50 pages in Vol. 2 in the Series, "Bridging the Cultural Gap to Christianity." Ever wished for a Redemptive Analogy for Japan like Peace Child, the redemptive analogy that sparked off a great turning to Christ in Irian Jaya? This book gives many, many Redemptive Analogies, suitable for Japan. (Content is the same as Chapter 2 of Vol. 1, but expanded.) God has blessed Japanese culture with plenty of Redemptive Analogies that we can use. The riches of Japanese culture and literary genius has produced novels, theatre, poetry, stories and history that we can mine for nuggets of gold! Many of these we can use to teach the Christ of substitution, sacrifice and redemption. Hours of language study, hours of conversations sitting on the tatami flooring with many Japanese friends and twenty-five years of experience in Japanese churches has led to the writing of this book. The variety of information presented here, will prove an invaluable resource. No other book to date has included this much information on this subject. Missionaries, missiologists, missions and cross-cultural lecturers and students will benefit from this book and be fascinated. The use of the Japanese Redemptive Analogies given in this book will enrich, and make the message of the cross of Christ clearer to the Japanese.
About the Author: 27 years in Japan has produced this book by career missionary, Mariana Nesbitt. An education diploma, theological qualifications, culminating in Master's level research in Missiology, on Ancestor Practices has fitted the author to write this book. Cape Town to Japan, Athens to Tokyo. Bridges? Japanese culture is so rich, one can discover new, interesting things every day. Mariana particularly enjoyed ceramics and through friendships was able to visit ancient pottery villages. Another joy was painting on silk with dyes. The kimono is a national treasure painted on silk. Mariana produced framed art on silk. A TV station was interested in her first Silk Painting exhibition. The last one was a big one entitled Abundant World. It started with paintings of God's great creation, then the darkness brought by sin. Jesus' cross brought peace, forgiveness and ease of heart. The new heavens and earth was portrayed, bringing God's plan of redemption to the great finale. Mariana's primary ministry was friendship-evangelism and her friendly nature enabled her to get close to reserved Japanese people. She also took part in church planting. Almost continual illness, either of a child or herself contributed to the experience of sharing in Christ's sufferings. Her husband Jim does international missions' finance and administration. He also enjoyed a marriage/family ministry at St Mary's Church in Tokyo.The Nesbitts' 2 children and their 4 grandchildren are their delight. Inbetween researching and writing her next book, God has given her the privilege of making friends with poverty-stricken people in the community. Mariana's aim is jobs: education, training - jobs. With this goes medical issues, better housing, food and clothing. Many of her friends have sponsored and enabled these families to have a better life. My prayer is that God will use the guidelines and information in this book in equipping gospel workers so that the Japanese may see the great light and worship Christ.