We often get the chance to host visitors to Kanto Gakuin, but recently, we had a rather special opportunity. Three guests from the US were able to join Tokyo-based colleague, Roberta Stephens and me on a tour focusing on the history of Baptist missionary work in Japan. Much of that history is centered right here in Yokohama.
Rev. Ebistubo (the stately looking fella' in front) is a Baptist history guru, and (among many other places) he led us to this hard to find monument in Yokohama--it was the original site of the Yokohama Baptist Seminary. The seminary, founded in 1884 by American Baptist missionary, A.A. Bennett, would eventually become Kanto Gakuin, a school system which now serves over 16,000 students annually.
Missionaries have had a long and rich history here in Yokohama. To find out more about Baptist work in Yokohama, take a quick look at my gallery at:
ABC/IM East Asia Area Director, Stan Murray is standing here with Rev. Oya of Yokohama First Baptist Church, the oldest Baptist church in Japan (est. 1876). Rev. Nathan Brown, the first pastor of this church, is a famous man! He completed the first translation of the New Testament into common Japanese with the help of a Japanese partner, T. Kawakatsu, back in the 1880s. A very rich legacy!
Read more about Nathan Brown at:
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