Christianity & Creativity

AN INTERVIEW WITH ROGER LOWTHER: DIRECTOR OF THE M.A.K.E. COLLECTIVE & COMMUNITY ARTS OF TOKYO

Word on the Street Magazine (WOTS): First of all, can you introduce yourself? How did you end up in Tokyo?
Roger Lowther: My wife and I went on a two-week mission trip to Japan as musicians playing concerts, leading worship, and hosting many evangelical events. About a month later, we received the “call”—an actual call—on a telephone direct from Japan! The missionary team leader asked us to consider moving to Japan and working with them for the rest of our lives. They told us they had been praying for years for artists to join their team and establish permanent ministries like we experienced on our short trip. I was pretty surprised! I didn’t know that artists could be missionaries!

WOTS: What have been some of the challenges you faced while serving cross-culturally?
Roger: I miss being able to eat cereal in the morning! Okay, that’s not much of a challenge, but it did take me a while to get used to the Japanese diet full of fermented vegetables. I didn’t even know what fermented vegetables were! More seriously, I missed being able to communicate clearly. Even now [15 years later], I sometimes don’t know the right word to use and have to quickly run through an inventory of words in my head. Then I switch directions and say what I know how to say, rather than what I was planning to say. I suppose that is one of the tricks to appearing fluent!

I did not know that art and beauty was essential in an emergency where people didn’t know where their next meal would come from.

WOTS: What is the MAKE Collective and how did it begin?
Roger: When we became missionaries with Mission to the World, it raised a lot of questions specific to artists. Was it okay to reimburse art supplies—violin strings, paint brushes, dance shoes—like pastors reimburse books? Was it okay to spend time practicing during “work hours” or was that considered a day-off activity? Was it okay to do ministry outside the church? Can artists receive money for performing and teaching? The MAKE Collective formed to attempt to answer some of these questions as a community. More importantly, we wanted to encourage one another and share ideas of how to use the arts in church planting. We now have about 50 artist “career” missionaries serving with Mission to the World all over the world, and this number is growing fast! You can learn more about us at themakecollective.org.

WOTS: What is Community Arts Tokyo and how did it begin?
Roger: In 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan followed by a giant tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster. I entered the relief movement as a truck driver, carrying food, water, and supplies to the disaster area, but soon found myself giving concerts in shelters along the coast. Many other artists joined me on these trips. The community and momentum grew into what we now know as Community Arts Tokyo. I started the organization to use the power of the arts to build community in Tokyo like I had seen in the disaster area. It provides an umbrella under which we can do ministry without looking “churchy.”

WOTS: How have you seen art bring hope and transformation to communities?
Roger: The time after the 2011 earthquake really impacted me. While playing music in shelters, sometimes everyone burst into tears. Other times, people laughed, sang, and danced. Music had a power in the devastation in ways I never dreamed possible, bringing hope into the despair. I did not know that art and beauty was essential in an emergency where people didn’t know where their next meal would come from. I tell many stories about this in my book Aroma of Beauty coming out this fall. (rogerwlowther.com/aroma of–beauty/)

WOTS: How is the Japanese culture especially open to hearing the gospel through art?
Roger: Japanese culture is indirect and a group culture. Discussing the Bible and Christian themes in groups is much more effective than one-on-one evangelism. Art provides a reason both to gather and then to discuss these themes. It provides a way to build relationships, the foundation of evangelism and discipleship, in a way that is very attractive in Japan.

WOTS: You have written and spoken about how brokenness is an important part of Japanese culture. How does this influence your art and how you communicate the gospel?
Roger: I learned pretty quickly that I need to talk about the gospel differently in Japan. Americans tend to embrace the resurrected Jesus while remembering the cross, and Japanese tend to embrace the broken Jesus on the cross while remembering the resurrection. Whereas Americans love Jesus as the conquering hero who fights the battle no one else could fight and wins, Japanese love Jesus as the sacrificial hero who gives everything and dies in order that his people may be saved. Whereas Americans love Jesus as the ultimate “boyfriend” or “girlfriend” who will never leave us, Japanese love Jesus as the ultimate lover who was betrayed, died, and forsaken for our sake. Both sides of the gospel are true. Both cultures emphasize an important aspect of the gospel.

WOTS: Can you share a story of someone who was brought to faith in Jesus through the work of Community Arts Tokyo?
Roger: We met a fashion designer at one of Community Arts Tokyo’s first events, where each artist shared a bit about upcoming performances or exhibits and the thought process behind their art. After his presentation, I commissioned him to make performing clothes for my concerts, both because I needed it and as a way to build our relationship. (The quickest way to an artist’s heart is to pay them to make art!) Our relationship grew, and I watched as he was baptized at our church, married another artist, started his own fashion design company, and became a leader in the church. I think of a koto (Japanese traditional harp) player who learned how to be both a Christian and a musician. She had never met one before! That’s how few Christians there are in Japan! We hired her to play for worship, and recently she started writing music for worship. There are many more examples I could give!

WOTS: Does the MAKE Collective or Community Arts Tokyo offer internships or ways for students to get involved?
Roger: Yes! If you are an artist and interested in an internship with Community Arts Tokyo or any of our other artist missionaries around the globe, please contact me at roger@communityarts.jp. Interns typically stay anywhere from 1-6 months. Many people also come on short two-week trips.

Roger W. Lowther is the founder and director of Community Arts Tokyo, assisting church planting through the arts. Roger is also the director of Faith & Art at Grace City Church Tokyo and the International Coordinator of the MAKE Collective, a global network of missionary artists. He has been serving in Japan with Mission to the World since 2005. His first book The Broken Leaf was published by Wipf and Stock in 2019. rogerwlowther.com