At the close of World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur appealed to Western Christians to mobilize 10,000 missionaries to Japan, which he described as a \u201cspiritual vacuum.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lord used MacArthur\u2019s appeal to awaken hearts in America to the spiritual condition of this small, densely populated nation. Today, Southern Baptist missionaries like Missouri\u2019s Liz Welsch devote their lives to sharing the love of Christ with people steeped in Shinto, Buddhism and other Eastern religions.<\/p>\n
For Welsch, an International Mission Board (IMB) pioneer church planter, it is a labor of love \u2013 a labor she embraces full-time, thanks to the support of Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnlike any other mission-sending organization in the world, Southern Baptists don\u2019t just get missionaries to the field \u2013 they keep us on the field,\u201d says Welsch. \u201cAs a result, we\u2019re able to remain focused on the task at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gospel advancement in Japan has been slow and difficult. Today, less than 1 percent of Japan\u2019s population claims any Christian affiliation, with even fewer embracing evangelical Christianity. The nation instead adheres to a syncretistic conglomeration of historic Shinto and Buddhism, often with a thin layer of whatever they consider beneficial of other world religions, according to Welsch.<\/p>\n