Spirit Led Network Inc.

Japan ... Small Beginnings?

Japan has had a reputation for being one of the hardest places on earth to see new believers come to Christ. On average, one convert a year is the norm for the majority of the churches. Through the success of the training of over 3000 leaders in Jakarta in releasing signs and wonders in late 2005, Stuart Gramenz was invited by the Japan Cell Church Network to conduct a healing seminar in the town of Gamogori-shi. Stuart was greeted with a mixed reception. “Signs and wonders as a means for preaching the gospel is not for Japan” was the comment of one of the local pastors. He explained that they had a recent crusade in the country with a high profile tele-evangelist which they considered a failure because of “poor attendances and few healings.” “Perhaps God has a different way of releasing his power,” was Stuarts reply. Despite the apprehension, around 50 attended the seminar with the hope that “something” might happen. Training was held over the next few days with an opportunity given to “practice” at the evening meetings which were open to the public. To their surprise there were over 150 healings and those praying became excited. Nevertheless getting the unsaved into a Christian church is equivalent to inviting those in western countries into a mosque. Only a relatively few unsaved witnessed the miracles, however there was relative success….. 7 decisions Buoyed by the success, seminar organizer Pastor Yoshito Ishihara challenged the group to take what they had learned to the unsaved on the streets. A group of about 10 went down to a park adjacent to a railway station, however doubts and fears soon began to appear. For the first 45 minutes or so they moved around nervously not daring to talk to anyone. One young man finally asked Stuart what he (Stuart) was going to do. “Nothing!” he replied, “You have been trained and know what to do and I’m here if you run into difficulties.” The young man sat beside Stuart on a park bench and although there were many empty seats all around them another man came and sat right next to them. A couple of anxious minutes went by but finallythe nervous would be healer asked the man whether he had need of healing prayer. To his surprise the man had neck pain. He excitedly prayed for him resulting in an instantaneous healing. There was immediate screaming yelling and jumping………not from the person healed but from the young man who prayed. The man healed was still rubbing his neck wondering where the pain had gone. Within a minute or so another group came running over to tell Stuart that they had “found” someone for him to pray for…a man with a crippled hand. To their disappointment he sent them back to minister. After a few minutes clapping and yelling could be heard in the distance. The group came running over dragging the healed man with them to show Stuart what had happened. The man was demonstrating how he was now able to freely move his hand. Stuart noticed that the man was limping and it appeared he had been the victim of a stroke. The group then prayed for his leg and the man now totally healed, jogged around the park with one of the team recording it all on the camera in their cell phone. The clapping and the cheering of the group drew a small crowd and others were prayed for. Two teenagers had their legs healed and they and another friend received Christ on the spot. This started a flood of healing prayers. To their amazement over 90% of those approached for prayer were open to it. “We can’t believe how easily people will accept healing prayer,” came back one comment. “That’s because you are giving rather than getting,” was Stuart’s reply. “You are showing you care, rather than trying to get them into a building.” The end result was that there were 6 saved on the streets in just a few hours. This was more than a slight improvement on the usual one a year. Pastor Ishihara has already taken Stuart’s material and is conducting “How to Heal the Sick” seminars in other churches. Is this the small beginnings of something bigger? Time will tell. For us in the west a question needs to be raised. If this result is possible in the spiritually hard Japanese environment, what could possibly happen to those who would be bold enough to step out here? Footnote: As a result of the results in Japan, Stuart has been invited into Nepal, Myanmar and Mongolia to train leaders