Pray for Japan!

It's about 1 week to go before we all leave Sydney for Sapporo! For me, I'm feeling excited but also feeling a bit stressed. My To Do list is so long but I know that God is in control. I was reading this website earlier

http://jesuslovesjapan.com/japan/why-missions-to-japan

Some interesting facts (cut & paste from the website) on the needs of Japan and how much the Japanese people need to hear the love of Jesus in a spiritually dark city.

“JAPANESE ARE THE SECOND LARGEST UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUP IN THE WORLD”

• There are about 7,800 protestant churches in Japan and the average church size is 35 people… that is one church for every 16,000 people.

• There are only about 270,000 people attending Christians in Japan, thats one Christian for every 477 people in Japan

• Nearly 80% of Japanese pastors are in their 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s with there not being many Japanese Christian men to replace them. In 15 years many Japanese churches will have no pastor

• Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. More than 30,000 people have committed suicide each year for the past 11 years (about a 100 people a day or one every 15 minutes)

• Japan has 183,000 known cult groups registered with the government and is known by some as the cult capital of the world

• Abortion is the most common form of birth control

• Japan is the #1 provider of child pornography

• Shinto & Buddhist world views prevail

Keep praying for Japan! :)