Who we are              

 We want to serve Christ among Japanese worldwide. Our goal is to help make a significant difference in the progress of the gospel among the Japanese people over the first half of this century. We seek to do this through educating, encouraging and equipping the Body of Christ, through a network of relationships so that, more and more, the good news of Jesus Christ will be proclaimed clearly, and disciples of Jesus Christ multiplied, among the Japanese people, for His glory. (Matthew 28:19-20) Read here about our Vision, Values & Goals

What we do

Barclay Buxton first went to Japan in 1890 and, with Paget Wilkes, founded our organisation in 1903 as the Japan Evangelistic Band (or JEB), whose work since then has led to the establishment of over 150 churches and the Kansai Bible College in Kobe, Japan.

Work among overseas Japanese had always been part of the vision our founders, but in 1999 we caught a renewed vision for this, and our organisation took on its current shape. In the UK the number of ministry centres continues to grow and we are also actively involved in the Japanese Christian community across Europe. Read here about some of our people in the UK. We have links in a number of other countries and we have a clear vision to work wherever Japanese people may be found.

The long established work in Japan continues to be known as the JEB, or Nihon Dendotai, and is now under the direction of our Japanese colleagues with whom we work in close cooperation. Click here to learn about some of the JEB churches and the areas they are seeking to reach. We also have a number of JCL workers serving in Japan today - click here to read about some of them. Recently the work of one of these JCL workers amongst hardened prisoners has been nationally recognised on Japanese television and in print.

If you are, or know, a Japanese person who became a Christian while abroad and is now returning to Japan we can help with advice or information on finding a church in Japan that suits. It can be hard for those who came to faith overseas to find and settle into a good church, but we have a network of contacts who may be able to help.

We are interdenominational, with many of the main Christian traditions represented, and we are international, with workers from several different countries, including Japan itself, working among Japanese in the UK and in Japan. We are also inclusive, seeking to work with other missions as well as working on our own. Unusually, our vision specifically includes building and encouraging a network of part-time volunteers, ordinary Christians reaching out to Japanese expatriates in their local area. Opportunities for involvement include full-time roles (both short & long-term) in Japan, UK or elsewhere, volunteer roles, prayer and financial support.