![\"Marc](\"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/012125-Article-Christians-in-Japan-Web-1024x546.jpg\")
In the summer of 1986, Marc remembers God calling him to the people of Japan through a promise he read in Isaiah 45:5b-6<\/a>: \u201cI will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun<\/strong> to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other\u201d (NIV).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc noted that the \u201cRising of the Sun\u201d<\/strong> is the literal translation of \u201cNippon\u201d \u2014 Japan\u2019s name for itself \u2014 and that the Lord was beckoning him to take part in the fulfillment of His promise: for the people of the rising sun to know there is no other God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since then, Marc and Yumiko have dedicated their lives and ministry to the Japanese community, and they\u2019ve witnessed the Lord\u2019s faithfulness as they\u2019ve gradually built momentum for Christ. In the past six years alone, Marc and Yumiko have entered into a new phase of ministry, engaging with local university students and working with churches to train leaders in discipleship, and it has been a pivotal and rewarding time in their ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis season has been the most fruitful of our 33 years here in Japan \u2014 we\u2019ve seen more students come to Christ, grow in follow-up, and stick around to be discipled than any other time,\u201d Marc says. \u201cAfter so many years of preparing the soil and planting seeds, we are finally seeing the fruit of others take root and produce their own fruit in natural multiplication.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A large part of Marc and Yumiko\u2019s ministry is not only sharing Jesus, but intentionally doing life and living in the highs and lows of those in their community. Two such people that the Leis have poured into over a number of years are Mr. Fujimoto* and Ms. Jinnouchi*.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Leis originally met Mr. Fujimoto when he was a young man, and he would come to their house to participate in student activities and occasional Sunday fellowship meetings. In 2007, Mr. Fujimoto was hit by a truck \u2014 he barely survived and was paralyzed from the waist down. After the accident, the Leis continued to meet with Mr. Fujimoto, especially as he struggled with why God would allow something like this to happen to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several years later, he started coming to church and decided to place this trust in Jesus. Still to this day, Mr. Fujimoto has had a difficult time reconciling his suffering, but Marc has met him in those spaces, sharing stories of his own hardships over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was so important to him that I shared my own struggles and doubts, but also the promises that Jesus gives us that nothing can snatch us out of His hands and that nothing can separate us from the love of God,\u201d Marc says. \u201cIt\u2019s times like this that small group or one-on-one time is so important!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, the Leis have been actively pouring into their Japanese neighbor, Ms. Jinnouchi, in the midst of a difficult season. Four years ago, Ms. Jinnouchi asked Marc to tutor her in English. At first, Marc was reluctant, but he felt the Spirit urging him to make time, and they\u2019ve met weekly since then. The Leis have tried to introduce Ms. Jinnouchi to Jesus over the years, inviting her to church events and having her read parts of a children\u2019s picture Bible in English and Japanese as part of her lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This past year, Ms. Jinnouchi discovered that she had Stage Three breast cancer. Immediately, Marc and Yumiko went to her house and asked to pray over her. \u201cAs I did, she started crying,\u201d Marc remembers. \u201cNo one had ever prayed for her in her life!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n In the midst of her cancer treatment, Marc felt led to share The Bridge to Life Illustration<\/a> with her. For Ms. Jinnouchi, this was the first time she had ever heard the gospel \u2014 that God wants a relationship with her and died for her sins. Though Ms. Jinnouchi desires to believe in God\u2019s purpose for her life, she still isn\u2019t quite ready to give her life to Christ, but the Leis continue to patiently walk with her in Life-to-life\u00ae<\/sup><\/a> community as she navigates the road ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another way that the Leis have creatively started faith conversations is through watching \u201cThe Chosen\u201d TV show with university students and members of their community. Marc works as an English teacher at Tokoha (Buddhist) University and Shizuoka Ken Dai University, and he\u2019s been inviting his 65 students to local churches to watch the show throughout each semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI want to use \u2018The Chosen,\u2019 large outreach events like 4th of July and Christmas, and events in our home to draw students into relationship with us and with Jesus,\u201d Marc says. \u201cOur prayer is that their interest would be stirred up and they would want to take a further step to get to know Him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through the screenings, students have been exposed to who Jesus is \u2014 many for the first time. After the show is done, Marc will open up questions about faith and dive deeper into Jesus\u2019s character, His Words in the Bible, and how the students can have a relationship with Him personally. For all of them, it is the first time they have ever read the Bible for themselves. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n One night, after watching an episode where Jesus asked Niccodemus to \u201cfollow him,\u201d most of the students said that if Jesus asked them directly, they would follow Him too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc and Yumiko\u2019s ministry is in the midst of an exciting and fruitful time, and these stories are just a few of the many life-changing relationships they\u2019ve built over their decades-long work in Japan. The Leis are an example of the perseverance of discipleship \u2014 that through the daily building of trust and connection in their community, lives are being transformed for the gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur focus is to love and serve them in Jesus\u2019 name, helping them find out more about Him if <\/em>they want to know more,\u201d Marc says. \u201cThe results are up to Him, and this way takes more time than other methods of evangelism. But, when they choose for themselves, the results are long-lasting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please join us in praying over Marc and Yumiko\u2019s ministry, for God\u2019s presence in the lives of Mr. Fujimoto, Ms. Jinnouchi, and their student community, as they continue to faithfully work towards the fulfillment of God\u2019s promises in Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n *Names have been changed for privacy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc and Yumiko have found creative ways to share the gospel in their community, such as watching \u201cThe Chosen\u201d TV show as a way to open up conversations and questions. Think of unique ways that you could gather people in your community in order to share Jesus.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Marc shared the Bridge to Life illustration with Ms. Jinnouchi as a way to break down the most important elements of the gospel in an easy-to-understand way. Similarly, you can share the Bridge illustration with someone who doesn\u2019t know Jesus yet. Learn more about the Bridge illustration and how you can help others discover the gospel for the first time.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/012125-Article-Web2-scaled-e1734638892665-1024x652.jpg\")
Walking in the Highs and Lows of Community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Sharing the Gospel Through \u201cThe Chosen\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Long-lasting Transformation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Discipleship Tip:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nThe Bridge to Life Illustration<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n