Ryuta Kimura is the pastor and church planter of Double O Cross Church in Kichijoji, Tokyo — a neighborhood pulsing with anime culture, university students, and young people longing for a life they don’t yet have. In a country where Christians make up less than 1% of the population and the average evangelical pastor is over 70 years old, Ryuta is part of a small but courageous movement replanting the gospel deep into Japanese soil.In this episode of Global Missions in the 21st Century, Ryuta shares his unlikely journey to faith — from a failed university entrance exam, to a language school attached to a seminary in the north of England, to a haunting dream after a friend's suicide that chased him toward Christ. He describes what it’s like to follow Jesus in a collectivist culture where identity is formed by the group, where leaving a church is often done in silence out of fear of offense, and where trying harder is the default posture of the human heart.At the center of the conversation is the delicate, patient work of contextualization: learning the stories a culture tells itself, like the anime trope of dying in one world to start again in another, and rewriting those narratives with Jesus as the true and better ending. Ryuta unpacks how his church uses the language of idolatry, counterfeit gods, and subversive fulfillment to speak into the longings of Japanese young people without adding to their burnout.He also offers a generous word to the wave of missionaries now turning their attention toward Japan. Come with humility. Learn the language. Let the Japanese church lead. And don’t repeat the story of the church that had to close its doors and start over, just to escape being swallowed by well-intentioned outsiders.If you want to understand what church planting looks like in a post-Christian, relentlessly urban, deeply relational culture — and why the future of global missions belongs to indigenous leaders like Ryuta — this conversation is essential.--This conversation is part of Christ Our Redeemer Seminary's Global Missions in the 21st Century course and our "Learning with the Whole Church" initiative: a commitment to listening to and learning from the global Church, particularly those serving among the least-reached peoples of the world.Christ Our Redeemer Seminary is a partnership of churches in Auburn and Opelika, Alabama, equipping Christlike leaders for God's global mission.Learn more: christourredeemer.orgFind us on podcast platforms: Christ Our Redeemer Seminary Podcast