With such a small percentage of Christians in Japan , and with the vast majority of people never having had the opportunity to hear the Gospel, the needs of this country are overwhelming. It is easy at times to wonder where to start reaching out and if anything we do has any effect. 

Yet God doesn’t call us personally to reach the millions, but rather to reach out to those He places in our path. 

This involves making the most of every opportunity, chatting with our neighbors, talking with people we get into conversation with on the train, or other one-off acquaintances. 

But it also means that we feel God has called us to reach out to a specific group of people in society and to concentrate our efforts on them.

University Students:

We live about ten minutes by bicycle from the campus of Saitama University (Saidai), a fairly large university which is well known for its teacher training program.

Presently there is no outreach taking place on the campus by any Christian organization, and we want to be able to reach out to the students there over the next few years. 

There is a research student studying at the university who attends our church, Saitama International Church , but as he is an older, overseas student, he has little contact with the undergraduate students. One other Saidai student comes to our English ‘Coffee Hour’ outreach at church and has become friends with the short term worker currently helping out at church. 

We would like to expand our contacts with students, in friendship and social ways at first (including the possibility of using music…see below) and later start a Bible Study Group in our home for those interested students. 

Students are often one of the more open segments of society to new ideas and ways of thinking. Please pray for the students of Saitama University , that God would bring across our path those with a hunger for Him and openness to the work of the Spirit in their lives.

Young People:

There are a good number of Christian young people attending our church, Saitama International Church (SIC). 

We want very much to be an encouragement to them to use their gifts for the glory of God and to partner with us in reaching out to the students at Saitama University and other young people, their friends and acquaintances. 

Outreach and evangelism is often seen by the Japanese church as the role of the missionary, yet the most effective people in reaching out with a truly Japanese expression of Christianity are the Japanese Christians themselves. And we want to encourage this with the young people in our church.

Worship:

At SIC, one of Benoit’s main visions is to set up and train a vibrant worship team that will lead the church in worship. 

At present this is largely done by the senior missionary (a gifted musician), but we would like to see the other talented Japanese musicians in the church take on the leadership of this worship team. 

This will be one of Benoit’s roles in the church, training the worship team members and gradually handing over control of that part of the service to them.

Music and Recording:

Music is one of the passions of Benoit’s life. 

He is as much interested in performing as in recording. Last year he was involved in recording the music of two different people who answered an advertisement he placed in an online Tokyo magazine for foreigners. This was a good experience as well as making contacts with non-Christians, and even having the chance to share the Gospel with one of the guys he was recording. This is something we would like to be able to do again in the future, using music and recording to get to know people and to make friendships. 

Please pray for the right contacts to come our way and for all the resources needed to facilitate this ministry.