Doctoral Project Approval Sheet This doctoral project entitled A SOTERIOLOGY FROM GOD’S PERSPECTIVE: STUMBLING INTO GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR A PENTECOSTAL MISSION STRATEGY FOR JAPAN Written by PUI BAK CHUA and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry has been accepted by the Faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary upon the recommendation of the undersigned readers: _____________________________________ Dr. Cindy S. Lee _____________________________________ Dr. Kurt Fredrickson Date Received: February 5, 2020 A SOTERIOLOGY FROM GOD’S PERSPECTIVE: STUMBLING INTO GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR A PENTECOSTAL MISSION STRATEGY FOR JAPAN A MINISTRY FOCUS PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY PUI BAK CHUA FEBRUARY 2020 Copyrightã 2020 by Pui Bak Chua All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT A Soteriology from God’s Perspective: Stumbling into God’s Righteousness for A Pentecostal Mission Strategy for Japan Pui Bak, Chua Doctor of Ministry 2020 School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary Building upon theology; scriptural principles; and religious, cultural, and social studies, this doctoral project aims to implement a discipleship process utilizing the modified Twelve Steps concept (N12) for Niihama Gospel Christ Church (NGCC) and Japanese Christians. In mutually caring closed groups and in God’s presence where participants encounter the Scriptures and their need to live a witnessing life, N12 aims for eventual habit change, ministry empowerment, and development of Christlikeness translated into culturally-relevant witnessing. Part One will begin by describing the general trend of decline in both the community and church contexts. It will also form the introductory portion of the N12 group agenda. It addresses the obstacles for growth and the needs for theological, foundational, and leadership changes. Part Two will engage the relevant resources for a theological foundation in light of the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in the world—His sanctifying and empowering works in the church for ministry partnership. It includes an exegesis on biblical righteousness for a holistic view of God, of His image-bearers, and of the world He is passionate about. It is hopeful that this corrective view by itself will liberate and transform the N12 participants. Part Three will explore the applications of the above theological findings and decipher them in the N12 group. The structure and content for the pilot project will be elaborated; the roles of facilitators and the participating community explained; the timeline, the various group dynamics and the use of testimonials briefed. Assessment for modification, enhancement, and future recruitment will also be discussed. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Doctor of Ministry journey has been an expensive one in every sense of the word. Standing now at the completion of the Doctoral Project, I am humbled, grateful, and keenly aware that it is but the beginning of real works ahead. Honor and acknowledgement must first be made public for the private contributions that helped make today's result a reality. I am grateful first of all to my wife Megumi for her encouragement for me to embark in the almost decade-long journey with Fuller Theological Seminary and her consent to stretch our limited resources, as well as her help with the diagrams and tables in this paper. My thanks to Charis, my eldest daughter who became a children pastor at ten years of age—the youngest I have ever known. She endearingly called me a "nocturnal" for my years of lifestyle contrary to hers because of my study at Fuller. With her younger sister Channah, their diligence and motivation in their respective homeschooling have been my inspirations. Most of all, praise and glory to our Lord Jesus and the immanent Holy Spirit to whom Channah has been offering her availing prayers to, and who has counted me worthy to take a small part in the "battle" to finish the writing task. A word of thanks to my parents-in-law, Shozo and Tomiko Kusu, the senior pastors of NGCC, for allowing me time for study. Special thanks to NGCC for being my prayer partners and the testing ground for the Project. My heartfelt gratitude for the financial help from my elder sister Mui Chai; elder brother Steven; the late Pastor Steven Lee and his wife Sally, and my first pastors Bruce and Lynn Harpel of Maranatha Church in Minneapolis where Christ found me in 1987. Remembering also the late Rev. Dr. Rick Seaward who sent my wife and I to Sapporo, Japan as missionaries in 2003. My prayer is that your fruit on this Earth will not only remain but will be multiplied a hundred fold over. Last but not least, my gratitude extends to Dr. Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen for his initiatory supervision and Dr. Cindy Lee for her subsequent guidance; Dr. Craig Detweiler who encouraged me for the research on righteousness, and Dr. Amos Yong who helped to confirm the direction of my Project. Thank you! God bless you all! iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv PART ONE: MINISTRY CONTEXT INTRODUCTION 2 CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF NIIHAMA GOSPEL CHRIST CHURCH IN NIIHAMA, JAPAN 16 PART TWO: THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE FOR A CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE OUTREACH AT NGCC 27 CHAPTER THREE: GOD’S UNFATHOMABLE LOVE AND HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY 57 PART THREE: MINISTRY STRATEGY CHAPTER FOUR: MISSION STRATEGIES, ALTERNATIVES, SOLUTIONS, AND OUTREACH IDEAS 132 CHAPTER FIVE: N12 PILOT PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A DEPARTMENT OF DISCIPLESHIP 167 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 176 APPENDICES 178 BIBLIOGRAPHY 195 iv PART ONE MINISTRY CHALLENGE/CONTEXT INTRODUCTION It is a well-known fact that though Japan has the most missionaries per capita, that though Japan was exposed to Christianity earlier than countries like Korea, this branch of Abrahamic faith is still struggling to take root in the land of the rising sun. It seems as though God has left Himself without a witness in this beloved land where my two daughters were born. Gratefully, this paper seems to point in a contrary direction. This paper began as a research study for Niihama Gospel Christ Church (NGCC) in Niihama City, Japan, where I have had the honor to serve for more than ten years, to engage its unbelieving community. It is a Pentecostal church established in 1972, affiliated with the Japan Assemblies of God. Though it suffers dwindling membership in terms of its physical, financial, and numerical criteria, it is considered to be a model church compared with the majority of the Japanese churches whose congregations range from fifteen to fifty in weekly attendance. The Challenge of Church Growth in Japan Like most churches in Japan, NGCC’s remedies for the perennial setback on growth has been staked back and forth between the simplistic Pentecostal strategy of (more) prayer on the one hand, and the duplication of limitless mega- 2 church models on the other, both of which have been found wanting. The church nationwide engages in activities such as evangelistic efforts, “cell groups” systems, and other recruitment drives. Interest-based outreaches such as English lessons, Gospel music choirs, and entertainment-oriented programs such as food or music festivals are regularly conducted. Nevertheless, the limitations of all these activities outweigh their strengths. Seen as church programs orchestrated more for themselves, most Christians who take part do so seasonally and routinely. In the midst of their perpetual career-related busyness, they join in for its entertainment and social values, altogether lacking compelling acumen and evangelistic dynamics. The lack of results often determines the lifespan of these programs. A recent doctorate dissertation on a related subject by Naoki Inoue, a native Japanese who is also one of the contributors in a cutting-edge book about the unseen spiritual world entitled Interdisciplinary and Religio-Cultural Discourses on a Spirit-Filled World: Loosing the Spirits,1 affords great insights and delight. Inoue believes that one of the reasons Christianity is stagnant in Japan is due to the cultural-theological “mismatch” between the Christian message of a transcendent God and the Japanese pantheistic cultural practice that 1 Naoki Inoue, “Spirit and Spirits in Pantheistic Shintoism; A Critical Dialogue with Christian Panentheism,” pages 55-70 in Interdisciplinary and Religio-Cultural Discourses on a Spirit-Filled World: Loosing the Spirits, eds. Veli-Matti Kärkäinnen, Kirsteen Kim, and Amos Yong (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). 3 embraces a view of gods or kami existing everywhere. He asserts that Christianity has been taught as a transcendence religion at the expense of the people’s “reality, sociality and daily lives.”2 To add to Inoue’s observations, perhaps “transcendence” also reveals their view of Christianity as impersonal. The sun- goddess as the mother from whom they believe to have originated is after all more personable and more suited to their natural temperate personality. Centering on the unbelievers at the receiving end, Inoue basically points out the ineffectiveness in outreach. This study agrees with his appraisal. In honest assessment on the ground, however, it is also easy to see that the presumed givers—the passive believers—are responsible as well: no outreach equals no growth.3 The Crux of the Matter The root of the problem has to do with the personal mentality and reasons for practicing the faith. This study contends that the reason for the low population of Christians in Japan is that Christians in general do not impact the unbelievers around them. They lack both spiritual zeal and reason for outreach, let alone 2 Naoki Inoue, “Toward a Japanese Contextual Pneumatology: A Critical Dialogue with Japanese Pantheistic Spirituality and Jürgen Moltmann’s Panentheistic Pneumatology” (PhD Diss., Fuller Theological Seminary, 2019), 247, UMI Number: 3588216. 3 Personal discipleship is the missing element in most churches.