Returning to Japan – David Rainer

ACHING

“Goodbye, I’m leaving this house and this country for home. With a heart full and aching with wonder to reap every seed I have sown. If the time were not now, I think I might stay right here with my feet on the ground. But the sunset is flown away to the west and it’s her I must follow on down.”

My iPod shuffled these folk lyrics into my ears and onto my breaking heart as I walked the streets of our neighborhood — where we raised our son from infant to toddler, where our daughter was born, where we were broken and built up by the Lord as missionaries in Japan. We were returning home to the States the next day. Even though we hoped to return, there was no realistic open door. On that final night, I walked and soaked in the land I loved as long as I could as this song providentially put words to my tangled emotions.

That ache for Japan never died. We returned to the States, adopted two children, and raised our four kids in the Deep South. I served the Lord as a pastor. And yet, through it all, I was Japan-haunted. I learned the secret of contentment and looked to Jesus to satisfy all my longings to return. He faithfully gave us passion and joy to bloom where we were planted and shepherd the flock among us, learning to love new ministry and missions partners. But Japan was a relentless whisper that I could never completely silence.

RETURNING

Fourteen years after leaving Japan, in January 2025, I learned about the #prayfortokyo campaign. I asked the Lord to help me lay aside old wounds and reengage Japan in a robust way through prayer. Weeks later, God kindly and sovereignly orchestrated conversations that I did not pursue and could never have imagined. These conversations led to my family prayerfully considering going as the planting pastor for an international, English-speaking church in Tokyo.

My wife and I recently returned from the Plan for Tokyo vision trip. We were humbled, encouraged, stirred, and confident in the Lord calling us and others to go for the sake of Christ being known and his church being established in Tokyo.

REFLECTING

We were humbled by the years of prayer and planning that have gone into this dream. Our goal is to establish a healthy, word-centered church that can launch gospel ministry, plant churches, sustain and equip missionaries, reach the lost, and model cooperation and church health.

We were encouraged by the many networks and ministries God is bringing together to plant healthy churches in Japan. They are like-minded in doctrine, theology, ecclesiology, and methodology. Missionaries who come to Tokyo will not be alone. They will be surrounded by believers both on the ground and holding the rope at home who share their core values and convictions to glorify God according to Scripture (Ps 133:1; 1 Cor 1:10).

We were stirred as we met with multiple ministries, pastors, and missionaries already in Tokyo. Japan is often called a missionary graveyard, but the Lord is committed to reach all nations and to fill the earth “‘with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea'” (Hab 2:14 ESV). There are many faithful servants laboring in this difficult terrain — and praise God, there is fruit!

We left Japan confident that the Lord will establish his church, even in Tokyo (Matt 16:18). I thought of several passages. “‘For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations … says the Lord of hosts'” (Mal 1:11). “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you” (Ps 22:27). The work is hard and slow, but Jesus has given the church all authority to go and is with us always (Matt 28:20).

INVITING

Coming to Tokyo is an opportunity to be stewarded. It is a privilege. We know from our previous years in Japan that the darkness can be overwhelming at times. Some missionaries have been plodding faithfully for decades and seen little results. But Christ is worthy of the praise of all the peoples in Tokyo. Confident in the Lord’s promises and presence, seeing what he is already doing among his people with a vision to reach Tokyo, I heartily encourage potential missionaries to pray and consider coming. It will be difficult, but “‘it may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few'” (1 Sam 14:6).