Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts

Saturday 29 October 2016

Juji Nakada the "Moody of Japan"

English: A portrait of Bishop Juji Nakada in sepia
English: A portrait of Bishop Juji Nakada in sepia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
At the age of thirteen Charles Cowman had become a Christian though for for ten years he drifted away. Once back on track he tried to bring others to the Gospel. Within six months he had converted seventy-five of his co-workers, including the first man with whom he shared the gospel, Ernest Kilbourne.

October 29, 1870 Juji Nakada saw the light of this world and when grown up he found that so many people knew nothing about the true God.
When he was twenty-six he enrolled at the Moody Bible Institute, Chicago,  to "get filled with the Holy Spirit." Dwight L. Moody's fame as an evangelist had spread around the world. Eventually Juji would himself be known as the "Moody of Japan." His vision was to found a similar institute and train national pastors for his native land.
Still at study he met Charles Cowman in church and became befriended.

Kilbourne and Cowman founded the Telegraphers' Missions Band. This group supported Juji when he returned to Japan in 1898. Three years later, Charles Cowman and his wife Lettie sailed for Japan.
Together with Juji and Ernest Kilbourne, they founded the Bible institute that Juji had dreamed of. Juji became its first president. In 1910, the team incorporated the Oriental Missionary Society in Tokyo. This became a significant world mission, now known simply as OMS.

Saturday 2 January 2016

How importance on religion is placed

In the past India has always been a special place concerning the spiritual. Today still close to 80 per cent Indians think religion is an important part of their lives, according to a recent Pew Research Center report, where they ask if the American public is becoming less religious.

The most populous landlocked country in the world, as well as the second-most populous nation on the African continent after Nigeria, Ethiopia, which has a close historical ties with all three of the world's major Abrahamic religions, tops the chart with 98 per cent nationals saying that faith plays a crucial role in their lives.

In the November survey of more than 35,000 U.S. adults it was found that the percentages who say they believe in God, pray daily and regularly go to church or other religious services all have declined modestly in recent years, from 56 per cent in 2007 to 53 per cent in 2015.

The share of U.S. adults who say they believe in God, while still remarkably high by comparison with other advanced industrial countries, has declined modestly, from approximately 92% to 89%, since Pew Research Center conducted its first Landscape Study in 2007.
The share of Americans who say they are “absolutely certain” God exists has dropped more sharply, from 71% in 2007 to 63% in 2014. And the percentages who say they pray every day, attend religious services regularly and consider religion to be very important in their lives also have ticked down by small but statistically significant margins.
The figures suggest Americans place less importance on religion than those from African and Asian countries.
U.S. is in the middle of pack when it comes to importance of religion in people's lives
Pakistan with 93 per cent and Indonesia with 95 per cent, come ahead of India in believing that religion is very important in their lives. On the other hand, France (14 per cent), Japan (11 per cent) and China (three per cent) rank the the lowest.
Generally, poorer nations tend to be religious; wealthy less so, except for U.S.