This week, I spoke Rev. Dr. Uri Brito, Presiding Minister of the CREC, who recently returned from a 17-day journey through Asia visiting churches in the Philippines and Japan.
What he shared with me challenges everything American Christians assume about cross-cultural ministry and the global future of biblical faith.
The Universal Language of Liturgy
Rev. Brito told me about standing in a Tokyo church service, listening to Japanese believers recite the Nicene Creed in their native tongue. Despite not speaking a word of Japanese, he knew exactly where they were in the service. The rhythm, the reverence, the flow—it was identical to what happens every Sunday in Alabama, Arizona, or Idaho.
This isn't coincidence, he explained. It's the power of biblical liturgy rooted in Old and New Testament principles. When worship is designed by the Creator rather than manufactured by cultural preference, it translates across any culture while allowing for beautiful local expression.
Japan's Surprising Readiness
What Rev. Brito discovered about Japan shocked me. Here's a culture with less than 1% Christian population, yet their social excellence—their customer service, respect for authority, contemplative silence—represents what he called "thunderous common grace." They're already practicing much of what Christianity teaches about order, respect, and excellence.
But they're literally dying. Birth rates below replacement level. An aging population passing away while young people embrace Western individualism without Western redemption. What Brito witnessed was a culture that has reached its "apex of absurdity"—the point where they desperately need something greater than themselves to intervene and bring life.
Here's the remarkable part: the youth are open to Western influence. What if the cultural chaos they're importing now opens doors for redemptive Western patterns in the next generation?
Grace Doesn't Eliminate Nature
One of the most encouraging insights Rev. Brito shared was seeing how the Gospel perfects rather than erases cultural identity. Japanese Christians don't stop being Japanese. Filipino believers don't abandon their warmth and hospitality. Brazilian Reformed families don't lose their vivacious expressions.
As he beautifully put it: "If you want to be a better American, become a Christian." The same applies everywhere—better Japanese, better Filipino, better human in whatever context God has placed you. Christianity makes you a better version of who God created you to be in your specific place.
The Cost of True Conversion
But Rev. Brito was honest about the price. From Manila to Tokyo, he met believers who lost their families when they embraced Protestant Christianity. Unlike the mystical, cultural religion of their ancestors that demanded little more than occasional ritual, biblical faith transforms how you live, love, and raise children.
When you leave "lukewarm" religion for applicational faith, families often feel betrayed. Yet every single convert he spoke with expressed the same sentiment: they don't regret their choice. As Brito said, "The waters of baptism create bonds thicker than blood."
Political Implications
This global perspective has profound implications for American Christians engaged in politics. Learning about the CREC planting a church in Washington D.C. this month reminded me that power divorced from Word and Sacrament inevitably corrupts. But political engagement guided by biblical worship and local church authority? That's how nations transform.
The same principles that are creating faithful families in Tokyo and Manila can restore America's founding vision. But it starts with ecclesiology—healthy churches producing healthy politics, not the reverse.
Key Moments
[00:08:10] Why small denominations outperform mega-churches in cultural impact
[00:15:59] How biblical liturgy creates both universality and local character
[00:26:15] Japan as "thunderous common grace" preparing for redemptive grace
[00:33:08] The global reality of family persecution for serious converts
[00:38:46] How grace perfects nature rather than eliminating cultural identity
[00:44:22] Contrasting Filipino vivacity with Japanese contemplative excellence
[00:52:30] Why Washington D.C. needs Reformed church planting
[00:56:16] Politics must be rooted in biblical ecclesiology
Key Insights
Biblical liturgy translates across cultures because it's designed by the Creator, not manufactured by human preference
Cultures experiencing demographic decline often become most open to redemptive intervention
Small, faithful denominations can have greater cultural impact than large, compromised institutions
Protestant Christianity specifically triggers family opposition because it demands life transformation, not just ritual observance
Political engagement without ecclesiological foundation inevitably leads to corruption
The Gospel makes people better versions of their cultural identity rather than erasing it
Notable Quotes
"Sometimes a nation needs to reach its apex of absurdity before they realize they need something greater than themselves to intervene and bring life"
"The waters of baptism have a far greater unifying capacity because they're from a God who unifies us"
"Small congregations committed to faithfulness and boldness can accomplish more than large congregations that are feeble in their convictionality"
"You should not think of politics divorced from biblical polity, but politics always engaged first with the authority of the local church"
"If you want to be a better American, become a Christian"
"Grace doesn't eliminate nature, it perfects nature"
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