An international prayer movement has been launched in support of the Tokyo Olympic Games, with Japanese Christians inviting the global church to unite for one million hours of prayer.
Japan1Million is an international prayer movement led by the Japan international Sports Partnership and the Japan Evangelical Missionary Association during the 30 days of the Olympics and Paralympics.
“Our sports partnership is driven by a vision to see the church in Japan grow to 10 million people by 2024,” said JiSP director and pastor Keishi Ikeda. “Working toward that vision, we had hoped to reach a million Japanese people during our Olympic outreach year. COVID closed those doors, but one door remained open; the door to prayer.”
With less than 1% of its population of 126 million attending Christian church services, the Japanese are considred by Christian missiologists to be the world’s second largest un-reached people group.
“Committed prayer is needed for a significant spiritual breakthrough in Japan,” Pastor Keishi said. “We believe Alfred Tennyson’s words, ‘more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.’”
Individuals, families, churches and organizations are invited to register on the Japan1Million website to record their prayer hours and access daily prayer updates, information about Japan and Zoom gatherings led by the JiSP and JEMA teams.
In partnership with the YouVersion Bible app, the team also launched Pray 4 Japan, a 17-day Bible and prayer plan available globally in English and Japanese.
