Pioneering of summer short-term missions through Scrum Dendo program

Over 2,000 students participated in this program. Many of them went on to full-time Christian service as pastors and as missionaries, including several who are now in key leadership in organizations in Japan, such as Southern Baptist Mission Society, Campus Crusade for Christ, The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM), SEND, American Baptists, etc. Read about how two Asian Access summer missionaries led a young Buddhist woman to Christ and how she impacted 19,000 college students!

Establishment of the Japan Church Growth Institute

A leadership development partnership that has trained nearly 200 of Japan's top pastors. Though this group comprises just one percent (1%) of the evangelical ministers in Japan, they pastor over eleven percent (11%) of all the believers in the country. Their churches represent ninety percent (90%) of the growth in Japan.

Nationalization of leadership of the Japan Church Growth Institute

Though JCGI was a missionary initiative, it has been successfully transitioned into the hands of the Japan leaders. Nationally recognized pastors serve as members of the Board. The National Director, the Regional Dean, and every member of the staff is Japanese.

Establishment and nationalization of music ministry

Asian Access missionaries Mark and Sylvia Ramquist, initiated the work of Song Rise. This was for the purpose of using music as a form of evangelism among the youth culture in Japan. It also existed to train musicians in the local church and to enhance the quality of worship in Japanese congregations.

A major portion of the ministry is now in the hands of Eiji and Shoko Horii, who lead a group called The Japanese Continentals. The ministry is thriving as an indigenous ministry.

A part of the ministry continues within Asian Access, under the leadership of Mika Tsuneda and Gary Bauman. Their work has become an integral part of the training for pastors conducted throughout Japan within Regional Training Networks.

Raising up Christian leaders in Japan

Today there are over 100 pastors, missionaries, and Christian workers in Japan who came to Christ through the witness and outreach of Asian Access.

The introduction of the cell church ministry concept

In the early 90s, the Japan Church Growth Institute hosted a series of consultations with leading pastors throughout Japan with Dr. Ralph Neighbour, Jr.. His teaching represented a major paradigm shift. The cell church network is now being led by one of the most outstanding graduates of Asian Access' Japan Church Growth Institute. It is a preeminent model for innovative congregations across the country.

Friendship Golf

Asian Access' career missionary, Fred Cheney, initiated a creative approach to reaching men with the Gospel through the game of golf. Recognizing that most non-Christian men had very little interest in the church or any of the traditional forms of outreach of the Christian faith in Japan, Fred capitalized on their fanaticism for the game of golf. He began bringing Christian professionals who played on the PGA Tour to Japan for clinics, banquets, and for special golf outings. Today the work of Friendship Golf is in the hands of Japanese businessmen and pastors who have formed the Friendship Golf Association.

Yamagata Church Multiplication Project

In 1996 Asian Access initiated a partnership with five visionary pastors and congregations in Yamagata to begin a new experiment in church multiplication. Long considered to be one of the most difficult challenges in Japan, church planting suddenly became easier by networking a group of churches together who would move through the experience of establishing new churches. Surprisingly these five churches were able to successfully establish five daughter churches within a period of just thirty months. A year later, each of the five churches initiated a process of beginning yet another round of church multiplication. Simultaneously, the five new congregations, which had been established, began preparing for reproducing themselves in church plants in their communities.

This church multiplication model has attracted attention across the country from leading pastors as well as from leaders of other mission organizations. Read one pastor's shocking claim about Asian Access' church multiplication strategy after being a part of such a network.