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Japan enters recession, plans for ministry growth threatened

Japan, the world's second-largest economy, has officially slipped into recession. Unable to fend off the effects of a worsening global slowdown, experts are looking for signs of a severe decline, reports MNN.

Economists say the worst is yet to come. The bad news they're talking about did not include September's financial debacle, which has sent the Tokyo stock markets to 26-year lows.

As American consumers and businesses cut back even further on spending, Japan is expected to see its exports decline even further.

That weakness is also expected to hurt Japan's domestic economy. With exports sliding, corporate profit margins will shrink, which could push small companies into bankruptcy. As smaller businesses collapse, they will release their workforce, which will add to the rising unemployment. Swelling ranks of unemployed could see declining wages as the surviving companies can take their pick of desperate people to work cheaply.

Now is not the time for expansion, and that's being felt widely through the smaller business. Non-profits are not excluded.

Chief Executive Officer for Asian Access Joe Handley says, they're feeling the pinch. "We're trying to expand the ministry into another country this year, and [we're] then exploring about five new regions. It may impact our ability to take this training that is so outstanding--and pastors are desperate for it--all across Asia. We may be limited on the ability to expand because of the overall economy."

In Japan, one of Asian Access' visions is to develop church leaders. In the course of the training, the leaders are equipped to maximize the gifting in their church bodies. They are also given the skills to determine the needs of the communities. Then, they develop skills to equip their congregation for effective service.

During the training, they also foster a vision for church multiplication. Over the two-year in-service leadership development sessions within regional training networks, pastors begin to see the need to be church multipliers.

The training and vision-casting has gained reputation over the years. There are now many who are asking the teams to come to their country to teach them how to be effective pastors and believers in their communities.

However, the economic trials mean the ministry faces a challenging growth period. Handley explains, "The world economy is shaking, and that has had a significant impact upon Japan. The value of the yen is dropping, and the price of goods has skyrocketed. So it's really affecting our churches, and it's affecting our missionaries in a great way."

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TAGS: Japan recession global slowdown Asian Access church multiplication

[11/25/2008]

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