“You made my day!”
Posted on: 19th April 2023
Matt Lim and his wife Jen are CMS missionaries serving in Japan in student ministry. At a camp at the end of last year Matt had an unexpected conversation with a young believer. Although he felt very unprepared, as he reflects here, God was powerfully at work to encourage them both. A version of this […]
Blessed to bless others
Posted on: 25th May 2022
CMS missionary Chenny Thie works with the KGK (a Japanese university ministry affiliated with IFES) encouraging and training Japanese and international students. She shares how the ministry of KGK has been a blessing to many.
Discipling through training
Posted on: 24th January 2022
CMS missionary Kellie Nicholas has been working with university students in Japan since 2008. She works with the KGK (Kirisutosha Gakusei Kai), a Christian student movement affiliated with IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students). Kellie shares how some of the most encouraging discipling relationships have happened almost unexpectedly through training students in leadership. In 2018, […]
Christmas in Japan: fried chicken and Jesus
Posted on: 7th December 2021
CMS missionaries Adam and Helane Ramsay work in church ministry in the Japanese city of Chiba. Helane shares what Christmas is like for their family in a nation with little exposure to the message of Jesus but lots of fried chicken. Christmas in Japan A boy and a girl stroll through the city hand in hand on a chilly night, looking at the Christmas […]
Grace, the undeserved reward
Posted on: 6th December 2021
CMS missionaries Sam and Shan-Shan Chrisp serve in Taiwan. They share their surprise at the practice of rewarding good behaviour in many areas of Taiwanese culture. One thing we’re learning about in Taiwan is what we call the ‘reward’ culture. Elijah often comes home from preschool with new small toys or food snacks. When we ask him […]
Living out the gift of grace
Posted on: 7th October 2021
CMS missionary Kellie Nicholas has served in Japan for 13 years. In this article she explains how difficult it can be to comprehend the concept of grace in a culture of reciprocity. The exchanging of gifts is very important in Japanese culture, and for relationships to be maintained, it must be continuous and reciprocal. (1) Gifts are given in order to carry out giri (2), and the […]
Making Jesus known in Japan: Checkpoint Spring 2021
Posted on: 6th September 2021
CMS missionaries Adam and Helane Ramsay, along with Steven and Sandra Parsons, are serving in Japan. Whether church planting or supporting in other ways, they explain their desire to see God’s people take every opportunity to grow his kingdom in a hard place. Adam writes We didn’t come to Japan to church plant. We came […]
How I became a missionary in Japan: an interview with Kellie Nicholas
Posted on: 23rd June 2021
CMS missionary Kellie Nicholas has served in Japan since 2007. Here Paddy Benn and Aaron Smith (from the ‘Aspire’ podcast) interview her about how she went from being a struggling high school language student to a missionary among students in Japan. Kellie says: “I knew that Jesus was my Saviour, but I hadn’t quite clicked that Jesus needed to be my Lord…” In […]
Taiwan: Gospel to grandma and beyond
Posted on: 4th June 2021
CMS missionaries Sam and Shan-Shan Chrisp are learning language and culture as they prepare to work with students in Taiwan. Here Sam shares some recent answers to prayer for ministry opportunities. Sharing the gospel Over Easter, Shan-Shan was able to use her imperfect Taiwanese to share the gospel stories of Jesus’ death and resurrection with a local […]
Meeting physical and spiritual needs
Posted on: 13th May 2021
CMS missionaries Nathan and Maki Clapham have been working with students and their local church in Japan since 2013. Maki is also involved in a local ministry to homeless people in Tokyo. Homelessness might not be something that comes to your mind when you think about Japan. Yet, there are those who have fallen through the system and ended up living on the streets. Let […]
