Visions of Japan

Japan image by Mike George, used under the Creative Commons license.

Chens' Summer 2009 Prayer Letter

Time flies. Evan just turned one last month, and next month we will celebrate our fourth anniversary. A year from now, Lord willing, we will be graduates of Dallas Theological Seminary. So the obvious question then is: What’s next?

At this moment, we don’t know. We’re patiently waiting upon the Lord, but at the same time we realize our responsibility to make plans and take actions. James tells us of the need to plan, but at the same time being mindful of God’s role in directing and changing our plans (James 4:13-17).

To that end, our family will be going on a “vision trip” to Japan with OMF’s Serve Asia short-term missions program from July 30 to August 16, under the care of Mike and Rowena McGinty — OMF leaders in Japan and 25-year veteran missionaries. Our objectives are to survey the work and learn more about the needs there. The long-term purpose is to see whether God is leading us to serve as missionaries in Japan.

Why Japan? Personally, I (Derek) have had a burden for Japan ever since I became a Christian ten years ago. I knew that within my home country of Taiwan, the Christian population was already very low (about 2%). However, Japan, a country that has five times the population of Taiwan, has an even smaller percentage of Christians (about 0.4%). With that in mind, I took three years of Japanese in college in case God would call me to minister there in the future.

Since we got married, we have been open to going anywhere in the world — in fact, we thought little about going to Japan — but we both felt that it would probably be outside North America. During the DTS missions conference in March this year, we prayed that God would allow us to meet the right people who could help guide 
us in our future direction. There we met Mike and Rowena, who were representing OMF during their furlough back in the States. Somehow we really connected with them in our conversations. One thing led to another, and here we are, getting ready to see the work they are doing in Japan.

OMF largely focuses on reaching the northeast island of Hokkaido, which has the least Christian presence within the nation. That is where we will spend the majority of our time on this trip. While Japan is a first-world nation and is open to missionaries, historically the people have been very resistant to the Gospel. Most people are steeped in a mixed worldview of animism, Shintoism, Buddhism and materialism.

At this point, we don’t know if God is leading us to Japan for long-term work. We would be perfectly happy ending up somewhere else. But we believe that part of good stewardship means we have to be active in following God’s lead, and when He presents an opportunity such as this, we have to be ready to take it, even if risk is involved (i.e. the fear of the unknown — what if God is not calling us to Japan?). But as Hudson Taylor said, “Unless there is an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith.”

Though this is not a traditional “missions trip,” it is a first step toward long-term vocational ministry. To do the mission of Christ’s church, we need the support of the church. Therefore, we would like to invite you, as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, to join us on this journey of faith and support us by: (1) praying for us; and (2) giving to help finance the trip.

If you are inclined to pray for us, please pray that we will be discerning and sensitive to God’s leading, not only during the trip, but also when we return; that we will somehow be an encouragement to the long-term workers there; that God will grant us travel mercies, especially since we are traveling with a one-year-old. Please also send us an e-mail at derek.chantal@gmail.com, and we will update you about the trip.

If you can support us financially, it will help cover expenses for the trip, including airfare, lodging, food, transportation, etc. We estimate that the trip will cost about $4,000 for our family. Please make your check payable to OMF and attach a sticky note saying “Derek & Chantal Chen.” (Do not write our names on the check). Send it to:

OMF International
Serve Asia Program
10 W. Dry Creek Circle
Littleton, CO, 80120

Thank you so much for your precious friendship and partnership.

In Christ,
Derek, Chantal and Evan Chen