August 12, 2008
“The overwhelming majority of Christians in Japan are white collar and urban,” said Ken Young, an Alliance missionary to Japan. “The problem is that Japanese religious life is controlled by blue collar people, both in the cities and the country. If we don’t reach the [working class], we will not be able to reach Japan as a whole.”
This September, Ken and his wife, Kathy, will launch Hope House, a holistic ministry that will be an entranceway for reaching blue collar people in the Hiroshima region of western Japan. “We will focus on ministering very practically to families of patients in the regional medical center and to doctors, nurses, student nurses, and staff at the Higashi Hiroshima Medical Center,” said Young. Hope House will be a place of rest for families who have loved ones in the hospital as well as a venue for providing real help and education, including the teaching of medical English, to hospital personnel.
The Youngs have been given the keys to the building that will become the center for the ministry. “We have complete freedom to do whatever the Lord leads and have overwhelming support for our work from every side,” Young said. “Already, God has led us to meet and have significant conversations with many non-Christian people in the area. Our dream is to have people come to the Lord [through this outreach] and to begin house churches throughout the region.”