In the aftermath of World War II, Japan was a ruined country, its people adrift following the catastrophic failure of everything they had been taught was true.
During the US Occupation, General Douglas MacArthur spoke of a “spiritual vacuum” in Japan and called for 1,000 missionaries to come and serve the Japanese people. “We need one thousand young missionaries for the instruction of Japan.”
And they came.
Six of those missionaries—three from The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM) and three from the Far Eastern Gospel Crusade (FEGC, now SEND International)—saw a great opportunity to share the Light of the World. At the same time, postwar reforms opened the door to a new era of commercial broadcasting.
The missionaries purchased airtime on the new radio stations appearing around the country, broadcasting the gospel by using a medium that had previously been strictly controlled for wartime propaganda.
In this way, 75 years ago, the Pacific Broadcasting Association (PBA) was born on August 31, 1951. Since 1952, its radio program “Light of the World” has been heard across Japan.
In 1959 the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) became one of the first western mission agencies to partner with PBA when they began sponsoring a “Light of the World” broadcast in Hokkaido a mere seven years after beginning their pioneer work on the island. “Light of the World” is still broadcast in Hokkaido, sponsored now by churches in Hokkaido.
OMF has remained a long-time partner and supporter of PBA’s ministry in Japan, aiding the Hokkaido broadcast of the LifeLine gospel TV program, supporting the radio work in Tohoku after the huge 2011 earthquake and tsunami. OMF Switzerland provided critical financial support for the Seisho Channel Bridge (seishobridge.com) Christian media site. And in their most recent collaboration, OMF Japan has funded PBA’s “Online School” that has been teaching pastors and church leaders from around the country in how to make a church website, make a church PR video, use SNS, etc.
With the help of OMF and many others, Isaiah’s words are so appropriate for Japan:
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned”
— Isaiah 9:2 (NIV).
A uniquely Japanese model of broadcast evangelism
Because religious organizations have not been permitted to own broadcast stations in Japan, broadcast evangelism has developed in a distinctive, local-church-centered form.
Broadcasting is too expensive for most of Japan’s small churches to undertake on their own. Yet churches across the country are using this powerful medium to reach their communities.
Today, 31 interdenominational groups of churches have organized themselves into local “Broadcast Associations.” These churches cooperate and pool their resources to purchase local airtime, while local churches handle follow-up with listeners.
PBA produces the radio and television programs used by these associations. The main program is shared across the country, but each broadcast is customized with the local association’s name and contact information, announcements of local events, and other material relevant to its community.
In this way, it is the local church—the body of Christ—that is evangelizing its own towns and cities.
