Meet Daniel and Shelby Culwell, IM Missionaries to Japan
Daniel and Shelby Culwell serve on a church-planting team in Tokyo, Japan. In 2019, this team launched a bilingual church called Hope Alive. They are also actively working with all of the local area FWB churches. They do things like construction, web design, graphics, helping with events, finances, and filling in where needed. Daniel and Shelby have the privilege of introducing Japanese people to Jesus for the first time! They have three children: Easton, Barrett, and Lily.
Why Japan?
When less than 2% of a nation’s population are Christians, that nation is considered unreached; less than half of a percent of Japanese are Christian, making Japanese people the second largest unreached people group on earth. Along with their culture being deeply rooted in Buddhism and Shintoism, Japanese people live in a high-pressure society. Suicide is the number one cause of death for high school students, young adults, children ages 10-14, and men ages 20-44 in Japan. In fact over 25,000 people a year take their own lives in Japan. More than 2 million people do not leave their house due to stress, depression, and anxiety that has caused them to disengage from all social interactions.
The need for people to know the hope of the gospel is great, and where the need is great, the opportunity for impact is greater!
127 million people live in Japan, and 99.7% of Japanese people are lost, many having never even heard the Gospel.
IMpact Kids & Family Ministry Japanese Resources Project
As a part of the Hope Alive Network, we will be launching a new type of team. This team isn’t a church plant but has a vision of supporting all churches in Japan by offering bilingual resources to them. We have partnered with D6 Family Ministry and Seeds Kids Worship, and instead of reinventing the wheel, we will be using materials from these two ministries and translating their content.
This team will also be offering new VBS programs that are written with Japanese kids in mind, as well as translating many great books published by D6 Family Ministry. The Culwells will be leading a team of designers, writers, musicians, etc.
How they are ministering to people in Japan
How you can pray for the Culwells
- Pray that the Lord would go before us as we minister to the Japanese people. That God would soften their hearts to the Gospel.
- Pray that God would continue to provide for us financially through partners who have a heart to see the Gospel spread in the country of Japan.
- Pray that God would send more missionaries to work alongside us to work in Japan.
Daniel and Shelby Culwell
You can partner with the Culwells to reach people in Japan with the Gospel.