The Mark Drama Japan

The Mark Drama isn't for kids! Why am I blogging about it on my kids' ministry website? Because its a really good expression of what I think works in ministry, whether kids or adults, and I want lots of people to know about it, no matter who they work with. It's very exciting.

About a year ago we were having lunch with Makito, the leader of the Samurai Project, after a kids' ministry seminar in Tokyo. Makito mentioned that he would love to get the Mark Drama going in Japan, and that he and Misato (also staff at the Samurai Project) had started translating the training materials.

"Tell us what you need to get that done, we'll help you!" was our enthusiastic response. More than 10 years ago some other missionaries introduced us to the Mark Drama, and we got to see the impact it's having amongst university students in Europe. We began to wonder what it would be like to present the Mark Drama in Japan. A lot of Gospel presentation in Japan is propositional, whereas many Japanese people connect with the transcendent more through experience. Surely experiencing the Mark Drama would be a natural fit.

We began to meet and pray and plan. We held information meetings, we searched for venues, we told anyone who would listen about the Mark Drama. Its hard to communicate to those who haven't experienced it.

The Mark Drama is a 90 minute drama of Mark's Gospel, performed in the round. There are no props, costumes or professionals; the drama is driven by the powerful story of Jesus. The action is fast paced, and experiencing the drama around you, even participating in the feeding of the 5000 you can begin to feel like you're there.

God began to answer our prayers. Actors committed, we found an experienced, bilingual director, a new venue opened up perfectly suited to our needs, donors from Australia sponsored us and the Jesus actor memorised his lines. Little by little the seats were booked until we were adding more and more to keep up with demand.

15 actors who spent 6 weeks reading Mark's gospel and memorising the order of events in pairs, came together 3 days before the first performance. The tension was powerful. With all this preparation under our belts, how would God answer our prayers and make this Drama a reality?

From the start there was full commitment from every actor, heaps of expression, great attention to detail and an excellent spirit of cooperation. We were urged to pray for one another, remember one another's cues, prompt one another if necessary. We kept the action fast paced, like Mark's gospel. By Saturday morning there was still plenty of work to do, and the heaviest part of the Drama was yet to come. But having seen God answer so much prayer already, we knew he couldn't fail to keep blessing what we were doing.

Part 6 of the Drama, where Jesus is judged, mocked, betrayed and crucified doesn't come easily to any actor who loves Jesus. Its emotional, and in dealing with it we face the spiritual reality that we're actually no better than any of those who called for Jesus' death. Experiencing the suffering of Jesus on the cross in this way just makes us more thankful for all Jesus did.

As the audience filed in we were filled with excitement, we were really going to do this for people we know, people we don't, people who know Jesus and people who are just getting a taste of Jesus. Will we be able to move around with all these people in the chairs? Will the people in the middle cope with being so close to the action?

Yes. The biggest surprise of the night was that rather than taking 90 minutes like it does in English, the Mark Drama Japan took 130 minutes. Things do take longer to say in Japanese. The response was very warm, conversations about Jesus flowed and 20 people took home copies of the new testament to read.

We believe this is just the start of Mark Drama Japan. There are churches wanting to have a go at hosting the drama, new actors wanting to be in it next time, and lots of Japanese people who need to experience Jesus and come to know him.

Get in touch if you have questions, or email Mark Drama Japan if you want to support the drama in any way. markdramajapan@gmail.com You can also follow us on facebook.

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