Missions as an integral part of Presbyterian church life and biblical mandate is both Tom Hastings’ practical work and his urgent interest. The church devalues its past and waters down its present and future missions mandate at its peril, he says.
Appointed a PC(USA) mission worker in 1988, Hastings teaches practical theology and Christian education at Tokyo Union Theological Seminary. He also lectures and preaches, and works in a prison chaplaincy ministry.
As with many who live and serve in two countries and contexts, Hastings’ appreciation and concern for both his American home church and Christian work in Japan are evident.
The years Presbyterians have worked with local believers in Japan span years of change, turmoil and reconfiguration in missions efforts by American churches, he says. Presbyterians came to Japan and often did excellent work in education, health, and church work. By the 1970s, Christians in America were backing away from the stereotypes of bad mission work, but lost touch also with what was important, he says.
While American Presbyterians are indifferent or ignorant of their history, Japanese Presbyterians take it very seriously, he says. “The Presbyterian legacy in Japan is taken very seriously in Japan,” he says. Over the past century, hundreds of American Presbyterians have served in Japan. “Who will be the stewards of this history?” he asks.
In the middle of a greater emphasis on short-term projects, Hastings also speaks for the value of having some cross-cultural workers who go for the longer haul. Time, language proficiency, cultural awareness don’t come easily or quickly. Even theology and spirituality are involved. “Their (beginning) assumptions are blown out of the water,” he says of new missions workers. “Christ takes a different shape and face right before your eyes. If you are centered in the American church, you won’t see Him.”
Hastings sees missions interest and efforts channeled in both helpful and marginal ways in today’s church life. As trust in large denominational structures wanes, and as missiology changes, American Christians and their overseas contemporaries are looking for different ways to “do” missions.
Short-term projects with concrete appeal–something you can see as a tangible result–are popular. This approach works best in developing countries, Hastings points out. There are definitely ways Japanese and American Presbyterians can work together. Congregational partnerships (twinning) is a welcome idea to many Japanese churches.
Specialists to work alongside colleagues in other countries are still needed. He cites his own work as an example. “I am a co-worker with my Japanese colleagues. I am on a faculty. We [PC(USA)] don’t own anything.” In the 1960s, Presbyterians moved from the sending-receiving model to mutuality- partnership model, he points out.
With recent world events–9-11, terrorism attacks–American Christians seem to be drawing inward just as these opportunities for international cooperation are opening up. “The results of this lack of interest in global missions and knowledge of the global church is an unfortunate ‘myopic America-centeredness’,” he says. There seems to be a fear of otherness.
But Christians should not avoid all differences, he says. They can be enriching. One example he cites is worship. Japanese worship services are very solemn, traditional, he says. “For them, worship is coming into the presence of God; they are overwhelmed by awe. Sermons are deeply exegetical, not personal.” When he first arrived in the country, Hastings remembers thinking, Are we talking about the same gospel, the gospel of joy, fellowship? “Then it dawned on me. This is the way Japanese approach and experience God.” Now when he comes back and worships in some American churches, he feels a reverse Christian culture shock, he says. “Some services border on irreverence–‘ go have a chuckle with Jesus.'”
Underlining it all is “our understanding of God, theological language, spirituality. They are different, but enriching,” he says. And working together makes it all real. “There is a wideness in God’s mercy,” he says.
