Japan WMU meeting
Missions Discipleship

Japan WMU: A Look Back for the Way Forward

May 10, 2024 /

From the beginning of WMU, women have gathered to support missions and help churches engage in missions. These efforts have been at the heart of WMU — learn, pray, give, go, and do — and they have united WMU efforts decade after decade and throughout the world. Japan WMU is one of the groups that continues to learn, pray, give, go, and do.

Since Japan WMU was founded in 1920 in partnership with the Japan Baptist Convention (JBC), women have sought to help promote missions in Japan. And for the last 50 years, the women of Japan WMU have also planned and promoted the World Baptist Prayer Week.

Japan WMU Historical Photo
The predecessor of Japan Baptist Women’s Union, known as Japan Baptist Wives’ Union, at the first general meeting in 1920

Looking at the Present

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for the first time in four years, Japan WMU gathered for its general assembly in Fukuoka on October 19–21, 2023. More than 400 people attended the three-day meeting. Yumiko Yonemoto, executive director of Japan WMU, described the event as full of “great abundance of joy and grace.”

History is vital to the future health and vision of any organization. Challenges continue to confront Japan WMU, such as a decline in membership and financial difficulties. Yumiko remains hopeful about the future, explaining, “We are in the midst of a transitional period, and the future is uncertain, but the speeches at this year’s women’s conference gave us the courage and hope to look back at the past, look at the present, and move forward to the next stage.”

In an ever-changing world, the women in Japan continue the legacy of WMU in their culture and language, united with women across the world to support and engage in missions.

Japan WMU Yumiko Yonemoto exec dir 2026 at national WMU
Yumiko Yonemoto, executive director of Japan WMU, during a visit to national WMU in 2016

Moving Forward

Japan is dealing with a falling birth rate and aging population. These factors add to the difficulty of continuing the mission. Psalm 145:4 says, “One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts” (NIV). Japan WMU is seeking to do that even amid a shrinking population.

Because God’s Word transcends time and culture, the commands given in the Great Commission have specific practical applications for today. In Japan, believers are taking steps through their convention to continue the work of the Great Commission. The JBC and Japan WMU are independent but work together to advance the gospel in Japan and throughout the world.

Yumiko summarized well the way forward with hope: “In this chaotic time and world, we are not alone, and I would like to take this experience as a blessing that we can pray and encourage each other even in the midst of adversity, meeting face-to-face … or through online tools, no matter where we are. Where there is discrimination, there is no peace, and where there is peace, there is no discrimination. Together with our neighbors, from here and now to the future, we will look forward to God’s new creation and guidance with hope for peace in the world.”

What Can You Do Today?

Pray for Japan.

    • Pray God would give Japan WMU and JBC leaders wisdom, strength, courage, and peace.
    • Pray God would provide the next generation of leaders to continue the work in Japan.
    • Learn about Japan. Reach out to a missionary living in Japan to discover how you can pray for him or her. Learn about the missionary’s work and Japanese culture.
    • Pray for Yumiko as she leads; ask the Lord to continue to bless her efforts and the efforts of every person involved in Japan WMU.

Taryn Slott spent more than a decade as a career missionary with the International Mission Board in Asia. She now lives with her family in Louisville, Kentucky, where she works at Kentucky WMU as a mission strategist for students and women. She loves coffee and spending time outdoors with her family.