Realities of the Past
The Minidoka Relocation Center, hidden away on sagebrush land in south-central Idaho, was described by the camp newspaper as “the sort of place people would normally traverse only to get through to another destination.” 1The Japanese American evacuees, who arrived in 1942, were shocked to see “the barbed-wire fences, the watchtowers, guard houses, the MP detachments, the administration housing, warehouse areas, and block after block of black, tar-papered barracks.”2 Each family would make their home in a 24-by-20-foot room for the next few years.
On the first day of camp, residents recalled their “rousing welcome by a dust storm. It caught up with us while we were still wandering about looking for our room. We felt as if we were standing in a gigantic sand-mixing machine as the sixty-mile gale lifted the loose earth up into the sky, obliterating everything. Sand filled our mouths and nostrils and stung our faces and hands like a thousand darting needles.”3
Dust storms continually whipped the volcanic-ash-rich soil into porous barracks such that residents often woke up in the mornings covered by a thin layer of dust. The winters were so cold that they had to wrap cloths around the doorknobs to keep their hands from sticking, while the Idaho summers browned one girl “to such a fine slow turn that [she] felt like a walking Southern fried chicken.”4
Although many began to lose hope, the Christians encouraged one another to pray and to trust in God as the Federated Christian Church grew out of barren desert soil into a flourishing flower. One minister recounted:
Constituent members include Baptist, Congregational, Episcopal, Holiness, Methodist, and Presbyterian. Over 500 are enrolled in the Church School. The two English speaking services for youth average well over 300 each Sunday. There are special Japanese speaking services for parents which reach 375-400 each Sunday. Besides these, there are evening youth fellowships and midweek services… The Christian Church is busy serving in the centers. It is helping in student relocation, family relocation, ministry to those in physical need as well as spiritual need, and pointing people to the higher spiritual values of life. The plans for a community Christmas with gifts for every child has been due largely to the efforts of the Christian Church. We would not be able to do much without the strength which comes from the cooperative effort on the part of our Christian friends on the outside.5
The Christians at Minidoka labored in gospel partnership with one another. Their strong relationships had been forged in pre-war Seattle and in the Puyallup Assembly Center, a temporary facility that housed Japanese Americans until they were relocated to internment camps. In fact, their pastors had already started planning out the worship structure of the Minidoka church weeks before the relocation.
Cooperation between denominations was necessary to care for everyone, so leaders agreed to divide the camp into fourths, with one minister assigned to each quarter. Small groups met locally on Sunday and Thursday evenings, then each quarter held its own worship service on Sundays. The pastors took turns preaching on rotation in each of the four services.6
This ecumenical Federated Christian Church was dedicated on November 1, 1943, with sermons from Rev. Everett Thompson, a faithful missionary, and Rev. Naomichi Kodaira.7 They also sang cherished hymns such as The Church’s One Foundation and offered ministries for all ages, a Nisei youth conference, church choir, vacation Bible school for children, friendship groups that met in barrack homes, and a National Christian Preaching Mission which invited speakers from around the country.
On their first Easter Sunday in 1943, 1,500 people attended the sunrise service with both Issei and Nisei performing special music and speaking from Scripture.8 Then, during the main Easter service, the church heard messages from Revs. Thompson and Fukuyama and 39 Minidokans were baptized as a testimony of their faith in Christ. The church also recited the Lord’s Prayer and sang the victory hymn, Christ the Lord is Risen Today.
Lessons for Today’s Church
Although the mass evacuation and incarceration of Japanese Americans were neither right nor wise, the experience nevertheless enriched the church’s spiritual life as nothing else could have. Consider lessons the church today can learn as we minister to fellow believers who similarly face adversity.
1. God always has a purpose in our suffering.
Nikkei Christians could honestly acknowledge the injustice of the internment while still upholding their faith in a sovereign God. They would echo the words of Joseph, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20). Many came to Christ because of the evangelistic witness within the camps and the church’s pastoral care was more concentrated since residents had nowhere to go except the few square miles enclosed by barbed wire.
2. Christ’s church is larger than our local gathering.
The Federated Christian Church (similar in each of the other camps as well) consisted of members from various denominations, Isei and Nisei, Japanese and English speakers. They decided on shared hymns, preaching rotations, and broader doctrinal statements like the Apostle’s Creed. They also left decisions like baptism and membership to the new converts. We see such togetherness for the gospel only elsewhere in the early church (Acts 2:42-47) and in the kingdom to come (Revelation 7:9-10). Such seasons of necessity grant us a beautiful picture of oneness amidst diversity.
3. The ministry of soul care is universal.
The church behind barbed wire dealt with many of the same problems we face today, and they also clung to the same means of grace: the preaching of God’s Word, Bible study in small groups, wise counsel, prayer, singing, and Christian fellowship. They encountered unique challenges and injustices but also grew in their faith because of it. In the midst of trials, the church today must not abandon tried and true practices for the care of souls.
4. New troubles require new leaders to step forward.
Many of the older Japanese-speaking leaders were either locked away in high-security incarceration centers or treated with suspicion by the U.S. government. So, in these camps, the younger English-speaking Nisei were often called upon to communicate with authorities. Many of these young adults, who were thrust into ministry, would go on to pastor churches or start missions organizations like JEMS after the war.9
5. Compassion can come from any corner.
Despite their country’s betrayal of the Nikkei, certain Americans continued to minister with compassion. Some missionaries devoted the entirety of the war to pastoring their interned flock. Others volunteered to start schools in the camps so that children wouldn’t fall behind in their education. A handful protested against the internment and fought for Japanese American rights. Many sent letters of encouragement to their incarcerated friends and thousands of gifts at Christmastime. May the Lord turn our hearts to act with compassion toward the disadvantaged who suffer today.
Editor’s Note: This article is adapted from an excerpt from Tom Sugimura’s The Church Behind Barbed Wire: Stories of Faith During the Japanese American Internment of World War II. It has been edited for online publication and published with permission.
- Minidoka Irrigator (10 September 1942), 4.
- John Tateishi, And Justice for All: An Oral History of the Japanese American Detention Camps (New York: Random House, 1984), 76.
- Monica Sone, Nisei Daughter (Boston, MA: Atlantic, Little, Brown, and Company, 1953), 192.
- Ibid., 194.
- Letter from Rev. Tsutomo Fukuyama to Rev. K. Harper Sakaue.
- Letter and interview notes from Rev. T. J. Machida.
- Federated Christian Church of Minidoka, “Dedication Service” (1 November 1943).
- “Over Thousand Attend Easter Sunrise Service,” The Herald 2.16 (2 May 1943), 1. Issei describes the first generation Japanese Americans, Nisei the second generation, and Nikkei the group as a whole.
- The Japanese Evangelical Missions Society (JEMS) was founded in 1950 and continues to serve the Asian American community on the Pacific Coast and beyond.