Word: mukyokai
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Your April 23 piece on Mukyokai (the "nonchurch" movement) was the more interesting because it is a stepchild of New England influence which owes much to Amherst College. Recently I have discovered that Kanzo Uchimura, the founder of Mukyokai, was sent to Amherst on the introduction and strong urging of Joseph Hardy Nee-sima (1843-1890), the first Japanese graduate of a Western institution of higher learning (Amherst 1870), after he had escaped from "closed" Japan six years previously. Neesima came back to found Doshisha University where there have been Amherst men on the faculty ever since except...
...control believers. Believers are men of faith; ecclesiastics are politicians . . . None surpass the prophets in serving God and disliking ecclesiastics." At his death in 1930, Uchimura had a huge and devoted following, but he stipulated in his will that neither his Bible class nor his magazine should be continued. Mukyokai, he insisted, had to avoid institutionalism of all kinds...
Uchimura's will has been defied, and his movement has gone on with giant strides. But so far, it has continued to avoid the institutionalizing he warned against. Mukyokai leaders, mostly in the schools and universities (including the last two presidents of Japan's leading university), acknowledge no church authority or structure. As individuals they publish more than 20 monthly magazines, mostly devoted to Bible studies, and hold informal meetings for small groups, usually consisting of prayer, hymn singing, and a lecture on a Biblical theme. Says U.S. Fulbright Scholar John Howes, who has made a special study...
Sheep Without Shepherds. Such an eminent Christian as Swiss Theologian Emil Brunner, now teaching at Japan's International Christian University, has stated that if he were Japanese he would probably bypass denominational Christianity to join Mukyokai...
...described originally by Founder Uchimura, Mukyokai has a nationalistic bent. It is "the church for those who have no church. It is the dormitory for those who have no home, the orphanage or foundling home for the spirit . . . We believe there are many sheep without shepherds, many Christians without churches . . . [What is called] 'The Church' developed out of Roman influence, molded by European and American experience. There is no reason for us to learn from Westerners about this subject . . . We should return directly to Christ . . . and welcome Him into our midst...