Japan is a first world country, where is the need?

Japan is the SECOND LARGEST unreached people group in the world. You may think of Japan as a fun place to vacation but there is a true deep spiritual need for the Gospel. Japan has a population of 124.5 million people and less than 1% are Evangelical Christian. Only 0.25% are church-going Christians. This, sadly, means most people in Japan will never even meet a Japanese believer in their lifetime. 

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There is still an intense need for hope in Japan. The country has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. More than 20,000 people took their own lives in Japan in 2024. That’s about 7% of the population. 83% of Japanese who attempted suicide and failed or were stopped say if they had 1 person to talk to they would not have tried to take their life.

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The average number of members for a church in Japan is 30. The number of individuals entering the pastorate are decreasing in Japan. The majority of pastors, about 70%, are over 50 years old. There is 1 missionary to about 64,000 unreached Japanese. The need is great and the workers few, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” - Matt. 9:37b-38

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