As Japanese people navigate life, they instinctively conclude whether they are categorized as uchi or soto. To be uchi means, “I belong,” “I’m safe,” “I am seen and known”. To be soto means, “I don’t belong,” “I’m an outsider,” “I must be on my best behavior because I’m intruding on someone else's uchi”.
They also instinctively judge whether what/who is in front of them is uchi or soto. In this case uchi means, “this is mine” and “these are my people”. Soto means, “this is not for me” and “these are not my people”.
Why is this important?
The gospel alone helps us to understand that we desire to belong because we were meant to live in the community of God's family. The gospel alone helps us to understand that Jesus was outcast to soto in our place, experiencing conflict, rejection, and loneliness, so that we could enter God's rest. The gospel isn’t for an elite uchi who have attained that status by their own merit, but is the power for salvation for ALL who believe (Rom. 1:16).
One Japanese non-Christian who is participating in the Uchi-Soto pilot bible study recently said, “I'm always thinking about these questions that the Uchi-Soto booklet raises, so I'm really interested in learning more about how Christianity answers them.” Would you come alongside what God is doing through CBI to help people like him understand and believe the gospel of Christ?
