That journey of faith began in the United States while visiting a friend and helping at a church summer camp in the state of Michigan. That trip coincided with her having to deal with a broken heart. Prior to traveling to the US, “my ex-boyfriend [left Japan], went back to Brazil and broke up with me and I was sad and cried.” At the camp, “I worked as a children’s nanny and heard

sermons in nature,” Yonemoto explained. She realized “God created the sky and lake.” During worship at camp, “I wanted to cry when I heard hymns.” She made the step of faith before leaving Michigan and returning home to Japan. “I finished camp and packed, walked down the mountain and stayed at another lake and saw the sunset and felt warm and knew it was Jesus caring about me. I believed and it changed my heart.” A priority was to find a church home when she returned

to her country. “I went back to Japan and started going to my neighborhood church, which was a Baptist church in Nagoya, and six months later at Christmas I was baptized.” Yonemoto became actively involved in church, attending Bible study and early morning and evening prayer meetings. After working at her place of employment for seven years,

she was offered a permanent full time position that would help secure her financial future. It so happened, however, that the offer came just about the time she wrestled with the call to the Christian ministry. It was not easy. She delayed making a decision but was unhappy. “I didn’t like the decision and complained and got depressed.”

The massive earthquake that struck Japan on March 11, 2011, broke the deadlock. “I saw footage of people on TV who never complained even though they lost families and I felt ashamed for complaining.” She spoke with her pastor, made a tour of the university and spoke to her family. “I am the first Christian in my family. My family is Buddhist.” She, however, got unqualified support from her father even before she told him in specific terms her intent to go to theological school. “My father told me to go to theology school even though I didn’t tell him I wanted to go.” This, to her, was confirmation of her decision. She started out her training to become a pastor but was asked to

consider taking up the position as leader of the JBWU instead. “I was unsure but decided to take it because I thought my experience and travel would help.” Yonemoto told the Baptist World Alliance that though Japan Baptists embrace female pastors, these women face challenges. At her school, only seven of 25 in her group are women. Out of some 300 or so pastors in the Japan Baptist Convention, only about 50 are women, the majority of whom lead small, rural churches. “Women are not treated equally as men. Churches don’t invite

women pastors and women pastors go to very small churches. Local churches call pastors but they don’t know who is available so the convention chairman will match pastors to churches.” She said, for churches, “a lot won’t ask women.” There is bias toward someone who is married. “Churches also want married women over those who’re single.” All this is compounded by the notion that churches do not expect, or are not used to having, women as pastoral leaders. Instead, “the church expects male pastors to have a woman to help with the work.” Yonemoto takes up leadership of the JBWU when it celebrates anniversary, having been founded in 1971 at the 25th

its 25th annual

meeting of the Japan Baptist Convention. Her challenge is dealing with an aging and dwindling membership and participation.

“Members are decreasing; there are no new members and members are getting old.” High school and university age girls and women have “other, more attractive things to do” and are “too busy to go” to meetings. Those who do go to church are attracted to Pentecostalism.

She does not see the need to compete with the Pentecostals but

believes that Baptists need to address the worship experience in their congregations. This will be a focus of hers going forward, along with the mission work of the convention and the JBWU, which includes having missionaries in other countries, such as Rwanda.

u

MELODY MAXWELL: From Generation to Generation F

or Melody Maxwell, teaching the next generation of Baptist leaders is about passing on the opportunities and values that others have instilled in her.

“From my childhood, Christian leaders invested in me, training

me in biblical knowledge and reminding me of God’s special plan for my life,” Maxwell recalls. “One of my most formative experiences was working at a Baptist girls’ camp in Tennessee (USA). Camp leaders took a risk on a shy teenage counselor. By the end of the summer, I was enthusiastically leading the entire camp in story and song!” This experience was central to Maxwell’s call to ministry, to

which she responded during her years at Baptist-affiliated Union University in Tennessee. Today she has answered that call by instructing students in Christian studies courses similar to those she completed. As a professor at Howard Payne University in Texas in the

United States, Maxwell teaches classes in Bible, mission and Christian history. She frequently reflects on the relationship between her own studies and her teaching. “On my first day of full-time teaching in 2013, I thought back to the professors whose wisdom and friendship had shaped my (Continued on next page)

JULY/SEPTEMBER 2016 7