Japanese Independent Churches

United Church of Christ in Japan

As the outbreak of the Pacific War was imminent, the Japanese wartime regime planned to sever the Japanese church from its Western connections. The United Church of Christ in Japan is a collection of diverse Protestant religious bodies forcibly united by the Japanese wartime government in 1941. In accordance with the 1939 Religious Organizations Law, Christian churches were required to comply with conditions set by the Ministry of Education in order to receive official recognition or legal status. Indicating that it would only recognize one Protestant denomination, the Ministry directed the various churches to form one organization.

In 1941, as a government-directed union of thirty four denominations, the UCCJ absorbed all transplanted Protestant mission church (with the exception of a section of the Anglican Church, the Seventh-day Adventists, and few small evangelical churches who refused to cooperate) Needless to say, for many of the participating churches this was a less than happy union that resembled a forced or arranged marriage. From the beginning, as David Reid points out, the "UCCJ rested on an uneasy combination of 'sacred' and 'secular' motivation." At least for its first four years of existence, the 'secular' demands of the state proved to be the most dominating influence.

Until the end of the war, the UCCJ was largely guided and controlled by numerous government demands.

With the establishment of religious freedom by the Allied Occupation Forces in 1946, many groups left the Kyōdan to reestablish their prewar denominational identities. The most significant departures were the Anglican Episcopal Church of Japan, the Japan Lutheran Church, Japan Baptist Convention, Japan Holiness Church, Japan Assemblies of God plus numerous smaller Evangelical churches. In addition to these reestablished prewar denominations, numerous other evangelical churches from North America and Europe responded to General MacArthur's call for missionary reinforcements to join in building a new Japan, and the churches began to show signs of recovery. During this early postwar period Christian churches made considerable progress.

Nonchurch movement

The Nonchurch movement is the most widely known and respected expression of independent Japanese Christianity. this is due largely to the fact that Uchimura Kanzo was a prolific writer respected by many individuals both within and outside Christian circles. The complete works of Uchimura consists of some fifty volumes. The Nonchurch movement was a lay reform movement and described by writers as an indigenous form of Japanese Christianity totally independent of Western influence. For all his stress on "independence" and the need for a Japanese Christianity, Uchimura's version of the faith is clearly indebted to various Western traditions. His first serious encounter with Christianity occurred as a young man at Sapporo Agricultural College.

As a continuation of the Protestant movement, Uchimura stressed the "priesthood of all believers" and rejected an ordained clergy or priesthood that stood as an intermediary between the individual and God

Living Christ One Ear of Wheat Church

The Living Christ One Ear of Wheat Church was founded by Matsubara Kazuhito in 1939. This is an independent and indigenous church, but the evangelical and holiness mission traditions provide the primary theological foundations for the church. Like the holiness traditions, the church emphasized baptism of the Holy Spirit and healing; speaking in tongues, however, is not recognized as a legitimate practice for public worship, although some members exercise the "gift" in private. The founder emphasized divine healing and often anointed individuals with oil and held special healing services. This is much less common today, but occasionally a healing service is held. The church observes both baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Christian Canaan Church

The founder of the Christian Canaan Church, Taniguchi Toku, was converted to Christianity through contact with Plymouth Brethren missionaries from England. After his conversion he experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit and formed this independent Japanese Pentecostal Church. The group began with house meetings in 1940. The headquarters of this church is in Sakai City south of Osaka and churches are concentrated in the Kansai area. Its pastors are trained at various Bible colleges and seminaries in the area. According to a recent Christian Yearbook, it now has ten churches, four evangelistic meeting places, a membership of almost two thousand five hundred, and thirty one pastors. The Bible is the standard of faith for this church, which uses the old literary translation with which the founder began. The primary concern of this group is to practice Christianity according to the Bible and the power of the Holy Spirit. Baptism of the spirit, speaking in tongues, healing, are all features this group shares in common with other Pentecostal churches. The church observes baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Japan Eccelsia of Christ

The founder of the Japan Ecclesia of Christ, Koike Tasuo, was born in 1904 and educated in Tokyo Imperial University. He became attracted to Christianity as a young man as a result of attending the Bible lectures of Uchimura Kanzō, the well-known founder of the Nonchurch movement. After his conversion, he attended a Nonchurch Bible study group led by Takeshi Fujii, one of Uchimura's disciples, for a period of five years (1925–1930). in 1940 Koike established his own independent Bible study group based on the Nonchurch tradition. Over the next twelve decades, Koike's circle of influence widened and he eventually organized twelve groups around the country.

Holy Ecclesia of Jesus

Founded in 1946 by Ōtsuki Takeji, The Holy Ecclesia of Jesus is a movement aimed at recovering apostolic Christianity and entrusted with a special mission regarding the nation of Israel in these "last days." Ōtsuki was attracted to the faith through the evangelistic preaching of Kanamori Michinori during the daily chapel program and went on to receive baptism. Ōtsuki found his way into the Japan Holiness Church in 1930. The leader of the Holiness Church, Nakada Jūji, was a charismatic individual whose impact on Ōtsuki was enormous. Indeed, to this day Ōtsuki refers to Nakada as his teacher and great prophet, adding that before meeting him he had understood nothing of the Bible's teaching's regarding personal sanctification, the restoration of Israel, and the Second Coming of Christ In 1946 he claimed to receive a revelation from the Lord in which he was instructed to establish an independent church to be named the Holy Ecclesia of Jesus.

Sanctifying Christ Church

The founder of the Sanctifying Christ Church, Konmoto Kaoru, was converted to Christianity at the age of seventeen as a result of attending a small home Bible study meeting. He went on to attend the Shioya Seisho Gakusha, a bible school with roots in the earlt missionary work of Barclay Baxton (1860–1946), a low church Anglican, who served as a missionary in Kōbe and Matsue, 1890-1891. Konmoto began independent evangelistic work in the early postwar period by holding services on the street, tent revival meetings, and services in the homes of early converts. Kōbe was the center of these evangelistic efforts and became the church headquarters of the Sanctifying Christ Church.

Konmoto's primary concern has been to establish independent and self-supporting churches faithful to the apostolic tradition. his opinion was that while Japanese churches can learn from the experience of foreign churches and missionaries, they should not seek to copy them. Unlike some of the other indigenous Christian movements, Konmoto's writings and messages are essentially Biblical expositions and contain no reference to Asian religious traditions.

Okinawa Christian Gospel

The founder of the Okinawa Christian Gospel, Nakahara Masao, had moved to Kyoto and enrolled in a professional school in order to obtain credentials as a radiologist. It was while he was in Kyoto that he began to attend services at a Plymouth Brethren Church. Within three months he converted to the Christian faith and received baptism. Nakahara returned to Okinawa to work as a radiologist in a local hospital. In 1977 an experience of divine healing and revelation from God led him to resign from his position as an X-ray technician to devote the remainder of his life to evangelistic work. His independent Christian fellowship grew rapidly and in less than twenty years had six branch churches, two mission outreach centers, and a membership of approximately 1,500. the movement also maintains several residences to care for individuals who are troubled by various spiritual and psychoilogical problems. This is a charismatic movement in which the practices of speaking in tongues, prophecy, healing, and exorcism play a central role.

Zion Christian Church

In 1934, Reverend Kishida Aiji founded the Zion Christian Church began work in Tokyo's Ōta ward. and since then, church planting has spread to the Kanagawa and Ibaraki Prefectures.

Quasi-Christian sector

As noted earlier, Japan is known as a fertile ground for new forms of religion. The Christian tradition is no exception, and there exist in fact many independent groups that claim a Christian label. It is, however, somewhat surprising that these groups, even when their numerical growth or some other factor gains public attention, are seldom viewed by mainline Christian bodies in terms of orthodoxy versus heterodoxy. It is as though the new groups hardly merit any notice. One reason for this curious situation might be that the new indigenous Christian groups, in self-understanding, propagation methods, and general perception, are often readily grouped among Japan "new religions" and thus are not so easily confused with established Christianity. After all, most Japanese think of Christianity as a "Western" religion, and the new Christian groups by the very fact of their Japanese origin do not fit this description.

The church movements covered below have interactions with the "spirit world". This worldview consists of a belief in the reality and interdependence of "this world" and another "spirit world" (i.e. the world of the ancestors).

Transplanted missionary Christianity, for the most part, advocated a complete severing of relations with the spirit world. Protestant missionary theology and practice have tended to emphasize a total discontinuity between the Christian faith and Japanese traditional beliefs and practices related to the dead. The gospel preached by most missionaries included the teaching that there is no hope for those who die without faith in Christ.

However, the following movements below claim that it is "Christian" to show respect and care for the dead and these indigenous movements have moved far beyond the mere memorialism of the dead.

The Way

The Way was founded by Matsumura Kaiseki. Matsumura initially called his movement the One Heart Association but in 1907 renamed it to the "Church of Japan", to create a new Japanese Christianity independent of Western control. As his religious beliefs and convictions gradually came to be systematized, it became increasingly apparent that it was misleading to refer to his movement as a "Church". Ironically, it was his most sympathetic Japanese colleague who forced him to recognize that he had clearly departed from the Christian faith To reflect his new orientation, Matsumura renamed the movement The Way in 1912, referring to it as a "new religion" of the "eternal way." Within two years, baptism was dropped as a requirement for membership and replaced with a signature and oath. Since Matsumura had thrown out traditional Christology with its doctrine of the atonement, it was inevitable that he would also discontinue the Lord's Supper. Christian influence remained, but borrowing from Shinto rituals were introduced to give a more 'authentically' Japanese character to worship services.

Christ Heart Church

The Christ Heart Church was formed in 1927. Its founder, Kawai Shinsui (川合信水, 1867–1962), reinterpreted the faith through the lenses of Confucian and Buddhist traditions by claiming that Christianity offers a more complete path of self-cultivation and advocates traditional Buddhist disciplines of meditation to achieve a Christian satori (enlightenment). Zen meditation and kyokenjutsu (強健術) became important means of development in the Christ Heart Church. In sharp contrast to Protestant missionary policy, the Christ Heart Church allow its members to maintain the traditional Buddhist altar in the home. They also see no conflict between Christian faith and ancestor veneration. In fact, their members are encouraged to show 'proper respect' toward traditional customs, and their participation in Buddhist ancestral rites with non-Christian family members is not regarded as problematic.

Glorious Gospel Christian Church

The founder of the Glorious Gospel Christian Church, Sugita Kotarō, converted to Christianity as a result of reading the Bible during a long illness following a period of military service. In preparation for the Christian ministry, he enrolled in the theological seminary of the Holiness Church in Tokyo. Following graduation and ordination, he was sent by Bishop Nakada Juji to serve as the pastor of the Holoness congregation in Aso, Kyushu. Sugita could not accept the hierarchical structure of the Holiness Church and established the Glorious Gospel Christian Church as an independent movement in 1936.

However the church has an extended or modified cannon. Sugita also took a 'hopeful approach' to the fate of the ancestors who died without hearing and responding to the gospel of Christ in this life. They allow the extension of salvation to the spirit world of the deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity to hear the gospel. He was also tolerant of his followers participating in Buddhist memorial rites and provided alternative memorial services to meet the needs of Japanese to indicate that Christians also showed care and respect for the dead.

Spirit of Jesus Church

This is the best example of a "Christian new religion" born in Japan. The Spirit of Jesus Church was organized before the Pacific War by Murai Jun, and named in accordance with a 'heavenly vision' he reportedly received in 1941. This church became an incorporated religious organization in 1953. It is one of the fastest growing Christian bodies in Japan, having increased its membership from 34,477 in 1970 to 433,108 at the end of the 1980s. At the outset of the 1980s, the vernacular “Christian yearbook” ceased adding its membership figures to the total Christian population.

The Spirit of Jesus Church links salvific work in the spirit world and the notion of "household" salvation to the supposed ritual of vicarious baptism referred to in 1 Cor. 15:29. This church claims that through the ritual of vicarious baptism (先祖の身代わり洗礼) that the blessings of individual salvation can be extended to past generations as well. Members of this church can request that ancestors be baptized at the same time they are, or whenever they become concerned about the salvation of those who have gone before. A member simply states the ancestor's name, announces his or her relationship to the deceased, and then undergoes baptism by immersion on their behalf. It is significant to note here that this church also performs baptism for mizuko (水子, aborted and stillborn children). They claim that "through this ritual the good news of the forgiveness of sins is communicated to the dead, and their spirits are transported from hades to heaven." Members of that church are assured that they may lay aside all their doubts and misgivings regarding the state of their ancestors following this ritual. A pastor of this church in Okinawa explained that prior to the ritual of vicarious baptism many of the members had disturbing visions of the wandering spirits of the dead. Following this ritual care, however, the sprits were felt to be 'at peace' and there were no longer any troubling spiritual encounters.

Concern for the dead does not end with the ritual of baptism. The Common Memorial Service for Comforting of the Spirits is also an important service in all Spirit of Jesus Churches. According to a church representative, the significance of this service is that it allows living believers to join with the spirits of the dead in common prayer to Jesus. In this it certainly resembles the Buddhist Obon Festival, and a central motif of which is reunion and fellowship with the dead.

Original Gospel Tabernacle

The Original Gospel Tabernacle, also known as Makuya (幕屋), was founded by Ikurō Teshima. It represents another Japanese effort to recover Apostolic Christianity. In 1948 Teshima began publishing his own magazine

Teshima's "Christianization of the pre-Christian past" included his interpretation that the ancient Japanese fellowship with the gods referred to in Kojiki and Nihon Shoki was in fact communication with the heavenly spirits referred to as angels in the Bible. These Japanese forebears not only provided exemplary models of spirituality and dependence on God, but also revealed what true humanity was intended to be. This is also what the life of Jesus in the gospel reveals to us. It is the aim of the Original Gospel movement, Teshima explains, to join in Jesus' mission to restore this true humanity to all people. Teshima also recognized the 'valuable' contributions of Japanese Buddhists, such as Kōbo Daishi, Hōnen, Nichiren, and Hakuin and refers to this heritage as the Old Testament for Japanese. This deep appreciation for ancient Japanese spirituality led Teshima to adopt certain ascetic practices from indigenous traditions for spiritual training within the Makuya movement. These include misogi water purification rituals, including takiabi (滝浴び) or standing under a waterfall, and hiwatari (火渡り) or walking across a bed of hot coals. Teshima claimed that if Christianity was truly the highest religion, its followers should be able to prove the power of the living God by walking across the burning coals. The founder also taught that the spirits of the deceased could be 'saved' by Christ in the spirit world if members prayed for them. Members of the Makuya in Okinawa held a special service before a memorial for the war dead of Okinawa and prayed for their peace and salvation in the other world. Participants reported that they experienced a spiritual vision of those many suffering spirits being 'rescued' as they joined in collective prayer on their behalf. The leaders in the Original gospel movement encourage their members to pray where their ancestors prayed - in frint of the Buddhist altar. When a meeting is held in the home of a member who has a Buddhist altar, the leader will simply place a menorah in front of the altar and hold the worship service with the doors of the butsudan opened.

Life-Giving Christ

Founded by Imahashi Atsushi in 1966, this movement is essentially an independent version of the Makuya movement. Following a one-year period of study in Israel as a Makuya member, Imahashi returned to Japan in 1964 and began his ministry as an evangelist under the direction of Teshima Ikuro. A serious disagreement with Teshima forced him out of Makuya and he began his own independent ministry in 1966. The Life-Giving Christ movement today consists of seven small ecclesia under the direction of Imahashi. Like Makuya, they also taught that the spirits of the deceased could be 'saved' by Christ in the spirit world if members prayed for them.