Christians across the world are being called to pray for the “spiritual transformation” of Japan in a “million hours of prayer” during the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The push for prayer comes ahead of the games which are scheduled to start on 23rd July and run through until 8th August, originally scheduled to take place last year. Olympic organisers announced last week that there will be no spectators after a state of emergency was declared in Tokyo due to rising COVID-19 infections. It was announced that there would be no foreign spectators at the Games back in March.
People chat next to Olympic Rings monument outside the Japan Olympic Committee headquarters near the National Stadium, the main stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games that have been postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in Tokyo, on 23rd Jun on the day to mark one month to go until the opening of the Olympic Games. PICTURE: Reuters/Issei Kato/File photo.
Led by the Japan international Sports Partnership and Japan Evangelical Missionary Association, the Japan1million initiative is driven “by a vision to see the church in Japan grow to 10 million people by 2024,” said JiSP director Pastor Keishi Ikeda in a statement.
“Working towards that vision, we had hoped to reach a million Japanese people during our Olympic outreach year,” he explained. “Covid closed those doors, but one door remained open; the door to prayer.”
The groups cite data from the Joshua Project showing that less than one per cent of the Japanese population of 126 million attend church making them the second-largest unreached people group in the world. They say most people in Japan have not been to church, read the Bible or even know any Christians.
Keishi said committed prayer was needed for “a significant spiritual breakthrough in Japan”. “We believe Alfred Tennyson words, ‘more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of’.”
Christians, churches and organisations are invited to register on the Japan1Million website to record their prayer hours and receive daily updates, information about Japan and join in Zoom meetings led by the JiSP and JEMA teams. There is also an app, Pray 4 Japan, which has been launched in partnership with the YouVersion Bible app and provides a 17 day prayer plan in both English and Japanese.
