Japanese Christians reaching out to youth

Japan (BWA/MNN) — Japanese evangelicals are trying a new method to reach their young people for Jesus Christ. The “manga” which means Japanese comic book is extensively popular throughout the nation with more than eight million copies of these publications produced every week.

Christians have looked at this phenomenon and have asked, how can we use this to reach our young people. Most of the content of these comic books are filled with sex, violence and even the occult and New Age. Many of the themes encourage young people to rebel against God.

According to the Baptist World Alliance, the Director of Harvest Time Ministry, Kenichi Nakagawa, says that they have been looking at the possibilities of manga evangelism. While they have not been very successful they continue to publish five or six different comic booklets which they hope will reach the young people.

“From a strictly human’s standpoint,” he says, “manga evangelism is very much like David going up against Goliath. Nevertheless, we just cannot afford to abandon Japan’s manga culture.”