The following report is from College of Prayer President Fred Hartley, III.
God is doing something extraordinary in Japan today—something historic! Thirty years ago I preached in several cities in Japan and returned to Atlanta with a profound burden for the small churches, and the 121 million unreached Japanese, one of the largest unreached people groups in the world today. When I returned to Japan last week, I was overwhelmed with joy to witness the spiritual hunger for God's manifest presence and to see how the Revival Prayer Group (RPG) movement is impacting the Church throughout the nation.
The RPG movement began in Taiwan 5 years ago, where there are now 17,000 Revival Prayer Group's throughout the nation. In order to understand the depth and significance of the RPG movement in Japan today, you need to understand some history.
There are 3 phases to the church development in Japan. Phase 1 was the missionary church that taught the gospel and formed somewhat of a subculture of mission-based churches. Phase 2 was the denominational church growth of many denominations throughout the nation. Prior to World War 2, when the emperor insisted that every church declare their worship and allegiance to the emperor first, many churches sold out their faith in allegiance to the emperor. Today, however, the church in Japan is experiencing Phase 3, the growth of the grassroots, indigenous Japanese church, which is being fueled by the RPG movement.
Coming out of the COVID shutdown, 25-30% of the churches in Japan have closed, and those that are still open have lost 50-70% of their members. However, because the Christians are hungry for God, and eager to meet in fellowship with one another, the RPG movement, which gathers 3-5 believers together in weekly prayer, is meeting a profound felt need. In addition, God is using GOOD-TV Japan to fuel the movement, because they are a non-threatening organization that is able to give kingdom leadership to the movement and attract churches from virtually every denomination. God is using them for such a time as this. GOOD-TV began in Taiwan and the Japanese have great respect for Taiwan. GOOD-TV is available on every smart TV and streaming service. All of their videos are of top quality, and they already have a full archive of the 36 lessons of the College of Prayer curriculum being taught predominantly by "Papa" Don Young. Up to 80 million Chinese Christians have viewed these videos and they are now all subtitled into Japanese.
When I accompanied Don Young last week to teach the RPG curriculum in 5 different locations, we were overwhelmed by the strong response of Japanese Christians. We discovered that they have already started close to 1,000 RPGs, and it is only the beginning. In addition to fueling the RPG movement, we were surprised to hear their desire to be taught the full College of Prayer curriculum. Praise the Lord! For the past 10 years, I and our Give Us The Nations Prayer Team of the College of Prayer have been praying for the 121 million unreached Japanese, and for revival in the Japanese church. It is overwhelming to see that Japan is now becoming the land of the RISING SON. All glory to Christ!
Please take 10 minutes to listen to this inspiring video interview with Dr. Paul Arigo, a church father in Japan.
God is doing something extraordinary in Japan today—something historic! Thirty years ago I preached in several cities in Japan and returned to Atlanta with a profound burden for the small churches, and the 121 million unreached Japanese, one of the largest unreached people groups in the world today. When I returned to Japan last week, I was overwhelmed with joy to witness the spiritual hunger for God's manifest presence and to see how the Revival Prayer Group (RPG) movement is impacting the Church throughout the nation.
The RPG movement began in Taiwan 5 years ago, where there are now 17,000 Revival Prayer Group's throughout the nation. In order to understand the depth and significance of the RPG movement in Japan today, you need to understand some history.
There are 3 phases to the church development in Japan. Phase 1 was the missionary church that taught the gospel and formed somewhat of a subculture of mission-based churches. Phase 2 was the denominational church growth of many denominations throughout the nation. Prior to World War 2, when the emperor insisted that every church declare their worship and allegiance to the emperor first, many churches sold out their faith in allegiance to the emperor. Today, however, the church in Japan is experiencing Phase 3, the growth of the grassroots, indigenous Japanese church, which is being fueled by the RPG movement.
Coming out of the COVID shutdown, 25-30% of the churches in Japan have closed, and those that are still open have lost 50-70% of their members. However, because the Christians are hungry for God, and eager to meet in fellowship with one another, the RPG movement, which gathers 3-5 believers together in weekly prayer, is meeting a profound felt need. In addition, God is using GOOD-TV Japan to fuel the movement, because they are a non-threatening organization that is able to give kingdom leadership to the movement and attract churches from virtually every denomination. God is using them for such a time as this. GOOD-TV began in Taiwan and the Japanese have great respect for Taiwan. GOOD-TV is available on every smart TV and streaming service. All of their videos are of top quality, and they already have a full archive of the 36 lessons of the College of Prayer curriculum being taught predominantly by "Papa" Don Young. Up to 80 million Chinese Christians have viewed these videos and they are now all subtitled into Japanese.
When I accompanied Don Young last week to teach the RPG curriculum in 5 different locations, we were overwhelmed by the strong response of Japanese Christians. We discovered that they have already started close to 1,000 RPGs, and it is only the beginning. In addition to fueling the RPG movement, we were surprised to hear their desire to be taught the full College of Prayer curriculum. Praise the Lord! For the past 10 years, I and our Give Us The Nations Prayer Team of the College of Prayer have been praying for the 121 million unreached Japanese, and for revival in the Japanese church. It is overwhelming to see that Japan is now becoming the land of the RISING SON. All glory to Christ!
Please take 10 minutes to listen to this inspiring video interview with Dr. Paul Arigo, a church father in Japan.
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