Mission History

Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church (Nihon Fukuin Ruteru Kyokai)

The beginnings of the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church go back to 1893. The first missionaries to Japan were two pastors sent by the United Synod of the South, a predecessor of the Lutheran Church in America, which became part of the ELCA. The first worship service in Japan was observed Easter Sunday 1893 in the city of Saga on the island of Kyushu under the leadership of newly called missionaries James A. B. Scherer and R. B. Peery. A Japanese co-worker, Ryohei Yamanuchi, gave invaluable assistance to the new American missionaries.

Throughout the history of the JELC, education has been emphasized along with evangelism. The Kyushu Gakuin High School was established in 1911 for the training of pastors and education of young men (now co-ed), followed by Kyushu Jogakuin in 1925 (for girls; now co-ed and renamed Luther Junior and Senior High School). These schools are flourishing, and Kyushu Lutheran College was accredited in 1997, with Dr. Yoshiro Ishida as its first president. Many local congregations have served their communities through Christian kindergartens.

Social welfare has long been an important part of Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church. Two institutions, Jiai-en (House of Mercy) in Kumamoto and The Tokyo Home for the Elderly in Tokyo, have been leading pioneers in the field of social work in Japan. The Kamagasaki Diaconia Center in the slums of Osaka includes child care, mutual learning, problem study, and community projects. Today, many Japanese social workers, as well as pastors, are trained at the Japan Lutheran College in Tokyo.

World War II brought great hardship and many changes for the JELC. All missionaries were forced to leave. The Japanese government ended denominations and created one United Church. Thus the JELC ceased to exist. However, as soon as possible after the war, the JELC reinstated itself as a Lutheran church with faith based on the Augsburg Confession and other Lutheran teachings.

After World War II, U.S. Lutherans were interested in helping and evangelizing the Japanese, whose country had been devastated by the war. Some former servicemen were interested in returning to Japan as missionaries. During the decade of the 1950s, there was a huge influx of American missionaries to Japan, including people from several ELCA predecessors. Many of these missionaries had served in China but were expelled because of political changes in China.