Tracting in Japan

In Kanagi half of our team went tracting to promote a concert we were doing a few weeks later at the Kanagi Chapel. Tracting isn’t something normally appreciated in Canada. The majority of tracting done in North America seems to be done by overly friendly cult members and sleazy sales people. It was quite popular in the church in the 70s and most of the 80s but lately the church has tried to distance itself from that form of ministry. Because of the stereotypes associated with ‘tracters’ (one who hands out tracts) I felt most nervous about participating in tracting. However, I was pleasantly surprised about how the Japanese people view the service. When I first started walking door to door (all by myself) I was hoping not to run into anybody face to face. The trick was finding the mailbox. Unfortunately in Kanagi its hard to distinguish which door is the front door of a house (or even what the house is from the shed) and thus the location of the mailbox. So I was forced into stepping in open doorways and calling “Konichiwa?” The great thing is that instead of getting the door slammed in my face, I was welcomed by many smiling faces. Furthermore, through broken Japanese, English, and primitive sign language I had great interactions with the people who were quite pleased to receive my fist full of tracts. I learned what an important part of ministry tracting is in the Japanese culture and not to be apologetic in my deliverance of the Good News. It’s not about pushing your views on someone else, the way we view it in Canada, but about making information readily available to people. So I say to all, “Happy tracting!”