The Foreign and Japanese Workers and Their Ministries (1907 to 1975)
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Bangor University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY The origins and the development of the Japan Assemblies of God: the foreign and Japanese workers and their ministries (1907 to 1975) Suzuki, Masakazu Award date: 2011 Awarding institution: Bangor University Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 23. Sep. 2021 Bangor University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY The origins and the development of the Japan Assemblies of God: the foreign and Japanese workers and their ministries (1907 to 1975) Suzuki, Masakazu Award date: 2011 Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 06. Mar. 2020 Bangor University College of Arts and Humanities School of Theology and Religious Studies The Origins and the Development of the Japan Assemblies of God: The Foreign and Japanese Workers and Their Ministries (1907 to 1975) A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of School of Theology and Religious Studies in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Masakazu Suzuki Bangor, Wales December 2011 Summary The Pentecostal Movement was brought to Japan by the group of missionaries led by Martin L. Ryan in 1907. Although their own ministry in Japan was short-lived, they shared the Pentecostal message to William and Mary Taylor, who worked as Pentecostal missionaries in Japan from 1913. Estella Bernauer also worked as a Pentecostal missionary in Japan from 1910. Moreover, the Taylors and Beranuer worked with Makoto Niki and Ichitaro Takigawa, who had become Japanese Pentecostal ministers. However, all of these missionaries and ministers as well as many others have been forgotten and omitted from the official history of the Japan Assemblies of God (JAG), which emphasizes the work of the Carl F. Juergensen family and the Japanese minister who worked closely with them, Kiyoma Yumiyama. An accurate history needs to include all workers and to give an account of their various ministries. In the beginning, the Pentecostal missionaries worked independently and had a loose fellowship, but the forming of the Japan District of the American AG in 1920 resulted in a Japanese Trinitarian Pentecostal denomination, the Japan Pentecostal Church, which is the early forerunner of the Japan Assemblies of God. The Japan Pentecostal Church evolved and became the Japan Bible Church in 1929. Before it needed to dissolve because of new government regulations around the time of World War II, the Japan Bible Church experienced a series of transformations: the split of the Takinogawa Mission as the Takinogwa Holy i Spirit Church in 1938, the removal of missionaries from Japan in 1940, and the split of the Spirit of Jesus Church in 1941. Before the war, missionaries and Japanese ministers worked together and formed a “mission,” which became the place where they continued to do ministry. The relationship of missionaries and ministers differed with each mission. But gradually Japanese ministers gained a higher status, and with the break of WWII, the missionaries had to depart from Japan, leaving the Japanese ministers in charge. After the war, the JAG started as a Japanese led organization under the strong authority and leadership of its superintendent Kiyoma Yumiyama, while nevertheless resting upon the unique cooperation and a certain balance of power between the missionaries and Japanese ministers. The JAG had a lack of funds and was financially dependent on the missionaries, who often took the initiative to start local churches, for which there was a great need. But with the growth of the Japanese economy and development of the JAG, the missionaries gradually came to have a more subordinate role in the JAG. With the retirement of Yumiyama as superintendent in 1973, followed by the transfer of both the ownership of the property of JAG headquarters as well as the authority for Central Bible College from American AG to the JAG in 1975, the post war era of the JAG’s history had come to an end. The JAG had become a more autonomous and independent denomination. ii Table of Contents Summary i Table of Contents iii Preface xi Author’s Declaration xiv Lexicon xv I. Conventions for Translation xv II. Glossary xv i. Missionary Terms xv ii. Terminology xv iii. Japanese Words xvi iv. Names of Christian Organizations xvi III. Abbreviations (listed alphabetically) xvii 1. Introduction 1 1. 1. Aims and Objectives 4 1. 2. Methodology 7 1. 3. Resources 9 2. The Historiography of the Japan Assemblies of God 13 2. 1. Background: A Summary of Japanese Church History 13 2. 2. The Official History of the JAG 18 2. 2. 1. The Later Accounts: Post-war Kirisutokyo Nenkan and Official Website 18 iii 2. 2. 2. The Earlier Accounts: Pre-war Kirisutokyo Nenkan and Tadashi Sakurai’s Kyohabetsu Nihon Kirisutokyoshi (1933) 20 2. 2. 3. The JAG’s Mitama ni Michibikarete (1979) and Mikotoba ni Tachi Mitama ni Michibikarete (1999) 22 2. 3. The Problems of the Historiography of the JAG 23 2. 4. Review of Previous Research 29 3. Early Pentecostal Movement in Japan 31 3. 1. The First Pentecostal Missionaries 31 3. 1. 1. Martin L. Ryan and the Apostolic Light 31 3. 1. 2. Other Pentecostal Missionaries Who Joined the Apostolic Light Group 60 3. 1. 3. Response of Other Christian Groups to the Apostolic Light 66 3. 1. 4. After-notes concerning the Apostolic Light Missionaries 68 3. 2. Before the Formation of the Pentecostal Denominations 72 3. 2. 1. Missionaries Who Formed “The Assembly of God” (1915) 72 3. 2. 2. The New Issue and the Emergence of Oneness Pentecostals 75 3. 2. 3. The Japan District of the American AG (1920) 81 3. 3. Missionaries Who Left “The Assembly of God” 82 iv 3. 3. 1. Frank H. Gray 82 3. 3. 2. Leonard W. Coote 88 3. 4. Other Early Independent Pentecostal Missionaries 96 3. 4. 1. Robert Atchison 96 3. 4. 2. Yoshio Tanimoto 104 3. 4. 3. E. Shepherd 108 3. 4. 4. Margaret F. Piper 108 3. 4. 5. W. A. Barber 112 3. 4. 6. Gussie A. Booth 113 4. Development of Pentecostal Missions Before the War 115 4. 1. Missions Related to the American Assemblies of God 115 4. 1. 1. William and Mary Taylor and the Door of Hope Mission in Kobe 121 4. 1. 2. Estella Bernauer and the Apostolic Faith Mission in Tokyo 137 4. 1. 3. Carl F. Juergensen and the Full Gospel Mission in Tokyo 154 4. 1. 4. Barney S. Moore and the Pentecostal Assembly in Yokohama 182 4. 1. 5. Jessie Wengler and Her Various Missions 197 4. 1. 6. John W. Juergensen and the Akabane and Nagoya Missions 209 v 4. 1. 7. Alex Munroe, Gordon Bender, and the Otsuka Church in Tokyo 232 4. 1. 8. Mae Straub, Florence Byers and the Nishinomiya Children’s Home 249 4. 1. 9. Harriett Dithridge and the Berea Mission in Tachikawa 260 4. 1. 10. Norman Barth and the Yokohama Mission 275 4. 1. 11. Agnes Juergensen and the Hamamatsu Church 290 4. 1. 12. Short Term American AG Missionaries 294 4. 2. Other Pentecostal Missionaries Who Worked with the Forerunners of the JAG 297 4. 2. 1. Missionaries from the United States 299 4. 2. 2. Missionaries from the United Kingdom 302 4. 2. 3. Missionaries from Australia 321 4. 2. 4. Missionaries from Canada 333 5. Denominational Development of the Forerunners of the Japan Assemblies of God 341 5. 1. The Japan Pentecostal Church [Nihon Pentekosute Kyokai] (1920-1929) 341 5. 2. The Japan Bible Church [Nihon Seisho Kyokai] (1929-1937) 347 5. 3. Shifts of the Japan Bible Church [Nihon Seisho Kyokai] vi (1937-1941) 358 6. The Japan Bible Church, the Takinogawa Holy Spirit Church and the Spirit of Jesus Church 367 6.1. Jun Murai and the Japan Bible Church 367 6 .1. 1. Jun Murai 368 6. 1. 2. Otokuma Uwai and the Kohama Church in Osaka 377 6. 1. 3. Hajime Kawasaki and the Nara Church in Nara 380 6. 1. 4. Morihiko Yamada and the Shizuoka Church in Shizuoka 382 6. 1. 5. Other Japan Bible Church Ministers 385 6. 2. The Development of the Takinogawa Mission 385 6. 2. 1. The Leadership of Kiyoma Yumiyama and Marie Juergensen 385 6.