Barclay Buxton, an Englishman, first went to Japan in 1889 as a pioneer missionary with the Church Missionary Society. Seeing the spiritual climate there he was keenly aware of three needs:

• For salvation to rescue individuals "out of darkness into God's marvellous light";
• For the power of the Holy Spirit to uphold new believers and enable them to be evangelists;
• For Spirit-filled evangelists to preach the gospel in power.

These convictions led Barclay Buxton and another Englishman, Paget Wilkes, in 1903 to found the JEB, or Japan Evangelistic Band as we were then known. Within thirty years there were 180 workers from many different countries, but the majority of them from Japan.

Small teams comprising a Japanese worker and an overseas missionary would engage together in pioneer evangelism. They did this in many rural areas as well as in some of the larger towns. The Second World War and other factors later affected the dramatic early progress, but since its founding the work of the JEB has led to the establishment of over 150 churches and the Kansai Bible College in Kobe. 

Work among overseas Japanese had always been part of the vision of our founders. During 1999-2000 we evolved into our current form, renewing our focus on this, and adopting the new name of Japan Christian Link along with a new constitution.  JEB work in Japan is now directed independently by our Japanese colleagues, supported by JCL missionaries as required, and we have partners elsewhere in Japan too.  

For administrative convenience, with effect from February 1st, 2016 all the assets and operations of Japan Christian Link were transferred to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registered no. 1164572 operating under the same name, Japan Christian Link.  Unfortunately, because of this change, the prior history of JCL has been removed from the Charity Commission's website.  If you would like to receive JCL's most recent set of financial accounts, please contact us.  

You may also be interested in our vision, values and aims.