In a previous blog post, I reintroduced Drawbridge Creations, talking about why we’re working to reach Japan and why we’re using manga to do it. As a follow-up, in this post and the next I want to revisit our vision statement and talk about some of our goals, hopes and dreams.
Our vision is:
To reach the unchurched, resource the Church, and empower Christian artists, in order to bridge the gap between Church and culture; between Jesus and Japan.
Let me unpack that a little, in this post focusing on the first two goals and saving the last for next time. First of all, we want to…
Reach the unchurched
We use manga not just because we like it (though that’s true too) but because it’s a popular art form, and part of the culture in Japan. We use the internet because basically everyone is online.
Everyone’s online, but catching their attention is the hard part, especially for a small team like ours. Honestly, we’ve struggled to build an audience and have had very little meaningful interaction with our readers. This is why this first goal is so closely related to our second goal, which is to…
Resource the church
We want to provide practical resources, whether digital or in print, that missionaries, Churches and other Christians in Japan can use to share the Gospel.
This was always one of our goals. But what we’re learning as we move forward is that the best way for us, at this time, to reach the unchurched is BY resourcing the church.
So, with Waypoints, so far we’ve focused on creating and sharing content online, and trying to build an audience. But in the coming year, while we continue to create new manga, we want to focus more on this second goal. We hope to build a bigger network to resource and serve the Church community better… so that together we can reach Japan for Jesus.
We can’t do it alone.
We need the support of the Church community in Japan, and we hope that we can support them as well. In doing so, we pray we’ll see more connections made outside the Church.
