Dwight and Kari Davidson Ministry Context

Japan is a land of extremes. We live in a relatively quiet slice of the urban jungle of Tokyo/Yokohama, one of the most densely populated metropolitan centers in the world, with lines of people waiting to pack (during rush hour we mean literally pack, as in sardines!) onto commuter trains, and glitzy department stores selling anything imaginable (and unimaginable, like matching blazers and hats for you and your toy poodle). But take a bullet train just a few hours northwest, and you`re in the Japan Alps-with sparsely populated mountain villages, hot springs visited by monkeys, and beautiful forests, full of things like stag beetles, song birds, and tiny green frogs.

Japan is a country of seeming paradox, where a lovely centuries-old tea ceremony can take place in a room right across from a Toyota dealership, where toddlers can go on a preschool outing to dig sweet potatoes in a garden between high-rise apartments, where high-schoolers wearing spiked hair, lots of metal, and baggy pants may bow and apologize profusely if they accidentally bump into you on the sidewalk. To us, Japan has been a place where gracious, caring friends have helped us find our place, learn to speak, and establish our life and ministry here.

Although there are many cultural differences, the challenges everyday people face in Japan are similar to those of us in most modern, post-industrial societies- hard-working families try to find time to be together, people in fast-paced cities search for a sense of community and belonging, and there is an underlying desire to live simply, and more naturally, in a consumer/media driven society. Like anywhere, people struggle with forgiveness, and long to be loved unconditionally.

Harry Emerson Fosdick once wrote that, "Christlikeness is the central criterion of Christianity, and to substitute anything else is to ruin Christianity." Kari and I believe that Jesus cared about the needs of the whole person-physical, emotional and spiritual-cherishing each individual as a special creation of God. We believe that all Christian people need to be Christlike-to follow Jesus' example of holistic healing. And in the spirit of Christ, we believe that this healing should be extended to all the world's peoples. This is what keeps us serving alongside our fellow-Christians here in Japan.