27. Letter to the Editor of the Japan Harvest (E)

 

A Letter to the Editor

 

I heartily commend Japan Harvest for opening a forum for dialogue on chapel wedding evangelism (Fall 1999). I welcome the response to my article by a veteran missionary and respected colleague.  The author’s concerns are worthy of consideration in our attempt to find God’s place for us in this phenomenon called wedding ministry.  Hopefully, the differing perspectives in our two articles will not create an “either/or” obstacle in the minds of the readers.  On this point, may I add just a few thoughts to the discussion?

 

The author’s concern for the “in depth” kind of approach that assures repeated contacts with a couple in counseling is by no means misplaced. My concern, however, is for the tens of thousands of people who flock to wedding chapels weekly and are not yet within reach of the approach advocated.  These are people whom our traditional methods in evangelism have not yet touched and, very possibly, will never touch.  Evangelism begins with an initial declaration of the Gospel into the consciousness of the unbeliever. Without that first witness, the ongoing kind of contact that the author calls for cannot take place. Throngs of people are coming to chapels for a church wedding where they are open to hear a Christian message. This is an astounding opportunity for effecting that crucial, initial witness to the Gospel!  In the chapel I serve, this year alone, at least 15,000 people experienced a genuine Christian service, most of them for the first time!  I maintain that the chapel wedding, in providing a lovely, meaningful, first-ever contact with the Church, helps prepare these people to be open to the next Christian witness, perhaps through your church, or the author’s, or the one I attend.

 

The problem of the misguided minister of a church marrying a believer with a non-Christian, though admittedly regrettable, is extremely unlikely to appear in chapel wedding ministry and should not be seen as a central issue in this discussion. The key issue is, should we not respond to a phenomenon that brings to us vast numbers of people who have been totally missed by our normal methods of evangelism?  Although our counseling might not be deemed adequate or our follow up sufficient, should we not seize the opportunity to move these people even one small step toward the Kingdom of God? 

 

I am not suggesting that of all of us must be involved in chapel weddings.  We rejoice for those called to proclaim the Kingdom through more traditional approaches in evangelism.  But should we not rejoice also in other methods, indeed any method, that makes the church more attractive to non-believers and thus draws them toward the kind of in depth relationship advocated by the author?  It is not an “either-or” situation ? indeed, many new, innovative approaches to evangelism are urgently needed in present day Japan.

 

I discuss this matter in more detail, and also the problem of follow up, along with other concerns, in a recently completed paper, “Objections to Chapel Wedding Ministry.”  I would be happy to send a copy of this paper to anyone who is interested.

Sincerely yours,                           Doyle C. Book                                    December 7, 1999