My wife and I took a sabbatical this year, and the highlight was spending three weeks in Korea and Japan. It was the first time we had visited either country.
While there, we worshiped at two Korean churches, one of which was SaRang Church in the Gangnam district, an area popularized by K-pop and K-dramas. The church has 60,000 members and is officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest underground church. Yes, its sanctuary is literally built into the ground, and it can seat up to 6,500 people.
SaRang Church has four services each Sunday, and some of their chapels hold worship in Chinese, Japanese, and English. It was exciting to hear 6,500 people sing together with a 50-person praise team, a 120-member choir, and a 60-piece orchestra—all gathered together to glorify God.
South Korea has a lot of Christians. About 30% of the Korean population is Protestant or Catholic. But visiting Japan was a different story.
Christians make up only 1-2% of the overall Japanese population of 125 million. Only around half of that already small percentage attends church. The Japanese church we visited one Sunday morning had about 250 people across two services—and that was considered a relatively large church in Japan.
Of those churches, many pastors are 70-80 years old. That’s because believers in Japan are few in number, and most younger Japanese have no interest in Christianity whatsoever. In addition, because of centuries of persecution, the Japanese people have come to view Christianity as a foreign religion and continue to hold onto Shintoism and Buddhism. As a result, there are not many Christians to step into these pastoral positions of the congregations that remain.
Still, there is hope. Two Japanese Christians I spoke with became Christians through non-Japanese people. One became a Christian when he met a Korean Christian who befriended him during college. After two years of friendship, the Japanese man finally started reading the Bible with his Korean friend. Later, the Japanese man accepted Christ and was baptized, and now he is a pastor.
The other Japanese I spoke with became a Christian through coming to the United States to study. She met Christians who cared for her, loved her, and helped her. They had such a positive influence on her that later she also accepted Christ.
During our trip to Korea and Japan, we were interested in finding the answer to the question, “Are the churches in Korea and Japan reaching younger generations?”
The answer I learned from speaking with pastors and Christians over Zoom before my trip and in person during my visit is, “No. Neither Korean churches nor Japanese churches are effective in reaching the younger generations.”
Many children in Korea and Japan go to school from 7 AM to 10 PM, including tutoring after normal school hours. Schools also have clubs and sports that take up many non-school hours as well. Not to mention children prefer leisure interests like video games, anime, K-Pop, and J-Pop.
In addition to the Korean and Japanese churches not cutting through the multitude of options for young people to spend their already limited time, there have also been some scandals across different Korean churches that have turned away young people. They felt the church or pastors were interested in money rather than serving God or people.
As a byproduct, most churches there are primarily attended by older people who tend to run the church in traditional and authoritarian ways that make it difficult for young people to feel welcomed. This also causes the natural consequence that when young people do venture into the church space, they find it difficult to connect with others their age.
During our time in Korea and Japan, I noticed four main tenets that could support the Korean and Japanese churches overseas and in America in reaching the next generations:
1. Ministry to children and students (including college students) is very important.
Larger Korean churches are known to have strong ministries for children and teenagers. They use this to attract young families and keep the young people engaged in the gospel. Asian American churches need to continue to develop and support ministries that reach children, students, young adults, and young families. In addition, given the interest in education and sports by Asian Americans, tutoring and sports can be used by the Asian-American church to reach the younger generations.
2. Expand ministry to international students and foreign workers living in the U.S.
For Asian American churches, this is a way to reach the younger generations from other countries who are in the states. Be hospitable and approachable to these international students and foreign workers. Invite them for a meal or open your home to them during U.S. holidays.
Many international students and foreign workers (among whom are many who are young) are exposed to the gospel for the first time when they study or work in the U.S. Asian-American churches and Christians can see this as a missional/evangelistic outreach. While it is hard for some to become Christians in their home country, there are more opportunities and acceptance to become Christians in the U.S.
3. Learn where the younger generations are, what they like to do, and how to engage them.
Korean Christians have set up cafes so they can engage with younger people when they visit. Korean Christians also establish churches that target the younger generations, such as international churches. The Japanese man who became a pastor is now working in a Tokyo church that is very close to a college. He sees colleges in Japan as places where there is less pressure to compete for top grades since students are already admitted to colleges. He also sees colleges as places where Japanese students have more time to explore Christianity, just as he became a Christian during that time in his life.
Using these examples, Asian American churches need to figure out where the younger generations are, what they like to do, and how to engage them to make the gospel attractive to them.
4. Provide ministry and educational opportunities for the younger generations to grow biblically, theologically, and spiritually in service and leadership.
Encourage all young people to come to personal faith in Christ. Sensitively and wisely answer their questions and doubts. Provide them with opportunities for service. Identify those with potential for further theological training and support them financially and spiritually in their training, including paid internships in our churches.
I hope that as Asian American churches in the United States practice these steps, they can reach the younger generations for the glory of God.