Christian.
Most Japanese people, including the people of the Fukuoka area, follow both Buddhist and Shinto traditions. Families can have a Buddhist altar as well as a Shinto god-shelf in the same house. They pray to their ancestors, and believe that the dead can provide them with protection and help. For Japanese people, the most important thing is to be like all other Japanese. They are very uncomfortable when they do not fit in with their friends and society.
Pray that:
- Christians in traditional churches will evangelize the lost in their spheres of influence.
- The young people in Fukuoka who often talk of feeling hopeless will embrace the hope found in Christ.
- God will keep allow all the Gospel seeds planted in Fukuoka bear fruit for His glory in His time.
- The traditional church will not be a stumbling block to new believers in house churches.
- Believers in Fukuoka will not be discouraged by lack of response to their seed sowing efforts.
- New believers will be effectively discipled so that they become mature and disciple others.
- University students who hear the Gospel through Bible verse cards and cartoon Bibles will respond.
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