Pray for Japan! The Silent Tsunami

The words 'Pray for Japan' flooded twitter and facebook feeds in March of 2011. As waves engulfed the coastal cities of northeastern Japan, the world's focus affixed upon the land of the rising sun--but as with most natural disasters, attention spans were short. Soon the news media found other stories to cover.

Some students at Wheaton College had already been holding a weekly prayer meeting for Japan long before the disaster took place. This event only intensified their intercession for the island nation and its people. Their prayers for Japan were the result of an even greater disaster occurring in Japan every day, invisible to the naked eye.

There is a Silent Tsunami that affects all of Japan. Each and every week more Japanese die without a saving faith in Jesus Christ than died in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Image: Reuters

Less than one percent of Japanese people have responded to the message of the Gospel, making the Japanese one of the largest 'unreached people groups' in the world. Because of the size of the Japanese population the task of reaching them is immense.

There are approximately 128 million people who call Japan their home. According to the census data about 1.146 million Japanese people died in 2009. That is about 22,000 people each week. That is quite shocking considering that only 15,870 people died in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Considering that only about 0.5 percent of Japanese people have been reconciled to God through faith in Jesus, that means that over 20,000 Japanese people are entering a Christless eternity each week.

Few people are aware of this silent tsunami but I pray that you would join me and truly begin to 'Pray for Japan.' Does it take a natural disaster to drive us to our knees in prayer for the Japanese?