Mukyōkai

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The Mukyōkai (無教会, Mukyōkai^?), or No-Church Movement (or sometimes refered to as "Nonchurch Movement"), is a Japanese indigenous movement of Christianity that rejects all Western formal religious institutions and church structures, focusing on Bible study in small groups. It was founded by Uchimura Kanzō (1861-1930) in response to Western denominationalism, and today the number of adherents is believed to be around 35,000 in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea.

As the name of the movement implies, adherents of No-Church Christianity worship and engage in Bible study outside of conventional churches. They hold to no liturgy, sacraments, or ordained clergy. While most of the teachers have no formal theological training, some have extensive background in theology and biblical studies and hold academic positions in universities and theological schools. Bible study is performed in small, independent groups led by individual teachers, or "sensei," and the group often meet on a weekly basis. Each group is normally called "shukai"(Meeting) or "seisho shukai"(Bible Meeting). While many of sensei hold regular jobs outside of their role as a Bible teacher, a few are called into a full-time ministry as "dokuritsu dendosha"(an independent evangelist). When the teacher dies or retires, the study group normally dissolves, and often new groups branch out from the old group.

With its emphases on Bible studies and social criticism and its general intellectual tendencies among the adherents, the Mukyokai Movement produced a number of prominent figures in scholarship. Among them are: Tsukamoto Toraji (biblical scholar), Yanaihara Tadao (economist and president of the University of Tokyo), Nanbara Shigeru (political scientist and also U of Tokyo president), Oga Ichiro (botanist), Sekine Masao (Hebrew scholar and Member of the Japan Academy), Nakazawa Koki (biblical scholar), and Takahashi Saburo (theologian and independent evangelist).

In Japan, the Mukyōkai members are perhaps best known for speaking out against social injustices. They were one of the strongest groups against Japanese nationalism and militarism in the 1930s and '40s, and remains today a strong force for pacifism. In the USA this was mentioned in relation to human rights activist Gordon Hirabayashi, himself a Quaker, coming from a Mukyōkai family, immigrated to the United States.

For more reading on Mukyokai movement and its founder Uchimura Kanzo, see the following books: Christianity, The Japanese Way by Carlo Caldarola (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1979), and Japan's Modern Prophet: Uchimura Kanzo, 1861-1930 by John F. Howes (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005).