Ageing pastors

Speaking of old folks, we recently received this information from a Japanese pastor.

The data shown below reflects the proportion of pastors classified by age in Japan. This was research compiled by a Mr. Mitani in 2006. While we are aware of the situation, we did not expect results such as this:

pastors aged 80 years and above : 11%
pastors aged 71 - 80 years old : 28%
pastors aged 61 - 70 years old : 25%
pastors aged 51 - 60 years old : 20%
pastors aged 41 - 50 years old : 12 %
pastors aged 40 years and below : 4%

In other words, 64% of Japanese pastors are aged 60 and above. 84% of them are over 50 years old. You can do the math...

One reason for the Japanese pastors' skewed age distribution is this: After the war in 1945, there was a mini-boom in Christianity as American missionaries started to pour into the country. This explains why more than half of the pastors are in the 60-80 age bracket (53%). Like the general Japanese population, the pastors in Japan are greying.

Please pray for more young people to take on the spiritual leadership in churches around Japan. It is difficult to be a pastor in Japan as they receive very little encouragement and financial support. Many young Christians are aware of such challenges and therefore are unwilling to take it up.

The future of the Japanese church needs your prayers.