The Apostolic Faith work in Asia was preceded by home missionary work among the seafaring men at the headquarters church in Portland. In 1950, a group of workers visiting the ships in the harbor met the first Japanese merchant ship to arrive on the West Coast of the United States after World War II. Fifty-two men who were invited to attend church came to the service their first night in port. In the years immediately following, thousands of Japanese seafaring men visited the Portland church.
A burden for the spiritual welfare of these people lay upon the hearts of some of the workers, and in 1952, a journey was made to Japan to investigate the possibility of establishing a work there. In February of 1953, Arthur Allen and his family moved to Japan to pioneer an Apostolic Faith work in that country. Reverend Allen began holding services in quarters provided by the government for Japanese seamen; cottage meetings were also started in the city of Kawasaki. In 1954, a church was dedicated in Tokyo; this property was later sold. Then, in 1962, a church was dedicated in Kawasaki.
In 1968, Loyce Carver, leader of the Apostolic Faith work worldwide, visited Japan. At that time, he ordained Hidehiro Ouchi, and Reverend Ouchi still leads the Japanese work. A new church building was dedicated in Kawasaki in 1971.
When Reverend Allen passed away, the Japanese congregation received a monetary gift in his memory. They decided that they would use the money to print evangelistic papers, “to follow Brother Allen’s will to spread the Gospel.” They printed the first paper in October 1986 and have printed more than eighty editions since then, distributing by hand thousands of copies annually. Souls have been saved as a result, and they now have a mailing list of contacts who regularly receive the paper.
Japan is another area of the world that, in recent years, has become a more difficult field to work. However, the believers in the city of Kawasaki have an evangelistic spirit and have devoted themselves to various types of outreach in the surrounding area.
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